Darrell Lee Waltrip
Darrell Waltrip
Born	(1947-02-05) February 5, 1947 (age 65) Owensboro, Kentucky
Awards	1981 / 1982 / 1985 Winston Cup Champion Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998) 2005 International Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductee Sprint All-Star Race I Champion 2003 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Inductee 2012 NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
809 race(s) run over 29 year(s)
Best finish	1st – 1981, 1982, 1985 (Winston Cup)
First race	1972 Winston 500 (Talladega)
Last race	2000 NAPA 500 (Atlanta)
First win	1975 Music City USA 420 (Nashville)
Last win	1992 Mountain Dew Southern 500 (Darlington)
Wins Top tens Poles 84 390 59
NASCAR Nationwide Series career
95 race(s) run over 14 year(s)
Best finish	22nd – 1986
First race	1982 Mello Yello 300 (Charlotte)
Last race	2006 Goody's 250 (Martinsville Speedway)
First win	1982 Miller Time 300 (Charlotte)
Last win	1989 Goody's 300 (Daytona International Speedway)
Wins Top tens Poles 13 53 4
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
17 race(s) run over 6 year(s)
Best finish	37th – 1996
First race	1995 Heartland Tailgate 175 (Heartland)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 8 0

Darrell Lee Waltrip (born February 5, 1947) is a 3-time NASCAR Cup Series champion (1981, 1982, 1985), 3-time runner-up (1979, 1983, 1986), winner of the 1989 Daytona 500 and 5-time winner of the prestigious Coca-Cola 600 (formerly the World 600), (1978, 1979, 1985, 1988, 1989, a record for any driver, all time). He posted a modern series record of 22 top five finishes in 1983, and 21 top five finishes in both 1981, and 1986. Waltrip is the winner of 84 Cup Series races, including seven consecutive wins at Bristol Motor Speedway, (a record for any driver, all-time), placing him second to Jeff Gordon for the most wins in the modern era of NASCAR, and tied with Bobby Allison for fourth on the all-time list. He is winner of 59 Cup Series pole positions (second all-time), including 35 on short tracks, and 8 on road courses (both all-time highs in the series). He has 271 top-five finishes, 390 top-ten finishes, and competed in 809 Cup Series races spanning 29 years (1972–2000).

In addition to NASCAR's top racing series, he has won 13 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series races, 7 American Speed Association (ASA) races, 3 IROC races, 2 Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) races, 2 NASCAR All-American Challenge Series events, 2 All Pro Racing Association races, a USAC race, and has competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona, a 24-hour sports car endurance race. Waltrip also holds the all-time track record with 67 wins at the Music City Motorplex, formerly Fairgrounds Speedway, in Nashville, Tennessee, counting NASCAR, USAC, ASA, and local track races.

Waltrip also became the first NASCAR driver to win $10 million (February 18, 1990). He is a 2-time winner of NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award, (1989, 1990), was "American Driver of the Year", (1979, 1981, 1982), and was "NASCAR's Driver of the Decade", (1980s). In addition, he was the "National Motorsports Press Association Driver of the Year", (1977, 1981, 1982), the "Auto Racing Digest Driver of the Year", (1981, 1982) and the first "Tennessee Professional Athlete of the Year", (1979). He is a 2003 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee and a 2005 International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee, and was announced in July, 2009, as one of the initial 25 nominees for the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame induction class of 2010. Waltrip was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998), and was awarded the Bill France "Award of Excellence", in 2000. On July 1, 2010, Waltrip was again nominated for the 2011 induction class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. On July 14, 2011, it was announced that Waltrip, in only his third year of eligibility, will be inducted as one of the five members of the class of 2012, one of only nine top series Nascar drivers to be inducted to the NASCAR Hall of Fame thus far.

Waltrip currently owns Honda, Volvo and Subaru auto dealerships in Franklin, Tennessee, and is a lead television analyst and race commentator with Fox Broadcasting Company and Speed TV, a columnist at Foxsports.com and an author. He is the older brother of NASCAR driver and MWR team owner Michael Waltrip. He is married, has two daughters, and resides in Franklin, Tennessee.

Early years[link]

Waltrip was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, February 5, 1947. Starting his driving career in Go-karts at age 12, Waltrip entered his first stock car race just four short years later. Waltrip and his father built a 1936 Chevrolet coupe and headed to a local dirt track near their Owensboro, Kentucky, home. The first night out was far from a success as the youngster, barely old enough to drive on the street, Waltrip slammed the wall and heavily damaged the coupe. Waltrip soon left the dirt and found his niche on asphalt where the smoothness he learned in the karts proved a valuable asset. He was an early racer at the Kentucky Motor Speedway (an asphalt track in Whitesville) and Ellis Raceway, a dirt track on US Highway 60 west in Daviess County, (now closed), near his Owensboro home, driving a car called 'Big 100' built by Harry Pedley, owner of Pedley's Garage, on West Second Street, in Owensboro and sponsored by R.C. Bratcher Radiator and Welding Co., also in Owensboro, and both businesses are still in business today. Waltrip's success gained the attention of Nashville owner/driver P. B. Crowell, who urged Waltrip to move to the area to race at the Music City Motorplex, at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville, where he would win two track championships, in 1970, and 1973.

Waltrip drove the #48 P. B. Crowell owned Ford sponsored by Harpeth Ford, in Franklin, Tennessee. There, he would aggressively promote the week's race when he appeared on a local television program promoting the speedway's races, and was not afraid to embrace the local media when other competitors were reluctant to do so. Some of the notorious "on air" trash-talking included making fun of some of the other local drivers such as Coo Coo Marlin (whose son Sterling) later raced at the circuit, (and is a two-time Daytona 500 winner) and James "Flookie" Buford, whose nickname he would mock on air. While some fans did not like it, it pleased track management that he was helping sell tickets, leading to packed grandstands and extra paychecks from track operators for his promotional skills. He also embraced WSM radio host Ralph Emery during his early years, forming a bond which would be influential throughout his career, as Waltrip would appear frequently on Emery's early morning television show on local Nashville television station, WSMV, and later substitute for Emery in the 1980s on Emery's television show, Nashville Now on the former TNN cable network (later, Spike TV). Waltrip would use the success he enjoyed at the Music City Motorplex, and his notoriety and public speaking skills that he acquired from television appearances in Nashville, as a springboard into NASCAR's big leagues.

NASCAR career[link]

Early years in NASCAR: 1972–1975[link]

Waltrip started in NASCAR Winston Cup, NASCAR's top racing series at age 25, on May 7, 1972, at the 1972 Winston 500, at Talladega, Alabama, the series' fastest and longest track, with a used Mercury Cyclone which was originally the 1967 Ford driven by Mario Andretti to victory in the 1967 Daytona 500. Waltrip finished 38th in his first NASCAR Winston Cup race after retiring on lap 69 due to engine failure. The car was owned by Waltrip and sponsored by Terminal Transport of Owensboro, Kentucky, Waltrip's first major sponsor.

The early years found Waltrip competing against legendary stock car racers such as Richard Petty, David Pearson, Cale Yarborough, and Bobby Allison among others. Waltrip soon earned the respect of his more experienced peers. He was given the #95 as a number but Waltrip preferred car #17 because his hero, David Pearson, had success with the number in earlier years. As an owner/driver, Waltrip ran 5 races in 1972, 14 races in 1973, 16 races in 1974, with 7 top-five finishes, and 17 races as owner/driver in 1975, with his first Winston Cup victory coming at his home track, May 10, 1975, in the Music City 420, outpacing the field by two laps at the track where he had won 2 track championships in Nashville, Tennessee, in the #17 Terminal Transport Chevrolet, a car Waltrip owned.

During the 1973 season, Waltrip drove 5 Nascar cup races for Bud Moore Engineering.

DiGard years: 1975–1980[link]

Except for five races in 1973, driving for Bud Moore Engineering, Waltrip primarily drove his own cars at the beginning of his NASCAR career until the middle of the 1975 Winston Cup season when he was signed a multi-year contract and replace driver Donnie Allison to drive the #88 DiGard Chevrolet, Waltrip's long awaited jump into the big leagues of United States stock car auto racing. The DiGard racing team was founded in part by Mike DiProspero and Bill Gardner, who were brothers-in-law, with the legendary Robert Yates as engine builder. Waltrip’s first race with DiGard came on August 17, 1975, at the Talladega 500, Talladega Superspeedway, in Talladega, Alabama, finishing 42nd after experiencing engine failure. Waltrip would compete in ten more races in the 1975 season for DiGard, sponsored by Terminal Transport, and get his second career NASCAR Winston Cup victory October 12, 1975, in the Capitol City 500, in Richmond, Virginia. He would post three top-five and four top-ten finishes in the 11 races he ran for DiGard in 1975.

DiGard Gatorade Chevrolet Monte Carlo that Waltrip drove to victory in the 1978 World 600, Concord, NC, May 28, 1978

During the early years of Waltrip's career, his wife, Stevie Waltrip, was the first NASCAR wife to attend the races and sit in the pit box, something almost all wives now do not only in NASCAR, but Formula 1, Indy Car, and most other forms of professional racing. Stevie learned to calculate gas mileage, a hugely important function in the sport, and would monitor the race listening to race communications between the crew chief and Waltrip.

In 1976, Gatorade became Waltrip’s primary sponsor as he started his first full race season at age 29, driving the DiGard Gatorade Chevrolet. Waltrip won only one NASCAR Winston Cup race in 1976, the Virginia 500, at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, but in 1977 and 1978, working with legendary Nascar crew chief Buddy Parrott, he won six times each year, including his first of four career victories at the Talladega Superspeedway, in Talladega, AL, on May 1, 1977, and his first of a record five career victories in the series' longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 (formerly the World 600), May 28, 1978. Waltrip, and Parrott, would win 21 Nascar races together from 1977 through 1980.

