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00:22It's unbelievable the amount of people, fans, who are trying to grab a hold of his leg or
00:27try and touch him. It's really nothing other than rock star status.
00:42My wife and I came walking up and theirs junior was like 12 bud girls. It was absurd. It was
00:49like
00:50something out of a rap video or something. I just remember going, how the racing guys have got the
00:55rock stars beat. He's the next version of the Elvis Presley of NASCAR with his t-shirt, his baggy blue
01:08jeans, his hat on backwards, MTV music blaring. It created a total different fan base that I'm not
01:15sure that NASCAR had really had access to before that. I'm Dan Hart Jr. Welcome to a new generation
01:22language. As NASCAR slipped into the fast lane of America's pop culture, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is behind
01:29the wheel. His popularity has sold everything from a bottle of men's cologne to a bucket of
01:34Kentucky Fried Chicken. He appears in pop music videos. On race day, celebrities appear in his pit.
01:47His public image is this extroverted, wide open, wild guy. And while he can be that, 90% of the
01:55time,
01:55he's a very introverted person. He's still, despite his fame, slightly uncomfortable for an autograph
02:02session or a public event. There's always a little bit of nervousness in him that exists to this day.
02:11I think Dale Jr. was probably about 18 years old before he ever had his first date. He wasn't in
02:17the popular
02:18crowd by any means. He was skinny. He was very fair-skinned. He was very small compared to other kids.
02:24You know,
02:24he was just fair, fair, blonde, and pretty immature. He's perfectly happy with having ten of his buddies
02:31around all the time. Just hanging out, playing computer games. Probably ain't got a serious bone in his body.
02:42I like to drink his beer and he likes to party and all that, you know, but he doesn't have
02:46to have the
02:47flashy glass and brass and high-maintenance girlfriend. Makes millions of millions of dollars a year. Drives the
02:54sport of NASCAR. He still lives in Morrisville, North Carolina in a glorified double-wide trailer on farmland.
03:03Morrisville, North Carolina, or did it say Morrisville? Because I was born in Morrisville,
03:08North Carolina. He lives life day-to-day. He's always lived life day-to-day. Whatever was happening
03:14at the moment, he was happy. He has a personality that is infectious.
03:19It's his style, but when it comes time to get behind that wheel, he's also someone who can win a
03:25Daytona 500,
03:26who can win an all-star race, who has won championships in the Busch Series and contended for the Nextel
03:31Cup.
03:32When you roll all that into one, you've got like a total package.
03:43He has excellent car control. He has a really good feel for his race car.
03:48He relates well to his crew. Very aggressive on the racetrack, which is a good thing.
03:53They know when they look in that rearview mirror and they see that red bud,
03:57that they better get a double hand on the steering wheel, that he's probably going to let you know he's
04:03there,
04:03but he will race you clean.
04:09Right off the bat, you can see that he was a natural born star on the restrictor plate tracks.
04:15I've seen some moves, you know, three wide. I think it's pretty spectacular, restrictor plate racing.
04:25Junior is undoubtedly the best restrictor plate racer of present day,
04:29but if you put his body of work together, he's just, you know, an average driver.
04:36He hasn't mastered road racing, he hasn't mastered short track, he hasn't mastered intermediates.
04:41The only place he excels all the time is super speedways.
04:46Junior's greatest strength and his greatest weakness as a driver, in my opinion,
04:51is the fact that he's an emotional driver.
04:53What does that mean?
04:54Which is great when it's going good, and it's tough when it's going bad.
04:58He rides the roller coaster pretty hard.
05:01I think that when he gets the team around him and everything works like it's supposed to,
05:05that Dale Earnhardt Jr. is just as good as any of the top five in our business today.
05:16But as the son of Dale Earnhardt, not only a seven-time NASCAR champion,
05:20but a man of mythic stature, Dale Jr. is saddled with unrealistic expectations.
05:26The pressure that I do feel is from my dad's legacy.
05:30That's the pressure that I feel, is getting out there and getting it done.
05:35From a fan's perspective, they think it's Greek mythology.
05:39They think your father just chewed something up and spit out a piece of himself,
05:44and you should be as good as he is right off the bat.
05:47At the end of the day, it's about will marketing to find Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s legacy,
05:52or will winning.
05:53The great fear of his is that he won't live up to the expectations
05:57that the marketing blitz creates.
05:59The fans are out there, and he's scared to death that he'll let them down.
06:10Everything that is basically in Dale Jr.'s genes
06:14stems from the fact that he comes from a rich motorsports gene pool
06:20with Ralph Earnhardt on one side, Robert G. on the other, two legends.
06:24Really?
06:25Robert was not intense at the racetrack.
06:29Ralph was nothing but intensity at the racetrack.
06:32So the gene pool automatically gives Dale Jr. a sort of split personality
06:37when he's got this real cool side, and he's got this real intense side.
06:42And sometimes they're fighting with each other inside the race car.
06:48A generation after his grandfathers were immersed in racing in the sagging mill town of Kannapolis,
06:54North Carolina, Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. was born on October 10, 1974.
06:59His mother, Brenda, worked at a bank,
07:01while his father, Dale, struggled to compete in his father's profession of red clay racing.
