Born to race car driver Ralph Lee Earnhardt, Earnhardt began his career in 1975 when he drove in the 1975 World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway as part of the Winston Cup Series ( later the Sprint Cup Series ).

Earnhardt began his professional career at the Winston Cup in 1975, making his debut at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina in the longest race on the Cup circuit, the World 600.

In his sophomore season, Earnhardt, now with 20-year old Doug Richert as his crew chief, began the season winning the Busch Clash.

Earnhardt began the season by winning his Twin 125-mile qualifier race for the ninth straight year.

Before the 1999 season, fans began discussing Earnhardt's age and speculating that with his son, Dale Jr. getting into racing, Earnhardt might be contemplating retirement.

But halfway through the year, Earnhardt began to show some of the old spark.

Fans began honoring Earnhardt by holding three fingers aloft on the third lap of every NASCAR Cup race, and the television coverage of NASCAR on Fox and NASCAR on NBC went silent for each third lap from Rockingham to the following year's race there in honor of Earnhardt For the first three weeks after Earnhardt's death, on-track incidents brought out the caution flag on lap three.

In 1992, he began testing cars for good friends Dale Earnhardt and car owner Richard Childress.

His youngest son, Jeffrey Earnhardt, began racing for DEI in 2007.

The United States Army began sponsoring the 01 car owned by Dale Earnhardt Incorporated full time in 2003.

The death of Dale Earnhardt on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 changed Childress's plans, and Harvick began his first Sprint Cup race the following week in Rockingham at the Dura Lube 400.

In 2003, he began the season with his father's team, before he was hired by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to drive his # 81 Chance 2 Motorsports Chevy.

Later that season Green began driving for Richard Childress Racing part-time in the # 30 America Online Chevrolet in Winston Cup ( oddly enough as a replacement for Harvick, who was supposed to drive this car before the death of Dale Earnhardt caused him to be promoted to Childress ' Winston Cup team much earlier than planned ).

* Indie duo Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. began covering this song live in 2011.

Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Sr. ( April 29, 1951February 18, 2001 ) was an American race car driver, best known for his involvement in stock car racing for NASCAR.

Although Ralph did not want his son to follow in his footsteps, Earnhardt would not be persuaded to give up his dream of racing, dropping out of school to race.

The 1988 season saw Earnhardt racing with a new sponsor, GM Goodwrench, which replaced Wrangler Jeans.

** Dale Earnhardt, American auto racing driver ( b. 1951 )

Concord is the home to Charlotte Motor Speedway, a NASCAR Research and Development Office ( which also is the headquarters for research for touring and sportscar racing operations ), and several professional race teams, including Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, and Earnhardt Ganassi Racing.

It came during a week in which the racing world remembered the fifth anniversary of the death of legend Dale Earnhardt, who died on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

Stewart earned his first & only win of the season in the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega on October 5 driving for sponsor Subway as his last win on Joe Gibbs Racing ( Stewart then would move to his own racing team Stewart-Haas Racing ) On the final lap Stewart was passed by Regan Smith the rookie of Dale Earnhardt Inc who beat Stewart to the line.

Just 2 months later at the Winston 500 at Talladega, racing to the checkered flag, Wallace was clipped by Dale Earnhardt, and flew into the air before violently flipping past the start-finish line, resulting in a broken wrist.

In 2000 Kerry made his Winston Cup debut at Michigan, racing against his father Dale Earnhardt, and half-brother Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

In 1994, Labonte joined Hendrick Motorsports, racing the # 5 Kellogg's Chevrolet and responded by notching 3 wins in each of his first two years there, including a famous win at Bristol in 1995, where the front of his car was wrecked after Dale Earnhardt Sr. crashed into him in the final lap.

* 1990: Dale Earnhardt took the win, but the story of the race was a massive accident between Ernie Irvan and Ken Schrader ; Irvan was ten laps down yet racing nose-to-nose with Schrader as if for the lead, and lost control in Four ; several cars collided in the ensuring melee and Sterling Marlin spun off the wall and hammered Neil Bonnett ; Bonnett suffered severe memory loss and was lost for three seasons as a driver.

In the 2001 Daytona 500 scene, Earnhardt is seen wearing tinted racing goggles.

Earnhardt actually wore his clear racing goggles in his final race.

