Ten Years After: In His Own Words, Dale Earnhardt Reflects on His Life and Career

A Dark Day 10 Years Ago
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You talk about competition, but there's probably not a car owner or a crew chief ... who wouldn''t say there's only one driver in that garage area right now, and that's Dale Earnhardt.

I think there's more than that. It makes you feel good ... if they say that. And if they look at me as a driver, as Dale Earnhardt, they gotta say it because, number one, I'm competitive at whatever stage of the year or whatever stage of the race it is. And I'm going to drive hard, I'm going to work hard, I'm going to work hard with the team. That's like my commitment to Richard Childress this year is to retire from Busch Grand National racing. My car owner [himself[ wasn't really happy about that, but ... Anyway, to go into focusing on just Winston Cup. I think Richard Childress will tell you that I've been a better driver this year than I was last year. And we're lookin' at that, and I look at that, is to make my part in Richard Childress Racing better every year, and my commitment to him and the sponsors to be a winner stronger each year. That's my commitment to my side of it, my part of the team. I can go out there Sunday and race hard, but if I'm not in shape or if I've not tested or I've not thought about it very much or I'm off doing something on Thursday or Friday night, and I'm wore out come Sunday, that's not a good commitment, is it? That's not a part of the team that you need to be.

I've done a great job through the years with the Busch Grand National series, and racing in Winston Cup, too, and it's not taken away from us. For me, especially. I can think of several situations where it's helped us. But as competitive as things have gotten, testing (and) practice time is so, so important, (you have) to be able to go out there and drive that car and be able to relate back to [crew chiefs] Andy [Petree], Kurt Shelmerdine, David Smith, whoever's there. It's to say, 'Hey, softer shock here,' or 'Little more rear spring here,' or whatever.

And it's just like Atlanta. We practiced that afternoon. Pretty good practice. Felt good about the car. That afternoon, after practice, we said, 'Let's soften that bar up a little more, let's put a little more rubber in the right rear.' We thought about it all night, came in next morning – 'Let's go down on them front springs.' We softened the right front spring. I mean, it's those kinds of things you tune. You're always thinking about the focus of that team. As a driver, you gotta put that input in the team. I think it's gettin' more competitive every year and I think it's more the responsibility of the driver to his input in the team.
"Would you have seen an Indy car drive into turn three in Atlanta, pass three cars from turn three to turn four, on the bottom, hung out sideways, needing more spoiler and more front area. I was sideways. I was wrecked. . . out of control."

But is it the teams that are getting more competitive, more than just the drivers?

I think it's both. I think if I stayed set in my ways or I didn't go test much or didn't worry about how the radial tires or the shocks – 'Well, we run them shocks last year. Lets run 'em again this year. That's good enough.' Or, 'We tested there before, let's don't go test there.' Man, every time we test somewhere, it's like Daytona or Talladega. We just beat that thing to death.

But others drivers don't do this, don't have this focus or commitment...

I think they do, or want to. Maybe that's why you are rated in the class of a [Richard] Petty or whatever, because your drive to win is still there.

What was it that your dad passed on to you that allowed you to be in that class with Petty or Cale Yarborough?

Well, he was an independent cuss. [laughter]. Nah, I think his determination and his savvy to go out and take something that was lesser than the other guy had and win with it. And I seen him do it before. And he had to work hard. And he taught me the importance of the time you put in on the race car during the week was the time you was going to get out of it on Saturday night at the race track to win. I learned that hands-on and that's what I'm trying to instill in my kids.

And our team understands and you see it more and more everyday is the competitiveness. A lot of guys take for granted what's there is okay. You gotta go beyond that. I see [Ray] Evernham, Petree, everybody down the row there Sunday morning pull their shocks off, check the pressure. . . check their shocks before the race. Never done that before . But you're doing it now. And you're conferring with the team more and more about every little thing. I mean you don't take anything for granted anymore. Everything's got to be touched, tweaked on and tuned, and that's why it's so competitive. That's why it takes so much to win. That's why you don't want to give up a quarter inch here or an eighth of an inch there.

