Dale Earnhardt: My Story

hi folks i'm dale earnhardt welcome to my story my friend here neil bonnett's going to help me tell it folks we're going to take you behind the scenes with dale a lot of things you'd like to see and know about him we're going to tell you that we've also got one full week behind the scenes with him when he wins one of the biggest races on the circuit we'll show you a lot of stuff you know and a bunch of it that you don't know and you might not want to know it all but we're going to tell you [Music] [Music] [Applause] down [Music] ladies and gentlemen the president of the united states mr president thank you all very [Applause] of i much think of no better place to wish our nation happy independence day happy fourth of july this standing right here with this patriotic wonderful turnout of people all american crowd thank you very much dale mr president dale earnhardt is our current champion he has a presentation mr president on behalf of all the nascar winston cup drivers in the race today we've all we've got a little present here for you to take back it's a flag that we've all signed all our autographs are on it so you have to go around get autographs from us so we're really proud to have you here and honored to have you here we hope you enjoy the race today and hope richard petty does pretty good too thanks a lot [Applause] it's hard to believe amazing really that dale earnhardt will be making a special presentation to the president of the united states of america the incredible story of one of the greatest racers of all time begins in the small town of annapolis north carolina dale earnhardt entered his first race the human race that is on april 29 1951 one of five children born of ralph and martha earnhardt dale grew up in this house in kannapolis just a few miles from where the charlotte motor speedway stands today ralph earnhardt built and maintained his own cars in a small garage behind the house nobody really knows how many races he won during his 23-year career on short tracks across the carolinas but when he rolled into town he was the man to beat and i can vouch for that i had the good fortune of racing against ralph earnhardt for many years on the short tracks around the carolinas and the southeastern part of the country we would race many times four or five times a week his cars were always prepared to the absolute best you couldn't catch him on an off night because he didn't have those he was always up near the front so if you beat him you had to be the best that night yourself but i've said many times that if there was ever a chip off the old block it's dale earnhardt what does it do for a guy to think that he started out as as standing on a flatbed truck at the charlotte motor speedway yeah watching richard and here you are it's amazing really uh you wouldn't believe that what happened to somebody from cannabis north carolina uh from the cotton mill town and uh my dad was a mechanic and a racer and that's all i wanted to be was a racer you know dreams or dreams come true now his wife martha which is dale's mother of course and my wife martha were good friends so they spent a lot of time together in the infield while we were out on the racetrack racing and ralph and i became good friends but there were times when we would have some run-ins on the racetrack but you couldn't stay mad at him he was the type of a guy he'd come up to you even if he hit you and knock you off the track put his arm around you and say ned i didn't mean to hit you that hard going into that term and you just couldn't help but like him and i'm certainly glad that i got to race against him in 1956 ralph earnhardt won 32 feature events on 11 different tracks to claim the nascar sportsman division championship in 1989 ralph earnhardt was inducted into the national motorsports press association hall of fame ralph earnhardt was one of the first men to turn stock car racing into a full-time profession and he lit a fire in sun dale that burns white hot today dale's childhood friend and bush grand national crew chief tony yuri when he first started driving race car he was you could see it in him it was i mean it was just there he was just uh just like his daddy he was he was hard to handle i think he's dead he knew he was that good they used to practice the dirt cars and they would run the modified and his dad ran the sportsman cars his dad get him behind him and push him he'd just see how far he could push him in the corner see if he'd carry him in there too fast he couldn't ever carry him in there too fast i mean it was just it was there ralph earnhardt never saw his devoted son win a winston cup race he died while working on a carburetor in that backyard garage ralph earnhardt was only 45 years old [Music] but then after his dad died and dale got into asphalt he started running asphalt and hickory and all he had a pretty hard time over there [Music] matter of fact first time we went to daytona in 76 we rode around half the night trying to get sponsor money collecting from people so we'd have enough money to get there it was pretty pretty rough at that time earnhardt moves in as if he wants to pass let's see if he'll take a shot at him right here there they go into the back straightaway earnhardt looking for perhaps first place when they enter turn three he drops it down a little comes to the inside baker is down on the inside back there in the fourth position inside of kalyan right kill a second apart as they blast fight over 190 miles per hour number one johnny allison's car they reported showing some smoke number one allison's car the observers are vigilantly watching now as they fear he may be losing an engine [Music] and they say now that make the tire smoke