07:07In 1974 when Dale Jr. was born, Dale was very much at the bottom of the totem pole,
07:15trying to just make enough money to feed his family.
07:19Dale Sr. once told me that his wife, Dale Jr.'s mother, would stand on the porch
07:24as he backed out on a Friday night to go down to Cherokee Speedway in South Carolina
07:28and cry because there was no food in the cupboard.
07:32The sacrifices were huge.
07:35Were they worth it now?
07:37I would have to say yes.
07:40Did I admire Dale's sacrifice years ago?
07:46No, because I felt like it took away from us as a family.
07:51He was working all day,
07:53and then he was working on the race car at night,
07:57and stumbling home at one o'clock in the morning,
08:00dead tired, and going to bed, and getting up and going to work.
08:04And the whole cycle started over again,
08:05and the weekend comes and he's going racing.
08:07Hard to have a marriage like that.
08:09Mm-hmm.
08:13Bernard had already divorced once,
08:15and in 1978 his second marriage splintered.
08:18Brenda took the kids, Dale Jr. and older sister Kelly, and moved out.
08:23Dale was very shy as a kid,
08:25like he is now, very much kind of a loner.
08:28He was very creative.
08:29He built racetracks out of cardboard
08:31and drew grandstands on them.
08:34He loved to stay at home, loved to watch TV,
08:37and eat bowls of cereal on top of bowls of cereal.
08:40And I would say,
08:41Dale, you can't sit here
08:42and collect three and four bowls of cereal by this chair.
08:45He's like, Mom, I'm on vacation.
08:50When Dale Jr. was six, his world went up in flames.
08:55I guess I woke up about seven o'clock in the morning
08:58and the house was on fire.
09:00We tried to salvage out clothes and things for him,
09:05what we could out of the house,
09:06but of course everything was messed up with water and smoke.
09:09We just were stretched and strapped with cash, man,
09:13and when the house burnt down,
09:15that was it.
09:16We didn't have nothing
09:17and she basically had to give custody of me and my sister to my dad.
09:23By 1981, when Kelly and Dale Jr. moved in with him,
09:26Earnhardt had won a Winston Cup championship
09:28and enough money to live on the upscale shores of Lake Norman
09:32near Mooresville, North Carolina.
09:33When their father married Teresa Houston in 1982,
09:37the lives of Dale Jr. and his sister were changed dramatically.
09:41When I lived with my mom and I said,
09:43Mama, I'm missing a toy out of my toy box.
09:48We spent the next 15 or 20 minutes and we found it.
09:51And when I was at Dad's house and I was missing a toy,
09:55you were on your own.
09:57Dad was in the middle of getting his race career going.
10:00He was starting to take off.
10:02Teresa was trying to make sure the financials
10:04and everything was handled.
10:05So the last thing she wanted or expected was two instant kids.
10:10And I didn't hold that against her.
10:12It was hard on us trying to feel like we were even one.
10:15I mean, we basically kind of got shoved over there
10:17because my mom couldn't afford to take us.
10:20And so it was hard and you never really felt
10:25really plugged in to that whole deal.
10:28Never felt connected.
10:33As far as who raised Dale Jr., it was me.
10:36We had nannies that stayed in the home with us
10:38whenever Dad and Teresa both traveled,
10:40which was they pretty much traveled together all the time.
10:44He would come home from work on his race cars
10:47about 8 o'clock at night
10:49and he would sit in his lazy boy recliner and watch TV.
10:52And he'd sit on the couch and you'd ask him
10:54all kinds of questions and he never even answered one.
10:57Wouldn't even look over.
10:58He was just watching TV.
11:02He lived every day to get
11:05some kind of pat on the back from our dad.
11:08And Dad didn't give pats on the backs
11:09and he didn't give I love you's every day.
11:11There's a lot of similarities
11:14in the relationships between my daddy, Ralph,
11:19and my brother Dale
11:21and my brother Dale and my nephew Dale Jr.
11:25Most of that is the fact that they idolized their dad.
11:31The reason why he was easy to love
11:34was because he was perfect.
11:38He had everything figured out
11:40and he handled it all perfectly.
11:43So it was easy to go,
11:45hell, that's what I want to be in life.
11:51He was always in trouble.
11:53That's what he was.
11:54But I mean, it was a lot of fun.
11:56He was one of them that was always into something.
12:00Definitely when we were growing up,
12:02we hungered for more attention.
12:04Some of the trouble that he got into
12:06was, you know, maybe a way to try to get
12:08some of that attention
12:09that we didn't regularly get.
12:17After Junior's mischief led to his expulsion
12:20from a Christian school in seventh grade,
12:22he was shipped off to Oak Ridge Military Academy
12:25near Greensboro, North Carolina.
12:27All of a sudden, he's now responsible
12:29for his showers, brushing his teeth,
12:32getting his shoes shined,
12:33laying out the uniform parts,
12:35wearing the appropriate uniform.
12:37It totally cut all the rough edges off.
12:40It was a big, big deal
12:41as to evolving me into who I am today.
