Dale Earnhardt (Johnsonverse)

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Dale Earnhardt
Earnhardt at a press conference in January 2019
Born	Ralph Dale Earnhardt (1951-04-29) April 29, 1951 Kannapolis, North Carolina, U.S.
Height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Weight	195 lb (88 kg; 13 st 13 lb)
Achievements	1980, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1993, 2000 Cup Series Champion Tied with Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart for second-most NASCAR RCA Cup Series Championships (6) 1990, 1995, 1999, 2000 IROC Champion 1998 Daytona 500 winner 1995 Brickyard 400 winner 1987, 1989, 1990 Southern 500 winner 1986, 1992, 1993 Coca-Cola 600 winner 1990, 1994, 1999, 2000 Winston 500 winner The Winston winner (1987, 1990, 1993) Led Winston Cup Series in wins in 1987 and 1990 Led Winston Cup Series in poles in 1990 Winner of the first ever Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series race in 1982 Led Busch Series in wins in 1986
Awards	1979 Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year 2005 Nextel Cup Series Most Popular Driver Named as one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998) 2002 Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductee 2006 International Motorsports Hall of Fame Inductee 2010 NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee (Inaugural class)
NASCAR Coca-Cola Cup Series career
676 races run over 34 years
[[2008 NASCAR Coca-Cola Cup Series (Johnsonverse)|2008]] position	57th
Best finish	1st (1980, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1994, 2000)
First race	1975 World 600 (Charlotte)
Last race	2008 Daytona 500 (Daytona)
First win	1979 Southeastern 500 (Bristol)
Last win	2005 Tyson Holly Farms 400 (North Wilkesboro)
Wins Top tens Poles 91 428 22
NASCAR Busch Series career
136 races run over 13 years
Best finish	21st (1982)
First race	1982 Goody's 300 (Daytona)
Last race	1994 All Pro 300 (Charlotte)
First win	1982 Goody's 300 (Daytona)
Last win	1994 Goody's 300 (Daytona)
Wins Top tens Poles 21 75 7
Signature

Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. (/ˈɜːrnhɑːrt/; born April 29, 1951) is an American retired professional stock car driver and team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2005 in what is now called the NASCAR RCA Cup Series, most notably driving the No. 3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing (now Earnhardt-Childress Racing).

The third child of racing driver Ralph Earnhardt and Martha Earnhardt, he began his career in 1975 in the World 600. Earnhardt won a total of 79 Cup races over the course of his 33-year career, including four Winston 500s (1990, 1994, 1999, and 2000) and the 1998 Daytona 500. He is the only driver in NASCAR history to score at least one win in 4 different and consecutive decades (scoring his first career win in 1979, 38 wins in the 1980s, TBA wins in the 1990s, & TBA wins in the 2000s). He also earned six Cup Series championships. His aggressive driving style earned him the nicknames "The Intimidator", "The Man in Black", and "Ironhead". He is regarded as one of the greatest drivers, and by many NASCAR fans, the greatest driver, in NASCAR history.

After the 2005 season, Earnhardt retired from full-time competition to race in the Corvette Racing CTS team, as well as focusing on managing his race team, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (which merged with RCR for the 2009 season to create Earnhardt-Childress Racing); he continued racing part-time in the Cup Series until 2008. Earnhardt has been inducted into numerous halls of fame, including the NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural class in 2010. He also lends his name and expertise to the Dale Earnhardt NASCAR video game series (1983-present), which became the best-selling racing video game franchise of all time.

No. 3 car

Earnhardt drove the No. 3 car for the majority of his career, spanning the latter half of the 1981 season, and then again from 1984 until his retirement in 2005. Although he had other sponsors during his career, his No. 3 is associated in fans' minds with his last sponsor GM Goodwrench and his last color scheme — a predominantly black car with bold red and silver trim. The black and red No. 3 continues to be one of the most famous logos in North American motor racing.

In 2004, ESPN released a made-for-TV movie entitled 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story, which used a new (but similarly colored) No. 3 logo. The movie had the direct involvement of Earnhardt during production.

After Earnhardt's retirement, Jeff Burton drove the No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet, and remained in the ride until the end of the 2013 season. Starting in 2010, the primary sponsor was changed to Coca-Cola due to GM phasing out the Goodwrench brand in 2009. On December 11, 2013, RCR announced that Austin Dillon would drive the No. 3 car in the upcoming 2014 Sprint Cup season.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. also raced a No. 3 sponsored by Wrangler on July 2, 2010, for Earnhardt-Childress Racing at Daytona. In a green-white-checker finish he outran Joey Logano to win his second race in the No. 3.

On September 5, 2009, when Austin Dillon, the 19-year-old grandson of Richard Childress, debuted an ECR-owned No. 3 truck in the Camping World Truck Series. Dillon and his younger brother Ty Dillon drove the No. 3 in various lower level competitions for several years, including the Camping World East Series. In 2012, Austin Dillon began driving in the Nationwide Series full-time, using the No. 3; he had previously used the No. 33 while driving in that series part-time.

Richard Childress Racing entered a No. 3 in the Daytona truck race on February 13, 2010, painted identically to when Earnhardt drove it, but with a sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops. It was driven by Austin Dillon. It was involved in a wreck almost identical to that which took the life of Earnhardt: being spun out, colliding with another vehicle, and being turned into the outside wall in turn number four. He walked away unscathed. Dillon again returned to a No. 3 marked racecar when he started fifth in the 2012 Daytona Nationwide Series opener in an Advocare sponsored black Chevrolet Impala.

Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo chose the number 3 as his permanent racing number when F1's rules changed to allow drivers to choose their own numbers for 2014 and stated on Twitter that part of the reason for his choice was that he was a fan of Earnhardt's, while his helmet design features the number stylized in the same way.

Awards

• He was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt in 1994.
• He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.
• Earnhardt was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.
• He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2002.
• He was inducted in the Oceanside Rotary Club Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame at Daytona Beach in 2004.
• He was inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2006.
• Earnhardt was named first on ESPN's list of "NASCAR's 20 Greatest Drivers" in 2007 in front of Richard Petty.
• He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2006.
• He was inducted in the Inaugural Class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame on May 23, 2010.
• In 2020 it was announced that Earnhardt was voted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame.

Pop culture

• Made a cameo in the 1983 movie Stroker Ace along with drivers Kyle Petty, Ricky Rudd, and Tim Richmond.
• Played himself in the 1998 movie Baseketball.
• Played himself in a 1998 episode of King of the Hill.
• Appeared in Brooks & Dunn’s, Honky Tonk Truth music video in 1997.
• ESPN and Johnson Films produced a made-for-television movie on Earnhardt's life titled 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story, released in 2004. Earnhardt (played by Barry Pepper in the film) had direct involvement in its production.
• In 2007 Paul Newman narrated a documentary on Dale entitled Dale.
• Voiced Dale Fuelhart in a 2017 episode of Mickey and the Roadster Racers.