off car number one allison's car let's see if bernhard is going to take a shot at neil bonnett drops down inside pulls up goes for the lead earnhardt from 32nd position is taking the lead in the 59th lap in actually in the 60th lap we're working after years of struggling dale finally got his break when rod osterlund signed him to drive his cars for the 1979 season in april of that year he won his first race in just his 16th winston cup start his family met him back at his father's garage to celebrate the win dale went on to win the rookie of the year title and stunned everyone including himself by winning the winston cup championship the very next year what we were doing we went to ontario california the last race racing kell yarber and junior johnson for the championship and really didn't realize that and tried to give it away all day long at the race i mean we made bum pit stops and got behind the lap made a lap up ended up finished should have won the race really the car was running good enough to win the race ended up finishing uh fifth or seventh fifth i think yeah fifth and uh won the championship by just a few points kale beat kell and junior out and and really didn't realize what we'd done we'd beat the masters out at the championship and uh richard petty won it the year before and here we are champions this year and it was and i was at the banquet as a rookie the year before and richard petty said my parents said you know in the remarks when they present you troublesome man and just you know hopefully someday i can be up here you know where richard's at pretty quick and pretty pretty exciting deal [Applause] really when i started off after my dad i started driving when my dad was living well he died and you know i got the opportunity to go with some asphalt racing with uh gray london and helped us out buy a car from arrogant but i you know i just started doing it and think about where i was at and where i was going and we just worked like heck and got to the racetrack and raced and that's what it was all about didn't know why we were really doing it other than what we wanted to do and enjoyed it 1981 should have been a great year for dale instead it was a disaster in mid-season osterlund sold the team to businessman jim stacy their relationship was brief all of a sudden we were working and driving for somebody that we didn't know and basically when we went over and sit down and talk to him and also he said well you can stay or you can go it really don't matter to me and that's whoa i forgot really don't care so we run for him for a couple races and uh got to talk on the richard chillers and junior johnson really helped me a lot on advice and uh i don't know why because i turned him down and driving but he helped me out a lot that year and um talked with uh richard and wrangler and we all gave stacey our notice down talladega and he said i don't want to notice quit and go so wrangler and myself and went with children he for the last 10 races that year i did a good job [Applause] i know how to when you race all the time you get so involved at race cars that's the only thing you think about when did you start thinking about the business side of the security side the dealership the farm and stuff like that what how did all the money side of it probably probably uh about 81 when uh uh 8081 i got custody of kelly and dale jr and they started living with me and i just sort of got more responsible about things started thinking about the future what if tomorrow uh in 80 i bought the house over at the lake went dead over 100 000 and i thought god i'll never pay this off but never never owned a house before i mean i've rented trailers or rented apartments here i am with a hundred thousand dollars how am i gonna pay for this thing and race and paid for it but uh i i think that's when it sort of turned around on me i started looking at trying to invest in in the future there goes number 15 back in front the old tough customer dale earnhardt is back into the lead another time dale signed with veteran car owner bud moore for the 82 and 83 seasons and old bud has been in nascar's trenches for over 30 years and has the perspective that only a man who stormed normandy on d-day could have i know that dale was most one of the most upcoming race drivers back then so we figured you know well he'd be a good driver for us i know one thing dale is the most talented and most aggressive young driver that i have ever encountered in a race car i know one of dale's biggest philosophy after a few races he drove for me and we got together on a lot of things how to do this and how not to do he'd always tell me so you fix the car i'll drive it and he'd drive it to you yeah well he calmed me down some but also if i'd get him behind somebody racing them and sit there and raid road for five or ten laps okay time to get the bumper to him all right you've been behind me he's holding you up yeah he was rough but he wanted to go but i think he was that way just as much as i was in the car i'm trying to be patient and trying to wait the right moment and he just wanted me to get on in there and get it so it was too competitive guys that got together it's a lot of fun driving for him but like i said it was good for my career when you got a guy like dale and his ability to drive a race fire and determine he is to win the race then he's hard to beat when dale was driving for bud moore i'd already been racing against him for several years i thought i really knew dale but then i found out we had more than one thing in common other than driving race cars we both love to fish [Music] other than a race car this is dale's favorite place in the world it's a 300 acre farm and he built this fish pond and he's