Becoming Earnhardt 1980 Vol. 5 - Dale vs. Cale
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Later in the episode, my sister Kelly shares her unique perspective on life with Dad away from the racetrack.
Now buckle up, here's a brand new episode of Becoming Earnhardt presented by Bass Pro Shops.
Dale Earnhardt, the current Weston Cup point leader who is out of the race and very dejected right now.
Dale, was it an engine?
Yeah, I needed it. Smelt on the back stretch.
You know, it's been a mechanical problem that's held us back all year.
It wouldn't really be a good lead, but you know, I reckon you have to take everything away it comes.
Well, that's the disappointment that you hear in Dale Earnhardt's voice.
The history books of racing don't always tell the full story and that's certainly true of 1980.
All of the major players in the Cup Series are going to face adversity at one point or another, especially Dad.
Problems on Darrell Waltz, 88 car having problems as smoke comes out from behind the car spins around.
What didn't go wrong? Let's put it like this.
So Richard Petty, who will not take any chances on his neck, healing up very properly.
He did some severe muscle pulls in the neck very wisely. He has elected to put Joe Millican in the car.
Dale Yarborough has been reported as going to the garage area with a broken left rear axle housing.
Fresh off of his championship winning crew chief quitting, he's now left to defend his small points lead with Doug Richard,
a 20 year old unproven rookie on top of the pit box.
Well, here's a young fellow that has certainly a bright future ahead of him, 20 year old Doug Rocker.
The season continues on through the summer months with several drivers within striking distance of the crown.
But as we reach the final stretch, the picture becomes more clear.
They talk about strategy. I hadn't really pulled or had any kind of strategy any time of the year.
But we go all out to win anywhere we go any time.
That's just awesome racing. That's Daler and Hart an awesome race.
We won't go to the front and be there when the race is over after you have to floss with the win.
So through 1980, Dad had several challengers for the points lead.
But as I mentioned, they'd all face problems in one shape or another.
Richard Petty was rapidly closing in on Dad throughout the middle of the season and had 12 top five finishes with two wins.
He would be on a streak of fifth place finishes when he suffers a terrible crash at Poconova.
While leading the race, he has a right front failure on lap 56, which causes his car to shoot straight into the boilerplate wall.
This is at one of the most dangerous turns on the course called the tunnel turn.
And when the car goes sailing through the air, it lands right side up and the king appeared to be motions inside the car.
Something broke. The car just dropped down, sparked, showered underneath the right front side.
He went right straight into the wall. The car hit, bounced up in the air, turned around.
Petty's car after hitting the wall slid up and rode the top of the retaining wall for about 60, 75 feet and looked as if it might go on its roof.
He's taken to a local hospital where it's reported that he had a severely sprained neck.
Much later, it's revealed that the king actually had broken his neck and he kept the extent of his injuries under wraps so he could continue competing.
He would actually be seen back in competition the following week with a neck brace, receiving help from relief drivers like Joe Millican.
Probably about 50 or 60 yards, I knew it was going to hit. So after I got about halfway there, I got my eyes shut real tight.
And I don't know if it hit anything. If it hit anything, I didn't see it. You can bet on that.
But the setback is going to allow Kell Yarbrough to get ahead of him in the point standings for the runner up position behind that.
Well, Richard Petty lost about 100 points up at Pocono last week after that early crash put him out of the race up there and starting today's race, he's 144 points behind Dale Earnhardt.
After coming up strong in the early part of the season and winning a couple of races, Bobby Allison is going to continue to struggle in Bud Moore's Ford and found the points race to be out of his reach.
Allison was smoking when he came by the start finish line and apparently he is shut it down and will coast the Hodgdon-Budmore T-Bird around to the pit road.
Allison is pitted on the back stretch. The right front tire on the Warder-Hodgdon Thunderbird is flat. The sheet metal is severely crinkled.
That tire is pushed back up under the fender well and maybe suspension damage as well.
In fact, during his post-race winners interview at the Firecracker 400 from Victory Lane, Bobby says,
I'm not knocking Bud, but we are 180 degrees apart on the type of car we should be racing.
There are only a few tracks the Ford is competitive on.
Bud likes Ford and I'd rather be racing a General Motors product.
I feel strong enough to consider a change for next year.
That's crazy. Says that in Victory Lane.
On September 16th, Bobby Allison is going to announce that he's going to leave Bud Moore and drive for Harry Rainier in 1981.