In the 1979 season, Waltrip won seven NASCAR Winston Cup races and was a serious contender for what would have been his first NASCAR Winston Cup Championship. At the start of the final race of the season, the Los Angeles Times 500, at Ontario Motor Speedway, Ontario, California, Waltrip led Richard Petty by a scant 2 points in the year-long championship battle after finishing the race 5th ahead of Petty's 6th place finish in the previous race, the Dixie 500, Atlanta Motor Speedway, November 4, 1979. However, Petty won an unprecedented seventh, and his final, NASCAR Winston Cup Championship by finishing the final race of the season in 5th position, as Waltrip finished 8th. The final margin of Petty's Championship victory over Waltrip was only 11 points, the third-closest points race in NASCAR Winston Cup history.

Waltrip closed out the 1970s driving the #88 DiGard Chevrolet, sponsored by Gatorade, ranked NASCAR's #2 driver, having won 22 NASCAR Winston Cup races in just 149 race starts. His aggressive driving style and outspoken demeanor earned him the nickname "Jaws", a reference to the 1975 film about a killer shark. The nickname was given to Waltrip by rival Cale Yarborough in an interview after Waltrip crashed Yarborough out of a race. Waltrip himself preferred the nicknames "D.W." or "D-Dubya" but he acknowledged Yarborough by displaying an inflatable toy shark in his pit at the next race.

Darrell Waltrip, discussing his 5th-place finish and prospects for winning his first NASCAR driving championship after the Dixie 500, Atlanta Motor Speedway, November 4, 1979, driving his DiGard Gatorade Chevrolet Monte Carlo

At the height of his NASCAR Winston Cup success in the early 1980s, fans often booed Waltrip, in large part because of his success on the track defeating more established drivers with large fan followings, but also because of his open criticism of NASCAR, his aggressive "take no prisoners", "win at all costs" approach to driving, and his public attempt to be released from his driving contract with DiGard in 1980, a year in which Waltrip won five NASCAR Winston Cup races. Still, Waltrip had a huge and devoted fan following. It was often said by race commentators and sports columnists that "you either hate him or love him".^{[citation needed]} But, Waltrip, the constant focus of national media attention, dominated all aspects of the sport in the early and middle years of the 80's.

Ironically, it was Waltrip's rival and long-time nemesis Cale Yarborough, the hard-charging, and hugely successful driver for legendary driver/owner Junior Johnson, that privately told Waltrip that he intended to cut back on his racing appearances and leave the highly coveted Junior Johnson team at the end of the 1980 season, opening the position for a new driver. Waltrip, the most successful Nascar driver at the time, was offered Nascar's top ride by Johnson, but only if Waltrip could successfully negotiate an early termination of his DiGard contract for which Waltrip was contractually obligated to drive.

Waltrip bought out his contract with DiGard, driving his final race for them November 15, 1980, freeing him to sign a new contract to drive for the former moonshine runner, former driver and car owner, the legendary Junior Johnson, starting in the 1981 season. Johnson, the subject of the movie The Last American Hero (a.k.a. Hard Driver), was convicted in 1956 for making whiskey and served 11 months of a two-year sentence. On December 26, 1986, President Ronald Reagan granted him a presidential pardon for his 1956 conviction. The Junior Johnson-prepared cars were considered by most in the sport^[who?] to be the best ride in NASCAR Winston Cup at the time.

During the late 1970s, Waltrip would begin his domination of Nascar's short track venues, especially at the Bristol International Speedway, in Bristol, Tn., Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, VA., and the Music City Motorplex, Nashville, TN.. Waltrip still holds the track record at Bristol International Speedway, for wins with 12 victories, and for pole positions at Martinsville Speedway, with 8 pole position awards. His short-track success would continue into the 1980s, and was key to his winning 3 Nascar championships.

Junior Johnson years: 1981–1986[link]

1983 Junior Johnson Pepsi Challenger Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS. The paint scheme also found its way on a Nimrod Racing Aston Martin Waltrip drove in the 1983 24 Hours of Daytona.

Waltrip's success driving the Junior Johnson prepared cars came immediately and even surpassed the highly successful years he had with DiGard. In his first two years as driver for the Mountain Dew sponsored, Junior Johnson prepared Buick Regal, Waltrip won 12 races each year, 14 pole positions in each year, and his first two NASCAR Winston Cup Championships, in 1981 and 1982. Waltrip's success and driving prowess helped to bring the Buick GNX into prominence, since he drove a Regal (whose platform spawned the GNX) during his years of sponsorship by Mountain Dew. The company later honored the Waltrip years with throwback paint schemes, once in 2006 and again in 2008.

It was during the early 1980s, with Junior Johnson, that Waltrip first worked with Jeff Hammond, a pit crewman for Johnson. Hammond was at first skeptical of Waltrip's driving style since it differed so much from the former driver for whom he worked, Cale Yarborough. Yarborough made adjustments to his driving based on the handling of the car in a particular race whereas Waltrip wanted the car adjusted around his driving style. Hammond eventually came to appreciate Waltrip's "finesse", and smooth driving style which proved highly successful. Waltrip and Hammond would benefit from each others knowledge and abilities and would work together for most of their careers in the sport. Waltrip and Hammond work together, even today, as broadcaster and analyst at Fox Sports, and Speed TV.

During the 1983 Daytona 500, on February 20, 1983, Waltrip, a pre-race favorite to win the race, driving the Junior Johnson prepared 1983 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS Pepsi Challenger, spun on lap 64, at exit of turn 4, at nearly 200 mph, as he was making an evasive maneuver to avoid rear-ending a much slower car ahead of him. Waltrip locked his brakes but the car slid for several hundred feet, then slammed hard into an earthen embankment near the entrance to pit road. The force of the impact was so violent that the car was thrown back onto the track, in front of oncoming traffic. The car then made hard contact again with the outside concrete retaining wall. The car again bounced off the concrete retaining wall, again into oncoming traffic. Cale Yarborough, the eventual winner of the race, barely avoided hitting the demolished Pepsi Challenger. Waltrip suffered a concussion and was taken to nearby Halifax Medical Center for observation and medical treatment. The crash was a wake-up call and a life-changing event for Waltrip. The years following that crash would see a different Darrell Waltrip, one who worked hard to repair and rebuild his relationship with fans and fellow drivers. Years later, Waltrip would be voted by NASCAR fans "Most Popular Driver", two years in a row, (1989, 1990).

1985 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo owned by Junior Johnson, and driven by Waltrip to the 1985 Nascar driving championship

Waltrip would continue his success driving for Junior Johnson through the 1986 NASCAR Winston Cup season, winning his third and final NASCAR Winston Cup Championship, in 1985, winning the inaugural all-star race, The Winston, in 1985, and compiling 43 additional wins. Waltrip drove his final race for Junior Johnson November 16, 1986, in a Chevrolet sponsored by Budweiser, finishing 4th, in the Winston Western 500, Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California.

Hendrick Motorsports years: 1987–1990[link]

1989 Hendrick Motorsports Tide Chevrolet Lumina

Waltrip's partnership with car owner Junior Johnson led to huge success with three national championships, and 43 NASCAR Winston Cup wins. But the connection between fast cars and alcohol consumption became a concern for Waltrip, but he began to seek other opportunities after a conversation with his friend and pastor, Cortez Cooper. Johnson had signed Budweiser to be his team's primary sponsor in 1984, which unintentionally made Waltrip one of the faces of the connection he was so concerned about.

Years before, Waltrip had opened a Honda dealership in his home town of Franklin, Tennessee, with the help of his friend, Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. During the 1986 season, Waltrip and Hendrick discussed the possibility of Waltrip joining the Hendrick organization, which fielded cars for Geoff Bodine and Tim Richmond and the two discussed the potential of Waltrip moving to a new team. Waltrip was still under contract with Johnson for the 1986 season, but following the year he was able to break the contract in a unique way. As he recounted in an interview for the Fox Sports Net series Beyond the Glory in 2001,^[1] Waltrip gained his release by purposely breaking one of Johnson's cardinal rules: asking for a raise (Johnson forbade his drivers from discussing money matters, including raises, with him). After signing, Hendrick formed a third team for Waltrip, carrying the #17 and sponsorsed by Tide.

In 1987, his first year with Hendrick Motorsports, Waltrip had limited success, compared to his previous years with Johnson. He won only 1 race and had 6 top-five finishes. In 1988, he won twice, including his fourth Coca-Cola 600 (formerly the World 600) win.

In the first scheduled NASCAR event of 1989, the 1989 Daytona 500, Waltrip won the race for the first time, in his 17th career attempt with a fuel mileage strategy along with his long-time crew-chief Jeff Hammond, making his final pit stop for fuel a distant 53 laps, (132 miles), from the finish. Most of the other cars could run no more than 45 or 46 laps on a tank of fuel, so that meant Waltrip would need to feather the throttle and "draft" off other cars in order to save enough fuel to make it to the finish without an additional pit stop. Jeff Hammond, interviewed by television pit reporters during the final stint of the race, said that his strategy was for Waltrip to "draft off anybody, and everybody", to save fuel. Even though Waltrip's car ran much slower than other cars in the last 53 laps, he was able to avoid making the additional pit stop for fuel that the other cars had to make. The strategy provided Waltrip with the track position needed to win the race. His post-race interview with CBS pit reporter Mike Joy, became famous, with Waltrip shouting "I won the Daytona 500! I won the Daytona 500! Wait, this is the Daytona 500 ain't it? ...Thank God!", accompanied by the "Ickey Shuffle" dance in Victory Lane. Waltrip later visited with Pres. George H. W. Bush, at the White House, in Washington, D.C., after his 1989 Daytona 500 win.