having a new log home built and dale will take us through his home in just a minute but right now we got to get our hooks wet he's going to crowd the best man catfish down this side bass stay on it can't wait to get the house done been wearing anything on over a year now you missed one of where you should go back i can't you're the captain you're driving i know that that though yeah but i think you could reach it can't you well i'll just try i think if i catch one you're gonna get claim him for show him to me don't let me hook you um at least i've been hurt i promise i'm trying to hit you anymore like i did before that one day where's the fish and you like knocked me out the boat i didn't mean to well i wouldn't play like you heard me bitter i kind of felt bad though i bit i mean i almost felt bad about that yeah you were out fishing me real bad get out of my way try to slow you down now you're gonna get bit who whatever i gotta change lures mine's not biting too good blaming it on equipment blaming it on equipment it's like when you lose you you had the wrong gear or wrong springs or something i got the wrong lure on [Music] but i shoot i've enjoyed my life racing and i think [Music] the only thing that i'd changed went back in life is uh i wish my dad was was here to see it all but you can't do can't change things like that so yeah hopefully yeah but you know one side of they'll just you know he accomplished a lot in racing and now with the stuff you're doing i think it really people look a little deeper and see what he did and realize you know how successful that's true it brought a lot of light back on what your dad did accomplish yeah i'll tell you a couple years ago they put him in the hall of fame down there at the darlington that really was a neat deal that was a pretty neat weekend ended up winning the race sunday too you know i think that's like today i mean i've we've won five championships and we've accomplished a lot but still i mean i still get that race car and get his get after and get as excited about it as i did the first time i drove it i don't think i don't think i've lost any drive or fire about it and wouldn't you know it i catch a fish and my so-called buddy throws it right back ain't got a camera so we can't take the picture richard childress is an amazing success story in his own right he raced for 12 seasons on the nascar circuit and though he never made it to victory lane racing his own cars he's been there plenty of times as dale earnhardt's car owner when ron osterlund sold his team in 81 childress made a decision that would make racing history well you know i talked with some of the people at randall r.j reynolds and telling you i could see the trend coming with the car owners coming in i couldn't afford to keep running my car so at that time they had mentioned one of them had told dale about my situation so it was just timing was all it was that you know at the time you know i was kind of wanting to become a car owner and he needed a car to drive and i had it and we did real well those first races and about halfway through it you know he had to make a decision where he was going to next year and i just was truthfully i said i'm just not set up to run a championship driver right now i said maybe someday he'll turn around and get back together and he told me the other two options he had and you know he he asked me what i thought about it and i told him uh you know at that point the two that he had but more would have been the way i would have went you know being i was a current driver at the time so it turned out to work worked real good for him while dale was racing with bud moore richard childress was building his team ricky rudd won twice for childress and even though junior johnson showed interest in dale earnhardt rejoined richard childress for the 84 season you know we've stayed friends through the whole uh two years at ricky drove for me and you know it was real good having him with me and i think bud did dale some good and uh it was just a good situation for us that two years and uh you know for him to come and drive for us in 84 and 85 you know we knew we were under the gun because we he did have a top right offered at him and we had a lot we had to prove and with junior johnson's car you know it was a proven winning team at the time 36 thousand dollars at stake and dale earnhardt has been outside on this race the atlanta journal 500 is about to step into victory lane he's out of turn number four coming down checkered flag is unfurled and earnhardt takes it home dale earnhardt is victorious by just about a half second over bill elliott in second place a very happy crew for dale earnhardt for richard childress people in 1984 earnhardt and childress combined for two wins and finished fourth in the point standings in 85 they won four races but their business relationship was at the proverbial fork in the road yeah i guess it was an 85 was probably the toughest year we had ever had you know together i think we lost 11 engines and we came back from uh i think it was pocono we just lost an engine up there early and uh he rode back and you know we talked about it and i said look i said at this point i said you too good a driver to be out here falling out of races and not being competitive like we've been and i said you know i'll let you out of your contract you need to be driving for somebody else and he told me he said no i'm going to stick it out he said we got we're in this thing together we're in it as a team we'll fix it as a team and it was the best thing it ever happened for in 1986 dale earnhardt took five checkered flags even more impressive the team finished in the top five 23 times all the hard work and unrelenting consistency