Dale Earnhardt

Dale Earnhardt 1951-2001

"NASCAR has lost its greatest driver ever." ~ Bill France, Jr.

Dale Earnhardt was born on April 29, 1951 in Kannapolis, North Carolina. His racing career began when he was about 11 years old and dropped out of the 9th grade to help out his dad, Ralph Dale Earnhardt, working and preparing his race cars. Dale's dad died of a heart attack while working on a race car, which sent Dale into a tail sping. He got his break in in 1976 when he made his Winston Cup debute in the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He finished 22^nd, one spot ahead of his future car owner and friend, Richard Childress.

His rookie year was 1979 when he drove for Rod Osturlund. During his rookie year he won his 1st race at Bristol Motor Speedway (in only his 16^th career start), a pole, had 11 top 5's and 17 top 10's on his way to winning the "Rookie of The Year" award. He backed that up the following by becoming the first driver to win the rookie award the previous year ('79), and win the Winston Cup Championship the following year (1980).

In 1981, Dale signed with race-driver-turned-owner Richard Childress for only 11 races. They got back together in 1984 and created one of the biggest racing teams to date. Dale won his 2^nd title in 1986 and another one in 1987. In 1988, GM Goodwrench replaced Wrangler Jeans as the primary sponsor for the car, and changed the color of the car from yellow & blue to black & silver (which gave him the nickname "The Man in Black" and began the legacy of his most famous nickname "The Intimidator"). The 1st title with the Goodwrench sponsor came in 1990 (Dale's 4^th title) and proceeded to win 3 out of the next 4 season championships ('91, '93, '94), which led to Dale tying Richard Petty for having the most Winston Cup Championships at 7 apiece.

Probably without a doubt, the most memorable moment in Dale's career was in 1998 when he finally won the Daytona 500, in his 20^th try of trying to win "The Great American Race." In his previous 19 attempts, just about everything imaginable happen to him; from cut tires, running out of gas, a seagu1l hitting the car, and twice being passed on the last lap while leading. This time, he wasn't going to be denied the one prize he wanted the most.

Dale missed out in 1995 and in 2000 on becoming the 1st driver to win 8 championships where he finished 2nd to Jeff Gordon ('95) by 35 points and to Bobby Labonte ('00) by a little over 200 points. The following year was supposed to belong to Dale, but that didn't happen. On February 18, 2001 during the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, while protecting the lead of 2 cars which he own (Michael Waltrip leading and his son, Dale Jr., riding in second) Dale was killed when his car hit the turn 3 wall head on at more than 160 mph. The rest of the year was in memory of Dale in which FOX and NBC/TNT saluted Dale by having a silent lap on the 3rd lap of ever race while the fans in attendance stood up and help up 3 fingers on lap 3 in his honor. Busch Series and RCR driver Kevin Harvick was called up to replace Dale. The car was changed from black & silver to white & red and the number was changed from "3" to "29".;

The following year, there was a statue of Dale put outside of Daytona USA showing Dale holding his '98 500 trophy. Dale will never be forgotten, his spirit lives through his son Dale Jr. and the team that backs Kevin every race weekend.

1:18 scale model of his 2001 car

Career Stats

Years in racing	25+
Starts	676
Winston Cup Titles	7 (80, 86, 87, 90, 91, 93, 94)
Wins	76 (6^th on the all-time win list)
Poles	23
Top 5's	281
Top 10's	428
Earnings	Over $42 million
IROC Titles	4 (Tied for the most)
IROC Wins	11 (Tied for 1^st)
Winston All-Star Wins	3 (Tied for 1^st)
Wins at Daytona (in all events)	34 (All-time leader)
Wins at Talladega	10 (All-time leader)
Wins at Atlanta	9 (All-time leader)
Wins at Darlington	9 (2^nd most victories)
Wins at Bristol	9 (Tied for 3^rd most victories)