I can assure you, I love to go hunting. [business manager] Don [Hawk] will tell you, I'm not one to sit in the office. But if it takes that time in the race car to go test, that's what we gotta do. And that's what I'll do. That's part of it. I have a fishing boat in Florida and I have a place in Texas that I hunt and I have a farm that I love to hunt and fish on. I have three kids that race. I have another who's a tremendous lot of fun to be with – in fact, I'm contemplating today about flying Taylor up here – I mean, when it's time to do business, it's time to do business.

The race car comes first. I got a [car] dealership that I haven't been over there in over a month and touched and feeled and seen, but my managers are comin' in and we're doing our business at the [race shop] office. I mean I haven't even got time to go see those people. But that's what I'm saying – racing comes first. Racing drives it. And I gotta take care of that first. And if racing drives us to go to Japan and France, I'm ready to go. I think it's going to be big. I think it's going to be big. And you know why? It's going to take us worldwide. It's gonna introduce us to the world. We're already trademarked – Dale Earnhardt and 3 and all of our trademarks are already trademarked – in Japan. How many countries now? Twelve? [Hawk responds affirmatively].

You got a schedule that we juggle now. The sport's gotta grow. And [NASCAR President Bill] France can't stand up there and say, 'Hey, we're gonna give a date to Texas, we're gonna give a date to California, we're gonna give a date to Miami. . .' They can't say that. They gotta see where it takes them. But it's inevitable. I think at the rate we're growing, if we want to grow further, we're gonna die out in some places. There's got to be change. We got to make that change. I don't want to see it. I mean, I'm not particularly for it – to leave someone that's helped us go here. But it's inevitable that it's gonna happen.

Just to comment off note right here: What would do you if you was a small track owner right now and you had a Winston Cup date and you see what's happening? What would you do? I would go to [speedway mogul] Bruton [Smith] or I would go to Miami. I would say, 'Hey, you sell me, or you give me or trade me, whatever, so much stock in your track, and I'll help you with NASCAR to take one of my dates there.' Or both dates there. Or whatever. I still got my race track. I can run a lesser division and operate as well as I want to, but I also own a piece of the pie over here that's growing.

I feel for those guys that are working hard – you're not writing this now – that are working as hard as Clay [Earles] in Martinsville and at [North] Wilkesboro, and on and on, but they're gonna have to expand. They're gonna have to. They got to give to the situation. You see the writing on the wall, why not go do something about it? Why not go to these guys and say, 'Hey, give me some of the pie here. Cut me in on a piece here and l'll go on and I'll help you.' Why not do that? Richmond has expanded. They've seen the opportunity and they're moving with the sport.

Back on the record, if they do have to leave some of these places behind, are you going to hate that more than most people?

I don't think so. I think I will. . . I'll miss it, or I'll see the change. It's like the old Richmond speedway. I mean, I truly enjoyed and thirsted to go there and race because that was a race track you had to finesse, you had to work with, to win. It was a competitive race track. But there again, I welcomed the new track. I've won there, and it's a great, competitive race track. And I'm one who has grown in the sport and grown in business and see the commercial side of this company and this sport that we need to be in Vegas, we need to be in Texas, we need to be in Miami, we need to be in California. I mean, our sponsors, they need it. It drives us to go there.

Will they someday take all the rooting and gouging out of it?

Noooo. . . no.

In some respects it look likes we have taken some of it out.

Who's taken it out?

NASCAR has taken it out.

Why did they take it out?

Because some of the drivers can't handle it and they're complaining.

I don't think it's the drivers as much as the media. It's like the race at Charlotte with [Bill] Elliott and [Geoff] Bodine and myself in The Winston [in 1987]. We were thrown into a situation. And I'm not just saying just you guys, but the total package of media. [Charlotte Motor Speedway President] Humpy Wheeler, he took the media and he thrashed it. 'Get in there and get 'em, guys!' And, 'This is going to be one of the most exciting things there is!' And, 'They're gonna throw 'em in the ring and they're going to fight to the death!' kinda deal. And he whupped y'all into a frenzy. Didn't he? Did he not?

