Dale Earnhardt

Kannapolis, North Carolina, April 29, 1951, third child of Ralph Earnhardt, who was one of the best short-track drivers in the state and took the NASCAR Sportsman championship in 1956. Ralph did not want his son racing. His son quit school anyway. He married Latane Brown in 1968 at 17, had a son, Kerry, the next year, and was divorced by 1970. He married Brenda Gee, daughter of the car builder Robert Gee, in 1971, had Kelley in 1972 and Dale Jr. in 1974, and that marriage ended not long after. In 1972 he raced against his father at Metrolina Speedway. Ralph dropped dead of a heart attack at home in 1973, at 45, and by his son's account it took years before Dale felt he had proved anything.

He made his Cup debut in the 1975 World 600 at Charlotte and finished 22nd, one place ahead of Richard Childress, who would later own his cars. Rookie of the Year came in 1979 with Rod Osterlund and the championship the very next season, and he remains the only driver to do those two back to back. Seven titles followed in all: 1980, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, a total matched only by Richard Petty and later Jimmie Johnson. Seventy-six points wins, 24 exhibition wins, 100 altogether. He drove a black No. 3 for Childress with GM Goodwrench on the flank and took the name the Intimidator from what he did with a bumper. The Daytona 500 was the hole in the record. He lost it 19 times before winning on February 15, 1998.

He was the fourth NASCAR driver killed by a basilar skull fracture in eight months. Adam Petty died in May 2000, Kenny Irwin Jr. in July, Tony Roper in October, and then Earnhardt on the last lap of the Daytona 500, February 18, 2001, after brushing Sterling Marlin, colliding with Ken Schrader and hitting the outside wall. He had refused to wear the HANS head-and-neck restraint, finding it restrictive and uncomfortable. NASCAR mandated it across its top three series in October 2001, eight months after his death, and then came the SAFER barriers and new rules for seats and belts. Five days after the crash NASCAR announced that his left lap belt had broken. Bill Simpson, whose company made the belts used by nearly every driver in the sport, took death threats and left the firm that carried his name.

Marlin got hate mail until Dale Jr. and Michael Waltrip said publicly it was not his fault. Teresa Earnhardt went to court four days later to seal an autopsy record Florida law normally made public. The Orlando Sentinel and two others intervened, Judge Joseph Will ruled against them in June 2001, and the Supreme Court declined the appeal in December 2003. An independent review by the Duke researcher Barry Myers found the broken belt beside the point: the fatal motion was an unrestrained head and neck. Childress retired the black No. 3 and renumbered the car 29 for Kevin Harvick. The number came back in 2014. He went into the NASCAR Hall of Fame with its first class in 2010.

Dale Earnhardt's life against the full span of the corpus.

• Dale Earnhardt, Inc. company
  The team he and Teresa built. He never drove for it in Cup. 1980
• The black No. 3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet other
  The car that made the paint scheme a trademark 1988
• Seventh Winston Cup championship other
  Tied Richard Petty, a mark he had thought impossible 1994
• The Brickyard 400 other
  A win at Indianapolis in the race's second running 1995
• The 1998 Daytona 500 other
  Won on the 20th attempt, with a child's lucky penny glued to the dash 1998

• 1968 aged ~17 Marries at 17 after quitting school against his father's wishes His son Kerry was born the following year.
• 1973 aged ~22 Ralph Earnhardt dies of a heart attack at 45
• 1975 aged ~24 Cup debut in the World 600 at Charlotte, finishing 22nd One place ahead of Richard Childress, his future car owner.
• 1979 aged ~28 Rookie of the Year, with a first win at Bristol
• 1980 aged ~29 Wins the championship the season after Rookie of the Year No other driver has done the two back to back.
• 1994 aged ~43 Takes a seventh championship and ties Richard Petty
• February 15, 1998 aged 46 Wins the Daytona 500 on his 20th attempt
• February 18, 2001 aged 49 Killed on the last lap of the Daytona 500 A basilar skull fracture, the fourth such death in NASCAR in eight months.
• October 17, 2001 aged 50 NASCAR mandates the head-and-neck restraint he had refused to wear

• Henry Ford 1863–1947
  Industrialist who revolutionized manufacturing with the assembly line and made automobiles affordable. built the industry his sport advertised
• Ralph Nader b. 1934
  Consumer advocate whose auto-safety campaign produced federal vehicle standards and a public-interest lobbying network. made automobile safety a public argument
• Tom Wolfe 1930–2018
  New Journalism pioneer whose The Right Stuff and Bonfire of the Vanities chronicled American culture. wrote stock-car racing into literature
• James Dean 1931–1955
  Actor whose brief career and rebellious image in Rebel Without a Cause made him a symbol of teenage disillusionment. the other American icon killed at speed
• Billy Graham 1918–2018
  Evangelist whose mass crusades, media reach, and presidential relationships made him a defining figure in modern American Protestantism. preached to the same Carolina country