Bristol Motor Speedway has a way of making even the smartest people do dumb things. Nine-time winner Dale Earnhardt Sr. knew that better than anyone. So before one particular race there, he pulled his rookie son and Elliott Sadler aside and told them exactly what to do and what not to do. Take it easy. Long race. Don’t push too hard early. The man who earned the nickname “The Intimidator” was preaching patience. One lap later, he wrecked them both.
Sadler lifted off the gas going into Turn 1 because traffic had stacked up ahead. Sr. never lifted at all. He drove straight into Sadler’s rear bumper, spun him into Jr., and wiped out both young drivers before most fans had even found their seats.
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“What happened to taking it easy?”Jr. recalled on Hank Parker Outdoors.
The Bristol story actually starts before the wreck. Jr. was buried in the pack, struggling, and Sr. got on the radio and took over. He told Jr. to lift off the gas at the flag stand, much earlier than Jr. thought made any sense on that long straightaway.
Jr. did it anyway. Then Sr. said to get back in the gas the moment the car reached the corner. Jr. did that too. The car came alive.
“He took the throttle points where you lift and get on the gas, he took all of that and just shifted it around the track,” Jr. said. “I drove it differently and fixed everything.”
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That was one version of Dale Sr. at Bristol. The Lap 1 version was something else entirely. After the wreck, Jr.’s crew spent laps patching the car together. He went back out way down, slow, in everybody’s road.
“Everybody’s mad at me because I’m slow and in the way,” he said.
Then Sr. pulled up alongside him on the straightaway. Jr. turned left and dragged the full side of his car down the length of his father’s famous black No. 3.
Sr. went straight to car owner Richard Childress on the radio. The message was short. Tell Jr. he better not do that again if he knows what’s good for him.
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Then Sr. walked into the garage and acted like he had no idea what anyone was talking about. He shook his head at the Lap 1 mess and said he couldn’t believe people raced like that. When Sadler looked him dead in the eye and said, “Dale, you were the one who hit me,” Sr. just laughed.
Bristol was a sore subject for years. Then came August 2004, when Jr. showed up and swept the whole weekend. He won the Xfinity race on Friday night, then started 30th in the Cup race Saturday and led 295 of 500 laps to win that too. Nobody had pulled off that double since the track opened in 1961.
When he climbed out of the car in Victory Lane, NBC’s Bill Weber stuck a microphone in his face. Jr. was soaked in sweat, running on adrenaline, and had just done something his father never did at a track Sr. had practically owned. He just grabbed the mic and said three words:
“It’s Bristol, baby!”
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The line became the track’s official slogan. Sr. had nine wins there. Jr. had one weekend that nobody else in history had managed. The Intimidator taught him how to drive the place. Eventually, Jr. made it his own.
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