And he whupped us into a frenzy. We go out there and we get after it and we're going after it wholeheartedly and having a great time. And it's like win or lose, that's all there is, you know? And then the deal happened. Somebody's unhappy. Somebody wins, somebody loses. And then the media, there again, all lathered up, writes everything that comes out of Bill Elliot's mouth or my mouth or Bodine.

And the talk shows the next day, the radio shows, were racing questions back and forth and whipping the public all into a frenzy. So NASCAR gets all the calls, and they say, 'Whoa, we can't have this, Winston's gonna. . . Hey, this is great, but man, this is killing us.' NASCAR says, 'We gotta do something about it.' So here's [NASCAR Vice President of Competition] Les Richter, old football coach: 'Penalize them! Put 'em in the penalty box! So.... Whupped 'em into a frenzy. And you got penalized.

You hear more and more today about people asking for a favor on the race track. They're not doing anything on their own anymore. They're asking for help from the tower.

Well, maybe your hand has been smacked so much that when you run up on a guy and you're sitting there for three, four, five laps and you do everything but wreck the guy, yeah, it's time to ask for help. Like Mike Wallace at Martinsville. I'm trying to lap him. He's running me out of the groove. He's doing everything he can to keep me from lapping him, and Rusty [Wallace] is right on my tail, comin'. And I do everything but NOT wreck him. Is it not time to ask for help? You wreck him and you get penalized and you go to the rear?

Some of our races are beginning to look like Indy car races in some respects, Or Formula One.

I don't think so. . . I don't think so. Would you have seen an Indy car drive into turn three in Atlanta, pass three cars from turn three to turn four, on the bottom, hung out sideways, needing more spoiler and more front area. I was sideways. I was wrecked. . . out of control.

It's like nobody's racing anymore.

Yeah, there is. Open your eyes.

Talk about the enthusiasm of Jeff Gordon in winning the championship and how it compared to when you were coming up and when you won your first championship in 1980.

I can't compare that because I was having such a damn big time. I didn't realize what was going on with the championship. I mean I was still in awe of just being in Winston Cup racing because I had the opportunity to go with [car owner Rod] Osterlund in 1979. And I was still just like... hey, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I was racing. I was driving a race car. I was having a big time. And when we was standing there [in victory lane] with that 1980 Winston Cup champion (news)paper in Ontario with all these guys, we still didn't realize what we was doing or what we had done. I think he's taking it in more. He's been schooled pretty good.

So you're essentially saying he might be better prepared to handle it than you were?

I think so. I think he's been under the media blitz and under the sponsor blitz and under the competitor's competition blitz from the start, with coming on and winning the Rookie of the Year [in 1993] and coming on and winning last year and being the competitor he has been. He's got the team and the management and the sponsor and the schooling.

It wasn't the easiest thing for you?

No, it wasn't. I think it was a bigger transition because I pretty much... I had great friends like Joe Whitlock to help me through all of it, but still it was a big thing. When I won my first championship, I was what? Thirty? Twenty-nine? And I'd been through a lot. When I was 24, I was beating around, starving to death, trying to race. I didn't make it and opportunities didn't come to me until I was 28 or 29.

You enjoyed playing with him this year, didn't you?

The Hendrick organization is a great team and he is a young, aggressive driver. He makes better competition. He beats you. He took the level a little higher and we stepped up to the plate and tried to come back and came up short. It makes it more competitive, it makes it more fun, yes, but it makes it more competitive.

(As one writer departs, Earnhardt begins talking about injuries to his neck, shoulders and back suffered in a crash at Michigan in June. He had only two DNFs in 1995; both were at Michigan).

See my back, I can still move like that right there and it hurts. And I couldn't lay on my left side for a long time and I couldn't drive good without pain. And we raced and worked hard to overcome that. But still, it's not an excuse. That's not an excuse. But the Michigan races were costly. But everybody can say that. If Ernie Irvan hadn't hit the wall, he wouldn't have got hurt and he probably would have been a championship contender or he might have been champion, who knows? S**t, you can't stop things from happening.

