Earnhardt Jr. in black No. 8 car at Talladega

[kbsooner21]

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[jcindaville]

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[bover1]

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[kbsooner21]

Talladega perfect for Junior to honor father

Earnhardt Jr. looking forward for Thursday's hall of fame ceremony




Dale Earnhardt Jr. used to wonder if his father really was as old -- or young -- as he claimed.

It almost became a joke among family members.

"We were always picking about what his real age was," Earnhardt Jr. said.



Comparing Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Talladega
Dale Dale Jr.

Starts 44 12
Wins 10 5
Top-5s 23 7
Top-10s 27 8
Poles 3 0
Avg. St. 10.2 14.2
Avg. Fin. 12.4 10.7
DNFs 11 2
Earnings $2,081,045 $1,849,667



But they always celebrated Earnhardt's birthday on April 29, and they will do so again this weekend in many ways. Saturday has been proclaimed "Dale Earnhardt Day" at Dale Earnhardt Inc., the empire Earnhardt began in Mooresville, N.C.

Six and a half hours away, the Busch Series race at Talladega Superspeedway will be held in honor of the seven-time Cup champion.

In Sunday's Nextel Cup race at Talladega, Earnhardt Jr. will drive a special black paint scheme in honor of his father, who would have been 55 had he not died on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.

Earnhardt Jr. can't wait for the latter, preferring to remember moments such as this rather than the five-year anniversary of his father's death that was in February.

"There are some things that come and go without a blink of the eye," Earnhardt Jr. said on Tuesday. "But there are other things that come and go that you want to point out and you want to recognize and -- between me and my family and all of his fans -- you do want to take a moment and remember.

"I think his birthday is a good one."

And Talladega is the perfect place to remember.

Earnhardt won a record 10 times on the 2.66-mile track where he was considered the master of restrictor-plate racing. Earnhardt Jr. is second in victories with five, using many of the drafting secrets learned from his father.

He'd like to get No. 6 in black.

"I was very excited when I saw the car," said Earnhardt Jr., who heard of the paint scheme through the grapevine like most people. "It's a cool way to honor my dad. It's going to be a lot of fun to be behind the wheel of that car, and sort of see the reaction that ... it gets from the other drivers on the racetrack.


Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the entire DEI stable of drivers will honor what would have been Dale Earnhardt's birthday by running black paint schemes this weekend at Talladega.

"Hopefully, I can get a little bit more help on the draft than we've been getting in the last couple of races on the plate tracks."

Earnhardt Jr. has won seven times on plate tracks -- Daytona and Talladega -- since entering Cup full time in 2000. He won four in a row at Talladega from 2001 to 2003.

But he's won only twice in the last nine plate races, with the last time coming at the second Talladega race in 2004. He hopes this year's reunion with crew chief Tony Eury Jr., who worked for then-DEI teammate Michael Waltrip a year ago, will help turn things around.

Regardless, Earnhardt Jr. believes his father would approve of the paint scheme that is sure to revive memories of the black No. 3 Chevrolet.

He recalled how special paint schemes were a trademark of his father and team owner Richard Childress, just like the familiar Budweiser red has been his.

"We haven't changed our paint scheme a lot, but I really enjoy a good clean racecar without a lot of different colors," Earnhardt said.

But neither black nor red is Junior's preferred color.

"If I had my choice I'd be driving an all-white car," he said. "I'd paint it sort of like the delivery truck that Budweiser has. I like the car I've got. It is a reflection of myself. It fits my personality as good as any."

The black No. 3 definitely fit the personality of the elder Earnhardt, known affectionately to competitors and fans as The Intimidator.

That color and number will be prominent on Thursday night when Earnhardt is inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega.


Earnhardt Jr. is anticipating that night as much or more as he is looking forward to driving the black No. 8.

"That's a great shrine ... and as a kid I could not wait to go to the racetrack so I could go through it every year," he said. "It's just a huge honor. It's one of the biggest honors in the sport. I'll be one of the first ones through the gate."

Trips to Talladega always stir Junior's memories of his father, none more than the 2000 October race in which Earnhardt went from 18th to first over the final six laps.

"I was running second thinking I was in a position to try to get me a win, and I can see him and his line formed on the outside coming up, getting closer and closer," Earnhardt Jr. recalled. "Every time I looked in the mirror, he'd moved up a few more feet toward us and was coming.

"Everybody on the bottom line was sort of in panic mode as to, 'Wait a minute now; this thing ain't playing out like we had in mind.' That was pretty cool."

He expects Sunday will be cool as well.

And for the record, Earnhardt Jr. believes his father really would have been 55, even though some official publications list the birth year as 1952 instead of 1951.

"It's going to be neat," Earnhardt Jr. said. "I hope the fans appreciate it. I hope, you know, everybody at NASCAR appreciates it because it's a pretty cool deal for DEI."