paid off dale earnhardt won his second winston cup title and when we did win another one in 86 uh it men sort of realized what really was going on you know and why i was in winston cup racing why i wanted to race some bad morning wins bet it's you know it just it was really fun to win that 86 championship uh knowing i wasn't a fluke the first time i went you know everybody said oh well as a fluke he just looked into that deal they're not never going to get another now we're five times champion you know in 86 and 87 the confidence came to me that i i am accomplished winston cup driver and i'm going to have a ride with somebody with you know this one stays here or not but fortunately i've been able to work with richard tillerson the guys and curtin those guys have been great to work with and i've been been there for so long i don't see me going anywhere really i don't see any need in it [Music] if he's not at a racetrack you'll find dale at his farm he gets there before the sun comes up and spends every spare moment he can there after he feeds his dogs his daily routine begins [Music] my daily deal right here riding the farm first thing in the morning check the fence make sure everything's all right everybody's all right all the cows is okay everybody had a good night stressed [Music] nobody left home very struck over time huh look at it after dale has finished checking on his animals and his property he heads back to the shop to discuss today's work with his farm mail hey i'd have knocked it over one time set it back up and unscathed it still works set up jason comes along knocks it over and church all right let's get after it [Music] don't think dale earnhardt is setting his air-conditioned office while everyone else is hard at work the guy just loves to roll up his sleeve and sweat [Music] [Music] how big's that bass you caught a while ago about six six nine the new log home above the lake is his pride and joy dale's wide open about everything he does but this house is the only thing i've ever seen him slow down for it was pretty neat to be down here fishing while ago we stand up here on the deck right now and look look down here at the lake but we built this house and the lake built the lake then built a house over it so it's going to end up nice we can got a great view of the lake i'm going to trim some limbs on down you can hear them around the side of the house working down the yard but they end up being a pretty nice log house don pence with colonial structures and then put the logs up for us nice rock work heavy duty work come on inside i'll show you around it should have made a little bit bigger theresa made it bigger this house started on plan on planting it and was like okay this is how big it's gonna be and every time we draw it or wrote something out on paper it got bigger and bigger bigger bigger more loft well the logs got longer we got more of them but well it's been a lot of cedar yeah the bedroom was probably going to be about this big when we first started out now it's the whole end of this house this end section taylor's bedroom is just about this big too but it's still not big enough for everything i want to buy her so i don't want to remind you that this bedroom is bigger than your daddy's roadshop you know what really actually when the shop he started out in wasn't this big and the one i moved out of was about half big as this house top floor pretty neat [Music] dale's new home is the result of years of hard work and dedication today he has the opportunity to slow down a little bit and enjoy a late afternoon horseback ride with his beautiful wife teresa and their daughter taylor nicole [Music] down for the final laps a couple to go for earnhardt on his way this will sprint him up in those point standings in front of elliot by a pretty good margin well watching him on tv when he first started out in the wrangler car and the way he drove his intensity i like that by the end of that amazing 1987 season the legend of dale earnhardt was in high gear i know richard petty's got a lot of fans and bill elliott has a large following not to mention daryl walter rusty wallace but let me tell you those of you who pull for dale are as loyal as they come what are you playing for today they weren't hard of course why do you pull for him because he's great fight time champion excuse me what are you pulling for today oh dale earnhardt without a doubt why do you pull for dale he's the best driver out on the track something but why is he your favorite guy i just because he drives he drives he's the only one out there that's aggressive enough to do it every weekend no matter what kind of car he's got he's intimidated he's a man to beat he's like just like me unbeatable dominant dale truly appreciates his fame and many of you stood in that long line to get dale's autograph let me show you what it looked like from dale's side at one of those autograph sessions all right thank you thank you happy birthday thank you okay there's your postcard right there all right lay it up here took her an hour to get here and the line's doubled since then because that's where the end of the line that's where the end of the line was at good luck thank you man appreciate you coming out tonight smile look at the camera say mommy snap away [Music] make me nervous good morning you get in i'll load the wagon where you at what position we're in oh how you doing cute i hate the time you're driving live hey how you doing man doing okay you've been too lucky you've been through line one time already before yeah it is who are you all right race fans are the greatest people in the world and they love you they hate you i mean they they uh they're much in between now when you're when you're