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| The Ultimate BadBoy? Or?.... | |
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|  | | January 29 2011 09:41:47 AM EST | |
| BBV reader 'asowash' beat us to the punch on this post with his Dale Earnhardt Sr. comment [were waiting for today and the Daytona24 start]. But, here we go.
In 2001, when Dale Sr. ran the #3 C5R @ the Rolex24, the image was of 'The Intimidator' / 'The Man in Black' / 'THE BadBoy' about to scorch sportscar civility with HIS 'Take No Prisoners' driving, racing, and rubbing-style of wheel-work. OMFG, hide the children and babies! This will get ugly.
But, read these articles. What emerges is the ultimate BadBoy was the ideal teammate. And the consummate good guy. Le Mans would have been awesome with Dale in a Corvette.
* Marshall Pruett / Speed.com - The Final Podium - Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Photo Gallery
* ColdPits - Ten Years After
* RacinToday excerpt -
In 1999, GM launched Corvette Racing with the goal to win Le Mans. A short while later it had a new convert who wanted to help GM Racing reach that goal: Dale Earnhardt Sr.
“One day soon, we’re going to find a way in our schedule to get over to Le Mans and see what it’s like,” Earnhardt Sr. told Doug Fehan. “Me and my boys are going to do Le Mans.”
But 2 weeks after finishing 4th at the Daytona24 with Dale Jr., Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins, Earnhardt Sr. suffered his fatal last lap crash in the 500. Despite having laid the groundwork to set up his own Corvette team, Earnhardt Sr.’s death ended DEI’s plans to enter sports car racing.
It might have been like a big Brahma bull in a very small China shop, but sports car racing fans never got a chance to see the Intimidator as an all-out road racer. “Dale told me he was having the most fun he’d ever had in racing,” godug recalled of Feb 2001 when the Earnhardts joined the Corvette team at Daytona.
Dec and Jan testing included one bad crash at Sebring by Sr., who confessed to Fehan that he needed more treadmill work to gain the stamina necessary for braking and shifting in a Corvette cockpit known for the heat from its massive V-8.
In the 24, Earnhardt Sr. was loaded for bear. Driving in rain during his final dawn stint on Sunday, Earnhardt Sr. tried to persuade Fehan over the radio to let him stay in the C5R for a third stint.
“I made him get out,” said Fehan. “But you could tell he had reached a performance pinnacle. He was capable of driving the Corvette at competitive times in the rain. He had realized he had succeeded. He was one with the car and he had become a Corvette driver. The team wasn’t carrying him. He was carrying his own weight.”
After giving up his seat on that Sunday morning, Earnhardt Sr.’s gunmetal blue eyes were as big as headlights while standing in the Corvette pits. It was the first time he had ever competed in the rain. “They told me a lap time to do,” he said. “Shoot, I was two seconds under that in a couple of laps.”
In the wake of Dale's tragic NASCAR accident, in June at Le Mans the Corvette Racing team received a letter from his widow, Teresa Earnhardt, wishing the team good luck. Fehan read the letter aloud to his gathered team in a closed garage during final preparations for the great French race, which Corvette won for the first time. RacinToday full post |
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