Dale Earnhardt Shooting Star
9 Years Ago We Lost Dale Earnhardt
Please share your thoughts about Dale.
What if Dale Earnhardt Did Not Drive for Richard Childress?
What if Dale Earnhardt had Driven for Junior Johnson Instead of Richard Childress?
Rick Houston over at NASCAR.com asks Richard Childress a very important question.
How would Richard Childress Racing have turned out if Dale Earnhardt had raced for Junior Johnson instead of Childress?
“You’ll never know,” said Childress.” Dale was a huge player.”
The article details how Junior Johnson had a deal with Earnhardt, and how Dale nearly went to drive for Johnson before sponsor conflicts came to a head.
Junior Johnson surely regrets the deal he brokered to send Earnhardt to the No. 3 car instead of a Junior Johnson car.
So do the sponsors who refused to back Earnhardt as his career was getting started.
Richard Childress would not have 6 NASCAR Championships without Dale Earnhardt.
But that street goes both ways. Earnhardt and Childress had a chemistry that would have never existed between Dale Earnhardt and Junior Johnson.
Dale Earnhardt would never have 7 NASCAR Championships without Richard Childress.
Dale Earnhardt Original Winning Car
Authentic Dale Earnhardt Race Winning Car to be Sold
You see a lot of cars like this that were show cars or replicas – but this one is the real deal. The car is for sale on eBay.
It comes with documentation showing that the car was built by Richard Childress Racing and raced by Dale Earnhardt.
It’s a 1990 Chevy Lumina that Dale won the Atlanta 500 in. The car was named Iron Head by Earnhardt’s crew. If you look closely you will see where the crew engraved the name Iron Head.
Dale Earnhardt’s First RCR Win
Dale Earnhardt’s First Win in the No. 3
Dale Earnhardt was happy to run 2nd in the Talladega 500 – at least up until turn 3 on the White Flag Lap.
Earnhardt’s right foot must have been through the floorboard on that final lap, because he passed Terry Labonte like he was standing still. Dale had the pedal to the metal.
Watch Dale Earnhardt win his first race for Richard Childress. Dale drove the No. 3 to Victory lane for the first time in the 1984 Talladega 500.
Talladega was not one of Earnhardt’s best race tracks. He only won there 10 times in 44 starts.
Earnhardt had 23 top 5 finishes and 3 poles at the 2.66 mile Alabama track.
Earnhardt Talladega Win Impossible
Earnhardt Talladega Win Impossible
If you are running 17th at Talladega with 5 laps to go you are not going to win. It’s impossible. You might as well park the race car. You ain’t gonna win. Nobody is that good.
Unless your name is Earnhardt.
This was Dale Earnhardt’s last win.
As I stood there watching the final few laps unfold I remember thinking that Dale’s not gonna win this one, even though he had always been so strong at Talladega.
Then with 4 laps to go the No. 3 was a little closer to the front.
With 3 laps to go Dale was closer still.
When the white flag flew Dale was in the lead.
How is that possible?
Black Number 3 Returning to NASCAR
Richard Childress Bringing Back the Black No. 3
A black No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet will race in NASCAR this weekend for the first time since Dale Earnhardt ran his last Daytona 500 in 2001.
Austin Dillon – Grandson of Richard Childress – will drive a black No. 3 Chevy Truck in Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series race at Iowa Speedway.
If Dillon’s career takes him to the Sprint Cup Series I fully expect him to be behind the wheel of the No. 3 car then, too.
Some Earnhardt fans will be unhappy about this decision — but the No. 3 was Richard Childress’ number before it was Dale Earnhardt’s.
Childress had 285 NASCAR starts before he stepped out of the No. 3 car and put Earnhardt behind the wheel. But it took Earnhardt to drive the car to 6 championships.
Are you happy to see the No. 3 back on the track even though someone whose last name is not Earnhardt is behind the wheel of it?