Waltrip's popularity as a driver would come full circle on the evening of The Winston, May 21, 1989, at Charlotte Motor Speedway. On the final lap, Waltrip was leading the race and poised to win when Rusty Wallace hit Waltrip's car exiting the 4th turn and spun Waltrip to the infield costing him the victory and the $200,000 purse. Not only was Waltrip and his crew upset at being knocked out of the victory, the 150,000 fans watching the race issued boos to the winner, Rusty Wallace. The two crews scuffled in the pits and harsh words were said after the race. Waltrip was quoted after the race as saying "I hope he chokes on it", meaning the $200,000 that Wallace collected for the victory. Waltrip's car was clearly superior to that of Wallace and, had it not been for the contact initiated by Wallace on the final lap, Waltrip would have won the all-star event. During the 1989, and 1990 seasons, Waltrip was voted Nascar's Most Popular Driver by fans.

Waltrip would win 6 NASCAR Winston Cup races in 1989, his best year with Hendrick Motorsports, and helped develop NASCAR’s version of the new Chevrolet Lumina in 1989, and delivered its first victory by winning a historic and unprecedented fifth Coca-Cola 600 (formerly the World 600), that May. Besides establishing a race record for victories, the win prepared him for a chance to win the one remaining "major race" which had eluded him since his first race at the Heinz Southern 500 at Darlington. A Darlington victory would award him a one million dollar bonus for winning three of the sport's four majors in the same season, the Daytona 500, the Winston 500, Coca-Cola 600, and the Mountain Dew Southern 500. The pressure of both the million dollar bonus and Career Grand Slam adversely affected Waltrip. He made contact with the wall early in the 1989 Southern 500 and was never a contender for winning the race, and the million dollar bonus.

For many reasons, Waltrip was unable to carry his success of the previous year into 1990. Waltrip failed to visit victory lane all season although he actually won a NASCAR Winston Cup race for which he is officially posted as finishing 2nd. The win came April 22, 1990, in the First Union 400, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in his final year with Hendrick Motorsports. 1990 was the first year since 1974, that Waltrip did not win a race. Brett Bodine was credited with the official victory, although NASCAR, and even Larry McReynolds, the crew chief at the time for Brett Bodine, later admitted to Waltrip, that Bodine did not actually win the race. Jeff Hammond, Waltrip’s crew chief, appealed to NASCAR officials to correct what was clearly an error in Nascar's scoring of the event. Waltrip even protested to NASCAR head Bill France, Jr.. Although France knew that a scoring error had been made, Bodine, had already been declared the race winner. According to Waltrip, France, told him to “leave that boy alone, D.W., that’s his first win and you are going to win a lot more races". The controversy was the result of a scoring error on the part of NASCAR when the pace car collected the wrong car after a caution flag. NASCAR spent 18 laps under caution attempting to determine the true race leader. This was before the current computerized timing and scoring technology that is now used. Bodine, actually finished the race on the tail end of the lead lap, almost a full lap behind Waltrip, but is officially credited with the win, the only victory of his career.

While practicing for his 500th career NASCAR start in the Pepsi 400, at the Daytona International Speedway, Waltrip's car spun in oil laid down by another car experiencing engine failure, and was hit by an oncoming car driven by Dave Marcis. Waltrip suffered a broken arm, a broken leg, and a concussion. He missed the Pepsi 400, but came back to run one lap at Pocono, before giving way to Jimmy Horton as a relief driver. (A driver who starts, and completes one lap, is credited the Nascar points regardless of who is driving the car at the finish). Despite missing the next five races due to his injuries, Waltrip finished 20th in driver points and the team finished 5th in owner points with substitute drivers taking turns in the car — Greg Sacks' second place finish at Michigan, in August, was the best finish of the team's season. The Jeff Hammond-led team scored only one DNF for the season, when Sarel van der Merwe crashed late in the race at Watkins Glen International Speedway, a roadcourse in Watkins Glen, NY.

Owner/driver years[link]

After his 4th season as driver for Hendrick Motorsports, Waltrip formed his own team to field cars in the 1991 NASCAR Winston Cup season. Driving his own cars had been his passion since he successfully drove his own cars in his early NASCAR career in the early and mid-'70s. He would continue his relationship with Chevrolet and drive a Chevrolet Lumina with Western Auto as the primary team sponsor. Waltrip purchased team assets, including the racing facilities, from his former owner Rick Hendrick in Charlotte, North Carolina, and hired long-time friend and crew chief, Jeff Hammond, to oversee the building of race cars and to continue as crew chief. Waltrip and Hammond enjoyed much success together as Hammond had been with Waltrip during the championship winning years with Junior Johnson, and most of the Hendrick Motorsports years, and was Waltrip's crew chief for his 1989 Daytona 500 win and 3 of his 5 Coca-Cola 600 (formerly the World 600) wins.

In the 1991 season, Waltrip visited victory lane twice, his first win in his second stint as owner/driver came in only the 7th race of the ’91 season on April 21, 1991, in the First Union 400, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. His second win of the year came in the 13th race of the season on June 16, 1991, in the Champion Spark Plug 500, at Pocono Raceway, in Long Pond, Pennsylvania.

Just two races after celebrating his second win of 1991, Waltrip would again be involved in another serious crash, again at the Daytona International Speedway, in Daytona Beach, Florida. It came after completing the 119th of 160 laps on the 2.5 mile superspeedway. Waltrip and driver Alan Kulwicki were racing side by side, leading a large grouping of cars, battling for 5th position. The car drafting Alan Kulwicki bumped the Kulwicki car, causing his car to hit Waltrip’s Western Auto Chevrolet at speeds approaching 200 mph on the long backstretch. Waltrip’s car slowed and was collected by driver Joe Ruttman’s car, both cars sliding sideways several hundred feet on the grassy infield. The tires of Waltrip’s car clipped the edge of an access road causing it to become airborne and tumbling end over end several times before coming to a stop, up-side down, in a grassy area near turn 3. Waltrip was extricated and only suffered minor injuries but many feared that he could have re-injured his shattered leg from the crash at the same track the previous year. (Slow-motion video and still photography showed that Waltrip's left arm was outside the car as the car tumbled, and came to rest). Waltrip still had a plate in his left leg from the compound fractures he suffered in the earlier crash at the Pepsi 400, at the Daytona International Speedway. Waltrip would compete in the following race, the summer race at the Pocono Raceway, in Long Pond, Pennsylvania, but was crashed again when driver Ernie Irvan spun driver Hut Stricklin, in front of almost the entire field. Waltrip won the year's spring race at the track just 5 weeks before.

Waltrip finished the first year of his second stint as owner/driver 8th in the overall NASCAR Winston Cup points championship, after being as high as 3rd place after 14 races. His first year was generally viewed as a successful first year outing. However, Waltrip was now 44 years old, had children, and had many pressures as owner/driver that he did not concern himself with driving for multi-million dollar, highly financed race teams, such as Hendrick Motorsports.

In 1992, Waltrip collected three more wins, including the Mountain Dew Southern 500, a race held at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina, USA, September 6, 1992, (the last major race which had eluded his 20-year career), and finished 9th in points, after being as high as 6th after 22 races. That would be Waltrip’s 84th, and final NASCAR career victory, tying him with Bobby Allison for what was then third on the all-time list, behind Richard Petty, with 200 wins, and David Pearson, with 105 wins. Both he and Allison have since been passed by Jeff Gordon, who currently has 85 wins.

In 1993, Waltrip signed former Richard Childress Racing engine builder Lou LaRosa, to build engines, and Barry Dodson, a former championship winning crew chief. He posted four top ten finishes, but did not finish higher than third. 1994 saw him make his final appearance in the top ten in championship points by finishing 9th. He had a then unprecedented streak over two seasons, of 40 races, without a DNF, all with in-house engines. His only engine failure in the season was after the car crossed the finish line. Waltrip finished 16th in points in 1995 when he crashed at The Winston, and was forced to let relief drivers take over for several weeks. His second half of the season was highlighted by his final career pole position at the NAPA 500.

Waltrip in his 1997 Western Auto Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

In 1996, Waltrip posted two top-ten finishes. Western Auto remained the sponsor as part of Waltrip's 25th anniversary celebration. While the year was one of Waltrip's most profitable, his results continued to fall off.

At the 1997 UAW-GM Quality 500, Waltrip failed to qualify for the first time in over 20 years as Terry Labonte also failed to make the race. Because Labonte was a more recent Cup champion (in fact, he was the defending Cup champion that season), he was able to take the past champion's provisional. Waltrip, who was 20th in owner points, was too low in the owner points position to make the race (only the top four in owner points of cars not in the field, excluding the most recent former champion not in the field, were added after qualifying under 1997 rules). After the season, Waltrip and his team were struggling to find sponsors, but were able to put together a last-minute deal with the Ohio-based company Speedblock for 1998. Speedblock only paid portions of what was promised, and the deal was canceled. Waltrip’s team at this point was nearly bankrupt, and he sold the team to Tim Beverly.

Beverly chose not to race the team immediately, instead choosing to rebuild the team (now part of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. after two sales and a merger). During this time, Waltrip signed with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. to drive the #1 Pennzoil Chevy, filling in for injured rookie Steve Park. During his tenure with DEI, Waltrip posted a fifth place finish at the California 500, and led in the final stages of the Pocono 500 and finished sixth. In 2008, Waltrip admitted the reason that he failed as a driver-owner team was because he thought like a driver, not as an owner.^[2]

Waltrip officially won 84 NASCAR cup races, but yet another, additional, and uncounted "win" was as relief driver for Donnie Allison, at the 1977 Talladega 500. (Allison received credit for the win because he was driving the car when the race started). In that race, Waltrip retired after 106, of 188, laps. Allison sought a relief driver for his #1 Hawaiian Tropic sponsored Chevrolet, due to the excess heat of the day, and Waltrip was asked to complete the race in Allison's car. The irony was that Waltrip replaced Allison at the DiGard #88 race team just two years previously, which was part of the long lore of the "Allisons vs Waltrip" battle that lasted for more than 16 years.