uh racing hard and you're aggressive and you're young you come in here and you start beating some of the guys they've been pulling for for all these years it's tough on them but i think the race fans over the years learned to come to learn dale earnhardt like he really is like i am here away from the track and they know when i sit down at race car i'm gonna drive a race car and give them a good show or a good race i'm just like richard chiller so he's he's built that race car and put a hundred percent into it i'm gonna give him a hundred percent that driver's seat yeah and if it means getting in there in a tight situation i'd do it [Music] but the race fans have been tough on me over the years which they have on most people but now they're you know pretty much behind me the majority of them we built some a good following and but i like to give the race fans their money's worth when you go grace whether i go racing winston cup racing or short track somewhere for a paid appearance or whatever or go sit down and sign autographs is this just a test throttle next sunday's daytona 500 i believe so here they come to the line coming down for the checkers the 1988 and 89 seasons were again strong campaigns for dale earnhardt he picked up eight more wins but both years he came up just shy of capturing more championship glory both years he was behind the winston cup champion by just 12 points when the final checkered flag of the season was dropped now if you think racing is all about fame big money and nonstop excitement well you're dead wrong as a champion dale represents the entire sport the demand on his personal time is heavy to say the least between the sponsor the time the time i spend with the race car itself three days a week and maybe probably 20 days a year testing and then the time you spend with the sponsor is about 20 days a year and then the time you spend with your businesses you know is a lot of time there's not much time me and you to go fishing you know i the biggest thing that i do and i've been fortunate to be able to do it is i booked my deer hunting up way ahead of time yeah it's beautiful on the wall right here i'm telling you nice deer my hunting comes you know and it's not really just going out and hunting deer or whatever it's going out and enjoying nature getting outside and doing something you enjoy and going coming down to your place then you go out there and ain't no telling what we're to get into get up a tree in the foot part of the treestand the viewers falls and i can't get down the tree i'm 30 foot up there and wondering i'm going to get down there have to shimmy down a tree i think it's more just getting away from it let me tell you that i can give you a little insight on i know whenever when i was able to race all the time i couldn't wait to go fishing and hunting couldn't wait to get away and now i have that time and it doesn't mean as much i think that uh no i think it means as much you just want to go racing more well that's what i'm saying the racing thing meant so much to me you're just getting too much hunting and fishing maybe that's true but it's uh and that touches on another thing in racing we talked about it before you you almost got to be careful about getting close relationships close friendships and racism because you got to battle that guy with the other day you do but it doesn't bother me that's just like you and i we've had such a great relationship over the years but we race each other as hard on the racetrack as you thought was the enemies people would think cause we get in there door-to-door and rub and race and go right on i always thought that was most fun well that's well that's what it's all about and we had a good time and we sort of respected each other over the deal had a mutual respect but we get out in cars and we could you're about the only person i've really been able just to leave the race car and the race car at the racetrack and go fishing or hunting i know if i went down near a place and go hunting and ain't been a word said about a race car no i mean the whole time we've been together down there you know we've i've we spent days down there hunting and never talking about race car ever and it just seems to we've always had that understanding and it's always been fun to go do stuff with you or you come up here and do stuff because the race car was where it needed to be and we were where we needed to be now you know we got some things planned like we tested and stuff we sit down talk racing we've been able to race and put it away and go on but earnhardt challenging for the lead this is 169. he's back in front earnhardt number three back for first place dale went hunting another championship in 1990 and bagged his prize there was no denying earnhardt after two years of runner-up finishes dale was nearly as dominant as he was in 1987. he won nine times and set a single season record bringing home over three million dollars in prize money dale and mark martin staged a classic duel that went down to the final race of the season dale won his fourth championship by 26 points 1991 was another season marked by unfaltering consistency dale notched another four victories but the key to the season was 21 top 10 finishes it all added up to his fifth national driving title just too shy of richard petty's all-time record of seven championships white flag is out wet goes to the inside makes his move ricky rutter that waddell wilson power here comes earnhardt back on the outside ricky rudd hangs her low while is looking on from about four car lengths back back straight away earnhardt has the advantage into three stays high here comes what one more try pulls up on the inside down they come to the line it will be earnhardt's 