12:49And it probably was about 20 or 25 days later
12:52that I showed up at military school
12:55because I couldn't stand the thought
12:56of him being up there.
12:57I just knew that he needed to be looked after.
13:03They were together all the time.
13:06I find it very surprising
13:08she's only two years older than he is
13:11because look how much bigger she is than him
13:14or older she looks.
13:18They were the nurturing big sister
13:20and the runt little brother
13:21and to this day,
13:24she's his primary advisor.
13:26She looks at his contracts.
13:28She runs the Dale Jr. phenomenon
13:32and he respects her more than probably
13:34anybody else in this world.
13:36Period.
13:39After a year and a half at Oak Ridge,
13:41Dale Jr. returned to his home
13:42and entered Mooresville High School.
13:44As a teenager,
13:45he and half-brother Kerry dabbled in racing,
13:48running a legends car
13:49and a homemade street stocker.
13:51But these small steps in his father's shoes
13:53only showed Dale Jr. how big they were to fill.
13:57I had a lot of problems in my stomach
13:59around the 10th grade, 9th grade
14:01and it was all, I was worrying,
14:03had a lot of stress.
14:03I started understanding that,
14:06alright, this guy's my dad.
14:08He's accomplished just about everything
14:10you can accomplish.
14:11He's done it all
14:12and what am I going to do with my life?
14:14It was wearing me out
14:15and it was putting me in a lot of pain.
14:17I had to train myself
14:20to quit giving a crap about everything
14:24and quit worrying about every little piece
14:27of the puzzle, you know?
14:33Following high school,
14:34Dale Jr. at Dale Sr.'s insistence
14:36worked in the service department
14:38of his father's Chevrolet dealership
14:39and earned an automotive degree
14:41at a community college.
14:42But to his dad's dismay,
14:44Jr. often overloaded his schedule
14:46by partying hard.
14:48Dale Jr. chose to get up
14:50in the middle of the day
14:50and frustrated the heck out of him.
14:52The Biggie, he'd be resting
14:54while it was sunlight.
14:55You know, he thought he was not
14:57using the time wisely.
14:59I was finding entertainment
15:01out of being at the dealership
15:02and working.
15:03And basically,
15:04that was my career.
15:05That was my life.
15:06I accepted the fact
15:07that maybe I was just
15:08going to be a mechanic
15:09and fix your car
15:10when you brought it in.
15:13Imagine a third-generation
15:16driver being a mechanic.
15:21I really don't know
15:22what Dale Jr. would be
15:23if he was not a race car driver.
15:25Being around it all his life,
15:27racing is what he always wanted to do.
15:30In 1992, Dale Jr.'s road to racing widened
15:34and short track veteran Gary Hargett
15:35who had raced with two generations
15:37of Earnhardts
15:38sought permission from the father
15:39to put the son in a late model stock car.
15:42Initially skeptical,
15:43Dale Sr. consented.
15:45Dale Sr. knew he was sending him
15:48to someone that was
15:49A, capable,
15:50but B,
15:51someone who wouldn't handle him
15:52with kid gloves.
15:53He went down there,
15:54he slept in a sleeping bag
15:55at Gary's house,
15:56turned wrenches on the car,
15:58and basically learned how to race.
16:07He had this habit
16:08of just burning the tires up.
16:11And I could not get it across to him
16:14that you could not run
16:15wide open the whole race.
16:18And I kept telling him,
16:20you've got to slow down.
16:21And he'd come on the radio
16:23and he says,
16:23I can't do it.
16:25I said, why not?
16:26He said,
16:26I just can't make myself slow down.
16:29I said,
16:29well just go ahead and burn them up.
16:35For four years,
16:36Dale Jr. ran late models
16:38in NASCAR's Winston Racing Series
16:40with Hargett behind him,
16:41the son of a stock car legend,
16:43tested his mettle
16:44in the short track,
16:45schooled apart Knox.
16:47Some drivers would take him out.
16:49There was this one guy,
16:50every time Junior would get around him,
16:52he'd block him.
16:54I mean, Junior would eventually
16:55get tired of it,
16:56and hit him.
16:57I wrecked the car a couple times
16:59real early,
17:00and me and him had to put the car
17:02back together ourselves.
17:05Everybody believes he was just handed
17:07this racing career.
17:09I never saw the silver spoon.
17:12Dale Earnhardt Jr. had to work
17:13for what he got.
17:17What we won the week before
17:18basically determined
17:20how we could race the next week,
17:22what tires we could afford,
17:24and who did and didn't get to go
17:25because the pit pass money
17:26was 20 bucks a piece.
17:28Dale wanted him to go there
17:30and learn on his own
17:32how to drive, how to race,
17:34how to live on no money.
17:36It basically was a test.
17:38Prove to me that this is what you want to do
17:41and you're willing to sacrifice
17:42and dedicate your life for this.
17:44All the way up until I was 18,
17:47I hadn't given him a whole lot of reasons
17:49to be too proud of me.
17:51I hadn't really accomplished anything
17:53or tried to even accomplish anything.
17:55Once I started working,
17:56he turned around and started helping.
17:58He was like, hey man, all right,
18:00here's a hint, here's a clue.
