W
Ward Burton
Guest
LONG POND, Pa. - The faceless person on the other end of the Internet used the screen name dalejr3.
T.J. Majors never had a clue.
To Majors, dalejr3 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. - was nothing more than a formidable online opponent.
Earnhardt enjoyed that he was racing against hundreds of other computer geeks and none of them knew, or cared, that he was the son of a seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion.
They weren't impressed by his family's fame or fortune. As dalejr3, he was nothing more than good competition for the best of computer wizards.
"People never believed it was me anyway, so I gave up trying to convince them," Earnhardt said. "I try to keep a low profile."
No matter how many people were signed into Total Entertainment Network, an interactive Web site, the racing games always seemed to come down to two people: Earnhardt and Majors.
"I was doing a lot of racing online with people from all over the place," Earnhardt said. "Some knew who I was, but this was back in my Busch days so I wasn't really as known as now.
"T.J. and I were always the two guys battling to win, and we kind of became friends that way. He didn't really know or care who I was, and he shared some of the setups for the games with me and we became buddies."
Still, Majors never had a clue.
By the time Earnhardt was the NASCAR Busch Series champion, the two had become e-mail pen pals. Majors eventually found out about dalejr3, but he remained more impressed with Earnhardt's computer skills than his celebrity status.
Earnhardt was taught to be keenly aware of phony friends and false pretenses, and there didn't seem to be anything phony or false about his online friend.
"I was really good at (computer games); he was really good at it," Majors said. "That's all I knew about him."
Earnhardt was so impressed with Majors' computer racing setups - his attention to shocks and springs - he was convinced it would work in a real car as well. He talked Majors into leaving New York for a life of sweeping shop floors and learning the business from the ground up. It's not easy - a part-time job at MB2 Motorsports doing odd jobs, another part-time job working at Earnhardt's Late Model shop, and racing on weekends.
"He's making me learn the business the way he did," Majors said.
Majors now has driven for Earnhardt for four years. He started in three-quarter scale stock cars, moved up to limited Late Models and now he races Late Models and NASCAR Goody's Dash Series cars.
"I had never driven a race car before I met Dale Jr. - except on the computer," Majors said.
Although both now have new commitments that rob them of most of their free time, both still find time to turn on, log on and play. Despite being the most dominant figure on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, Earnhardt now has four computers in his house and a high-speed connection for each in case his friends want to play, too. He checks his e-mail every day and surfs the Internet. And every once in a while, he still plays games all night.
"I borrowed money from my sister Kelley to buy a computer when I was still in high school," Earnhardt said. "I learned a lot about that computer and got to the point where I could change just about any of the components on it. I was always adding new stuff to make it faster and better for games."
Earnhardt is so involved in his computer games that he hired someone to build a special steering wheel so his racing would be more realistic.
Majors said the biggest difference for him is when his mother bought him a computer, then added a steering wheel and gas pedal to make it easier to play racing games.
"Once I got the steering wheel and gas pedal for my computer, all I wanted to do was race," he said.
The same for dalejr3.
T.J. Majors never had a clue.
To Majors, dalejr3 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. - was nothing more than a formidable online opponent.
Earnhardt enjoyed that he was racing against hundreds of other computer geeks and none of them knew, or cared, that he was the son of a seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion.
They weren't impressed by his family's fame or fortune. As dalejr3, he was nothing more than good competition for the best of computer wizards.
"People never believed it was me anyway, so I gave up trying to convince them," Earnhardt said. "I try to keep a low profile."
No matter how many people were signed into Total Entertainment Network, an interactive Web site, the racing games always seemed to come down to two people: Earnhardt and Majors.
"I was doing a lot of racing online with people from all over the place," Earnhardt said. "Some knew who I was, but this was back in my Busch days so I wasn't really as known as now.
"T.J. and I were always the two guys battling to win, and we kind of became friends that way. He didn't really know or care who I was, and he shared some of the setups for the games with me and we became buddies."
Still, Majors never had a clue.
By the time Earnhardt was the NASCAR Busch Series champion, the two had become e-mail pen pals. Majors eventually found out about dalejr3, but he remained more impressed with Earnhardt's computer skills than his celebrity status.
Earnhardt was taught to be keenly aware of phony friends and false pretenses, and there didn't seem to be anything phony or false about his online friend.
"I was really good at (computer games); he was really good at it," Majors said. "That's all I knew about him."
Earnhardt was so impressed with Majors' computer racing setups - his attention to shocks and springs - he was convinced it would work in a real car as well. He talked Majors into leaving New York for a life of sweeping shop floors and learning the business from the ground up. It's not easy - a part-time job at MB2 Motorsports doing odd jobs, another part-time job working at Earnhardt's Late Model shop, and racing on weekends.
"He's making me learn the business the way he did," Majors said.
Majors now has driven for Earnhardt for four years. He started in three-quarter scale stock cars, moved up to limited Late Models and now he races Late Models and NASCAR Goody's Dash Series cars.
"I had never driven a race car before I met Dale Jr. - except on the computer," Majors said.
Although both now have new commitments that rob them of most of their free time, both still find time to turn on, log on and play. Despite being the most dominant figure on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, Earnhardt now has four computers in his house and a high-speed connection for each in case his friends want to play, too. He checks his e-mail every day and surfs the Internet. And every once in a while, he still plays games all night.
"I borrowed money from my sister Kelley to buy a computer when I was still in high school," Earnhardt said. "I learned a lot about that computer and got to the point where I could change just about any of the components on it. I was always adding new stuff to make it faster and better for games."
Earnhardt is so involved in his computer games that he hired someone to build a special steering wheel so his racing would be more realistic.
Majors said the biggest difference for him is when his mother bought him a computer, then added a steering wheel and gas pedal to make it easier to play racing games.
"Once I got the steering wheel and gas pedal for my computer, all I wanted to do was race," he said.
The same for dalejr3.