Dale Earnhardt Video
Toby Keith’s “Last Ride” — A Tribute to Dale Earnhardt
Here’s Toby Keith’s tribute song to Dale Earnhardt titled Last Ride — set to a video. Enjoy.
Dale Earnhardt with Dale Jr Video
Interview with Dale Earnhardt and Dale Jr
Do you want to get an inside look at Dale Earnhardt Jr’s relationship with his Father? If so you have to watch this video.
You can listen to Dale Earnhardt say “People come up to me and say you’re Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Dad? Pretty cool.”
Dale Earnhardt also talks about what he hoped to see in his Son — and DEI — in the future “All I hope is you do well enough when I retire from driving I can be a nice comfortable car owner with a winning driver,” said the elder Earnhardt. Too bad it didn’t work out that way.
The two Earnhardts also debate who is the better driver.
“When I was his age I was a lot better than he is now,” The Intimidator said.
But Junior would not hear of that. “I think it’s the other way around – I think I”m a little better than he was at 23,” said Dale Jr.
Dale tried to give his Son some advice in a round about way that Junior might listen to it.
“I remember my dad telling me the dos and don’ts of life,” Dale Earnhardt Sr. said. “You never believe what your dad says, and it always came true.”
“I sorta let him learn it on his own and help it when it needs help. Hopefully we can keep the driver going in the right direction and everything will work well.”
Watch this video and let us know what you think.
DEI Needs Help now
Inside the building at DEI
Will the Last Person to Leave DEI Please Turn Off the Lights
Tony Stewart once predicted that DEI would be no more than a museum once Dale Earnhardt, Jr. left.
For a while I thought Smoke was wrong. Teresa Earnhardt bought out Bobby Ginn’s operation and collected Mark Martin as the driver for the No. 8 car in the process.
Then she signed Martin Truex Jr. to a one year contract extension – keeping Bass Pro Shops on board as the sponsor.
Suddenly things weren’t looking so bad. Now reality is starting to set in.
DEI has the same number of cars in the Chase as Michael Waltrip racing – zero.
Paul Menard is bolting from the No. 15 car and taking his sponsorship with him to Yates Racing.
Aric Almirola – set to drive the No. 8 car next year — has no sponsor.
Regan Smith – set to drive the No. 01 car next year — has no sponsor.
And I’ll be surprised if Martin Truex Jr. makes it past next year’s July race at Daytona before announcing that he has signed with another team.
4ever3 said he hoped not to see the for sale sign go up in front of DEI, and neither do I. But DEI had better get its house in order before it goes the way of AIG and Lehman Brothers.
What DEI needs is a big name driver to come on board with a big name sponsor – and soon.
Rusty Wallace said that he’s not interested, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Rusty Wallace would certainly change DEI’s fortunes.
Another option would be to merge DEI with another team. If only there were another Chevrolet team out there with a couple of hot shoes driving for them, maybe one of them was a 2 time champion, and the other one was a qualifying ace.
That team could merge with DEI, which already has the infrastructure and business processes in place, and become a powerhouse. Like I said, where there’s Smoke…
Dale Earnhardt’s No. 3 Chevy For Sale on eBay
Filed under: Dale Earnhardt, Silly Season, Tony Stewart
Okay, who says you can’t find almost anything on eBay?
Dale Earnhardt’s 1999 No. 3 Chevrolet Monte Carlo is for sale on eBay Motors.
According to the seller, the car was originally raced as a Lumina, and when NASCAR switched to the Monte Carlo it was converted to a Dale Earnhardt show car.
It’s equipped with a 650 horsepower engine, and a Tex T10 transmission, Goodyear Racing Eagles, and is ready to race. The car would also make a pretty cool collectible or show car.
The opening bid is $41,000 — but I couldn’t find ‘Used Dale Earnhardt Race Car’ in the Kelley Blue Book — so I can’t say whether that’s a fair price or not.
But as Jay Busbee said about another car on eBay, be sure and ask for a CARFAX report before buying.
I’d just like to see the look on my neighbor’s face when I do a burnout in my driveway.