18:02Dad knew all about racing
18:03so we were more in his territory
18:06whenever we started wanting to race.
18:08I think that made him open up a lot more
18:10because he was able to talk more freely
18:12about what we were doing
18:14and showing us the right way of doing things.
18:16He was just like Dale Sr.
18:20Racing out of his father's shop in 1996 and 97,
18:24Dale Jr. finished his late model career
18:26with just three wins and 159 starts.
18:29But on the advice of Junior's uncle, Tony Urie,
18:32Dale Sr. took a chance on his son,
18:34eventually promoting him into the vacant seat
18:36at Dale Earnhardt Incorporated's
18:38Busch Series car in 1998.
18:41His first race at Daytona
18:42was just an absolute disaster.
18:44He overshot his pit.
18:45He got lapsed down.
18:47Then he tumbled end over end.
18:49Oh, now trouble.
18:50Dick Trickle gets into Earnhardt.
18:51Earnhardt's car goes over.
18:52John Earnhardt gets an unwelcome debut
18:56at Daytona.
19:02But just six races later,
19:04Junior won his first Busch Series race.
19:07Dale Earnhardt Jr. will do his daddy proud
19:09as he wins the Coca-Cola 300.
19:13It was like a huge relief.
19:16Years of worry washed away.
19:17I had finally won a race at a big track,
19:21and my dad was there.
19:23This stack's up right with the Daytona race,
19:25so it's pretty awesome.
19:26Looks like he's a chip off of
19:28Ralph Earnhardt's old block.
19:29As soon as we won that first race,
19:31and we started sort of working together
19:33and talking about that career path.
19:35That career path led to 13 victories
19:38and Busch Series championships
19:39in 1998 and 1999.
19:43NASCAR's full season of Winston Cup competition,
19:46the rookie racked up three wins,
19:48including the Winston,
19:49NASCAR's prestigious all-star race.
19:51It was becoming a season in the sun
19:53for Dale Jr. and his dad.
19:55It's just unbelievable how you feel
19:57when your kid does something great.
19:59It's pretty awesome to see him do this.
20:01To be able to win on the same racetrack
20:03that his father was racing on,
20:06probably the greatest time of his life.
20:08He lived to live up to what his father expected of him.
20:13It makes Daddy happy.
20:14That was number one, man.
20:15Number one is making Pops happy.
20:17I'm sure Dale Sr. was invigorated
20:18by Junior's presence.
20:20All of a sudden, you got a kid there with you
20:22who's seeing this for the first time,
20:24and he's excited.
20:25Stuff that you used to get excited about,
20:27he's getting excited about.
20:33Yes, sir.
20:34And here comes Junior to the outside of Dad.
20:37The two Earnharts racing for the lead
20:39in the Coca-Cola 600.
20:41I think that especially Dale Earnhardt Jr. enjoyed it.
20:44And the harder his dad raced him,
20:47the better he liked it.
20:48It was almost like it became a little contest.
20:51And I think when Dale Jr. got going,
20:52well, Dale Sr. wanted to be the best Earnhardt.
20:54You know, he wanted to get upstaged by his kid at Bristol.
20:58Oh, man.
20:59Dale rocked Waltrip.
21:03He's linked to the Earnharts forever for reasons.
21:07Junior kept beating on him.
21:09Dale said,
21:10Richard, you go down there and tell him
21:13if he hits me one more time,
21:14I'm going to park him.
21:15Dale Earnhardt Jr. said to me,
21:17why do you think Daddy was so mad today?
21:19And I said,
21:20because you beat him.
21:22And he said,
21:23he needs to get over it
21:24because it ain't going to be the last time.
21:25I also remember him talking about
21:27Junior's going to have to be more patient
21:29and not be trying to take so much.
21:31And I would laugh and he would say,
21:32what are you laughing about?
21:33I said,
21:34if you only knew how you sounded
21:35in saying that,
21:37because all he is is you.
21:43I think he looked at it and said,
21:45I'm going to make it on my terms
21:46and on my plan
21:47and on my road map.
21:48Yes, I'm my father's son,
21:49but I'm not a clone.
21:51There was a lot of times
21:52where I still didn't do
21:53what he wanted me to.
21:54He wanted me to really go after it,
21:57you know, grab this opportunity
21:59by the horns.
22:00And I just was having too much fun.
22:03I was like, man,
22:05I'm not making this
22:06a whole lot of work.
22:07No way.
22:07The driver's meeting is just starting.
22:10Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Rusty Wallace
22:11were sitting together
22:12and in walks this kid
22:14with his hat on backwards,
22:17sunglasses,
22:18long t-shirt,
22:19baggy blue jeans.
22:20And Rusty looks at Senior
22:22and he goes,
22:23who in the world dresses that boy?
22:24And Dale Earnhardt Sr. just like
22:26shakes his head like,
22:27I don't know.
22:28He is who he is
22:29and that's what we accept him as.
22:33Dad was able to start giving
22:35to Dale Jr. in terms of
22:36Dale being successful
22:38on the racetrack
22:39and getting that pat
22:40on the back from Dad.
22:42We were definitely
22:44a lot more on an equal plane,
22:46you know,
22:47where he would understand
22:48my conversations
22:49and I was understanding his.