49th winston cup win by less than a car length over ricky run it seems fitting that dale's 18 year old son dale jr has started to race now [Music] just something i've grown up around every aspect and it's really something i enjoy and one something i want to do for you know my whole life it's it's it's something that you can really get excited about and i know you probably feel the same way you get so excited about it then they go out there and they race one night and they get an accident or tear the car for something to come home and you're mad about to get in the car tour because they are and heard about it and you sort of i sort of get aggravated with my guys because and dale jr is they tear up their car and it's not really they did i don't know whether they don't seem as interested as i did when i was starting about fixing it about fixing it yeah it's fired up because you usually i tore mine up on saturday night i didn't have a tour apart on sunday we've been putting it back together on monday yeah and these guys they sort of hang around about wednesday before they get going good on it and they get closer to a race good thing about i reckon but it's pretty pretty neat dale jr's car is a replica of the one his grandfather ralph raced and he's racing on dirt tracks that are very similar to the ones that his dad grew up on it's just something he gets in there and helps a lot and i really like to watch him help him because it shows me how much he's interested in me doing as good as i can you know it's sort of like my my daddy always told me he said i'll help you if you're obsessed yeah and that's the philosophy i've sort of tried to raise dale jr and kelly and carrie and and uh taylor nicole was raising me uh is to you know if they'll get out there and help yourself i'll help them anyway i can that's all i ask them to we promised you an inside look at a remarkable week in the life of dale earnhardt it all begins right here at charlotte motor speedway with nascar's all-star event the winston and ends with the most demanding race of the year the coca-cola 600. nascar's equivalent of an all-star game is the winston the players are the best in the sport now this event is not for the racing purists but it is a great place to see the stars and there's big money on the table the format 30 laps start the winner at the back of the pack for the next 30 lapper line him up again the first man there is 200 000 richer it's very simple dale doesn't complain about the format he said he'd run the race in reverse for that kind of though matter of fact he's the only guy to win this race twice since it started 1985. need more drama how about the first race ever under the lights on a super speedway and don't forget the full moon stock car racing's all-star event it's underway and it's davey allison out quickly with the lead rusty wallace in second back straightaway schroeder in third trouble back straight away jarrod comes around morgan shepherds into him mike walter they've got to carve out we've got one on fire that's strickland that strickland hit the wall looked like it knocked the fuel pump off something caught on fire it's out and we're under caution three laps with the exception of that first incident the first 30 lapper is pretty uneventful davey allison's thunderbird slices through the night air like a hot knife through butter impressive but who really is packing the heat [Music] [Applause] [Music] richard got around dale here comes dale back on the inside earnhardt right back and ernie irvin is there [Applause] [Music] last lap out of turn number four for fifty thousand dollars felix mellow yellow pontiac kyle then he gets 50 grand ernie irvin 15 000 per second dale earnhardt for third margin 1.78 seconds first to second and the next segment they will start straight up [Music] the moment of truth has arrived even the men who built these cars don't know who's got the upper hand but now it's time to read them and weep now let's see how strong kyle is in the corner if he can get away from earnhardt you better watch this 28. i thought i knew that car is accelerating bernhard took the lead around cobb there comes the 28 up inside like a rocket with nobody to crash with he's gonna pop up into second place white flag one lap to go he's going to get a shot at him [Applause] davey allison coming up but i don't think he'll be a factor kyle just hauls it off the corner he's got the inside he's up to our bumper service down to the left part of the racetrack and it's kyle petty kyle petty coming to the checkered flag here comes davey allison to the bottom it'll be the finish past the finish line they have crashed into turn number one and davey allison is in a shower of sparks you can't imagine the heartbreak for dale but hey he went down swinging the last thing he wants to do is talk with the press but it comes with the uniform you can see the fire in his eyes as he enters the team's inner sanctum the track reopens in just four days and you can bet dale will be back with his war paint on when they open the gates again bring it around it's right here up here in the garage [Music] [Music] whole day sleepy mechanics unloading setting up a routine they've gone through a thousand times capturing the pole at charlotte's a big deal you get to puff out the chest with all the corporate hot shots in town it's a long grueling day gears shocks springs sway bars caster camber each component is checked and rechecked the combination that worked here last time may be out to lunch today dale's bush team is here too and it's a tedious process for driver and crew dale's input is crucial if he's unable to tell each team where the car is off believe it it will stay back [Music] nobody likes the technical