Well, yes, Bobby is leaving us. I think he's going with the Rainier outfit and we hadn't got a replacement yet,
but we are talking to some people and we'll know with them the next week what we're going to do.
Now, we all know that Daryl Waldrop and DiGard drama and their engine failures kept them from being serious contenders in 1980,
but that didn't stop them from winning their fair share of races this season.
So, Waldrop winning the CRC Chemicals 500.
Daryl Waldrop wins the Richmond 400 and he's headed into Victory Lane.
We won this sucker and we had to come from behind to do it. I can't say enough for Jake and all the boys in the pits.
So, this really just leaves one guy.
Kale Yarbrough.
I always want to thank Lord for a good safe race.
Twice in the last three weeks I've been in that same situation, so it's a turnabout fair play, I guess Ned.
Kale's coming off of three straight championships in 76, 77 and 78
and he's driving for one of the most dominant teams in NASCAR history, Junior Johnson.
Junior Johnson, congratulations on a fine win here today.
Thank you, Ned. We'll just tickle it there.
But in September, Kale is going to shot the NASCAR world by announcing that he'll be stepping away from the Junior Johnson team.
Kale Yarbrough, Junior Johnson, what can you say about their careers together?
It's certainly sad in many respects to see the part after the success they've had.
He said he no longer wants to chase a points schedule and he wants to race on a part-time basis.
So, he's leaving the team that he's been with for eight years.
They won those three straight championships in over 50 races.
He's going to join MC Anderson replacing Benny Parsons on a three-year deal.
He said, Brewer, I've been doing this for a long time.
That's Tim Brewer, who served as co-crew chief for Kale Yarbrough in 1980.
And he said, I come out the door with my seat casing, my hand.
And one of my daughters said, Dad, when are you going to fix my bicycle?
Well, I'll fix it. I'll fix it. Dad, you've been telling me for a month you're going to fix my bicycle.
I've got a flat tire on it.
He just said, you know, it's time for me to go and do something else.
He said, you know, I've done this my whole life.
He said, I got to cut my schedule back.
And that's one of the things you work to work for MC Anderson.
This is going to be some extra motivation for Kale and Junior to win one last time to put a cap on their successful run together.
We're leaving friends, and that's the main thing.
We're going to park our friends and go to the main friends for a long time, by the way.
And as all the other drivers begin to struggle due to their issues,
Kale puts the heat on and begins winning races.
And as we get to the final 10 races of the season, Dad and Kale are the main story.
Dale Earnhardt knows the tale with our leader Kale Yarbrough.
It's a real fight coming down the back straight.
The story on the racetrack, car number 11, Dale Yarbrough starting 21st to 1st.
Yarbrough is trying to take an open shot at Dale Earnhardt.
Yarbrough side by side with Earnhardt.
Yarbrough sticks a nose ahead and he grabs off the spot.
Now, as you remember from our last episodes, Rod Australin had just promoted our pal, Doug Richard, into the crew chief position.
This decision came at the Firecracker 400 when the points lead was only 13.
So kind of a high pressure situation for young Doug to rise to the occasion.
I mean, I had only been in racing for, what, three years?
That was a lot.
To take over a role like that or whatever in a transition day is like, okay, I always wear a radio.
I always did everything except for push the button.
Gentlemen, start your engines.
Back at Daytona International Speedway as the Pontiac Turbo Trans Am Safety Car leads the by the start finish line.
The yellow caution lights go out atop the safety car.
But he does just that and they bring home a third place finish at Daytona.
That actually had a shot at winning once again on this super speedway and had a spirited battle with Bobby Allison on the last lap.
Your leaders worked back straightaway midway through Allison now as Earnhardt looked momentarily to the inside.
Earnhardt went inside then outside back to the inside again.
He's trying down low.
He looks inside.
He's side by side with Allison now in the turn.
The time is now.
Earnhardt puts the pedals to the metal.
Allison goes all the way to the top of the track.
There's side by side.
Earnhardt will lead it out of four as they come into traffic.
As they take the white flag, he and Bobby Allison draft on the outside down the short shoot.
Earnhardt may be caught on the bottom as they hit turn one.
The deck is shuffled.
Allison goes upstairs.
David Pearson and Earnhardt side by side.
They have Ronnie Thomas there to make it three wide.
Earnhardt is forced to lift momentarily as Ronnie Thomas pulls away.
It's Allison leading.
David Pearson by three car lengths and two back to Earnhardt.
