A Race to Remember

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TO RE WHAT JUMPS OUT TO ME IS STANDING IN VICTORY LANE WITH DALE JR. IT FELT GOOD. AND IT FELT GOOD TO FEEL GOOD. — NASCAR president Mike Helton, who in February 2001 had announced the death of Dale Earnhardt

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EARNHARDT JR. WITH TROPHY: HAROLD HINSON; RACE FANS: DAVID GRAHAM / AP; RACE CHECKERED FLAG: DAVID GRAHAM / AP

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RACE

REMEMBER On July 7, 2001, Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the checkered flag in the Pepsi 400—the first NASCAR race at Daytona since his father had died in a last-lap crash there five months earlier. A decade later, Junior looks back on the day he was able to create a happy memory at the place that holds his saddest.

AS TOLD TO MATT CROSSMAN

Before Dale Earnhardt Jr. could race at Daytona International Speedway following his father’s death, he had to check the place out, see if he’d be overwhelmed, see if his cold memories there would consume him. The week before NASCAR returned to Daytona for the first time following the 500 in 2001, he took some friends there, in part to show them the place but also to see how he felt. Like a man going ice fishing who isn’t sure if the ice is thick enough to hold him, he stepped gingerly onto the grounds. The ice didn’t crack. He didn’t sink. He felt good. He found he still liked the place.

A few days later, he proved he could still race there, too. After that humble return he climbed into a blistering-fast car and won the Pepsi 400 in one of the most emotionally satisfying races in the history of NASCAR. “After Earnhardt lost his life, everybody was just completely crushed, and then when his own son went back and won there, it was the shot heard around the world,” says Rusty Wallace, who finished seventh in that race. “I remember I was invited on a trip with several owners, and we went on it right after that race, and that was all they talked about. They

EARNHARDT SR. MEMORIAL: WILFREDO LEE / AP; EARNHARDT JR. CELEBRATION: DAVID TUCKER / DAYTONA BEACH NEWSJOURNAL / AP

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were so excited that he had won that race on the track where his father lost his life. I don’t know if Dale Jr. considers that the biggest win of his career, but I know I would.”

Junior, now 36, says he doesn’t think of his wins that way. “They’re like children. They’re different. They have different circumstances,” he says. He recalled the circumstances of that day for Sporting News.

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IT WAS AN INCREDIBLE TURN OF EVENTS. IT ACTUALLY FELT LIKE, EVEN THOUGH IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO GET, A LITTLE BIT OF CLOSURE FROM THE TRAGEDY THAT HAD JUST HAPPENED. IT GAVE EVERYBODY A GREAT FEELING, THAT’S FOR SURE. THE EMOTIONS OF THE FANS LEAVING THAT NIGHT WAS ONE FOR THE AGES.

Tony Eury Jr., my car chief, came in halfway through the race and told me Budweiser wasn’t happy with it.

They wanted me to pull it off. I said, “I can’t reach it. It’s way too far.”

You wouldn’t do that now. We did whatever we wanted to do back then.

The previous year, the Earnhardts enjoyed the moment after an IROC race at Daytona—the elder Earnhardt finished first; Junior was fifth.

Back then, the schedule was different. We always had the week off before, which was awesome. Me and my friends would rent a house. We’d take as many people as we could, fill a Suburban and just have a blast.

I took them out to the track to show it to them. We got run off. We were driving around and some guy ran us down. He goes, “Get out of here! What are you doing here?”

We took our time, but we eventually got out of there.

We had a good time all week, hanging out, having fun, going to the clubs, doing whatever guys do.

We were running the baseball paint scheme, so the car was white, which I really like.

I thought it was funny that I had a skull-andcrossbones sticker on the dashboard. Budweiser got mad because it symbolizes poison, and it was sitting next to their logo. It was just a decal someone gave to me on pit road. I put it on there and took off before someone told me to take it off.

Everyone was making a big deal out of the race because of the circumstances. But it seemed like business as usual between me and the Eurys. (Tony Sr. was the crew chief.)

In practice, the car was really, really fast. When the race started, I got toward the front early. For the most part, if I held my line, it was difficult to pass me. Then we had some late-race cautions. Guys tried two tires in front of us, so we came out sixth with only six laps to go.

I was really worried. I was thinking, We led this race all night long, and now we’re going to lose.

I hadn’t been behind people, so I didn’t know how my car would pass. I knew how it would lead. But I didn’t know how quickly I could get back to the lead, if six laps would be enough. So I was in panic mode when the green came out, trying to make up those spots.

EARHARDT SR. AND EARNHARDT JR.: CHRIS O’MEARA / AP; EARNHARDT JR. CELEBRATION: DONALD MIRALLE / ALLSPORT; JOHNSON, VICKERS, AND GORDON: RIC FELD / AP; EARNHARDT JR. CELEBRATION: HAROLD HINSON; GORDON: ISC ARCHIVES VIA GETTY IMAGES

— NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France

SECOND THAT EMOTION Winston Kelley, the executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, attended his first race in 1964 and has worked in the sport since 1981. He gave SN his list of the five most emotional wins in NASCAR history.

1.

BASS PRO SHOPS MBNA 500 (Atlanta), October 31, 2004.

Jimmie Johnson wins the weekend after the Hendrick Motorsports plane crashed en route to Martinsville, killing 10 people, including team owner Rick Hendrick’s son, brother, two nieces and Randy Dorton, one of HMS’ earliest employees.

2.

PEPSI 400, July 7, 2001.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the first race at Daytona after his father passed away.

3.

COCA COLA 600 (Charlotte), May 29, 1994. Jeff Gordon wins his first Winston Cup Series race and is in tears in Victory Lane.

44 | REAL INSIGHT. REAL FANS. REAL CONVERSATIONS. 07/04/2011

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WALTRIP: DOUG JENNINGS / AP; PETTY: WRIGHT / AP

The car did a lot of amazing things in those few laps, making passes and runs. Everything just fell in place, like it was meant to be.

I had my teammate Michael Waltrip behind me. He was a big help for me. I felt once me and him got in position on the last lap, we were in good shape. But I still had something in my mind, that somebody would get a crazy run. That’s how those races usually tend to happen. But it didn’t. I came off Turn 4 confident I was going to win.

I wasn’t in any big hurry to go to victory lane and do the hat dance. So I pulled into the infield. I knew my team would run out there. Michael came down there, and his team came down there. Some RCR guys were down there, like Chocolate (Myers, a longtime crewman for Earnhardt Sr.).

At the time, it didn’t really register that I had won the race after my father had been killed. It sunk in later that night.

This is the best part about the entire weekend: For whatever reason, we decided not to be in a hurry to get home.

So after the race we were standing around in the bus lot, drinking beers.

I wasn’t really taking huge stock of everybody who was there. But I knew my friends were there, and there were a couple people from my team and a couple random bus drivers and whatnot. I had been standing there 10 minutes and I look to my right, and right next to me was Dale Jarrett, drinking a beer. I’m thinking at that point all of the other drivers have hightailed it home. But he was standing there.

I looked over and said, “What are you doing here?”

He said, “I wouldn’t miss this for the world, having a beer with you guys after that race.”

That was the best part of the whole deal. At that point, I was still real young. You don’t know how people perceive you. You don’t know what other drivers think about you. For him to join in on the tiny little celebration we had going there meant a lot to me. It was a hell of a gesture. I really gained a ton of respect for him. I leaned on him a bunch after that the rest of my career.

When I needed to know something, he’s one of the guys I went to immediately.

4.

DAYTONA 500, February 19, 1989. On his 17th try, Darrell Waltrip wins the Daytona 500 on fuel mileage and makes an attempt at the Ickey Shuffle in victory lane.

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5.

DAYTONA 500, February 15, 1981. Richard Petty’s seventh and final Daytona 500 win. Crew chief Dale Inman calls for a gas-and-go stop after Bobby Allison, who dominated the race, gets tires. A couple of days before, Inman had informed Petty he was departing Petty Enterprises after more than 20 years.

— As told to Matt Crossman

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