His 84 wins in the Cup series are tied for fourth place in NASCAR history, with Bobby Allison. In 2011, Jeff Gordon scored his 85th career victory surpassing both Waltrip, and Allison, as third for most wins in the "modern era" of NASCAR. (Nascar's "modern era" takes into account current scheduling, and the elimination of dirt tracks from scoring statistics).

Final years of racing[link]

At the Brickyard 400, Beverly returned the team as the #35 Chevrolet Monte Carlo with Tabasco sauce sponsorship. A sponsorship conflict with Tabasco would switch the team to the Pontiac Grand Prix. Waltrip resigned at the end of the season. After a brief flirtation with retirement, Waltrip signed to drive the #66 Big K Ford Taurus for Haas-Carter Motorsports, and teammate with Jimmy Spencer. Waltrip failed to qualify seven times during that season with a new qualifying rule for the Past Champion's Provisional. During his retirement year of 2000, Waltrip's best run came at the Brickyard 400, where he qualified on the outside pole and finished eleventh. His final race came November 19, 2000, in the Napa 500, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he posted a 34th place finish in the Haas-Carter Motorsports owned #66 Route66 Big K Ford Taurus. He finished 36th in points that season.

Craftsman Truck Series[link]

In 1995, Waltrip built a Craftsman Truck Series team, and found success by 1997, when Rich Bickle, finished second in overall season standings winning three races, and made Waltrip one of the few car owners to have won races in NASCAR's three national series. When Sears ceased sponsorship of the team in 1997, Waltrip suspended his truck team, not returning until 2004, when he re-entered the series as an owner and part of Toyota's NASCAR development program.

Announcing career[link]

Waltrip taping a segment for Fox Sports

After his 2000 retirement, Waltrip signed with Fox, to be lead NASCAR analyst and race commentator on the network's NASCAR telecasts, teaming with Mike Joy and Larry McReynolds. Waltrip had previously appeared on several IROC broadcasts for ABC, prior to his signing during the 1999, and 2000 seasons. Waltrip also appeared on many Busch Series races on TNN with Mike Joy, in 1994 and 1995, on weekends when Winston Cup was not participating.

Waltrip began his career with Fox, in the 2001 Daytona 500, the first race of 2001. His younger brother, Michael Waltrip, won the race, but Michael's victory was overshadowed by the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt. Earnhardt and Waltrip were bitter rivals on the track during the 1980s. Earnhardt envied Waltrip's status as Nascar's top driver. But, as the year's passed, the rivalry and bitterness gave way to a deep respect and close friendship between the two. On the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, Waltrip's joy at his brother's victory turned to sadness and grief on live national television as Waltrip called the final moments of the race. Earnhardt's car made contact with the car driven by Sterling Marlin, as the Earnhardt car drifted low on the track into the path of Marlin, probably attempting a blocking maneuver so that either Michael Waltrip or Dale Earnhardt, Jr., could win the race. Both cars, that of Michael Waltrip, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. were fielded by DEI, although Earnhardt (Sr) himself, drove for RCR. After Earnhardt's car contacted the Marlin car, Earnhardt's car suddenly veered right, and slammed hard into the retaining wall in turn four while simultaneously being contacted by the car driven by Ken Schrader. This was before Nascar mandated the "SAFER" (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers used at all Nascar tracks today. After the cars of Earnhardt and Schrader came to rest in the infield, Schrader immediately exited his car and went to the attention of Earnhardt. Schrader gestured for the rescue crews to hurry to the Earnhardt car, but Earnhardt had passed away. Waltrip was later taken from the Fox Broadcast booth to the Halifax Medical Center, to meet with the Earnhardt family and later gave the invocation at his funeral.

A week after Daytona, Waltrip interviewed NASCAR President Mike Helton for a pre-race segment during the broadcast at North Carolina Speedway (Rockingham). Waltrip believed that four deaths in the previous ten months, all caused by basilar skull fractures incurred in accidents, were too many, and was not shy about asking Helton for an explanation. Helton's responses irritated Waltrip, who was referred to by one magazine as "acting a lot more like the next Mike Wallace (of 60 Minutes) than the next John Madden."

He then pushed for mandatory head-and-neck restraints, and two weeks later, demonstrated the device during the broadcast in Atlanta Motor Speedway, explaining the device. Seven months later, NASCAR mandated the devices after a crash during an ARCA Re/Max Series race, held after qualifying for the UAW-GM Quality 500, killed driver Blaise Alexander.^[3]

As the cars take the green flag to start each race, Waltrip shouts "Boogity, boogity, boogity, let's go racing boys!" This somewhat nonsensical phrase has become Waltrip's trademark in recent years. (The phrase "boogity, boogity, boogity" also appears in the 1960 doo wop parody "Who Put the Bomp" by Barry Mann.) Humble Pie used the shorter phrase "boogity-boogity" in their 1970 song "Red Light Mama, Red Hot". Ray Stevens used the phrase throughout his 1974 hit, The Streak. Jerry Reed also said this phrase in the 1977 movie "Smokey and the Bandit." Interestingly, Waltrip was featured on a 1992 home video from Ray Stevens entitled the Amazing Rolling Revue. In this home video Waltrip played the part of the out of control driver of the tour bus/rolling venue. Waltrip explained that the catchphrase arose because, as a driver, he grew tired of hearing his spotter or crew chief say "green, green, green" at the start of every race and wanted to hear something more original. The catchphrase is always preceded by fellow analyst and former crew chief Larry McReynolds telling Waltrip to "reach up there and pull those belts tight one more time!"

He also lends his unique wordings to his commentary, talking about "co-opitition" when racers work together, but keep each other under a watchful eye, "s'purnce" when talking about driving skills of a veteran driver, and "using the chrome horn", when a driver somewhat purposefully bumps a car that's in the way (bumpers on cars used to be made of metal and coated in chrome). In early 2007, Waltrip was nominated for an Emmy in the category "Outstanding Event Analyst".

In March, 2011, FOX awarded Waltrip a 2-year contract extension, taking him through 2014, the same year the network’s NASCAR contract ends.

Currently[link]

Waltrip fielded a Toyota sponsored by Japanese industrial giant NTN for his Craftsman Truck Series team in 2004. David Reutimann drove the truck for the team and earned Rookie of the Year honors that year. Waltrip's team expanded to two trucks in 2005. In August 2005, the revived Darrell Waltrip Motorsports won its first race, the Toyota Tundra 200 at Nashville Superspeedway with Reutimann driving. During the 2007 season, A.J. Allmendinger drove the #00 Red Bull Toyota but with minimal success. By years end the team was sold to The Racer's Group, a road racing operation.

Waltrip has made occasional starts (three or less each year) in the Craftsman Truck Series and Busch Series since his "retirement" in 2000. Each of these races have been either at Martinsville Speedway or Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Waltrip was the honorary starter at the 2007 Food City 500 and was also the honorary starter for the 2008 Gatorade Duel as Gatorade was one of Waltrip's former sponsors. He also started/completed a Busch Series race at Martinsville in his brother's "Aaron's Dream Machine" after appearing in ads in 2003–2005 begging his brother to drive the Aaron's Dream Machine.

In 2009, he appeared in commercials for Rejuvenate Auto with his #11 Mountain Dew Chevrolet. Waltrip also appeared in Fox public service announcements for breast cancer awareness.

In 2010, and 2011, Waltrip voiced his support for saving the old Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, now known as the Music City Motorplex, in Nashville. The speedway was first opened in 1904, and hosted a weekly racing series for decades. It is the track where Waltrip first had success at weekly racing events in the 60's and 70's, winning two track championships and where his first Nascar victory came May 10, 1975. The speedway and adjacent Tennessee State Fairgrounds, is located in an urban area of south Nashville, only 2 miles from its downtown business district. Some residents living close to the speedway have complained of noise and many local politicians have proposed closing the speedway and developing the property.

Currently, Waltrip continues as a race commentator for Fox Broadcasting Company and Speed TV, and remains active in the sport. In March, 2011, FOX announced that Waltrip would continue as their lead Nascar analyst and race commentator through 2014.

Legacy[link]

Waltrip is recognized by many who closely follow motorsports as NASCAR's first "total package" driver. He was media savvy, articulate, attractive and possessed the driving skills that would take him to the pinnacle of the sport. His style attracted big-budget sponsors that are necessary to fund the multi-million dollar NASCAR teams. Today, it is customary for the team's sponsor to have considerable input into who the team's driver will be that represents their brand or product on the track. Today's NASCAR driver fits the mold that Waltrip first ushered in to NASCAR in the 1970s.

As a Fox Sports analyst and broadcaster, Waltrip's opinions, views and comments carry considerable weight with drivers, team owners, fans and NASCAR heads. Waltrip has never been shy about expressing his views, even if controversial. His critical comments about safety have played a significant role in many safety innovations current drivers enjoy today. As is his custom he has yet again raised eyebrows by announcing Danica Patrick as the "face of Nascar" during prereace interviews before the 2012 Daytona 500. Ms. Patrick has yet to win a NASCAR sponsored event.

Waltrip has been a design consultant on some of the newer tracks including the Kentucky Motor Speedway, and the Nashville Superspeedway.

Waltrip has a building which holds many of the race cars he drove throughout his career.

On June 14, 2011, he was selected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2012.

Media appearances[link]

Film and television[link]

Waltrip's entertainment appearances were influenced by his early 1970s work with Ralph Emery in Nashville radio and television, and that led to his work as a fill-in for Emery.

In the 1980s and 1990s, he would substitute for Emery on The Nashville Network's Nashville Now and later hosted himself the network's two successor variety shows, "Music City Tonight" and "Prime Time Country".

Waltrip worked on Days of Thunder as Hendrick Motorsports was a major provider of cars and drivers (he helped hire Bobby Hamilton for the project), and one of his injury substitutes was lead stunt driver Greg Sacks.

