Dale Earnhardt Biography - The Man In Black - Racing - http://maxpages.com/earnhardtisno1/Biography

My idol is NASCAR sensation, Dale Earnhardt. He has seven NASCAR Winston Cup championships and has won 76 NASCAR Winston Cup sanctioned race events. His number is “3” and his sponsor is Goodwrench Service Plus. His most “valuable” win was 1998’s Daytona 500 in which he won an estimated 1,058,500 dollars. Now let me tell you how he became that sensation that he is today. His most recent win was the 2000 Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. He came from 18th to win in the final 5 laps, an amazing feat.
This is how it all started. Dale was born in Kannapolis N.C. on April 29, 1951. Dale has two brothers, Randy and Danny; and two sisters, Kathy and Kay. Through the years, Dale watched his dad race “dirt tracks”. Ralph Earnhardt, Dale’s dad, was looking forward to seeing his son grow into a fierce competitor, but tragically, Ralph lost his life from a massive heart attack while fixing his engine in 1973. People say that made Dale tougher and earned his knick-names like “The Man In Black’’ and “The Intimidator”. Soon Dale won his first ever race, the 1979 Southeastern 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Dale went on to win many, many more than that and is still adding to his list of wins today. He dominated in the 80’s, and won three of his seven championships in that decade. The other four of his career came in 1990,’91,’93, and ’94, although his best year was 1987 in which he had 11 wins. His name was known by every driver, and when you saw him in your rearview mirror; watch out! He had very little change in sponsors and paint schemes because he was so good and everyone wanted to have their name on his car. The car he drove in 1987 was the Wrangler jeans Chevrolet. The Winston is a non-points event. Dale and only two other drivers have been in every single event. The only other drivers to do that are Geoff Bodine and Ricky Rudd. 1995 is the year that Dale had a new paint scheme in the Winston. He had a silver car sponsoring NASCAR Winston Cup's 25th year anniversary. In racing. The following year, 1996, he had another different paint scheme. This year he sponsored “Atlanta 1996”, The home of the 1996 summer Olympic games. In 1997 he had yet another paint scheme. This year he sponsored Wheaties. Last year, 1998, he sponsored Bass Pro Shops, a shop that sells fishing gear. This year, 1999, He is sponsoring Wrangler, his old sponsor. Dale made his 600th race in September of 1998. Only about five other drivers have been able to reach that mark. Dale went into 2001 with high hopes after finishing 2nd in the points for the first time since 1995. But on the last turn of the last lap, of the 2001 season opener, the Daytona 500, he was turned around after contact with Sterling Marlin and hit the wall head-on, killing him instantly. He will be greatly missed.
If you watch NASCAR racing, you have probably heard about Dale’s son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. He is the rising new star to be the first driver in history to ever win seven races, win ‘rookie of the year’ honors, win the 1998 Busch series championship all in his rookie year, his first full year of racing. This year, he has just become only the 4th driver in NASCAR Busch Series history to win back-to-back championships. Both championships that he has earned, he has won over Matt Kenseth. Dale Jr., “Little E”, has one brother named Kerry and two sisters named Taylor Nicole and Kelley King. Dale’s brother Kerry is getting involved in racing too. Dale Earnhardt has had many milestones in his lifetime and I’m sure his son Dale Jr. will too. For now let’s just wait and see.

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Page Updated Fri Sep 19, 2008 10:45am EDT