22:50They were communicating
22:52and getting along a lot better
22:53and doing more things
22:55outside of racing.
22:56I think it meant the world to him
22:57because that's what it was all about.
23:05Months before the 2001 racing season,
23:08Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a dream
23:09so vivid that he was moved
23:11to tell the media about it.
23:13He says, you know,
23:14I know it sounds crazy,
23:15but I've just had this dream
23:17that I am going to win
23:19the Daytona 500.
23:20I have this vivid image
23:22of me crossing the finish line,
23:24and a checkered flag falling,
23:26and I'm the first one.
23:28And they were like,
23:29well, where was your dad?
23:30And I was like, well,
23:31he wasn't in the top 10.
23:33I don't know.
23:33I didn't see him.
23:36And everybody laughed
23:37because we thought
23:38what he meant was
23:40that he was back.
23:43And to this day,
23:44I still get chills
23:45thinking about him saying
23:46he wasn't there
23:48at the end of the race.
23:53Dale Jr. and I
23:55are working hard
23:56at trying to race
23:57better together.
23:58And I need drafting partners
24:00and, you know,
24:01things like that.
24:02And we're even going to run
24:03the 24 hours of Daytona
24:04this year
24:04to even learn teamwork
24:06a little more.
24:09In the run-up
24:10to the Daytona 500,
24:12father and son joined
24:13for the first time
24:14as teammates
24:14in the 24-hour road race.
24:16They finished second
24:17in their division
24:18and stood together
24:19at the champagne spray
24:20in Victory Lane.
24:22I think if there was
24:23ever a point
24:24in Dale Jr.'s life
24:26where...
24:28Okay.
24:29I made it.
24:30I have my father's
24:31approval,
24:32his attention,
24:33his pride,
24:35his affection.
24:36Everything is there.
24:37It's been a hell
24:39of a rocky road up.
24:42But I'm here now.
24:44Gentlemen,
24:46start
24:47your
24:48engines!
24:55As the green flag fell
24:57in the 2001
24:58Daytona 500,
24:59everything pointed
25:00toward successful
25:01seasons for the Earnhardts.
25:03Challenge up front.
25:05New leader,
25:06Dale Earnhardt Jr.
25:10and Dale Earnhardt.
25:11Look at Earnhardt!
25:12Right down
25:13to the apron
25:13to take the lead!
25:16In a wildly competitive
25:18race that had 49
25:19lead changes,
25:20father and son spent
25:21much of their time
25:22out front.
25:23Then, with 16 laps
25:24to go,
25:25Michael Waldron
25:26driving at Dale Earnhardt
25:27own car,
25:27took the lead,
25:28followed by Dale Jr.
25:30and Dale Sr.
25:32I knew my dad
25:33was back there
25:33behind me.
25:34He wanted me to stay
25:34in line,
25:35but I was wanting
25:35to try to win.
25:37Was this dream of his
25:38going to come true?
25:40He was going to win
25:41the Daytona 500
25:42and pass his teammate
25:44to do it.
25:45Sterling's all over
25:46the Oak Senior.
25:47This is a chess match
25:48at high speed.
25:50I can see that Cheshire Cat
25:52grin on his face
25:53right now
25:53with those bubble goggles
25:55just going.
25:57That's my two teams
25:58and that's my son
25:59and my best friend
26:00up there battling
26:00for this Daytona 500 win.
26:11We were going through the corner
26:13and I just happened to look
26:14in the mirror
26:14and I saw the crash happening.
26:16That's really
26:17the only thing I remember.
26:18I remember that
26:18and crossing the finish line.
26:20Michael Walsh wins.
26:25This is great.
26:26I hope Dale's okay.
26:27I guess he's alright, isn't he?
26:34Dale Earnhardt Jr.
26:36at a dead run
26:36toward the track's
26:37infield care center.
26:39I walked through there
26:40and I didn't see anybody.
26:43Dad wasn't in there
26:44and I did walk by a room
26:47and Kenny Schrader
26:48was in there
26:48and we just hit,
26:50we just locked eyes for a second
26:51and that's when I
26:52knew something serious
26:54was going on.
26:57Dale Jr. and his stepmother Teresa
26:59rushed to Halifax Medical Center.
27:02they were still working on him
27:04and they were still working on him
27:05when I got there.
27:07You know, so...
27:09that was, um...
27:14that was hard.
27:16I don't know, that was just a...
27:19hard deal.
27:20I don't know.
27:20That's something I don't think
27:21I'll ever be able to really
27:22share with anybody.
27:24I think he was in a little bit of a shock.
27:26Like a lot of shock.
27:27Like, I know it just happened.
27:30I'm not gonna sign up to the fact
27:32that that just happened.
27:33I'm out of here.
27:34I don't remember seeing my dad
27:36laying on a metal table.
27:39After the accident turned forward
27:41at the end of the Daytona 500,
27:43we've lost Dale Earnhardt.
27:49Nowhere was Earnhardt's loss
27:51felt deeper than in Kannapolis,
27:53North Carolina,
27:54where the family gathered
27:55after the crash.