* Teresa Earnhardt, widow of racing legend Dale Earnhardt

Harvick (# 21 ) during his 2006 Busch championship season, racing Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (# 8 ) off pit road

The Piedmont Boll Weevils would keep that mascot until after the 2000 season, when NASCAR racing legend Dale Earnhardt purchased a share in the team's ownership.

Though not recognized at the time, many racing safety experts have concluded that Evans ' death resulted from the same type of " head-whip " injury and resultant Basilar skull fracture, which also claimed the life of Dale Earnhardt in 2001.

Earnhardt helped get Bobby Isaac his start in racing.

Foyt, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, Mario Andretti, Bobby Rahal, Jim Clark, Darrell Waltrip, Alan Kulwicki, Emerson Fittipaldi, Bobby Allison, Davey Allison, Nigel Mansell, Michael Andretti, Alex Zanardi, Harry Gant, Rusty Wallace, and Walker Evans, as well as current racing stars Danica Patrick, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Dario Franchitti, Jeff Gordon, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Hélio Castroneves and many others.

Kasey Kahne (# 9 ) in 2006 ( on the outside ), racing alongside Denny Hamlin (# 11 ), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (# 8 ), and Jamie McMurray (# 42 ).

Ralph was born in Kannapolis, North Carolina to Effie Mae Barber ( August 30, 1895-September 1979 ) and John Henderson Earnhardt ( 23 Mar 1875-05 Oct 1953 ).

Earnhardt also became the first repeat winner of the annual all-star race, The Winston.

In NASCAR, the 6-point harness became popular after the death of Dale Earnhardt, who was wearing a five-point harness when he suffered his fatal crash ; as it was first thought that his belt had broken, some teams ordered a six-point harness in response.

2006: After suffering a blown front left tire early in the race that caused some fender damage, Jimmie Johnson passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. with six laps left to win at Indy for the first time, and became only the second driver to win both the Daytona 500, and Brickyard 400 in the same year.

1995 was a dramatic affair as the lead changed 32 times, the most since 1988, and the battle for the lead became a spirited multilap affair between Bobby Labonte, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, and Sterling Marlin.

* July 28, 2002: Steve Park and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. became entangled exiting turn one, and both cars slammed into the inside wall, causing Park's vehicle to go airborne over the hood of Earnhardt's car and barrel roll.

When Earnhardt the 1998 Daytona 500, during the line of pit crew members congratulating Earnhardt, it was very noticeable that the Winston logo ( the series sponosor from 1971 – 2003 ) covered the NEXTEL letters on the banner, NEXTEL became the series sponsor starting in 2004 before renaming to Sprint.

Other drivers ( notably Dale Earnhardt ) were great friends with members of this group, and while not Alabama residents, these other drivers became associated with the Alabama Gang.

Winning in his third career start, Harvick became the fastest driver to win his first Winston Cup race in the modern era, breaking the record set by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 2000.

With the win, Harvick also became the sixth of seven drivers to win both the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 joining Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett, Bill Elliott, Jimmie Johnson, and Jamie McMurray .< ref >

Newman also became the second rookie since Dale Earnhardt, Jr. to win The Winston, and beat out Jimmie Johnson for the Rookie of the Year award on the strength of rookie records in top-fives ( 14 ) and top-tens ( 22 ), even though Johnson had more wins.

For 2011, Nadeau became a mentor to truck series rookie Jeffrey Earnhardt, son of Kerry and grandson of Dale.

Driving with new sponsorship from Lycos, Kenseth won three times and finished second in points to Dale Earnhardt Jr. DeWalt Tools became the sponsor in 1999, with Kenseth getting an additional four wins and a third place finish in points.

" He also had devoted extensive coverage to and was considered a significant influence in the popularity of NASCAR, broadcasting interviews with famous drivers such as Dale Earnhardt well before that sport became what it is today.

He became a full-time driver in the Busch Series in 1995 for Dale Earnhardt, Inc., and after consecutive top-five finishes in the points standings, he made a pair of Cup races for DEI in 1996.

As his team became the # 10 Nesquick / Nestlé Chevy and was rebranded ppc Racing in 2000, Green became the heavy favorite to win the championship after Earnhardt and Matt Kenseth departed for the Winston Cup.

In 1981 Thomas Adger became principal and Kay Earnhardt became the coordinator of the new Communication Magnet.

Having been encouraged to pursue a NASCAR career by Dale Earnhardt, and in September at Dover International Speedway became the first Japanese driver to qualify for a Winston Cup Series points event.