inspections the nascar officials pull out their magnifying glasses while the mechanics do their best to look like choir boys cheating nah call it creative engineering but by the time they line up on sunday they'll all be legal can you imagine being interviewed while you're trying to do your job stop and answer 20 questions before your big presentation with the boss sign a few autographs along the way [Applause] [Music] [Applause] bill elliott mark martin and kyle petty were the hot shoes in practice today even if dale turns the perfect lap he may not have enough for the pole second lap slower 171.996 171 996 dale won't sleep much tonight never does when he's got a lot in his mind he hasn't won a race this year [Applause] [Music] this week has gone from bad to worse he can't get his winston cup car out of the mud and now nascar drops a bombshell the type of motor they've been running in the bush series is unacceptable as of today weeks of preparation are thrown out the window [Music] the car is ready for qualifying but in what shape good enough it seems to start tenth when you buy a ticket for any race that dale earnhardt lines up in it's a given that he'll be at or near the front but on this saturday afternoon that motor change has dale and his crew chief tony yuri just rolling the dice [Music] these guys with the boards they're concerned about them getting away and they're having to try their best to hold them back as much as possible chevy puts it right out in front going to the top here's jack sprague on the outside from spring lake michigan look at earnhardt coming up from the tenth spot on bill martin on the outside trickle made a strong move inside got under earnhardt and when it did blew vale up enough that jeff gordon got under him also the [ __ ] he's going to be in the clear today i'll get back jet condor dick trickle at the controls looking good and here's jeff gordon reeling right back into that baby root board on by bill davis fighting with earnhardt back straight away the battle for third we've got a big incident in turn two developing cars going every direction so nemechek hit get hit from his steel car still coming oh maybe him slow down four perhaps five six cars involved in this crash that's taking place in lap number 26. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] my [Music] [Music] the fans may not know it but they are watching a classic earnhardt performance he's down on horsepower to the front runners but through sheer force of will he's keeping that black number three in the top five look at earnhardt come right back up in there this is a great place at the midway point the teams are allowed to make adjustments to the cars in a 15-minute break dale's virtuoso performance has him third in permission but unless tony can magically put some more muscle under the hood victory may be an impossibility even for dale they lead me down straight away so bad it ain't good [Music] drives this car right down the bottom he got invited like dale's car took off away from him he got him behind he took a little air off this car his car got away he said dave dale's got a major problem he's stopping something happened to it the three car way off the pace in the main straightaway [Music] get the fifth four down [Music] we made the only call we could make it have nothing no better we broke something in the engine not exactly what but uh sure what but that's the way it goes a spin with 200 grand on the line rules changes blown motors bitter pills to swallow for a five-time champion as he heads out now for the last tune-up session before tomorrow's race the question is can it get any worse [Music] dale's immediate family has gathered in their condo high above the racetrack to see if he can turn around this dreadful week dale makes his way to the garage area with teresa and takes in the pre-race show but you know his mind is on one thing and one thing alone the 600 miles he must run we've been here for two solid weeks all the big hype all the motors the winston all the practice look at this massive humanity running around here i'll tell you what dale earnhardt is fixing to get in his best element he's fixing to climb in that race car right there and go 600 miles nobody would be bothering for a little while i'm going to slip up the booth and see what happens hey [Music] go we're ready for the coca-cola 600. the start is going very very critical again positioning early in this race you get shuffled back these guys will raise real hard on this first lap to get a good starting position everybody clear through one the back straight away for the first time on the back straight away as they stack up here's ricky rutt going to the lead on the bottom of the racetrack this race is such a contradiction for the racers they must drive hard to avoid falling too far back yet save their equipment for that final 100 miles [Music] he's going to be battling for all his work to keep rusty back there because another caught him if he keeps doing this you're talking about a 600 mile race he realistically he's got a chance to work his way back in if he's running big wrecking three and four cars going everywhere major wreck walter getting into it daryl was in it i think michael was up in the wall and we're gonna have four or five cars ko'd out of this one havoc in the 600. okay here we go right in the middle of the corner let's see if we can pick up what happens right here there's okay there's trickle trickle sideways because the 30's already sideways in front of him let's see if we can pick it up i don't know if mike walter just lost it and that was the start of it uh when walking got sideways trickle locked him up here he comes back down across the track there comes davey allison he