Dale Earnhardt (Tribute)

 Hard to believe that 25 years has past since the death of one of auto racing's greatest drivers. The man in black, the Intimidator, Dale Earnhardt.

Time really does fly by, I mean 2001 seemed like only yesterday and now it is 2026. The Daytona 500 is coming up and honestly, I'm not really excited for it. Nascar hasn't been very appealing to me for quite a long time now for a number of different reasons, but back to Earnhardt.

Earnhardt began his career in 1975 and has build a career that few have ever achieved. In fact, Earnhardt is just one of three Nascar drivers to have won seven Cup championships with the other two being Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson.

He compiled a grand total of 76 Cup wins, 428 Top Ten finishes and 22 Poles positions during his Hall of Fame career. Which Earnhardt was inducted in 2010.

Although Earnhardt wasn't my personal favorite driver growing up as a kid, I became a major fan of his son Dale Jr and I will tell you why.

Going back to the 2001 Daytona 500, it was one of the biggest moments that I had experienced in my life. I was 10 years when Earnhardt's untimely death came and at first, I couldn't wrap my head around what had happened. To this very day, every time that I see the crash, I am thinking he is going to get out of the car because Earnhardt has had some pretty bad wrecks in his career. But sadly, he did not make it this time.

It was really more the aftermath of his death that really brought my attention. Again, I was only 10 years and I remember the absolute hatred that fellow Nascar driver Sterling Marlin was receiving from many of the fans. In my humble opinion, it was completely uncalled for to what was happening to Marlin. It was an accident and he didn't deserve how some people were treating him. I have always admired how Junior and his sister Kelly came to his aid during such a dark time in all of their lives.

I also felt bad to what happened to Earnhardt's racing team DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc) after his death. Being a bit of a history guy, I learned about Dale's career and it saddened me to see how far he had come and build that company only for it to fade away.

Again, 25 years later, it still weird not seeing Earnhardt involved with Nascar and I pray for his family, his friends and anyone who knew and loved him.

Rest In Peace Dale!

Until Next Time!

God Bless And Be Safe Everybody! 🙏🙏🙏

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