Bobby Allison will win it by two car lengths.
Pearson will finish second.
Earnhardt third.
They owe Earnhardt so close and yet so far.
Up into the last lap you were just in a striking position then all of a sudden no win.
Well, I more or less had a pretty clear shot down the back stretch on the last lap.
I made my move in and it didn't come out as smart as the one I made in the bush clash.
But we finished third and I'm tickled to death.
The guys did good in the pits and the engine ran good all day.
The crew just did a super job.
You did a super job too, Dale Earnhardt.
This is Barney Hall up in the tower.
I don't think you've seen any snakes in the palmetto bushes today.
He was playing golf the other day and chased a snake out of a palmetto bush.
Yeah, you got me on top of that snake too didn't you Barney?
At the next race on the schedule in Nashville,
Rod's gamble on Doug is going to pay off.
Kale Yarbrough holding on to the lead, running in the second spot.
Dale Earnhardt, Earnhardt going to challenge to the low side.
No, Yarbrough shuts him back.
It is a challenge for the lead.
Here comes Earnhardt, he's got it.
Dale Earnhardt shoots five.
Kale Yarbrough going into turn three.
Dad will survive a spirited battle with Kale Yarbrough to win his third race of the season.
We actually have this Nashville trophy right here in the studio.
Doug brought it to us many, many months ago.
So pretty cool to be sitting right next to this trophy that they won that night in 1980.
The Nashville Fairgrounds was a historic racetrack that still competes today with regional and local racing.
More Becoming Earnhardt up next, but first here's my sister Kelly on some of the key lessons learned from our dad.
One of the lessons that kind of just stands out with Dad, and I wrote about this in my book, was just kind of win-win situations.
One of the things that I paid attention to a lot when I worked for Sports Image and Action Performance,
and my dad was in a lot of meetings because he was the face of all of that with the sales and licensing,
was just how it was important when you do a deal with somebody that everybody gained something.
Business deals or relationships that are one-sided, really you just don't get very far in life with them.
And so kind of to have something that was sustainable and something that might produce fruit for a long time,
he always just talked about how important it was for it to be a win-win.
That's one of the things that I kind of take along in my day-to-day now, like in business and running the companies that he taught me.
There's all kinds of lessons just the way you grow up and do things that so much of what we were exposed to as kids sticks with you through the day.
Whether it's you say, I mean, we were taught, you know, yes ma'am and no ma'am.
So still today, I don't care if the person's 13 or 33 or 63, I'm like a yes ma'am, no ma'am kind of person, you know,
or thank you and please or whatever those kinds of things are because that was very important as we were growing up in our house.
A lot of people talk about how much I look like my dad or my mannerisms or being in business meetings and things,
you know, how I handle things and carry things. I'm straight to the point.
Dad was kind of a straight to the point, no BS kind of guy.
So I think about a lot of those things often as you just have mannerisms of your family that kind of stick, you know.
I think one of the things that I constantly hear from people that either worked for him or had relationships with him was that
he just kind of made you feel valued and appreciated.
You know, he did that in a lot of different ways.
Like I hear stories about at Dellenheart Incorporated how he knew everybody's name and he always was there when they opened to say hello to everybody
and he knew what was going on in their lives and their kids and all of this kind of thing.
So, you know, I would probably just say just a characteristic of maybe loyalty because he really, you know,
cared about people and cared about who helped him get to where he was.
So whether it was the fans, whether it was people early in his career that gave him opportunity,
you know, to race or whatever it meant, kind of that he was a very much a person of loyalty and making people feel kind of valued
and appreciated in what they were doing.
We are all the time finding a bass pro.
There's a few that we go in regularly, but I like to kind of go in.
The first thing I do is like when I go in is I kind of stop and get a lay of the land because they're all kind of laid out a little bit different,
you know, and trying to figure out what in there are the things that you want to go look at, just look at,
and then what do you want to go do for shopping?
So I usually head to the home and the core part.
Then I head over to the lady section and look at the clothes.
And then I kind of go, I like going to the camping section and seeing what's about because we have a camper and, you know,
I'm always interested in kind of the latest gadgets.
And then kind of the food and snacks and they got some of the amazing candy options in there and all the kind of old timey candy that you can find in there
and the licorice and the caramel creams and all those kinds of things.
And so, and I like to check out the shoe section because you may not know it, but they have a lot of fashionable kind of shoes.