27:56Within hours of his father's death,
27:58a different Dale Jr. joined them.
28:01There was broken hearts.
28:02There was broken people.
28:04Broken dreams.
28:04But I'm gonna tell you,
28:06when Earnhardt Jr. walked in the door,
28:09I knew instantly,
28:10beyond a shadow of a doubt,
28:12that he went from boyhood
28:14to manhood.
28:15And it happened somewhere
28:16between Daytona Beach
28:18and Kannapolis, North Carolina.
28:20I appreciate everybody's
28:21thoughts and prayers,
28:22and we'll get through this.
28:25And I'm sure he'd want us
28:27to keep going,
28:27so that's what we're gonna do.
28:30It seemed like Dale Jr. just
28:31sort of hitched up his spurs
28:35and, you know,
28:36got on with business.
28:38And you really never saw
28:39the emotion.
28:40I never saw the,
28:41the grief that I know
28:43he had to feel.
28:45There's a good chance
28:46a lot of people are gonna
28:47look at me and say,
28:48hey, all right, Junior,
28:49you got to keep this thing going.
28:51And I'm standing there
28:52with no idea.
28:53I knew what kind of man he was
28:54and what kind of man I am,
28:55and I didn't know whether
28:57I had it in me.
29:00A week later,
29:02the number eight team
29:03was back on the track
29:04and it soldiered on
29:05for the rest of the
29:06racing season.
29:07The week after he died,
29:09I thought about not
29:10driving anymore.
29:11I didn't really have
29:12much reason at that point
29:14because all my driving,
29:16I did it for him.
29:17And then I had to decide,
29:19all right, so,
29:20what's my motivation?
29:21You know,
29:21where do I find my determination?
29:24The hardest thing for him to do
29:26was to come back into the sport
29:28because then the fans,
29:30they look at you different.
29:32You carry that with you.
29:33No matter where he goes
29:34or what he does,
29:36he'll always carry that
29:37for the rest of his career.
29:38And that's a heavy burden.
29:41Each race also brought
29:42a round of ritual mourning
29:44by fans
29:44and probing questions
29:46by the media.
29:47Then, when Dale Junior
29:48returned to Daytona
29:49for the Pepsi 400 in July,
29:51he met his worst memory
29:53with a quiet courage.
29:55Going back to Daytona
29:56was easy.
29:57Me and about four,
29:58five, six of my buddies
29:59rented a house down there
30:00and we came into town early.
30:02We drove over to the racetrack
30:04and drove around it.
30:05He just went down
30:06on the turn four
30:06where it happened
30:08and just sat there,
30:10just confronted it
30:13and made a peace with it
30:14that he could live with.
30:17It has been a week
30:18of emotional highs and lows
30:20for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
30:21And Dale, your thoughts
30:22as you get ready to climb
30:23in the car.
30:23What are your emotions
30:24right now?
30:25I'm just ready to get out
30:26there and get racing.
30:28The fans all jump
30:29to their feet.
30:34Earnhardt Jr. leads
30:35at Daytona.
30:36The car was remarkable
30:38in the corners.
30:39It wasn't that he had
30:40more horsepower
30:41than the other body.
30:42It was that he could
30:43go through the corners better.
30:45Dale Jr. dominated
30:46much of the race
30:47but was shuffled back
30:48into sixth place
30:49as a caution flag flew
30:50with six laps to go.
30:52He's in sixth place.
30:54There's no way he's
30:55going to win the race.
30:56Time to settle
30:57the Pepsi 400 at Daytona.
31:00When they threw the green,
31:01it was like game on.
31:03It was like he was
31:03in another dimension.
31:04Look at Jr. go.
31:06Up to fourth.
31:08Jr. to the outside
31:09of Mayfield for third.
31:11He stared lap
31:13after lap,
31:13competitor after competitor,
31:15car after car,
31:15right in the eyeball
31:16and said,
31:16I am going to beat
31:17your tail today.
31:20Here's Dale Jr.
31:21To the outside
31:22of Dave Blaney
31:23for second spot.
31:25You sat there
31:26and you watched that
31:27and you said,
31:28that's Senior.
31:30That's a chip
31:30off the block.
31:31To the outside
31:32for the lead
31:33in turn four.
31:34Dale Earnhardt Jr.
31:35Rockets to the front
31:36at Daytona.
31:37Listen to the crowd.
31:39It's going to be
31:39Dale Earnhardt Jr.
31:41using whistles
31:42going from the spot
31:43to go from sixth to first
31:44and scoring a victory
31:45in the Pepsi 400.
31:47That's unbelievable.
31:48How did you get
31:49to the front
31:50after the restart?
31:51It was a great car.
31:52It was an all-car.
31:53100%.
31:54I was just holding on.
31:55You've learned a few things
31:57in the years though,
31:58haven't you,
31:58from certain people.
31:59Yeah.
32:00Yeah.
32:00He was with me tonight.
32:02I don't know how I did it.
32:05He stepped above
32:07all the emotions
32:08and all the heartaches
32:09and turned it into a victory,
32:11which was his way
32:12of handling it,
32:13which I think
32:14is the most defining moment,
32:17I think,
32:17in his career.