Waltrip has twice been a presenter at the GMA (Gospel Music Association) Music Awards, partnering with Kathy Troccoli both times. In 1999, they presented the "Song of the Year" award to Mitch McVicker and Rich Mullins for "My Deliverer". Rich Mullins and Mitch McVicker were thrown from their truck after not wearing seat belts, and Mullins was killed in the accident.

In 2006, Waltrip and Nicole C. Mullen hosted a DirecTV special, Songs of Faith. Also in 2006, he played a color commentator for the Disney/Pixar movie Cars. He played the role as Darrell Cartrip, an obvious pun on his name. Waltrip reprised that role in Cars 2, which premiered in June 2011. He also appeared in the broadcast booth in the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby where his phrase was "in racing you have good days and bad days and Ricky Bobby just had himself a bad day". On December 15, 2006, Waltrip played the role of Mother Ginger in the Nashville Ballet's production of The Nutcracker.

He currently appears in advertisements for Toyota and Aaron's alongside his brother, Michael, where his gimmick is constantly asking Michael's permission to drive the Aaron's Dream Machine (a nickname for the #99 Nationwide Series car). Waltrip has also made a number of appearances in "comedic" segments appearing during his actual Fox broadcasts.

He was featured in two NASCAR Series videos Darrell Waltrip: Quicksilver which explained Waltrip's career and future and he appeared in the NASCAR Video series where he teaches helpful driving tips for driving on the freeway and long-distance drives.

In February, 2011, Waltrip appeared in The Day which was a one hour documentary about the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt at the 2001 Daytona 500.

Books and magazines[link]

Waltrip has also been successful in the publishing field. In September 1994, he was featured as the cover story in Guideposts.

His autobiography, DW: A Lifetime Going Around in Circles, was a New York Times best-seller when it was released around the 2004 Daytona 500. The book was co-written with Jade Gurss.

In May 2004, Waltrip became the second sports figure to be featured in former NBA player and basketball coach Jay Carty's One-on-One series of devotional books. Darrell Waltrip One-on-One: The Faith that Took Him to the Finish Line is a sixty-day devotional book featuring Waltrip's stories and how they can relate to Christian faith, and Carty's devotionals. (The series also features John Wooden and Mike Singletary.)

See also[link]

• Michael Waltrip
• Darrell Waltrip Motorsports

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Darrell Waltrip

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Darrell Waltrip

• Career Stats – NASCAR.com
• Online column on Foxsports.com
• Darrell Waltrip at the Internet Movie Database
• Darrell Waltrip at DWSTORE.com
• Darrell Waltrip at Yahoo! Movies
• Darrell Waltrip at DWHONDAVOLVO.com
• Darrell Waltrip at ALLWALTRIP.COM
• Darrell Waltrip at DARRELL WALTRIP MOTORSPORTS

Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Dale Earnhardt late 1990s
Born	(1951-04-29)April 29, 1951 Kannapolis, North Carolina
Died	February 18, 2001(2001-02-18) (aged 49) Daytona Beach, Florida[1]
Cause of death	Basilar skull fracture from crash in Turn 4 on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
Achievements	Winston Cup Series Champion (1980, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994) 1998 Daytona 500 Champion Winston All-Star Race Winner (III, VI, IX) IROC Champion (1990, 1995, 1999, 2000)
Awards	NASCAR Winston Cup Rookie of the Year (1979) Named as one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers NASCAR Most Popular Driver (2001) 2002 Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductee 2006 International Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductee 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
677 race(s) run over 27 year(s)
Best finish	1st (1980, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994)
First race	1975 World 600 (Charlotte)
Last race	2001 Daytona 500 (Daytona)
First win	1979 Southeastern 500 (Bristol)
Last win	2000 Winston 500 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles 76 428 22

Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Sr. (April 29, 1951 – February 18, 2001)^[1] was an American race car driver, best known for his involvement in stock car racing for NASCAR. Born to race car driver Ralph Lee Earnhardt, Earnhardt began his career in 1975 when he drove in the 1975 World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway as part of the Winston Cup Series (later the Sprint Cup Series).

During the course of his career, Earnhardt won a total of 76 races (including one Daytona 500 victory in 1998). He earned seven championships, which is tied for the most all time with Richard Petty. His aggressive driving style earned him the nickname "The Intimidator".

While driving in the 2001 Daytona 500, Earnhardt died of basilar skull fracture in a last-lap crash at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2001.^[2][3] He has been inducted into numerous halls of fame, including the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Early life and personal life[link]

Earnhardt was born in Kannapolis, North Carolina, on April 29, 1951, to Martha Coleman and Ralph Lee Earnhardt, who was then one of the best short-track drivers in North Carolina. Ralph won his one and only NASCAR Sportsman Championship in 1956 at Greenville Pickens Speedway in Greenville, South Carolina. Although Ralph did not want his son to follow in his footsteps, Earnhardt would not be persuaded to give up his dream of racing, dropping out of school to race. Ralph was a hard teacher for Earnhardt, and after Ralph died of a heart attack at his home in 1973, it took many years before Earnhardt felt as though he had finally "proven" himself to his father. Earnhardt had four siblings, Danny, Randy, Cathy, and Kaye.

When Earnhardt was 17, he married his first wife, Latane Brown, in 1968. Brown gave birth to Earnhardt's first son, Kerry Earnhardt, in 1969. They were subsequently divorced in 1970. In 1971, Earnhardt married his second wife, Brenda Gee (the daughter of NASCAR car builder Robert Gee), who gave birth to a daughter, Kelley King, in 1972, and a son, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., in 1974. Not long after Earnhardt, Jr. was born, Dale and Brenda divorced. Dale then married his last wife, Teresa Houston (niece of Nascar driver Tommy Houston) in 1982, who gave birth to their daughter, Taylor Nicole in 1988.

NASCAR career[link]

Early Winston Cup career[link]

Earnhardt began his professional career at the Winston Cup in 1975, making his debut at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina in the longest race on the Cup circuit, the World 600. Earnhardt drove an Ed Negre Dodge Charger(#8) and finished 22nd in the race, one place ahead of his future car owner, Richard Childress. Earnhardt competed in 8 more races until 1979, when he joined car owner Rod Osterlund Racing, in a season that included a rookie class of future stars – Earnhardt, Harry Gant and Terry Labonte.

In his rookie season, Earnhardt won one race at Bristol, captured four poles, had 11 Top 5 finishes, 17 Top 10 finishes, and finished 7th in the points standings, in spite of missing four races because of a broken collarbone, winning Rookie of the Year honors.

In his sophomore season, Earnhardt, now with 20-year old Doug Richert as his crew chief, began the season winning the Busch Clash. With wins at Atlanta, Bristol, Nashville, Martinsville, and Charlotte, Earnhardt won his first Winston Cup championship. To this day, Earnhardt is the only driver in NASCAR Winston Cup history to follow a Rookie of the Year title with a NASCAR Winston Cup Championship the next season. He was the third driver in NASCAR history to win both the Rookie of the Year and Cup Series championship in his career, joining David Pearson and Richard Petty. Only 5 drivers have joined this exclusive club since - Rusty Wallace, Alan Kulwicki, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, and Matt Kenseth.

1983 racecar

In 1981, after Osterlund sold his team to J.D. Stacy, Earnhardt left for Richard Childress Racing, and finished the season 7th in the points standings but winless. The following year, at Childress' suggestion, Earnhardt joined car owner Bud Moore for the 1982 and 1983 seasons driving the No. 15 Wrangler Jeans Ford Thunderbird (Earnhardt's only full-time Ford ride in his career). During the 1982 season, Earnhardt struggled. Although he won at Darlington, he failed to finish 15 races, and completed the season 12th in points, the worst of his career. He also suffered a broken knee cap at Pocono Raceway when he flipped after contact with Tim Richmond. In 1983, Earnhardt rebounded and won his first of 12 Twin 125 Daytona 500 qualifying races. Earnhardt won at Nashville and at Talladega, finishing eighth in the points standings.

Return to Richard Childress Racing[link]

After the 1983 season, Earnhardt returned to Richard Childress Racing, replacing Ricky Rudd in the #3. Rudd went to Bud Moore's No. 15, replacing Earnhardt. Wrangler sponsored both drivers at their respective teams. During the 1984 and 1985 seasons, Earnhardt visited victory lane six times, at Talladega, Atlanta, Richmond, Bristol (twice), and Martinsville, where he finished fourth and eighth in the season standings, respectively.

The 1986 season saw Earnhardt win his second career Winston Cup Championship and the first owner's championship for RCR. He won five races and had ten Top 5 and sixteen Top 10 finishes. Earnhardt successfully defended his championship the following year, visiting victory lane eleven times and winning the championship by 489 points over Bill Elliott. In the process, Earnhardt set a NASCAR modern era record of four consecutive wins and won five of the first seven races. In the 1987 season, Earnhardt earned his nickname "The Intimidator" after spinning out Elliott in the final segment of "The Winston", a non-points event now known as the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race. During this race, Earnhardt was briefly forced into the infield grass, but kept control of his car and returned to the track without giving up his lead — a maneuver now referred to as the "Pass in the Grass" even though Earnhardt actually didn't pass and couldn't have passed anyone for position as he was in the lead at the time.

The 1988 season saw Earnhardt racing with a new sponsor, GM Goodwrench, which replaced Wrangler Jeans. During this season Earnhardt garnered a second nickname, "The Man in Black", owing to the black paint scheme in which the No. 3 car was painted. He was also called "Darth Vader" more than once because of the black uniform and car, adding to his notoriety as a driver who would wreck any car he could not pass. He won three times in 1988, finishing third in the points standings behind Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace. The following year, Earnhardt won five times, but a late spin out at North Wilkesboro arguably cost him the 1989 championship, as Rusty Wallace edged out Earnhardt for the championship.

