A Life Without the Intimidator

Imagine if you will, being born on Feb. 19, 2001.

You just entered a world that is mourning the loss of one of the biggest personalities in all of sports to a tragic accident. You are unaware of what has occurred and you will go through your life only hearing stories and seeing videos of this larger-than-life character.

We are now at a point in time where there are grown adults who have never had the opportunity to see Dale Earnhardt drive a racecar live.

It isn’t something that strikes many of us who are fans of the sport on a regular basis, but it is a fact that there are 24-year-old adults that were not on the planet when the Intimidator was taken from us. Similarly, we are often reminded that there are people who are 33 years old who never saw Richard Petty race live. The difference for them is The King is still among us. He can personally tell us stories about his life and career in NASCAR.

The things that this generation missed out on are truly amazing.

First off, Earnhardt was the first and only driver to win the Rookie of the Year and then win the championship in the subsequent season. There have been 76 seasons contested in NASCAR’s premier division since that first race took place back in 1949. In those 76 years only 35 men have been crowned as the champion of the sport. Thirteen of those men were the Rookie of the Year in their first season, but only Earnhardt was able to follow that feat up with a championship.

In a career that started out with an unmatched accomplishment like that, there were a myriad of events and stories that helped solidify Earnhardt’s status as a living legend. One of the most famous moments was during a Richmond race in 1986, Earnhardt’s second championship season.

During the race Earnhardt went low in the corner to avoid an accident. There had been rain the night before the race so the grass (yes, they had grass inside the corners at Richmond back then) was wet. When Earnhardt hit it, mud flew up onto his windshield.

During the caution laps Earnhardt came on the radio and told the crew he was coming in to get his windshield cleaned. Kirk Shelmerdine, his crew chief, told him that track position was too important so he needed to stay out. Earnhardt responded that he would but he would have to be off of the radio for a bit. As he came back around past the pits on the next caution lap, he could be seen sitting on the door, halfway out of the car, wiping the windshield of his car with the sleeve of his driving suit. The video of that incident is one of the most iconic that comes up whenever memories of the Intimidator are pieced together.

The following season, Earnhardt was in an early-season battle for the championship with Bill Elliott. Earnhardt had some confrontations with Elliott on track during the first races of the season and when the series came to The Winston, now the All-Star race, at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the two drivers were the class of the field that day.

Elliott dominated the first two stages of the race. He started on the pole and led 121 of the first 125 laps. On the restart for the final 10 laps, Earnhardt grabbed the top spot. Elliott pressured him and as the laps wound down he moved under Earnhardt coming out of turn 4 into the tri-oval. Earnhardt moved down to block and Elliott clipped his left rear. That turned Earnhardt into the infield. Earnhardt never lifted as the grass rooster tails shot out from behind the rear tires. He managed to keep the car straight and stayed in front of Elliott.

On the next lap Elliott tried to pass Earnhardt in turn 4 and the two made contact. The result was a flat left-rear tire for Elliott that ended his chances as Earnhardt drove on to win his first of three Winstons.

In 1990, Earnhardt had already established himself as a restrictor plate master, having finished in the top 10 in four of the five races at Daytona International Speedway since the plates were introduced to the series. He had already run the 500 11 times and finished in the top 10 in seven of those 11 races. He had a second and a third-place finish in two of those races.

He was a favorite coming into 1990 and didn’t disappoint during Speedweeks. He qualified on the outside pole, he led 24 laps and won the second duel race. He followed that by leading 155 of the 200 laps of the race. He had a substantial lead heading into turn 3 on the final lap of the race when he suffered a flat tire when his car leaned into the banking. Derrick Cope passed him in one of the biggest upsets in Daytona history.

That Duel victory also started a remarkable run in those races for Earnhardt. In the 10 Duel races he competed in during the 90s he won every, single one of them. For his career he won 12 of the qualifying races he contested for the 500.

Another legendary event in Earnhardt’s career was the 1999 Bristol Motor Speedway night race. Before looking at that race we need to take a look at the race in 1995. As the race wound down Terry Labonte was leading by almost two seconds with 10 laps to go.

Earnhardt ate into the lead but was still 1.3 seconds back with two laps to go. Labonte caught lapped traffic in turns 1 and 2 on the final lap which allowed Earnhardt to get to his back bumper coming into turn 3. He nudged Labonte on the way out of turn 4 and it sent Labonte spinning. Earnhardt backed off to let Labonte try and save it which allowed Texas Terry to cross the line first, albeit sideways and hitting the outside wall.

That takes us to 1999.

Near the end of the race Labonte was leading when a caution flag flew. He was leading comfortably so didn’t try and race back to the flag as was common in that time. Unfortunately for Labonte, Darrell Waltrip drove into his back bumper and spun him from the lead. Labonte went to the pits to get fresh tires and the result was him restarting fifth.

The race went green on lap 495. Within two laps Labonte passed Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon to move into third. He passed Tony Stewart on lap 498 and had only Earnhardt between himself and victory. Labonte bumped Earnhardt out of the way on lap 499 in turn 3 and drove under him and assumed the lead as they took the white flag.

Labonte’s lead lasted a few seconds. Earnhardt’s only shot was to try and return the favor on his older tires. He sailed the black No. 3 into turn 1 and spun Labonte out, driving around him to take the lead and ultimately the win. After the race, when asked about the incident, Earnhardt gave his trademark smirk and said he only meant to “rattle his cage” not wreck him. It was one of the first times that the boos were audible when Earnhardt celebrated in victory lane.

A final iconic memory of Dale Earnhardt was the 1997 Daytona 500.

Earnhardt was having a less than dominant race, having led only 48 laps. But he wasn’t even the lap leader for the race. He was trying to make his way to the front with 10 laps to go as the field came off of turn 2. Cars would notoriously get tight off of turn 2 back then and Earnhardt’s car tagged the wall on the exit of the corner.

In the resulting wreck, his car rolled over and was tagged by another car before sliding to a stop in the infield. Earnhardt climbed out of the car once the safety personnel got to him and climbed into the ambulance for the obligatory ride to the infield care center. As he sat in the car, he looked out and noticed the tires were all still inflated on the car and looked to be pointing in the right direction. He yelled out of the ambulance to the safety worker sitting in the car to see if it would start.

Sure enough it turned over. Earnhardt pulled the worker out of the car, jumped in and drove it around to the pits. The team swarmed over the car as Earnhardt buckled back in and he finished the race in a destroyed race car, albeit five laps down.

These are just a few of the amazing stories that built the legacy of the famous Man in Black, Dale Earnhardt. No one knows what the sport would look like today had he not perished on that fateful day in 2001.

One thing is for sure, the sport is different today and countless lives have been saved thanks to the safety innovations that were implemented after it happened.

Hopefully this generation that has grown up without him will still realize how huge his influence was on the sport that we all love.

Mike Neff

What is it that Mike Neff doesn’t do? The writer, radio contributor and racetrack announcer coordinates the site’s local short track coverage, hitting up Saturday Night Specials across the country while tracking the sport’s future racing stars. The writer for our signature Cup post-race column, Thinkin’ Out Loud (Mondays) also sits down with Cup crew chiefs to talk shop every Friday with Tech Talk. Mike announces several shows each year for the Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. He also pops up everywhere from PRN Pit Reporters and the Press Box with Alan Smothers to SIRIUS XM Radio. He has announced at tracks all over the Southeast, starting at Millbridge Speedway. He's also announced at East Lincoln Speedway, Concord Speedway, Tri-County Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway.