|
Dale Earnhardt… The Common Man’s Championby Mike Irwin ~ September 7th, 2007. Filed under: Mike's Musings. |
I was able to make time to watch the movie “Dale”, about seven time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, on Country Music Television (CMT) last night.
I had seen a lot of the historic footage before.
How could anyone not be moved again by the scenes from the 1998 Daytona 500, where it seemed every crew member from every team, and every NASCAR official, lined up on pit road to shake the hand of the winner, after 20 years of trying?
Why would they do that? Respect.
The interviews with Dale’s family and friends were my favorite parts of this movie.
It was difficult to get yourself called a friend by Dale Earnhardt.
You had to earn it, enduring almost a fraternity-like hazing by the man.
But if you stuck it out, you would find that you earned a very valuable and rare thing at the end.. the respect and friendship of the Intimidator.
I’ve heard many tales of Dale helping another driver or someone in need, and he always did not want any recognition for those charitable acts.
Dale’s family without question called him a caring, loving son, father, and husband.
They also acknowledged that there were some mistakes made along the way… mistakes Dale did his best to try to make up for in the latter years of his life.
Dale’s fans were and are without a doubt the most loyal, faithful fans in NASCAR.
Why is that? It’s because Dale grew up “just like them”.
He was handed nothing by his race driver daddy other than some bench-racing knowledge; he was taught that he had to earn it all.
He had to quit school and race to support his entire family when his dad passed away.
He was relentless on the race track, and simply would not quit.
They didn’t show it in the movie, but Dale getting back in his flipped-over-and-wrecked race car and driving it again on the track is the stuff of a legend.
Sure, he drove aggressively… just ask any number of drivers who were “moved” out ot the way during a race.
But I don’t recall the man whining when someone else did the same thing to him.
And the man could get much,much more out of an ill-handling race car than anyone else, before, or since.
Race fans were drawn to his cocky, intimidating attitude, and they all knew that he had worked hard for everything he had. They could relate to that in their lives.
Although not a direct fan of Dale’s, I respected the God-given talent that Dale had with a race car.
I shed tears for him when he won the Daytona 500 in ‘98, and again for his family when he lost his life at the same track in 2001.
Richard Petty will always be “the King”.
But Dale Earnhardt will always be “the common man’s champion”.
September 7th, 2007 at 11:09 am
Great article. What moved me was seeing him wipe his own windshield off, with the car still moving. No gripes, no complaints, he just did it.
RM
September 7th, 2007 at 11:16 am
RM, that was a CLASSIC moment that I had not ever seen or heard about before. Makes me think of poor Sterling trying to fix his fender…
Now-a-days, they’d be fined/suspended/tortured over hot coals if they did something like that.
Mike
September 7th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
Excellent article! The movie is one I’ll watch again and again. I had never seen the windshield cleaning clip either! CLASSIC! Not too many MEN out there like him anymore.
September 8th, 2007 at 12:16 am
I cried many times during the movie — and you’re right, Mike, about if a driver did that today, they’d be in trouble. But most of what Dale did would have gotten him fined or suspended with the current state of NASCAR.
September 8th, 2007 at 12:36 am
“He had to quit school and race to support his entire family when his dad passed away”.
Dale Sr was born in 1951, his father died in 1973, do the math.
September 8th, 2007 at 4:29 am
Dale was one of my nemisses. I loved to hate him. Before and at the time of his death, besides him, I couldn’t stand the Bodines. Every race I’d be mad at someone. All those hard racing men drove me crazy! Boy I miss those days!
September 8th, 2007 at 9:32 am
I was never a race fan and I just happened to be flipping thru the channels one Sunday and watched a lap, turned out to be the one Dale got killed. Watching the people how they loved him prompted me to watch the funeral and from then on when I was home on Sunday I would watch a race. First thing I knew I was hooked. didn’t take long to get my husband on board also. I watched the movie, Dale also, and thought it was great. I think my family missed out on a lot not seeing him on the track. Thanks for this great article, and if anyone missed this movie, its a must see!
September 8th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Rich, I don’t know about “doing the math”… that’s just what they said in the movie. I do not keep all the facts and figures, especially since I wasn’t a Dale fan.
Mike
September 9th, 2007 at 4:46 am
Sorry we missed the movie. Did they happen to mention if and or they were going to run it again?
Thank you…
September 10th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Jean, I have not heard anything about it being run again. If I do, I’ll put something about it in the Stock Car Gazette.
Mike
September 10th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
Dale Earnhardt was THE MAN!His fans will never forget him and neither will those who hated him.Forever in our hearts #3.