Why didn't more people know about your back during the year? Did you try to hide that?

I didn't say nothin'. I didn't go to the doctor for four weeks. I didn't know what it was. My neck had already just about healed up.

What's the toughest thing Gordon will have to face next year?

I tell you what I don't wish him. I don't wish him a year like I had in 1979. It's hard. It's like I said, winning and his drive to win drives competition and makes it more competitive. And it'll be more competitive next year with the teams maturing more – the ones that sort of got their feet on the ground after some change – and our team's changing a little bit and Hendrick's team structure is changing a bit and Evernham is going to be responsible for more. So everything is going to change. You're just going to have to wait and see.

You can find it pretty intimidating about everything that's going on up here in New York and he's having a big time with it. He made the comment to me that he's pretty nervous about (the banquet) tomorrow night. I'm like, 'Enjoy it. Have a good time. Relax. They're here to see you as champion. You've won. It's over with. You're not racing anybody.'

Do you see anything in him on race track as a driver that you saw in yourself?

I don't analyze guys like you guys do. I seen it (in him) as a Busch driver: That guy is going to be a winner. He's going to be a contender for championships and races. He's going to be a winner. The mentality of driving – he drove the car. He didn't fight the car. He drove the car. He did things with the car that some guys who have been driving for a long time can't do.

Did you enjoy the head games?

Wasn't much of a head game.

You worked on him, every time you got a chance.

If we could have went into Atlanta 75 points behind (instead of 147 points)... Then we could have played mind games.

You were more exciting this year than Gordon. Can you elaborate on...

Wait till next year. I told you last year. I mean, I'm learning how to do this. I'm getting better at driving.

Elaborate on the fall race at Bristol and your statement, 'I was on a mssion.'

I was.... I had to go.

Why? What made Bristol. . .?
"It ain't often you have a race car like that (at Atlanta). I kicked some butt. And I had a big time. Whether you write it or not or whatever, I stole a little of his thunder that day. I had a big-ass time that day."

It was raining. It was a bad day. I just didn't like it. It started late and I was in a hurry to get home. Fans had me torqued up with all that waving and everything.

No, really. You were upset about what had been going on the last 10 weeks. You were getting sick of Gordon winning all the time, right?

Nah, I don't think it was that. I was on a mission. Goin' to the front.

I asked you one time about a technique at Daytona and Talladega – side drafting – and you said 'Yeah, but I don't want to talk about it.' How many secrets. . . do you have a whole bunch of driving secrets that other people don't have?

No. It's just things that happened through your career that you learn... that you lose by. That you know not to lose by again. And NASCAR has taken some of that away with restrictor plates and the advantage of horsepower. Because that was a big part that you could use.

What wold be something that you lost by that you learned not to lose by again?

Losing. You just gotta use it different.

Are you a different driver now than you were in '86 and '87 -- the years of controversy?

The talent of driving is all the same. I think I matured. I'm more calculated probably than I was then. But as far as being able to finesse the car, it's the same. Darrell Waltrip said something in '86 or '87, he said, 'He can't finesse. He's got no finesse.' I said, 'I won a lot of my races being able to finesse a race car on a slick race track or a driver that's beatin' on you, that's changing the groove... ' One time this year you (media) guys wasn't even worried about me. Why weren't you all not worried about me in May? Like you all was writing me off or something...

Latest of a long list of classic moves was your move at Atlanta. I believe you got by four cars in that turn. You go blowing past them all. Was that on Dale Earnhardt's list of...

That was fun.

Risk or....

Risk? There wasn't no risk involved.

It looked easy is what I'm saying. Was it harder than it looked? Was it a hold-your-breath move?

It was one of them deals where you coulda crashed. You remember – was it '89? – the race I went down in three and turned sideways and got in the side of [Derrike] Cope or somebody and got out here (sideways) and saved it back? And I was racing for the championship. I think I won the championship that year. But Rusty won the race. But anyway, going in the corner. the car could have done the same thing.

But was that a statement move?

It was sort of like, 'Let's go bury these guys.'

