Jenna Fryer began working for The AP in college at West Virginia University, where a professor announced to her journalism class that the Charleston, W.Va., bureau was looking for a stringer in Morgantown to assist in its coverage of the Mountaineer football and basketball teams.
It led to a three-month temporary assignment in the bureau, followed by a longer stop in New Orleans. She was hired full-time in Montgomery, Ala., where she spent three years covering the SEC, Alabama and Auburn. She transferred to Charlotte, N.C., in 2000 to cover the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets.
Her first exposure to NASCAR was in Alabama, where she attended a race at Talladega and then volunteered to work the two annual races. Fryer’s coverage of NASCAR widened in Charlotte, the hub for most NASCAR teams, and she was thrust into a central role of The AP’s coverage following Dale Earnhardt’s death in the 2001 Daytona 500.
Fryer was promoted to national sports writer in 2006, when her primary focus became auto racing. She currently spends the bulk of her time covering NASCAR and IndyCar out of Charlotte.
In her free time, the native of Ramsey, N.J., can be found tweeting or teaching her daughter how to be as sarcastic as her mother.
Follow JENNA FRYER on Twitter @JennaFryer