32:25In the absence of his father,
32:27those most closely guiding
32:28the racing career
32:29of Dale Earnhardt Jr.
32:30were his uncle,
32:31Tony Urie Sr.,
32:33and his cousin,
32:34Tony Urie Jr.
32:35They acted as crew chief
32:36and car chief
32:37of the number eight team,
32:38operated by DEI,
32:40Dale Earnhardt Incorporated.
32:42It is a difficult dynamic
32:44when you're talking
32:44about working with your uncle
32:46and your cousin.
32:46Blood, I mean,
32:47they may as well be brothers.
32:48Hey, blood's thicker
32:49in any contract.
32:51You can make it
32:52right here with me
32:52for the rest of my life.
32:57Junior was trapped
32:58in this limbo
33:01for his first couple
33:03of seasons of the Cup
33:04where nobody could really
33:05figure out if he was good
33:06at what he did or not.
33:07Because if he did succeed,
33:09people would say,
33:09well, he's benefiting
33:11from all the work
33:12his father's done at DEI.
33:14Only in the course
33:15of his father's death
33:16could he prove himself
33:18competent and worthy.
33:19It took about three
33:20or four years.
33:21I was sort of floating around
33:23with really no idea
33:24of what I wanted
33:25to accomplish.
33:26I just showed up
33:27every week trying to win
33:28and that was really
33:30one dimensional
33:30and shallow.
33:33I think people thought
33:34that if Junior ever
33:36put more focus
33:39on racing
33:40and less focus
33:41on partying,
33:42he could win
33:43seven championships
33:44like his father did.
33:48I pissed away
33:49some opportunities
33:51to get a couple
33:51of those things done.
33:52I don't think so.
33:54Could I have focused
33:55a lot harder?
33:56I probably could have.
33:57I was doing
33:59what a 25- and 26-year-old
34:00is supposed to do.
34:01I'm not a machine.
34:02I think people begin
34:03to say, okay,
34:04now's the time.
34:05Now's the time.
34:05What are you gonna do?
34:06What are you gonna do?
34:10The question hung over
34:11the start of the 2004 season.
34:14Late in the Daytona 500,
34:16Earnhardt was running
34:16second to Tony Stewart
34:18who led nearly half the laps
34:20and appeared dominant.
34:21I'm like, look,
34:2397 is back there
34:24but he's not gonna help you.
34:25If you wanna win this race,
34:27you're gonna have to come up
34:27with something yourself.
34:28Oh, look at this.
34:30Another run to the inside of Stewart
34:31and he might have him this time.
34:33Great.
34:35We had a good car all weekend
34:37but to make the move
34:38that he did,
34:39to get in the lead,
34:40that was all him.
34:41The legacy continues.
34:44Dan Earnhardt Jr.
34:45wins the 46th
34:47Daytona 500.
34:49It will always be
34:51one of his more cherished moments
34:52is that I was able
34:53to accomplish something
34:54my father did also.
34:56I actually did it faster than my dad.
34:58You know as well as anybody
35:00how hard it is to win this race.
35:02Considering that,
35:03what's this victory mean to you?
35:04It's the greatest victory
35:05in my career.
35:06Might be the greatest day
35:07of my life.
35:08victories at Atlanta
35:10and Richmond helped Earnhardt
35:11lead the standings
35:12for nine of the season's
35:13first 14 weeks.
35:15He started seeing
35:17early signs
35:18that this was a team
35:19that could contend
35:20for the championship
35:21but it came to a screeching halt
35:23after the accident
35:25at Sears Point.
35:29On July 18th,
35:30Earnhardt was practicing
35:31for a sports car road race
35:33in Sonoma, California
35:34when he lost control
35:35of his Corvette
35:36and hit a concrete barrier.
35:37Fuel splashed
35:38from a ruptured line
35:39then ignited
35:40engulfing the car
35:41in flames.
35:44Earnhardt was in the car
35:45for 14 seconds
35:46with the heat reaching
35:47more than a thousand degrees.
35:50He swears
35:52somebody grabbed him
35:53and pulled him out of the car
35:54and pulled him away
35:55from that fire.
35:58I guess he felt like
36:00maybe you know
36:00his dad was there.
36:02It's certainly
36:03who I think helped him.
36:04He was in such excruciating pain.
36:08He was absolutely miserable.
36:11There was such a huge patch
36:13of burnt skin
36:15on the back of his leg
36:16that he reopened those wounds
36:18every step he took.
36:22Unable to finish the next two races,
36:24Earnhardt gave way
36:25to a relief driver.
36:26With his season
36:27on the verge of collapse,
36:28his body healed
36:30and his performance improved.
36:31But as the number 18
36:32cut the point gap
36:34in the standings,
36:35the tension between
36:35Earnhardt and Urie Jr. increased.
36:38They would just
36:40bitch and moan
36:41and complain
36:41and bicker
36:42and blame each other
36:44and raise hell
36:45and it was a very difficult situation
36:47because they loved
36:48racing together.
36:49I think the part
36:50of the bickering
36:51is just
36:52because I want 110%
36:53out of him
36:54and he wants 110%
36:55out of me.
