'Earnhardt': Dale Jr.'s drive to race, receiving tough love from father early in career

Yahoo

a day ago

'I wanted to race cars badly. Just as badly, I think, as my dad.'
Episode 3 of the four-part 'Earnhardt' docuseries on Prime Video explores Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s start in racing and the challenges of earning his father's attention in the early portion of his career.
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With racing constantly on his mind growing up, Earnhardt Jr. said he drew race cars often in school. However, his father and stepmother Teresa interpreted it as a different passion for Dale Jr.
'Dad and Teresa came home one day with a giant box of all these supplies, and they said, 'We thought maybe you'd want to go to art school. We were looking at this college down the road,' Earnhardt Jr. said. 'I was like, 'are you freaking out of your mind? I'm not going to art school.' What? Like, I'm not an art student. I'm not into art. I was so spun out. And I was like, 'damn it, you're Dale Earnhardt, and I want to race.' Help me race. What should I do in this moment to be getting closer to racing? Take all this art [expletive] out of here.'
RELATED: Watch all four episodes of 'Earnhardt' on Prime Video
As Earnhardt Jr. began racing late models locally, his father remained absent from the track with his son.
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Dale Sr.'s friend, Hank Parker, revealed that Earnhardt said he didn't believe his son was cut out for racing.
'I was worried about Dale Jr. and he was green as grass,' Parker said. 'Didn't know a whole lot about racing. Dale Sr. told me one time. He said, 'I don't think that boy will ever be a race driver. He just ain't got it.\"'
Earnhardt Jr.: 'If dad was sitting right here, one thing I'd want to ask him, did he ever see me race my late model car? I ran 159 races. I never saw him. He never said, 'Hey, I'm coming to your race this weekend.' He's never around the trailer. Never around the car. I don't know if he saw me.'
As Dale Jr. made his way to the Xfinity Series, formerly known as the Busch Grand National Series, he had a rough few outings in his first starts.
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After wrecking out in a race, Dale Jr. recalls an important moment in his relationship with his dad that stuck with him.
'The door flies open on this double-wide trailer I lived in. Boom, boom. I know immediately those are dad's footsteps,' Earnhardt Jr. said. 'He looks over at my buddies that are sitting over there, and he goes, 'get the [expletive] off my property. [They] ran out of the house and jumped in the cars and they drove out the driveway. The shoes are still sitting in the floor.
'He said, 'Come here.' And we walked out. I thought he was gonna whoop my ass. And he goes, 'Man, what are you doing?' I was like, 'I thought my racing career is over.' He's like, 'no, they're gonna fix that car. That's where you should be. You should be wanting to fix your car. Where is that? Where is that inside of you? What's missing in you that you thought to come over here and sit on your ass and feel sorry for yourself?' That was the one father-son talk that we had that sunk in.'