(The following was written in February, 1998, after Dale Earnhardt finally won at Daytona. Mike Gastineau, a Seattle sports-talk show host in station KGR, describes himself as "a huge fan of Dale Earnhardt". It is reprinted with his permission. )
A DESERVING EARNHARDT FINALLY GETS HIS WIN
By Mike Gastineau
Two important yet apparently unrelated things happened to stock car racing in 1979.
First, CBS-TV became the first network of any kind to provide live flag-to-flag coverage of a NASCAR race. The entire country could tune in for every second of the 1979 Daytona 500.
Second, a brash rookie named Dale Earnhardt burst upon the NASCAR scene. Earnhardt was one of 42 drivers who started that 1979 race. He didn't win of course. But he would have one of the greatest rookie years in NASCAR history. One win, eleven top five finishes, four poles, and $265,000 later Earnhardt was the runaway choice for 1979 Rookie of the Year.
In the twenty years since that monumental convergence much has happened. For whatever perceived evils it has helped to perpetuate in other sports TV has done more for racing in general and NASCAR specifically than any other sport. The technological ability to take viewers inside the car during races and the incredible willingness of the NASCAR drivers and crews to provide in-race access did more to create the ever-growing fan base than anything else did.
Meanwhile, the emergence of Earnhardt gave TV and racing's growing fan base a "New York Yankees" type character (you either loved him or you hated him). In the 264 NASCAR races run from 1986 to 1994 Earnhardt's dominance of Winston Cup racing was awe-inspiring. 137 times he finished in the top five.
48 times he was the winner. In a sport with dozens of competitors and thousands of uncontrolled variables Earnhardt won an average of one race out of every five for a period of nine years.
He was the unquestioned star of the show.
But he could never catch the show's biggest star.
For 20 years Earnhardt's fans shook their heads in frustration while his many detractors hooted derisively at his inability to win the Daytona 500. His struggles in NASCAR's biggest race became legendary…almost comical.
He finished second four times. Four times he led the race with less than 25 miles to go only to lose. One year he hit a seagull. One year he ran over a 39 cent clamp that had fallen off another car's engine with less than half a lap to the checkered flag. The clamp cut his tire. Derrike Cope zoomed around him to take the win. It was after that 1990 race that Earnhardt let his guard down ever so briefly in the post race interview and gave fans an idea of how much winning this race would mean to him.
While attempting his now yearly ritual to convince the media and fans that the Daytona 500 was "just one race" Earnhardt stopped talking as if the cruelty of this particular loss had suddenly dawned on him. After several seconds of uneasy silence he muttered, "Damn, fellas. I can't believe what just happened."
And on he went. Winning more races. Amassing over $30 million in race winnings and even more in merchandising and other side enterprises. Successful at just about everything he tried. Except the biggest event in his sport.
In 1994 a tragic twist was added to the Daytona/Earnhardt plot. Neil Bonnett was killed in a crash during practice for the '94 race. It's a sad fact that accidents and death are a part of racing. Just about any driver who has hung around for any significant period of time has been personally touched by tragedy. But like so much else connected with Daytona in Earnhardt's life this death had a touch of cruel irony to it.
Earnhardt and Bonnett were extremely close. Bonnett had left the sport for the broadcast booth after surviving a spectacular crash at Talladega in 1990. But the broadcast booth couldn't compete with the lure of competition and eventually Bonnett started thinking about a comeback. It was Earnhardt, among others, who encouraged Bonnett's return to racing. Bonnett was practicing in an Earnhardt supplied car when he died.
1997 brought new problems. Not only did Earnhardt fail to win at Daytona…he didn't win anywhere else. For the first time since 1981 he was blanked for an entire Winston Cup season. He was also involved in a frightening incident at Darlington during the Southern 500. Earnhardt blacked out briefly during a caution period in the race. He then weaved in and out of the pits twice before admitting on his two-way radio that he couldn't remember where his pit was located.
Doctors never pinpointed exactly what caused Earnhardt's momentary confusion. But the sight of one of the sports' legendary champions struggling to find his pit location was indeed sobering. He was eventually cleared to race again but many wondered if his best days weren't permanently behind him.
It was against this backdrop that the 1998 Daytona 500 played itself out Sunday afternoon. And with 25 miles to go "The Man in Black" was in a familiar position. First place. This time there would be no cruel twist of fate. No seagulls. No clamps on the track. Just the 3 car. Too wide to pass and too fast to catch.
564 races and 20 years after his first Daytona 500 appearance Ralph Dale Earnhardt finally won NASCAR's biggest race.
His trip down pit road on his way to Victory Lane will live on as one of racing's most enduring images. Crew members from every other NASCAR team…guys who have spent the majority of their Sunday's for the past 20 years cussing Earnhardt (and who will no doubt resume that practice beginning this week at Rockingham)…blocked his way down the road. They wanted to shake his hand. They understood what this moment meant to Earnhardt. And they also understood what Earnhardt has meant to their sport.
For 20 years he's given them something to shoot at. His dominance is at least partly responsible for the sports' incredible growth both in terms of money and fan base.
Now with a win at the Daytona 500 his legendary career is complete. But not completed.
"We're going to win the championship this year," a smiling Earnhardt told Ken Squier of CBS just seconds after emerging from his car.
Considering his first seven Winston Cup titles came despite not winning the season opener at Daytona who's going to bet against that claim?