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A Biography of Dale Earnhardt

Earnhardt, Dale: A Bio of... (1952-present)

Dale Earnhardt was born in Kannapolis, North Carolina. His father Ralph Earnhardt, competed in the sportsman division of the National Association for Stock Car Racing (NASCAR), winning hundreds of races in the 1950's and the 1960's. Dale grew up helping his father prepare and maintain race cars.

In ninth grade Dale quit school, despite his father' objections, and devoted himself to stock-car racing. His first full year on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit in 1979, he was named Rookie of the Year. The next year, Dale won five races then went on to become the Winston Cup champion. This is the first time that a second year driver had ever won the championship.

Dale then he went on to win the championships in 1986, 1987, 1990, and 1991. In his best year, which was 1987, Dale had won 11 races and was named the Driver of the Year. Then he got his nickname "Ironhead" for his hardheadness and fearlessness, Dale became well known for his smart and aggressive driving-and for his trademark black car.

On week nights, Ralph Earnhardt raced stock cars. He made his living-and supported his large family-driving stock cars on dirt racetracks all over the South. After races, Ralph would arrive home very late, his car would be caked in mud after a long race. While Ralph was sleeping, Dale was usually up very early in the morning cleaning the car for his dad. Dale was only nine or ten at the time, but he really wanted to help his father. And he wanted to be involved with racing in anyway that he could. That desire never left him.

After a few years, Dale was helping rebuild carburetors and other car parts, and he learned how a race car ran. That knowledge of cars served him well as he grew into a man. He became one of the greatest drivers in history of racing, winning many championships and earning millions of dollars.

The Earnhardts lived in a section of Kannapolis known as "Car Town," where the streets were named for cars. Dale grew up with his two brothers and his two sisters. "He won so many races they hardly could count them all," said Dale about his father. "Probably in the hundrend."

In the shop behind the house, Dale helped his father build engins and put the cars in shape for the next race. The boy lived and breathed racing. And he looked up to his father, who was known on the racing circuits as "Ironhead" for his courage and thoughness.

By the time Dale was in the ninth grade he had quit school, because he had had enough, and wanted to devote himself to racing, despite his fathers objections. "He wanted me to finish," said Dale. "It was the only thing he ever pleaded with me to do. But I was so hardheaded.

For about a year and a half after that, we didn't have a very close relationship." Dale's hardheadness hurt him at times, but it also helped make him one of the toughest and most fearless drivers in racing today.

Then, in 1973, Ralph Earnhardt died suddenly of a heart attack. Dale had to make his own way now, and the road was rough. He would run a few races and then have to quit in order to earn money other ways, as a mechanic or a welder. Just when things were looking the worst and Dale was ready to quit racing.

A sponcer stepped forward to back him on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit-the "major league" of stock-car racing. In, 1979, his first full year on that circuit Dale won one race and finished in the top five of 10 others. At the end of the racing season, Dale Earnhardt was named Rookie of the Year.

NASCAR drivers compete in about 30 races each season. They earn points for how well they do in each race. At season's end, the driver with the most points is the Winston Cup Champion-the top stock-car driver.

In 1980, Dale won five races and finished high in many others. His point total was the greatest, and he was named the NASCAR Winston Cup Champion. He became the only second year driver ever to have won the championship on their second year.

Through the 1980's, Earnhardt became known as one of racing's most aggressive drivers-forceful, combative, and fearless. The scrappy 6-foot, 1-inch, 185-pound driver with the brisley mustache developed an intimating image, known today as the "THE INTIMIDATOR"...

Over the years, fans, sportswriters, and other drivers came up with a variety of nicknames for Dale. "Ironhead" was perhaps the best known, but he was also refered to as "The Intimidator" and "The Dominator."

The car Dale began driving in the late 1980's-a black Chevrolet-added to his image and gave him a new nickname, the "Man in Black." "I hate losing to that black car," said one driver. "I hate chasing that black car." But the other drivers on the circuit had to chase Earnhardt often.

He won most of the major races at the country's best speed-ways. Dale raced especially well at the tough Darlington Raceway in South Carolina, where he won the Southern 500, and the TranSouth 500 several times.

Through 1992, the only major race that he had not yet had a chance to win was the Daytona 500, though he came close in 1990. He was leading in the lap when a tire blew.

Earnhardt's many victories made him the Winston Cup Champion again in 1986, 1987, 1990, and 1991. His five championships were second only to Richard Petty's seven.

One race at Darlington was special to Dale. The night before the 1989 Southern 500, he attended ceremonies in which his father was induced into stock-car racing's Hall of Fame. The next day, filled with memories, Dale won the race and set a track record in the process, with an average of 135.462 miles per hour.

From the time he was a young boy working on race cars with his father, Dale Earnhardt had known he would dedicate his life to racing. "Racing comes just like breathing to me," Dale said.