Remembering a legend
Heather Baggett
The name Dale Earnhardt is synonymous with winning at Talladega Superspeedway.
Those victories will be in the forefront of NASCAR fans’ minds this weekend when Dale Earnhardt Jr. runs a special paint scheme on his Budweiser Chevy in honor of his father. The seven-time Nextel Cup champion will also be one of five in the racing community to be inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame tonight.
“I was very excited when I saw the car,” Junior said. “I think the car looks good and I think it’s a cool way to honor my dad. It’s going to be a lot of fun to be behind the wheel of that car and sort of see the reaction to that. …I guess more or less the reaction it gets from the other drivers on the racetrack. It’s going to be neat. I think the fans will enjoy it.”
With 10 victories at the 2.66 mile track, the Intimidator is the winningest driver at the superspeedway. The racer closest to Earnhardt’s record is his son, Dale Jr., who has five wins at Talladega. For Little E, the weekend is a special one from all aspects.
Saturday would have been Earnhardt’s 55th birthday.
“His birthday is something I do enjoy pointing out or celebrating or recognizing myself personally because that was always a lot of fun with him when he would get a little bit older we were always picking out what his real age was,” Junior said. “But, I don’t know, there were some things that come and go without a blind of the eye, but there are other things that come and go that you want to point out and you want to recognize and you do appreciate and you do miss…Between me and my family or whatnot, and all of his fans, you do want to take a moment and remember. I think his birthday is a good one.”
Earnhardt fans across the nation will remember the legend this weekend when the Nextel Cup drivers return to the track where he had such success. Others in the NASCAR community believe Earnhardt will forever be remembered as one of the greatest drivers of all time.
“I knew Dale when he was a little boy and watched him literally grow up,” fellow hall of fame inductee H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler said in an earlier interview. “He and Richard Petty are arguably the two best guys to ever get behind the wheel of a car. He just had a knack for driving. He could drive a loose race car better than anybody I’ve ever seen.”
Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., isn’t the only inductee to speak kindly of the Intimidator.
Harry Gant, a dominant short-track driver from North Carolina, said he didn’t feel overshadowed by Earnhardt being in the same induction class.
“Just so you’ve got your name on that wall means a lot,” he said. “(Earnhardt) overshadows everybody here.”
Little E and the rest of the Earnhardt family will be on hand for the festivities tonight at the Hall of Fame.
“It’s pretty cool,” Junior said. “I’m looking forward to being there and watching my family up on stage and see what they have got to say. It will be pretty fun. He would have been real happy about that. That would have been a big deal to him. I think that’s a great shrine that they have over there and as a kid I could not wait to go to the racetrack so I could got through it every year. I think it’s just a huge honor. It’s one of the biggest honors in the sport. I’ll be one of the first ones through the gate.”
Janet Guthrie and Jack Roush join Earnhardt, Wheeler and Gant as the 2006 Hall of Fame inductees. The ceremony will be held in the Speed Channel Dome at the Hall of Fame. Festivities are set to begin at 5:30 p.m. with the Driver of the Year reception.
Heather Baggett is a staff writer for The Daily Home.
Heather Baggett
The name Dale Earnhardt is synonymous with winning at Talladega Superspeedway.
Those victories will be in the forefront of NASCAR fans’ minds this weekend when Dale Earnhardt Jr. runs a special paint scheme on his Budweiser Chevy in honor of his father. The seven-time Nextel Cup champion will also be one of five in the racing community to be inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame tonight.
“I was very excited when I saw the car,” Junior said. “I think the car looks good and I think it’s a cool way to honor my dad. It’s going to be a lot of fun to be behind the wheel of that car and sort of see the reaction to that. …I guess more or less the reaction it gets from the other drivers on the racetrack. It’s going to be neat. I think the fans will enjoy it.”
With 10 victories at the 2.66 mile track, the Intimidator is the winningest driver at the superspeedway. The racer closest to Earnhardt’s record is his son, Dale Jr., who has five wins at Talladega. For Little E, the weekend is a special one from all aspects.
Saturday would have been Earnhardt’s 55th birthday.
“His birthday is something I do enjoy pointing out or celebrating or recognizing myself personally because that was always a lot of fun with him when he would get a little bit older we were always picking out what his real age was,” Junior said. “But, I don’t know, there were some things that come and go without a blind of the eye, but there are other things that come and go that you want to point out and you want to recognize and you do appreciate and you do miss…Between me and my family or whatnot, and all of his fans, you do want to take a moment and remember. I think his birthday is a good one.”
Earnhardt fans across the nation will remember the legend this weekend when the Nextel Cup drivers return to the track where he had such success. Others in the NASCAR community believe Earnhardt will forever be remembered as one of the greatest drivers of all time.
“I knew Dale when he was a little boy and watched him literally grow up,” fellow hall of fame inductee H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler said in an earlier interview. “He and Richard Petty are arguably the two best guys to ever get behind the wheel of a car. He just had a knack for driving. He could drive a loose race car better than anybody I’ve ever seen.”
Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., isn’t the only inductee to speak kindly of the Intimidator.
Harry Gant, a dominant short-track driver from North Carolina, said he didn’t feel overshadowed by Earnhardt being in the same induction class.
“Just so you’ve got your name on that wall means a lot,” he said. “(Earnhardt) overshadows everybody here.”
Little E and the rest of the Earnhardt family will be on hand for the festivities tonight at the Hall of Fame.
“It’s pretty cool,” Junior said. “I’m looking forward to being there and watching my family up on stage and see what they have got to say. It will be pretty fun. He would have been real happy about that. That would have been a big deal to him. I think that’s a great shrine that they have over there and as a kid I could not wait to go to the racetrack so I could got through it every year. I think it’s just a huge honor. It’s one of the biggest honors in the sport. I’ll be one of the first ones through the gate.”
Janet Guthrie and Jack Roush join Earnhardt, Wheeler and Gant as the 2006 Hall of Fame inductees. The ceremony will be held in the Speed Channel Dome at the Hall of Fame. Festivities are set to begin at 5:30 p.m. with the Driver of the Year reception.
Heather Baggett is a staff writer for The Daily Home.