It's not all just for hunting or hiking or anything like that.
They've got some, they got a lot of cool shoes.
My husband heads straight to the hunting area and why it generally likes to find,
the first thing he likes to find is if they have one of those shooting ranges because a lot of the stores have the little shooting ranges that you can do
and you can knock the things down and all that and then fishing.
It's kind of hard to figure out maybe what you do first because there's so much that you want to do.
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Yard row on Earnhardt side by side at four.
Earnhardt almost lost it between three and four.
Earnhardt continues to set the pace.
Kale chases him, chews on his bumper, no way to get around.
This is the point in the story where that feud word starts to come into the picture.
You see, Dad and Kale were pretty aggressive on those final laps at Nashville.
Kale would bump into Dad, Dad would bump Kale.
They'd bump into each other several times over the last 25 laps.
Kale trying to get around Dad finally goes to the outside but ends up grazing the wall.
They'll Earnhardt and Kale Yarborough got together a little bit coming out of that number two quarter.
Kale says I had him. I was about to go around him.
Later Kale claims that Dad actually ran him up into the wall,
but Dad said I didn't think he would try to pass me on the outside.
I was the leader anyways and I had the racetrack.
These two are going to continue to find each other on the racetrack naturally
as they continue to battle for points and wins and the etiquette is going to be more aggressive in nature.
A couple of weeks later at Talladega for the Talladega 500,
the two would actually make contact slapping doors on the last lap
allowing Neil Bonnet to pick up the victory.
He flashes over the speedway.
Imagine what's going through Dale Earnhardt's mind right now.
This is the same position he was in behind Buddy Baker in May.
Can he go now? Does he wait one more lap?
He's following Bonnet into turn four.
The next to last time through the 33 degree banking,
Neil Bonnet leads the way, dives down into the middle racing lane.
Earnhardt tucked right under his rear deck.
Earnhardt tightly in second. Yarborough right there in third.
Many parson's fourth. They swing out and Bonnet cuts to the inside.
Earnhardt goes. Yarborough now along with many parson's and they get three four wide on the back stretch.
Three wide. It's coming into turn three.
Bonnet try to serve a team move.
Earnhardt is down inside of Earnhardt.
Bonnet side by side parson's in Yarborough.
Parsons throw Yarborough high.
Earnhardt down though.
Bonnet high. They come off the turn four under a blanket.
They pull out all the stops as Bonnet moves out in front with Earnhardt wedged out of traffic.
Yarborough gets by Earnhardt the dash to the checkered flag with Bonnet leading.
Can they do it?
Neil Bonnet comes to the line. One car like the head.
He will win the Talladega 500.
Kale Yarborough was finished second.
Just about a half a car like the head of Earnhardt.
Winston Cup racing.
Unbelievable here in Talladega as Bonnet has won it.
The points battle would get pretty close again when dad loses another engine at Michigan in August.
Scary moment for Dale Earnhardt as he went shuffling off into the number one corner.
The engine apparently has let go.
It's going to be a costly day for Dale Earnhardt.
He's going to finish a dreary 35th place.
And wouldn't you know it?
Kale's going to pick up his third win of the season.
Kale Yarborough notches his third win of the season by beating Neil Bonnet, Donny Allison, Darrell Waltrip,
Richard Petty and Buddy Baker the six cars of the lead lap from Michigan International Speedway.
This is MRM, the motor racing network.
Shrinking the points lead down to just 33.
The two are going to carry their battle into the Coliseum the next week at Bristol and man they would fight it out for the win.
And they've been hammering away on each other for the last couple laps.
They seem to kind of said, hey, let's run nose to tail here a minute and catch our breath.
We can't do this all day.
A little competitiveness, lean on the other guy just a bit.
You know how far you can go and he's going to lean right back.
It's really an exciting show to watch.
Kale is going to come out on top for his fourth victory on the year.
They're just inches apart as they cross the start finish line and the winner will be again Kale Yarborough.
Dad actually pulled alongside Kale on the last lap.
We had to back out of the gas due to a lapped car, Roger Hamby being in dad's racing line.
Dad would get a little bit of points relief at the Southern 500 when Kale has his own mechanical problems.
Being able to build up dad's point margin back to 98 points.
And we have trouble on the racetrack over in turn two.
It's Kale Yarborough, Kale Yarborough's car caught on fire coming off of turn two.
He jumped out of the car and pulled it to a stop just at the entrance to Pitt Road.