cleared right through it without a problem there's gants over the cars get through but right right on back behind this area is where they really stays earnhardt the gibbs car coming through back to the strike they come back in third spot is jimmy hensley and forces ricky rudd fifth alice in six again seventh carry levati eight pound penny ninth is earnhardt he's picked up a spot lap after lap goes up on the board the good rent chevrolet isn't the fastest car on the track but dale keeps the leaders in sight in the pits richard childress keeps an eye on the lap times formulating his strategy dale and the team keep digging each pit stop they get the car a little bit better and dale keeps driving his heart out eight days of frustration may be coming to an end 500 miles down and a grueling 100 miles to go it appears to be a four horse race between kyle petty ernie irvin davey allison and [Music] now they're racing did you see the fourth car bernie irving he knows he needs to get around kyle that time her van was sideways coming off the second turn he drove the car so hard off too he had his car finished in the 600 fifth back in 1990 here he comes on the charge kyle petty trying to hold on meanwhile hiding in the weeds number three earnhardt is still a major factor here's earnhardt somewhat further back on the field but he isn't out of this thing by any stretch the pressure and the blazing carolina sun have taken their toll on the crew in the pits they will be called upon to help right the final chapter of this race for dale earnhardt they go in the third term we'll be able to tell right here ken if these guys are going to come in this could be a bad deal bernie irvin he wanted to pit right there but the 21 car was under him and he couldn't get in he was going to hit with kyle because he kind of got out he finally got in but it really cost him some time let's go to randy pemberton i'm waiting out kyle penny to come in he's in the most critical thing here on this pit stop is that the gas man richard bostic get both of these 11 gallon fill tanks in this car the first one is in they toss the other one over the wall robert pemberton comes around to the left front the jack goes up on the car left side this is a quick pit stop so far second can and again just to make sure it's full cal penny drops it away a great pit stop looks like two great good stuff quite as great a pit stop it was almost as good a pit stop but they got all the fuel in as well and the four tires went on well no problems with urban but he's gonna go out where he started second earnhardt is pitting number three he slides it to a halt watch this stop by that richard childress crew church almaden's company putting them through their cases it's going to take two laps for us to be able to tell what kind of stuff dale has compensated because it's going to take him a while to get back up to speed for a race band and poetry in motion four tires change less than 20 seconds the pit crew pulls off a clutch performance as good as you'll ever see and now dale must wage war for 50 nail fighting laps it was earnhardt's pit stop and the work of his pit crew that has given him the advantage it was a brilliant pit stop we're going to give you another opportunity to enjoy what race fans truly call poetry in motion watching that free crew when they did the job that has put him into the lead not on the track but in the pits now there's the interval there's the three car there's your second place car kyle petty there's a lap car in between first and second and then the yellow car that's ernie urban from the kodak car running third it looks like dale through one and two is really good and it looks like the four car ernie irving is better in three and four so dale's got to get through one and two good because he loses just the least bit of ground right here in three and four so it's kind of sweet there's irvine right back on four here's that lap car seat lamina gives him rumor he's racing for positions up there he's still in behind himself with some other cars it's going to be hard just to pull over and let him go both of these guys have earned their souls have earned their stripes running all those short tracks here they come down for [Music] 98 this time by eddie hinton wrote years ago when you will win for decades you may not get famous but you prove you're a man you're respected by your peers deep down you see it in their faces here at their voices and then one day you are there here's some of this left traffic we're talking about they cleared that car without a problem two laps to go they are here at charlotte the mecca for winston cup stock car racing all these teams for the most part over 80 of them based right around here look at him take a look to the outside dale's been thinking inside ernie takes the outside white flag final lap is underway just a week ago on saturday night with 300 000 at stake when he came to turn three got a good lead he got a good jump off that corner that was dale's hand this is the end for number four he's better but it looks like he drove it in down to here the 33rd annual coca-cola 600 and by three four car lengths dale earnhardt has come home the winner of the coca-cola 600 for the second time in his career his 53rd winston cup career victory [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] well there's dale's story so far part one there's a lot of racing and a lot of living to do and nobody does it any more wide open than dale earnhardt [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: West Coast Racing Archives

Views: 228,004

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Id: PITDQo5NEZc

Length: 59min 15sec (3555 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 14 2021