Dale Earnhardt Jr. doesn’t typically shy away from talking about his late father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., who was tragically killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
In recent years, Junior has shared a variety of funny and emotional stories about his dad, he’s reflected on his childhood experiences following his parents’ divorce and he’s still finding new ways to honor the seven-time NASCAR champion and racing legend.
More recently, Dale Jr. opened up about some of the fears he still has regarding Dale Sr. and his legacy, hoping that neither are ever forgotten by the NASCAR world and beyond.
On the latest episode of The Artist and The Athlete with Lindsay Czarniak — a new podcast that pairs up athletes and musicians for in-depth chats — Earnhardt explained to Darius Rucker, a longtime NASCAR fan, and Czarniak how he’s come to view Dale Sr.’s legacy and why he doesn’t like comparisons between his father and other drivers.
On the podcast, Dale Jr. said:
“I think when Dad died, my fear was that there would be a day where people would not remember his impact, and to me, he’s this big, huge thing, right? And in the moment of his life, he was this big, huge thing to a lot of people, and when he died, I saw him everywhere on TV. People that I never thought would be talking about my dad were talking about him. So he was bigger than I even thought, right, I guess is what I’m trying to say.
“But I was just always scared, like, ‘Man, I hope they don’t ever forget the essence of him and his personality and his impact, what it felt like when he walked in a room and what it felt like when he was out on the track.’ And he just had this — he changed the mood. So I’ve kind of always been scared of that.
“And so I don’t want his records to get — I don’t want people to beat his records. I don’t like when anybody’s compared to him. It gets under my skin when somebody says, ‘He’s the next Dale Earnhardt.’ There’s no, no, no, no — never another Dale Earnhardt. I’m protective of it a bit, I think. But I’ve also been really happily surprised about how his legacy’s lived on and how people still remember him. … It’s been nice to see that.”
Dale Sr.’s biggest NASCAR records include seven championships — a mark Richard Petty set in 1979 and Jimmie Johnson tied in 2016. And The Intimidator is still No. 8 on the all-time wins list with 76 checkered flags, while Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick are in a two-way tie for No. 9 distantly behind Earnhardt with 58 career wins each.
On the recent podcast episode, Earnhardt and Rucker also discussed songwriting, their favorite race tracks, fatherhood and their competitive sides.
[listicle id=1033516]
[mm-video type=video id=01f09rej9et49dh77c playlist_id=01f09p3bf720d8rg02 player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f09rej9et49dh77c/01f09rej9et49dh77c-2d5c107ab59f96d116e6387f81f2cd84.jpg]
[vertical-gallery id=957605]
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 tag=421393221]