We didn't see what caused it, but Kale jumped out of the car as it was still rolling.
Now Kale himself grabs the water hose from the safety truck and he is showering down that automobile.
Now a crewman takes it back, but Kale didn't want to let that car sit there.
Just a side note here, Texas Terri Labani is going to pick up his first NASCAR victory in this race at the age of 23.
He was two seconds behind dad and none other than David Pearson who were fighting for the win.
When the two hit some oil slick that had been laid down on the track by Frank Warren's blown motor.
David, dad, and even Benny Parsons all hit the oil and spun into the wall.
Terri, he's able to slow down enough to work through the chaos, passing Pearson's wounded car in the final turn to pick up the win.
It's going to be a battle and we've got one smoking going into turn one, Frank Warren's car.
And getting in that oil at the Lord Heart, missing him, spinning as Benny Parsons,
but it comes through Parsons down on the apron.
David Pearson got through, Neil Boudic got through, pinned on the wall as they learn hard over at the exit of turn two.
They're waving and they're happy and they're celebrating that in one of the crews and we're trying to pick out which crew it is.
44, Terri Labani. He passed David Pearson, second flag has come out and it's waved and the word we get that it's waved for Terri Labani.
Car number 44 out of Corpus Christi, Texas.
The second Richmond race of the year brings an interesting development in the points battle and it shows just how much the margins could sway during this point in NASCAR history.
Kale is again going to have mechanical problems and he's going to fall to third in the points battle, a total of 173 points behind.
Man, he was just 33 points away from the lead a few races ago.
Everybody thought Dale would start to fall out or something would happen and Dale wasn't there, Kale would come on.
You're underpulled, you're running out of front, you're looking real good and all of a sudden problems start happening. What was the problem?
Well, after the first hit stop, we got this running hot and I guess we had a head that cracked and when you get a cracked head,
then you get the hot and it starts pumping the water out under the tires and then you don't handle good and the car is running hot too.
So we tried to put some stoplick in and stop it but it just got worse.
Who's going to move into second place in points passing Kale? It's none other than Richard Petty.
Richard has been nursing that broken neck but getting relief help from drivers like Joe Millican along the way,
putting together consistent enough results to stay in this points battle.
This will continue to stay interesting as the series returns to Dover and Dad will suffer again more engine problems
allowing King Richard to close the points lead down to 60 points.
Earnhardt, second.
He is going to the garage and it looks like he may call it a day and this is going to be a break for both Richard Petty and for Kale Yarbrough.
Ned Jarrett.
And Barney Hall and Dale Earnhardt, the current Weston Cup point leader who is out of the race and very dejected right now.
Dale, was it an engine?
Yeah, Ned.
You know, just one of those things happened but I tell you, it's getting brighter and disgusting.
Dale, you made the statement before the race that she was going to run flat out regardless of what happened.
Did you feel that as hard as she was running had anything to do with it?
I don't think so. The first race of the car was a little loose and I couldn't run as hard as I wanted to so we had just got the car dialing pretty good.
We was running second behind Darrell and the car felt better and better.
So, you know, it's just a situation that just blew up. I don't know.
The style of racing in that day was different than Dale's style of racing.
And I say that is everybody had races where they just kind of rode along.
They were biding time. They were saving their breaks. They were saving their time. Whatever it was, Dale wasn't.
We had to earn this one. I'll guarantee you that Dale was all anybody wanted to handle.
Dad is going to make a championship statement at Martinsville.
Well, a good, good day everyone for Martinsville Speedway here in beautiful Martinsville, Virginia.
Today, the 27th race on the $6 million Winston Cup Tour will unfold here at Martinsville on the Old Dominion 500.
It's the richest short track race in the nation and it's pulled the nation's finest stock car drivers to the Speedway today.
The dogwood and azalea trees and the duck pond, the shrubbery that line the turns instead of just having a bare concrete wall and everything has a new coat of white paint every time we come here.
It's a treat to come here every time.
Back under green at Martinsville, Earnhardt comes up through the gears in a heart beat, so to speak, and pulls away from the field by about three car lengths.
He gets away from Dave Marcus in a hurry this time.
Kale is going to use up a lot of racetracks, making work that high groove and Dale can lose some ground.
Yarborough heads to pit road as now Allison Donnie moves to second spot.
Something has happened to the Kale Yarborough car and Ed Jarrett will update us in just a moment.
Dad's right side was completely creased from own track encounters, tire marks, and dents. It's awesome.
