Dale Earnhardt Sr. Biography - What Makes A Champ?, Guts Make A Champ, Chronology, Awards And Accomplishments, Death At Daytona
car driving black
1951-2001
American race car driver
Seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt Sr. collected a huge following of fans during his 28-year career on the circuit of the National Association for Stock Car Racing (NASCAR). Driving a black #3 Chevrolet sedan and dressed in black, he was nicknamed the Intimidator for his bullish driving behavior on the track. He died when his car crashed and hit the side wall on the final turn of the Daytona 500 in 2001.
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Born in Kannapolis in south central North Carolina, on April 29, 1951, Earnhardt was the oldest son of Ralph and Martha Earnhardt. With two older sisters and two younger brothers, he fell in the middle of his four siblings. The Earnhardts were known as lint heads in their regional slang—a lint head being anyone from Kannapolis, which is the mill town headquarters of Cannon Mills. With a pop…
From 1976-79 Earnhardt drove in eight Winston Cup races altogether. Sponsors agreed that he was an excellent driver. He possessed the natural grit and calm demeanor to be a champion driver. Earnhardt was fearless, in fact, to a fault. He crashed and flipped cars as if they were old soda pop cans. As a result his potential went largely untapped because he could not find sponsors willing to subsidiz…
In nearly two decades of Winston Cup competition, including seven championship seasons, Earnhardt met his nemesis every year at Florida's Daytona Speed-way. With eighteen career losses on record at Daytona Beach, his determination to win the 500-mile classic approached fanaticism. In 1997 he flipped his car but managed to walk away from the crash. He headed for a waiting ambulance as his he…
Neil Bonnett of Hueyville, Alabama, was born in 1946. He worked as a pipe fitter in high-rise construction before entering the race car circuit. After driving for Butch Nelson in 1972, Bonnett joined the Winston Cup circuit in 1974, winning his first event in 1977 and taking a total of eighteen Winston Cup races during his career. Despite shattering his leg in a crash in Charlotte in 1987, Bonnett…
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