You mean it was like, 'Okay, kid, you can win the championship and here's what I can do'?

No, I didn't have him on my mind. Never had him on my mind. Let me tell you something. It ain't often you have a race car like that (at Atlanta). I kicked some butt. And I had a big time. Whether you write it or not or whatever, I stole a little of his thunder that day. I had a big-ass time that day. I was riding to Texas (after the race) on that Lear jet, going deer hunting, having a beer and just having a big time. I was having a big time. I went out there and enjoyed myself.

You said one time you dad sometimes was conservative in a sense that he'd have a race car that he knew that he could go to front with, but...

My dad was conservative in the fact that he had to make what he had last. He had to do with what he had.

Right. How did you unlearn that?

I didn't unlearn it. Well, when I started out with Osterlund, even, I was used to racing my own equipment, when you had to make a set of tires last you two weeks, two races, whatever... I'm still on that side. Where's [Charlotte Observer motorsports writer Tom] Higgins at?

On vacation, and he took it.

So Gordon wasn't important enough for him to come up? Hey, ever what you do, don't take anything away from Rick Hendrick. They have paid their dues. And they have worked hard. And they are due this. And I don't begrudge Gordon from winning it because he raced and he won it. Nobody gave it to him. But I am gonna have all the damn fun I can with (the nickname) "Wonder Boy." Did you see my Brickyard win? First man that ever won the Brickyard. [Gordon had won the inaugural race in 1994.]

What did you do different when you got out of your own equipment. Did you consciously become more aggressive because you didn't have to protect it?

I don't know. It was a culture change for me to be able to have... when I worked through my career after Dad died and I worked in Busch Grand National, I worked with same ethics as he did. I had to make my equipment last. I had to make it go the miles. When I started driving for Osterlund, I was in awe of all these cars and equipment that was there, but still we did well with that. We didn't use up a lot of equipment and I was still at that kind of thinking.

I think that's what helped me in Winston Cup racing is when I did get out of bounds a little bit, there was a Richard Petty or a Bobby Allison or a David Pearson or a Donnie Allison that would say, 'Kid, you're messin' up... you're a little bit out of bounds here.' And that's what it used to be. And I think that's how NASCAR survived then is the drivers more or less molded and took care of the younger guys. And now NASCAR is taking more charge. You know: 'Okay, you guys are a little aggressive, too rough,' or whoever. They'll take a guy in and talk to him because he's stepped out of bounds or whatever. But I took.... that conservative side has always been there, but the aggressive side has been there, too. I mean, I'm a fired-up driver when it comes to driving a race car. That's what I dearly love to do. I mean, I'd rather do that than most anything else.

Do you think you would have been as driven if your dad hadn't passed away when he did at your age [22].

Y'all wouldn't have been safe if Dad was alive. I would have been more, probably more, competitive... He would just make me stay in bounds even more.

You think you would have been more competitive?

Yeah.

What would he have kicked your ass about?

I don't know.

He obviously would be mentally proud.

Um-hm.

Do you see anything you do on the track these days that he wouldn't like?

No.

Is it true that Harry Gant really helped you make the transition from dirt to asphalt?

Yeah, he did.

What did he tell you?

I bought his car and he helped me work with the chassis on it. Then when we went and tested and drove it and I'd have questions for him all the time about it, he'd help me with it. He was tremendous help. I owe a lot to Harry.

How long did it take you to learn. . . two elements in driving? One is rhythm. Developing lap after lap after lap just knocking them off....

Gordon does that with video games.

...and you talked earlier this year about if there was one lesson you would teach your drivers, it would be patience. How long did it take you to learn that? Did you have rhythm down by the time you got in the Winston Cup series?

I don't know. I just drove... I just drove my ass off.

You hate to analyze that stuff, huh?