You can hardly read the numbers or the sponsors' name on the side of Earnhardt's car, but Bent, battered, and broken.
He can bring it home here today. One thousand turns around this racetrack and he's about to take the last one.
He's one in Atlanta at Bristol and in Asheville. Here's Earnhardt. Last time in the turn number three, Baker closing to 10 car length. It's going to be Earnhardt.
He admitted that he didn't have any brakes for the last several laps of the race and at one point during the race, he had some contact with Dave Marcus.
While the bumping and banging started down in turn number one, Earnhardt was on the inside and he just rooted Marcus up and out of the low groove.
While the banging continued all the way down the backstretch to where Earnhardt spun and now Earnhardt is up side by side with Marcus and they are having quite a discussion.
Dad's point lead would again grow to 105 and to this he says, I'm sure not going to stroke. Kale, Benny, and Petty, they don't stroke.
I got here running hard and I'll continue to do that. Stroke was a word used back in those times to describe a driver who was racing for points or taking it easy, not running as hard as he could.
So his aggressive driving is actually now starting to force other people out of their comfort zone.
Now he's making these guys mad because now I've got to run this. I got to run so hard to not let him get so far away.
Well, Dale, congratulations.
Thank you, Ned.
At that last caution, Kale got back in the lead. I wasn't sure we could win it, but then he had a flat or thought he had a flat or something on that restart and that really gave us a good break here and here we are in Victor Circle.
Got a little sheet metal and paint damage down here.
Yeah, a little bit. It got kind of rough down the backstretch one time, went around and around a few times.
Did you think it was all over then?
Well, nobody hit me, so I thought it was all right, you know, so it was looking bad there one time.
Roland Willautica, congratulations here.
Thank you. It was a real good job. He was really on it today, all the way.
Well, he certainly was and everybody else was too.
Yeah, we didn't even have any breaks there at the beginning of the race. 25 and 30 laps out, we had break trouble.
He made it most of the way, pumping the brakes all the way.
Well, that's Roland Willautica, the team manager for this Osterland racing effort.
Dad would again follow a victory with another victory, winning consecutive races for the second time in the same season.
What's better is he'd do it in front of the hometown crowd at Charlotte.
It was all thanks to a super fast pit stop by Doug and the Osterland team, beating Kale and Junior Johnson's team off Pit Road by almost four seconds.
The first of the leaders scheduled pit stops have just been made, Ned Jarrett.
It was Dale Earnhardt coming in on a very quick pit stop too.
He changed right side tires, filled it up with gas, so he should be ready for the rest of the race.
It was about a 14-second pit stop.
Earnhardt was in such a hurry to go off the road, he almost dragged two of his crew members with him.
Here's Yarborough, the Junior Johnson crew ready to go to work.
They go to the right side as did Dale Earnhardt a little bit earlier, changed those tires as Junior Johnson's told they would do.
Of course, they're filling it up with the Union 76 gasoline.
They're working feverishly on the car to get him down.
They got the tire changed, they can't get the jack down.
Now Kale had it in reverse.
Now he gets it in the right gear and heads off.
After this, Dad was feeling very confident in Victor Lane in remark to the points race.
Pressure? There's no pressure on me.
The pressure is on them.
They're the ones who are behind in points.
I'm ahead.
What's a sophomore jinx?
Can anybody tell me what a sophomore jinx is?
Pretty cocky.
Well, the blue and yellow bike curb, Austin Racing's Chevrolet is taking the ride to Victor Lane.
Well, Earnhardt has pulled in there unhooking the safety pair for Nailia.
But right now, let's talk to 20-year-old Doug Rockert who has done a beautiful job.
Doug, congratulations. He's the crew chief on this car.
Thank you, Dad.
Well, that big smile on your face, of course, the people on the radio can't see that to know just how happy you are.
You fellas worked awfully hard for this.
Yeah, we did.
The car ran awful good.
We had excellent pit stops all day and the motor really ran well.
And Dale drove one heck of a race and just things couldn't have went better for us all day.
Doug, the difference seemed to be that last pit stop.
You beat them out bad.
Well, that help there would beat them out.
It was looking kind of grim there a little bit.
They had the draft running behind us.
It was running just a little bit quicker.
But we managed to stay ahead and win the race.
Well, here's a young fellow that has certainly a bright future ahead of him.
He's already at the top.
Dale, very happy fellow. Congratulations, man.
