Junior’s come a long way

It was somewhere around 1995, 1996 that I saw Dale Earnhardt, Jr race a late model at the Florence Motor Speedway. Junior's car was white with orange lettering. His number was 31, and sometimes 3, and was sponsored by Mom and Pops; a company that I believe made breakfast foods.

Junior usually qualified mid-field and often raced pretty strong, until the race wore on and the handling went away. I'm not sure whether or not Junior ever won around here, at least not that I can remember. I remember Dale Earnhardt making the trip down to Timmonsville to see his son race. It was a little sad that the two had trouble focusing on the race car with a crowd of fans gathering around and watching their every move.

Aside for the Dale, Sr. visit, Dale Earnhardt, Junior went unnoticed. I had a really good friend in high school that would often make the Friday night trip with me to the track, who was also a big Dale Earnhardt fan. Even my friend really didn't care about Junior and usually spent his time ignoring Junior, choosing instead to take in the race. I didn't ignore him, I thought that even though Junior couldn't cut it in the late model division, with all the money and opportunity that comes with calling a 7-time NASCAR champion dad, he'd make it one day. I never thought he'd get this far.

I remember watching Junior race in the Busch series in his rookie year. I watched that race with a couple friends who raced against him at the Florence Motor Speedway and Myrtle Beach. We all couldn't believe the kid who couldn't get around our two tracks could do what Junior did in NASCAR's big leagues. In four seasons in the Busch Series, Junior racked up 14 wins. That's impressive.

Now, to give Junior credit, I believe the late model stock division is the toughest division in all of motorsports. The cars are equal, as far as equipment and technology go, but in that division it's more driver talent and a good setup that wins. The setup has to match the driving style, in Junior's case it's obvious he had setup trouble back in the day. With late model racing, the key to winning is to have a driver who can conserve his tires, keep the car out of wrecks, and know how his car will handle toward the end of a race. Maybe it was a learning curve with Junior. It's obvious the time he spent racing in the Eastern Carolinas paid off.






Sports director Matt Lincoln and I spent several hours in the Sprint Cup garage Wednesday shooting video and interviewing drivers. I noticed Junior's #88 car sitting in the last garage stall with what seemed like hundreds of camera and microphones standing outside his stall. I realized then that Dale Earnhardt, Junior, the humble redhead that would unload his race car on Friday nights in Timmonsville with only two or three guys helping him, had finally reached rock star status. Now Junior has handlers and public relations people handling every piece of his schedule.

He really has come a long way from the little bull rings where I first saw, and talked to him. I remember what I first talked to him about, too. We were in line at the concession stand at the Florence track where I bragged to him about how great the fried bologna sandwiches were there. We both laughed at that and he got himself one, too. Now, you'd have to pay for a conversation with him like that. It's just amazing to see someone who started out so humble, try to remain that humble in a world where everyone wants a little piece of your time when you never have a second for yourself.

Log In | Register as a new member