1990s[link]

As part of a Winston No Bull 5 fan contest, Earnhardt drives a Bomb Lift Truck and attempts to load an AIM-120 advanced medium-range air-to-air missile (AMRAAM) missile as he competes in a load crew competition at Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, September 2000. Coincidentally, this position on a load crew is known unofficially as a "Jammer Driver" or more officially as a Number 3 man.

The 1990 season started for Earnhardt with victories in the Busch Clash and his heat of the Gatorade Twin 125s. Near the end of the Daytona 500, he had a four-second lead when the final caution flag came out with a handful of laps to go. When the green flag waved, Earnhardt was leading Derrike Cope. On the final lap, Earnhardt ran over a piece of metal in the final turn, cutting a tire. Cope, in an upset, won the race while Earnhardt finished fifth. The No. 3 Goodwrench Chevy team took the flat tire that cost them the win and hung it on the shop wall as a reminder of how close they'd come to winning the Daytona 500. Earnhardt went on to win nine races this season and won his fourth Winston Cup title, beating Mark Martin by 26 points. Earnhardt also became the first repeat winner of the annual all-star race, The Winston.

The 1991 season saw Earnhardt win his fifth Winston Cup championship. He scored just four wins, but won the championship by 195 points over Ricky Rudd. One of his wins that year came at North Wilkesboro, in a race where Harry Gant had a chance to set a single-season record by winning his fifth consecutive race, breaking a record held by Earnhardt. Late in the race Gant lost his brakes, which gave Earnhardt the chance he needed to make the pass for the win and maintain his record.

Earnhardt's only win of the 1992 season came at Charlotte, in the Coca-Cola 600, ending a 13-race win streak by Ford teams. Earnhardt finished a career-low 12th in the points for the second time in his career, and the only time he had finished that low since joining RCR. Earnhardt still made the trip to the annual Awards Banquet with Rusty Wallace but did not have the best seat in the house. Wallace states he and Earnhardt had to sit on the backs of their chairs to see and Earnhardt said "This sucks, I could have gone hunting".^[4] At the end of the year, longtime crew chief Kirk Shelmerdine left to become a driver. Andy Petree took over as crew chief.

Hiring Petree turned out to be beneficial, as the No. 3 GM Goodwrench Chevy returned to the front in 1993. Earnhardt once again came close to a win at the Daytona 500, and dominated Speedweeks before finishing second to Dale Jarrett on a last-lap pass. Earnhardt scored six wins en route to his sixth Winston Cup title, including wins in the Coca-Cola 600 and The Winston at Charlotte, and the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. Earnhardt beat Rusty Wallace for the championship by 80 points.

Dale's 1994 racecar

In 1994, Earnhardt achieved a feat that he himself had believed to be impossible – he scored his seventh Winston Cup championship, tying the legendary Richard Petty. Earnhardt was very consistent, scoring four wins, and after Ernie Irvan was sidelined due to a near-deadly crash at Michigan (the two were neck-and-neck at the top of the points up until the crash), won title by over 400 points over Mark Martin. Earnhardt sealed the deal at Rockingham by winning the race over Rick Mast. Although Earnhardt continued to dominate in the seasons ahead, this would be his final NASCAR championship.

Earnhardt started off the 1995 season by finishing second in the Daytona 500 to Sterling Marlin. He won 5 races in 1995, including his first road course victory at Sears Point. He also won the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a win he called the biggest of his career. But in the end, Earnhardt lost the championship to Jeff Gordon by just 34 points.

Earnhardt began 1996 with a repeat of 1993 – he dominated Speedweeks only to finish second in the Daytona 500 to Dale Jarrett for a second time. Earnhardt won early in the year, scoring consecutive victories at Rockingham and Atlanta. In late July in the DieHard 500 at Talladega, he was in the points lead and looking for his eighth title despite the departure of crew chief Andy Petree. Late in the race, Ernie Irvan lost control of his No. 28 Havoline Ford Thunderbird, igniting a frightening crash that saw Earnhardt's No. 3 Chevrolet hit the tri-oval wall nearly head-on at almost 200 miles per hour. After hitting the wall, Earnhardt's car flipped and slid across the track, in front of race-traffic. His car was hit in the roof and windshield, and the accident led NASCAR to mandate the "Earnhardt Bar", a metal brace located in the center of the windshield that reinforces the roof in case of a similar crash.

Rain-delays had canceled the live telecast of the race and most fans first learned of the accident during the night's sports newscasts. Video of the crash showed what appeared to be a fatal incident, but once medical workers arrived at the car, Earnhardt climbed out and waved to the crowd, refusing to be loaded onto a stretcher despite a broken collarbone, sternum, and shoulder blade. Many thought the incident would end his season early, but Earnhardt refused to give up. The next week at Indianapolis, he started the race but exited the car on the first pit stop, allowing Mike Skinner to take the wheel. When asked, Earnhardt said that vacating the No. 3 car was the hardest thing he'd ever done. The following weekend at Watkins Glen, he drove the No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet to the fastest time in qualifying, earning the "True Grit" pole. T-shirts emblazoned with Earnhardt's face were quickly printed up, brandishing the caption, "It Hurt So Good." Earnhardt led most of the race and looked to have victory in hand, but fatigue finally took its toll and Earnhardt ended up 6th, behind race winner Geoff Bodine. Earnhardt did not win again in 1996, but still finished 4th in the standings behind Terry Labonte, Jeff Gordon and Dale Jarrett. David Smith departed as crew chief of the No. 3 team and RCR at the end of the year for personal reasons, and was replaced by Larry McReynolds.

In 1997, Earnhardt went winless for only the second time in his career. The only (non-points) win came during Speedweeks at Daytona in the Twin 125-mile qualifying race, his record 8th straight win in the event. Once again in the hunt for the Daytona 500 with 10 laps to go, Earnhardt was taken out of contention by a late crash which sent his car upside down on the backstretch. Earnhardt hit the low point of his year when he blacked out early in the Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington in September, causing him to hit the wall. Afterward, he was disoriented and it took several laps before he could find his pit stall. When asked, Earnhardt complained of double vision which made it difficult to pit. Mike Dillon (Richard Childress's son-in-law) was brought in to relieve Earnhardt for the remainder of the race. Earnhardt was evaluated at a local hospital and cleared to race the very next week, but the cause of the blackout and double vision was never determined. Despite no wins, the RCR team finished the season 5th in the final standings.

1998 saw Earnhardt win the Daytona 500 after not winning in the previous 19 attempts. Earnhardt began the season by winning his Twin 125-mile qualifier race for the ninth straight year. On race day, Earnhardt showed himself to be a contender early. Halfway through the race, however, it seemed that Jeff Gordon had the upper hand. But by lap 138, Earnhardt had taken the lead, and thanks to a push by teammate Mike Skinner, he was able to maintain it. Earnhardt made it to the to the caution checkered flag before Bobby Labonte. Afterwards, there was a large show of respect for Earnhardt, in which every crew member of every team lined pit road to shake his hand as he made his way to victory lane. Earnhardt then drove his No. 3 into the infield grass, starting a trend of post-race celebrations. He spun the car twice, throwing grass and leaving tire tracks in the shape of a No. 3 in the grass. Earnhardt then spoke about the victory, saying "I have had a lot of great fans and people behind me all through the years and I just can't thank them enough. The Daytona 500 is ours. We won it! We won it! We won it!" Unfortunately, the rest of the season did not go as well, and The Great American Race was his only victory that year. He slipped to 12th in the standings halfway through the season, and Richard Childress decided to make a crew chief change, taking Mike Skinner's crew chief Kevin Hamlin and putting him with Earnhardt while giving Skinner Larry McReynolds. Earnhardt was able to climb back to 8th in the final standings.

Before the 1999 season, fans began discussing Earnhardt's age and speculating that with his son, Dale Jr. getting into racing, Earnhardt might be contemplating retirement. Earnhardt swept both races for the year at Talladega, leading most observers to conclude that Earnhardt's talent had become limited to the restrictor plate tracks, which require a unique skill set and an exceptionally powerful car to win. But halfway through the year, Earnhardt began to show some of the old spark. In the August race at Michigan International Speedway, Earnhardt led laps late in the race and nearly pulled off his first win on a non-restrictor plate track since 1996.

One week later, he provided NASCAR with one of its most controversial moments. At the August Bristol race, Earnhardt found himself in contention to win his first short track race since Martinsville in 1995. When a caution came out with 15 laps to go, leader Terry Labonte got hit from behind by the lapped car of Darrell Waltrip. His spin put Earnhardt in the lead with 5 cars between him and Labonte with 5 laps to go. Labonte had four fresh tires and Earnhardt was driving on old tires, which made Earnhardt's car considerably slower. Labonte caught Earnhardt and passed him coming to the white flag, but Earnhardt drove hard into turn two, bumping Labonte and spinning him around. Dale went on to collect the win while spectators booed and made obscene gestures. "I didn't mean to turn him around, I just wanted to rattle his cage", Earnhardt said of the incident. Earnhardt finished 7th in the standings that year, and looked like a contender again.

In the 2000 season, Earnhardt had a resurgence, which some attributed to neck surgery he underwent to correct a lingering injury from his 1996 Talladega crash. He scored what many considered the two most exciting wins of the year – winning by .006 seconds over Bobby Labonte at Atlanta, then gaining seventeen positions in the final four laps to win at Talladega, claiming his only No Bull million dollar bonus. Earnhardt also enjoyed strong second-place runs at Richmond and Martinsville, tracks where he'd struggled through the late '90s. On the strength of these performances, Earnhardt took the No. 3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet Monte Carlo to 2nd in the standings. However, poor performances at the road course of Watkins Glen, where he wrecked coming out of the chicane, a wreck with Chad Little while leading the spring race at Bristol, and mid-pack runs at intermediate tracks like Charlotte and Dover in a season dominated by the Ford Taurus in those tracks of Roush, Yates, and Penske, coupled with the extremely consistent Joe Gibb's No. 18 team with Bobby Labonte, denied Earnhardt the coveted eighth championship title.