Man, I tell you, it just feels good to run the win here in front of the hometown crowd.
I've dreamed and thought about it for a long time and it's just great.
Dale, could you really feel it going in front of this 70 or 80,000 people here today, knowing so many of them were pulling for you?
Well, yeah, I know I've got a lot of hometown fans here.
Man, I tell you, it's just great.
Well, the story is far from over.
Kale is going to strike back in terrific fashion.
He's going to pick up another win at Rockingham and Dad is going to have another disastrous race.
They'll earn hearts into the pits and getting tires all the way around and some little extra work.
And on that car, they sort of tape the hood down and re-tape a couple of the vendors on and try to keep it together for the rest of this race.
He'll get involved in two crashes and break a tie rod and he ends up coming home in 18th place.
424 laps completed and they're still working on Dale Earnhardt's car in the pit area.
They want to get Dale back into this race if at all possible because of that tight Winston Cup points battle.
Even with back-to-back wins late in the season, though, Dad's point lead has taken some wild swings.
At his peak, Dad had a 119 point lead and now it's down to 44.
The table is set for a historic battle to the finish between Dad and Kale Yarbrough.
Kale goes way downstairs while Earnhardt holds a steady line to the middle of the turn,
but it's going to be Earnhardt handling so well this end of the speedway continuing to pull Kale.
That lead 4-10 with a jackrabbit start now playing a symphony of speed off turn 4 with Dale Earnhardt out front.
Their tippers are flaring and the points battle is a tight one.
I don't know what got into Earnhardt's stupid move on his part.
We can't expect Earnhardt to sit tight at one.
Right now, this young driver from Kanapolis, North Carolina is giving everybody a lesson.
She don't give anybody a victory in Winston Cup Grand National Racing until they take the checker.
There are two races left in the 1980 season and Kale and Dad's rivalry is about to reach its breaking point.
But we asked Dale if he was still confident about winning that first title this year.
We're still eating until we get behind, you know, when you start wearing, you know, and the pressure's on the end.
Dale Earnhardt and Kale Yarbrough, the two-point leaders going into this event, still very much in the thick of things.
They are the leaders right now.
I think this season's a long way from being over this year. I ain't going to count our treff out.
Becoming Earnhardt is a Dirty Mo Media original podcast series.
It is written and produced by me, Dale Earnhardt Jr., with Bobby Marcos and Colby Bass.
Sound design by Alex Timbs.
Production assistance, Tiff Powers, Mike Davis, Michael Caldwell, and Evan Vecchia.
This project is in partnership with MRN, the Motor Racing Network, and the Appalachian State University stock car collection.
Special thanks to SiriusXM, Silver Tribe Media, NASCARman, and Bob Ellis.
For additional Dirty Mo Media content, visit our YouTube page and follow us on all major social media platforms.
About this episode
A sweeping 1980 NASCAR recap centers on Dale Earnhardt’s points fight with Cale (Kyle) Yarbrough, framed by constant mechanical setbacks and high-pressure strategy. The episode revisits Richard Petty’s horrific Pocono crash and hidden neck injury, Bobby Allison’s struggles and switch to Harry Ranier, and Darrell Waltrip and others’ engine woes. The rivalry peaks in late-season battles—especially Nashville, Talladega’s chaotic finish, and Bristol—where Earnhardt’s aggression and pit timing swing momentum. Sister Kelly also shares personal “win-win” and loyalty lessons from Dad.
Original notes
Dale Earnhardt has been leading the NASCAR Cup season points for most of 1980, but it hasn’t been smooth sailing. In fact, stock car legends Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, and Cale Yarborough have all been within striking distance at one point or another, but attrition has kept the field even. Engine failures, crashes, injuries, and team disharmony have plagued everyone in the Cup garage, and it appears the 1980 crown will come down to whoever can manage the chaos best. And thanks to Jake Elder’s untimely departure, Dale has to depend on a young, inexperienced, newly promoted Doug Richert to help keep things on track.
As the season wages on, the championship contest really comes down to two: Dale and Cale. The two can’t stop finding each other on track, and things are getting tense. This will be Dale’s first real taste at a Cup series rivalry, and neither driver is willing to back down. Dale is going to again pick up back-to-back wins, including a triumphant hometown victory in Charlotte, but a disastrous showing in Rockingham allows Cale to close in as the season winds to a close.
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The Dale Jr. Download
Dirty Mo Media, SiriusXM
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37:09