36:56And if the car's not running
36:57he don't think
36:58that I'm giving my part.
36:59They understood
37:00their relationship
37:00with each other.
37:01What the problem was
37:02is that
37:04that poisoned the rest of the team.
37:12In the closing weeks
37:13of the season,
37:14crashes in two consecutive races
37:16dropped Earnhardt
37:17who had a career-high
37:18six wins
37:19from second place
37:20to fifth.
37:21You know,
37:22we were there.
37:23We just threw it away.
37:25That was really hard to take.
37:27He was mad.
37:28I was mad.
37:30And we didn't even talk
37:31that last race
37:32pretty much.
37:33Very hard to be around each other.
37:38Incredible.
37:39Ten days after the 2004 season,
37:42DEI announced a major shake-up.
37:45Urie Jr. would become
37:46the crew chief
37:46for the number 15 team
37:48given by Michael Waltrip.
37:50Basically,
37:50the best way to describe it
37:51is they swapped the drivers.
37:53They left everything else intact.
37:55The cars that were 15s
37:57became 8s
37:58and the cars that were 8s
37:59became 15s.
38:00I was like,
38:01yeah, sure, let's make a change.
38:03I'm at the point right now
38:04where
38:04I know I can win six races
38:07anytime I want.
38:09Uh,
38:11so why not?
38:12Let's try something else.
38:18All right.
38:19All right.
38:20He's going to take the lead
38:22with five laps to go.
38:24Unbelievable.
38:26Racing without the Uries
38:28for the first time in years,
38:29Dale Earnhardt Jr.
38:30paired with rookie crew chief
38:32Pete Rondo
38:32led the number eight team
38:34to third place
38:35at the 2005 Daytona 500.
38:37But the promising start
38:38soon gave way
38:40to a season of discontent.
38:42I think he wanted
38:43to make his own march for certain.
38:44I think he wanted to go out
38:45and dust their tails
38:46with Pete Rondo at the helm.
38:48When we started out here,
38:49I was like, okay,
38:50I'm going to prove to them
38:51how good me and these guys are.
38:53The Uries were so infuriated
38:55by that switch
38:56that they refused
38:57to work with Pete Rondo.
38:58And the proof was in the performance.
39:01The eight car was just terrible.
39:02Pete was,
39:03I was coming, Pete.
39:04He said something.
39:05I was on the way.
39:07I saw you.
39:08That's why I called you up.
39:09That was only three laps.
39:10You don't understand
39:11what three laps is out here.
39:13That's like 40 anywhere else.
39:16With some different people
39:17working with him,
39:18that was the frustration.
39:19He couldn't make them understand
39:22what he was trying to tell them.
39:24I literally saw Dale Earnhardt Jr.
39:26looking across that garage
39:27wishing he had Tony Jr.
39:30back in that trailer with him
39:31rather than over in that 15 trailer.
39:37Just the 11 races
39:38into the 2005 season
39:40with the number eight team
39:41in 11th place,
39:42Rondo was fired
39:43and replaced by
39:44DEI's technical director,
39:46Steve Miele.
39:46DEI!
39:47But the tension between Earnhardt
39:48and the Uries
39:49kept simmering
39:50and reached a boiling point
39:51at the Coca-Cola 600.
39:53Oh!
39:54Michael just got turned.
39:55What in the world happened, guys?
39:57I think the two DEI cars
39:59just got together
40:01and brought on that big pileup.
40:03He acts like he's friends with him
40:04but every time he gets
40:05wearing him on the racetrack
40:06he ends up wrecking him.
40:07So, DEI's got enough problems.
40:09We don't need that.
40:13As the number eight and 15 teams
40:15continued their struggles,
40:16Earnhardt was in the unfamiliar position
40:18of being a target for criticism.
40:21For them to go through the first half
40:22but it was necessary.
40:25We got together and said,
40:27hey man, is there a chance
40:28you want to work with me ever?
40:29And he's like, yeah.
40:30I think you're a great race car driver
40:32and I want to work together.
40:34That's the first time he's ever told me
40:35he thought I was a good race car driver.
40:37I felt like in his mind
40:38he was carrying me, you know.
40:40And he probably thought the same thing about me.
40:42He knows I have respect for him
40:44and I'll probably tell him more now.
40:46And I think he understands
40:47that I'm on the box doing all I can do.
40:49And I think that that's
40:50what's going to make this deal
40:51click a little bit better.
41:05Now a leader in his own right,
41:07the son who for so long struggled
41:09with living in the shadow of his father,
41:11understands the legacy left him.
41:13I see more of Dale Senior in Dale Junior now
41:16than I ever have.
41:18I can pretty much bet you
41:20that any big decision he has to make,
41:22it always runs through his head.
41:24Which way would my dad go?
41:27I know who he was as a person.
41:30I know how he accomplished
41:32what he accomplished.
41:33I can see that path.
41:34And I want to be able to do that.
41:35I want to win those races,
41:36those championships.
41:39This is his time, his place.
41:41This is his NASCAR.
41:44Dale Junior has got to make his decisions
41:46of what kind of memories
41:47and what kind of legend
41:48he will turn out being.
41:54he could do that.
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