Death[link]

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In the weeks before the 2001 Daytona 500, Earnhardt elected not to attend the annual fan and media preview event, drawing vocal criticism from fellow driver Jimmy Spencer. On February 3 and 4, 2001, the first time in his career, Earnhardt participated in the Rolex 24 endurance race at Daytona, the event which kicks off Speedweeks at the track. His team, which also featured drivers Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Andy Pilgrim, and Kelly Collins, finished 4th overall and 2nd in class.^[5]

Ultimately, however, 2001 Speedweeks would be the first in many years that Earnhardt failed to win at least one race. In the first NASCAR-sanctioned event of Speedweeks, the Budweiser Shootout, Earnhardt finished second to Tony Stewart. Earnhardt was also denied victory in the Gatorade Twin 125 qualifying race in which he participated. Earnhardt had won every Twin 125 event he competed in during the 1990s, and was poised to win again in 2001 when Sterling Marlin pulled off a slingshot pass going down the backstretch, taking the victory away from Earnhardt.

On the morning of the 2001 Daytona 500, Earnhardt appeared confident and relaxed. When the race started, Earnhardt showed early promise, leading the race and maintaining a front-running position for most of the event.

A multi-car wreck on lap 173 eliminated several cars in spectacular fashion, including Jeff Gordon, Jerry Nadeau, Mark Martin, Jason Leffler, Ward Burton, Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon, Andy Houston, John Andretti and Bobby Labonte. Stewart, who had beaten Earnhardt in the Budweiser Shootout, had his car flip several times midair on the backstretch. The race was red flagged to clean up the wrecked cars, and when the race resumed, it was Earnhardt and DEI drivers Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip who were running up front. As the laps wound down, Waltrip was leading Earnhardt Jr. and Earnhardt.

On the front stretch, with three laps to go, Earnhardt made contact with Sterling Marlin's front right fender. Earnhardt's car wiggled but he kept control and he remained in third position. Marlin was known for having a fast car throughout the race, and Earnhardt repeatedly blocked his attempts at passing during the last few laps. With less than two laps remaining, Darrell Waltrip in the booth commented that "Sterling has beat the front end off of that old Dodge [Marlin's car] trying to get around Dale [Earnhardt]".

Heading into Turn 3 on the last lap, Earnhardt held third and was running in the middle lane of traffic. Marlin was behind him and running the bottom lane, while Rusty Wallace's navy blue #2 Miller Lite Ford was directly behind Earnhardt and Ken Schrader was above Earnhardt riding the high lane in his yellow #36 M&M's Pontiac.

On Turn 4, Marlin came into contact with the left rear on Earnhardt's vehicle. Earnhardt slid off the track's steep banking, onto the flat apron. Trying to correct at speed, he turned sharply up the track toward the outside retaining wall. Although it briefly looked as though Earnhardt was going to avoid hitting the wall, his car went right into Schrader's path. Schrader rammed into Earnhardt just behind the passenger door, causing Earnhardt's car to snap, rapidly changing the angle of his car toward the wall. When Schrader made contact, Earnhardt hit the wall nose-first at an estimated speed of 155 to 160 mph and was pushed down the track by Schrader.

Earnhardt's right-rear wheel assembly broke off the car on impact, and the passenger window broke out of the car. The hood pins severed and the hood opened, slamming back violently against the windshield. As Earnhardt was nose first on the wall, Schrader was pushing him along the wall. No other drivers ran into Earnhardt after he hit the wall, as Schrader was the only driver in the vicinity and all of the cars behind them were able to make it past without incident.

Despite heavy damage to both cars, to the casual observer, the crash (both in force and size) looked relatively minor compared to the multi-car wreck on the backstretch on lap 173 that had completely destroyed several cars, in particular Tony Stewart, who walked away with minor injuries after his car turned sideways and then flipped several times in mid-air and was hit by several other cars.

While Michael Waltrip raced toward the checkered flag to claim his first victory, with Dale Earnhardt, Jr. right behind him, Earnhardt, Sr.'s and Schrader's cars slid off the track's asphalt banking toward the infield grass just inside of turn four. Once the cars came to a stop, Schrader climbed out of his car, with minor injuries. He peered into Earnhardt's car, only to immediately jump back and signal for paramedics while Earnhardt, Jr. - who had finished in second place - rushed to the crash scene. Both of these images are etched into the minds of many racing fans.

As medical crews converged upon the crash scene, NASCAR on Fox reporter Jeanne Zelasko asked Schrader about Earnhardt's condition. "I don't know. I'm not a doctor, but I got the heck out of the way as soon as they got there," Schrader said. Earnhardt was taken to Halifax Medical Center by ambulance after being removed from his car. Hours later, at a press conference, NASCAR President Mike Helton announced Earnhardt's death: "This is undoubtedly one of the toughest announcements I've personally had to make. But after the accident in Turn 4 at the end of the Daytona 500, we've lost Dale Earnhardt."^[6]

Earnhardt was credited posthumously as having finished 12th in the race.

Aftermath[link]

Investigation[link]

Earnhardt's death was the catalyst for a number of changes in NASCAR. Following his death, there was a police investigation, as well as a NASCAR-sanctioned investigation. Nearly every detail of the event was made public, from the finding of a torn seatbelt inside Earnhardt's car to graphic descriptions of the injuries Earnhardt had suffered at the moment of impact. There were rumors that he did not have his seat belt on properly, as he liked to wear it loose so he could move around and not feel too constrained. The allegations of seatbelt failure led Bill Simpson to resign from the company bearing his name, which manufactured the seatbelts used in Earnhardt's car and nearly every other NASCAR driver's car.^[7]

NASCAR also made the use of the HANS device mandatory in all cars following Earnhardt's death. Until that point, use of the HANS device was optional, at the discretion of the drivers or teams. Earnhardt had refused to wear the device, arguing it was uncomfortable and ineffective. He was not using a HANS device on the day he died of a Basilar skull fracture. The HANS device is designed to prevent such injuries.

Several press conferences were held in the days following Earnhardt's death. Some angry fans of Dale Earnhardt wrote hate letters and death threats to Sterling Marlin, blaming him for causing the crash. Quickly thereafter, Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who had finished first and second respectively, publicly and adamantly absolved Marlin of any responsibility.

Richard Childress made a public pledge that the number 3 would never again adorn the side of a black car sponsored by GM Goodwrench. Childress, who currently holds the rights from NASCAR to the No. 3, has placed a moratorium on using it. Earnhardt's team was re-christened as the No. 29 team, with the same sponsor but with a new look (a reversed color scheme with white with black numerals and a black stripe on the bottom) for the following races at Rockingham and Las Vegas. For Atlanta, a new GM Goodwrench scheme was introduced, with angled red stripes and a thin blue pinstripe, resembling the Childress AC Delco Chevrolets driven in the Busch Series.

Childress' second-year Busch Series driver Kevin Harvick was named as Earnhardt's replacement driver, beginning with the race following Earnhardt's death held at the North Carolina Speedway. Special pennants bearing the No. 3 were distributed to everyone at the track to honor Earnhardt, and the Childress team wore blank uniforms out of respect, something which disappeared quickly and was replaced by the wearing of the GM Goodwrench Service Plus uniforms. The Earnhardt team car, the RCR number 29 Chevrolet driven by Kevin Harvick, still always displays the Earnhardt stylized number 3 on the "B" posts (metal portion on each side of the car to the rear of the front windows) above the number 29.

The rest of the 2001 season[link]

Fans took it upon themselves to begin honoring Earnhardt by holding three fingers aloft on the third lap of every NASCAR Cup race, and the television coverage of NASCAR on Fox and NASCAR on NBC went silent for each third lap from Rockingham to the following year's race there in honor of Earnhardt (and, after 9/11, in remembrance of those who perished that day). For the first three weeks after Earnhardt's death, on-track incidents brought out the caution flag on lap three. Three weeks after Earnhardt's death, Harvick scored his first career Cup win at Atlanta driving a car that had been prepared for Earnhardt. In the final lap of the 2001 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500, Harvick beat Jeff Gordon by .006 seconds, the same margin that Earnhardt had won over Bobby Labonte at the same race a year prior, and the images of Earnhardt's longtime gas man, Danny "Chocolate" Myers, crying after the victory, Harvick's tire-smoking burnout on the frontstretch with three fingers held aloft outside the driver's window, and the Fox television call by Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds, and Darrell Waltrip, concluding with "Gordon got loose, but he (Harvick) is gonna get him though, it's Harvick! Harvick by inches!" are memorable to many NASCAR fans. The win was also considered cathartic for a sport whose epicenter had been ripped away.

Earnhardt was buried on his farm in Mooresville, North Carolina.