I really do. I'm not good at analyzing things that this driver is this or that driver is that. Seemed like when I was doing it, I was just... I was racing. I mean that fire inside and that drive inside to go in there after it, and to get up against you. I mean, if you go this deep, I'm going to go this deep. Or, whatever it took to beat you, that's what I was going to do. And the competition deserved it and warranted it. It was Darrell Waltrip., it was Cale Yarborough when I won the championship (in 1980). The Allisons I raced so hard, and the Pettys and the Pearsons. And then all of a sudden it's the Rusty Wallaces, the Bill Elliotts, Terry Labontes, and those guys. Noww here comes a new guy. Bobby Labonte, and Jeffrey Gordon, Wonder Boy, and the Burtons. It's all the same as when I beat Cale Yarborough. It's all the same. It's the same competition level, but just moved up a little bit.

Now you race a lot differently than some other drivers in a sense that you don't have the latest seat – you got your own seat – and you got an open-faced helmet.

Hey. Let me tell you.... Off the record? I like to look over a guy and grin at him. I'm wondering whether he's smiling or gritting his teeth or frowning or what. Ask Mark Martin. Two years ago, on a restart, he wouldn't even look at me.

Several drivers have said it's amazing to watch you go when they are in front of you; to see drivers get out of your way. One of 'em said it's a calculated...

Maybe that's what I was doing at Bristol. Trying to reestablish my intimidation. Maybe. I didn't say that. . . But I was on a mission.

Do you notice them get out of your way because you're going to get by them and if they hold you up for three laps, both of you are going to slow down and (the pass is) just gonna happen anyway?

I drive 'em all the same. I'm telling you... I'm telling you.... I'm going to be the same next year as I was this year – as focused and hard driving as I was this year. I don't know about the rest of 'em. I don't know what problems they're going to have or what other interests they're going to have. I know what my interest is. I'm going to win races. I'm going to win that championship. You can count on that. You can count on that. I don't care what everybody else is doing.

Did you feel the same last year at this time toward 1995?

I feel more so now, though .

More so because you're not the champion?

Right. I'm telling you... They talk about, 'Well, he's 44 and he's looking to slow down.' Kiss my g*d damn ass! Now don't write that. I'll quit talking. I appreciate y'all coming up.

[As the interview breaks up, I ask Dale about an elk he had recently taken on a hunting trip with Richard Childress in New Mexico].

Nine hundred and sixty yards.

What's that?

The (distance from the) elk you got.

Nooo.

Yeah. That's what Hawk told me. Was he lying?

622 yards, 630 yards. It's got six points on either side. He scored 320 .

Were the crosshairs on that sight moving at that distance?

I was laying on a rock. Laying on a rock. We were up on the Mogollon Mountains (in New Mexico). We were up on this mountain range of peaks and it falls off. And I positioned myself and got my jacket and gun and laid it on a rock. And I got down to where I could see it and I laid it against my shoulder and I had my hand on the trigger and got it (lined up) and pulled the trigger. . . like a bench rest.

Did you wait for awhile until it got in a position you wanted?

Forty minutes. I climbed down about 1,000 yards to him. Went off the backside and climbed down and worked up and looked and then climbed down and worked up and looked. About 600 and some yards from him. I think that's a side of me I enjoy. I enjoy the competition of racing, I enjoy the outdoors. Relaxing, but also the challenge of seeing deer or seeing elk or bird hunting or whatever, but to make a good shot on a bird, not miss, when you're quail hunting, or to bag the nicest elk you can, or the deer. And it's 'Hey, I saw a great deer. He's gonna be something next year, probably four and half or five years old!' I've gained the knowledge.
"I'm having a damn good time. And I'm just getting good this year. I'm really starting to get the feel for it. I think I can do this better."

I reckon it's just like the racing knowledge I've gained. And I pride myself in it at my age – to be the best race car driver, the best father and family man I can, the best businessman I can for all my employees and businesses I have, and a great outdoorsman, protecting the wildlife , the environment, our resources or whatever. But to go out and enjoy life. I'm a more experienced person now today than I was in 1979 when I was Rookie of the Year. I'm a more experienced hunter, I'm a more experienced father...

And you're having more fun, too.

I'm having a damn good time. And I'm just getting good this year. I'm really starting to get the feel for it. I think I can do this better.

You're serious...

I'm honest. I'm serious.

In other words, next year....

I'm telling you.....