Other notable events include:

• Steve Park, driver of the No. 1 DEI Pennzoil Chevy Monte Carlo won the very next NASCAR Winston Cup race: The DuraLube 400 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, NC held on February 26, 2001.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. won in the next Cup race at Daytona: the Pepsi 400 on July 7, 2001. This led to an emotional celebration on the infield with driver Michael Waltrip (who finished in second place), whose victory at the Daytona 500 was vastly overshadowed. By coincidence, Earnhardt Jr. had finished in second place behind Waltrip in the Daytona 500.
• Las Vegas, the 3rd race of the 2001 season, was noted for the fact that Mike Skinner, Earnhardt's teammate at Richard Childress Racing, took over Earnhardt's slot in the No Bull 5 million dollar eligibility for this race since Earnhardt had qualified for the No Bull 5 prize after his final victory in the 2000 Winston 500 at Talladega. This is the only time that a switch of driver for the No Bull 5 has ever happened.
• Earnhardt was credited with finishing 57th in the final point standings in 2001, despite running one race. He also won the 2001 Most Popular Driver award at the end of the year in the awards' ceremony banquet. Bill Elliott bowed out of the running and encouraged the same fans that had put him up for the prestigious award 16 times to vote for the Man in Black.
• Earnhardt Jr. later went on to win the 2004 Daytona 500, three years after his father's death and six years to the day after his father won the 1998 Daytona 500. He also won the EA Sports 500 at Talladega that same year.
• As of 2010, Earnhardt is interred in a concrete memorial on his farm in Mooresville, North Carolina.
• In 2010, Dale Earnhardt was one of the five inductees in the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
• Two world class roller coasters have been named after Earnhardt; the most popular being Intimidator (roller coaster) at Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina, the other being Intimidator 305 located at Kings Dominion in Virginia.
• Every three years since Earnhardt's death, someone associated with Earnhardt has won the Daytona 500 (his son Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 2004, Earnhardt's replacement driver Kevin Harvick in 2007, and Earnhardt Ganassi's Jamie McMurray in 2010.)

#3 Car[link]

Earnhardt in the No. 3 car

Earnhardt drove the No. 3 car for most of his career, spanning the early 1980s until his death in 2001. Although he had other sponsors during his career, his No. 3 is associated in fans' minds with his last sponsor, GM Goodwrench, and his last color scheme — a predominantly black car with bold red and silver trim. The black and red No. 3 continues to be one of the most famous logos in North American motor racing.

A common misconception is that Richard Childress Racing "owns the rights" to the No. 3 in NASCAR competition (fueled by the fact that Kevin Harvick's car has a little No. 3 as an homage to Earnhardt), but in fact no team owns the rights to this or any other number: However, according to established NASCAR procedures, RCR would have priority over other teams if and when the time came to reuse the number. RCR owns the stylized No. 3 logos used during Earnhardt's lifetime; however these rights may not prevent a future racing team from using a different No. 3 design. (Also, a new No. 3 team would most likely, in any case, need to create logos which fit with their sponsor's logos.)

In 2004, ESPN released a made-for-TV movie entitled 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story which used a new (but similarly colored) No. 3 logo. The movie was a sympathetic portrayal of Earnhardt's life, but the producers were sued for using the No. 3 logo. In December 2006, the ESPN lawsuit was settled, but details were not released to the public.

It is generally believed that current NASCAR owners have agreed never to use the No. 3 in Sprint Cup competition again, although this is not official NASCAR policy. Dale Earnhardt Jr. made two special appearances in 2002 in a No. 3 Busch Series car: these appearances were at the track where his father died (Daytona) and the track where his father made his first Winston Cup start (Charlotte). Earnhardt Jr. won the first of those two races, which was the season-opening event at Daytona. He also raced a No. 3 sponsored by Wrangler on July 2, 2010 for Richard Childress Racing at Daytona. In a green-white- checker finish he outran Joey Logano to win his second race in the 3.

Otherwise, the No. 3 was missing from the national touring series until September 5, 2009, when Austin Dillon, the 19-year-old grandson of Richard Childress debuted an RCR-owned No. 3 truck in the Camping World Truck Series.^[8] Austin Dillon and his younger brother Ty Dillon have been driving #3's in various lower level competitions for several years, including the Camping World East Series.^[9]

Richard Childress Racing entered the number 3 in the Daytona Truck race on 13 February 2010 painted identically to when Earnhardt drove it, but with Bass Pro Shops as a sponsor. It was driven by Austin Dillon. Oddly, the number 3 was involved in a wreck almost identical to that which took the life of Earnhardt: being spun out, colliding with another vehicle and being turned into the outside wall in turn number four.^[10] Dillon again returned to a number 3 marked racecar when he started 5th in the 2012 Daytona Nationwide Series opener in an Advocare sponsored black Chevrolet Impala.

Only the former International Race of Champions actually retired the No. 3, which they did in a rule change effective in 2004. Until the series folded in 2007, anyone wishing to use the No. 3 again had to use No. 03 instead.

In 2009, Tim McGraw released the song "Southern Voice;" the song makes reference to Earnhardt and the number 3 in the line "Number Three drove it."

In the movie Zombieland, Woody Harrelson's character, Tallahassee, draws a 3 on his car doors. He does this to pay homage to Earnhardt.

The Christian metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada have a song titled "Number Three, Never Forget" in honor of Dale Earnhardt.^{[11] [12]}

Legacy[link]

Earnhardt has a street in his hometown of Kannapolis named after him. Dale Earnhardt Boulevard (originally Earnhardt Road) is marked as Exit 60 off Interstate 85, northeast of Charlotte. Dale Earnhardt Drive is also the start of The Dale Journey Trail,^[13] a self-guided driving tour of landmarks in the lives of Dale and his family. A road between Kannapolis and Mooresville, near the headquarters of DEI, formerly NC 136, was switched with State Highway 3 which was in Currituck County by the North Carolina Department of Transportation. In addition, Exit 73 off Interstate 35W, one of the entrances to Texas Motor Speedway, is named "Dale Earnhardt Way".

In 2000, shortly before his death, Earnhardt became a part-owner of the minor league baseball team in Kannapolis, and the team was renamed the Kannapolis Intimidators shortly thereafter. After his death, the team retired the jersey number 3 in Earnhardt's honor, and a "3" flag flies beyond the left field wall during every game.

Atlanta Braves assistant coach Ned Yost was a friend of Earnhardt, and Richard Childress. When Yost was named Milwaukee Brewers manager, he changed jersey numbers, from No. 5 to No. 3 in Earnhardt's honor. (#3 is retired by the Braves in honor of outfielder Dale Murphy, so Yost could not make the change while in Atlanta.) When Yost was named Kansas City Royals assistant coach, he wore No. 2 for the 2010 season, even when he was named manager in May 2010, but for the 2011 season, he switched back to #3.

Between the 2004 and 2005 JGTC (subsequently renamed Super GT from 2005) season, Hasemi Sport competed in the series with a sole black G'Zox sponsored Nissan 350Z with the same number and letterset as Earnhardt on the roof.

During the April 29, 2006 – May 1, 2006 NASCAR weekend races at Talladega Superspeedway, the Dale Earnhardt Inc cars competed in identical special black paint schemes on Dale Earnhardt Day, held annually on his birthday, April 29. Martin Truex Jr won the Aaron's 312 in the black car, painted to reflect Earnhardt's Intimidating Black No. 3 NASCAR Busch Grand National series car. In the Nextel Cup race on May 1, No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 1 Martin Truex Jr., and No. 15 Paul Menard competed in cars with the same type of paint scheme.

On June 18, 2006 at Michigan for the 3M Performance 400 Dale Earnhardt Jr ran a special vintage Budweiser car to honor his father and his grandfather Ralph Earnhardt. He finished 3rd after rain caused the race to be cut short. The car was painted to resemble Ralph's 1956 dirt cars, and carried 1956-era Budweiser logos to complete the throwback look.

In the summer of 2007, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) with the Dale Earnhardt Foundation, announced it will fund an annual undergraduate scholarship at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina for students interested in motorsports and automotive engineering. Scholarship winners are also eligible to work at DEI in internships.^[14] The first winner was William Bostic, a senior at Clemson majoring in mechanical engineering.^[15]

"Earnhardt Tower", a seating section at Daytona International Speedway, the track where Earnhardt was killed, was named in his honor.

In 2008, on the 50th anniversary of the first Daytona 500 race, DEI and RCR teamed up to make a special COT sporting Earnhardt's 1998 Daytona 500 paint scheme to honor the tenth anniversary of his Daytona 500 victory. In a tribute to all previous Daytona 500 winners, the winning drivers appeared in a lineup on stage, in chronological order. The redesigned No. 3 car stood in the infield, in the approximate position Earnhardt would have taken in the processional. The throwback car featured the authentic 1998-era design on a current-era car, a concept similar to modern throwback jerseys in other sports. The car was later sold in 1:64 and 1:24 scale models.

The Intimidator 305 roller coaster has been up and running since April 2010 at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. Named after Earnhardt, the ride's trains will be modeled after Dale Earnhardt's black-and-red Chevrolet. ^[16] Another Intimidator was built at Carowinds, in Charlotte, NC.

During the third lap of the 2011 Daytona 500 (a decade since Earnhardt's death), the commentators on FOX fell silent while fans each raised three fingers in a similar fashion to the tributes throughout 2001.^[17]

Awards[link]

Dale Earnhardt's suit on display at the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame

• Awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt in 1994^[18]:634
• Inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1994^[19]
• Earnhardt was named among NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998
• Earnhardt was posthumously named NASCAR's Most Popular Driver in 2001, the only time he received the award.
• He was posthumously inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2002.
• He was inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2006.
• Earnhardt was named Number 1 among ESPN's NASCAR's 20 Greatest Drivers in 2007 in front of Richard Petty.
• Inducted in the Inaugural Induction Class for the NASCAR Hall of Fame on May 23, 2010.

TV appearances[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Dale has appeared in movies and TV shows.

• Stroker Ace 1983
• Baseketball 1998
• Arli$$ 1998
• King of the Hill 1998
• The Fifty 1998

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	NASCAR portal

• Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
• Teresa Earnhardt, wife
• Dale Earnhardt, Jr., son
• Jeffrey Earnhardt, grandson
• Kerry Earnhardt, son
• Richard Childress Racing

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dale Earnhardt

• Dale Earnhardt Inc.
• Dale Earnhardt at the Internet Movie Database
• The Dale Trail, official tour of Earnhardt's Hometown of Kannapolis, NC
• Career statistics at racing-reference.info
• Orlando Sentinel article on the inquiries into the cause of death
• Sports Illustrated article on the controversy over Earnhardt's seat belt
• Earnhardt at The Crittenden Automotive Library includes full Win List, Statistics