Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr (1951 - 2001)

Born 29 Apr 1951 in Kannapolis, Cabarrus, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Died 18 Feb 2001 at age 49 in Daytona Beach, Volusia County, Florida, United States

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Biography

Dale Earnhardt was a renowned NASCAR race car driver whose aggressive driving style earned him the nickname "The Intimidator." The #3 Black car is an enduring symbol of the distinguished driver.^[1]

Ralph Dale Earnhardt was born April 9, 1951 in Kannapolis, North Carolina to Ralph Lee and Martha Earnhardt. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Dale knew from a very early age that he would grow up to be a race car driver. He spent his youth in Kannapolis, North Carolina watching his father, Ralph Lee Earnhardt, race in stock car events. His father tried to discourage his son from racing, but the passion was in his blood, and he dropped out of school in ninth grade to devote himself to working to make enough money to support racing.^[1]

Dale worked full time welding and mounting tires, and when the opportunity arose, racing on weekends in hobby-class cars. In late 1960s and the 1970s, he raced in area short tracks and made occasional Winston Cup Grand National starts during the 1970s, working his way up the ladder of success.

Dale had a more difficult time being lucky in love and suffered a string of failed marriages that began at the young age of seventeen when he married his first wife, Betty Latane Brown. They were only married a short time before divorcing.

In 1971, Dale married his second wife, Brenda Gee. Not long after the birth of a their son, Dale and Brenda divorced.

Dale then married his last wife, Teresa Houston, niece of legendary Busch Series Driver, Tommy Houston.^[1]

Earnhardt had four children.^[4][5][6][1]

Despite a tumultuous private life, Dale became a decorated champion on the racing circuit with wins, awards, and records too numerous to count. A 1998 Daytona 500 win, one that took him twenty attempts to capture, seemed to further distinguish him in the history books as a top-notch driver. He added to his legacy in 1998 when NASCAR honored him and his father Ralph as two of the 50 Greatest Drivers in NASCAR history.^[1]

Dale Earnhardt died February 18, 2001 in a last-lap crash during the 2001 Daytona 500 in Daytona Beach, Florida. Race fans and families across the US were grief stricken over the loss of their beloved driver.^{[1] [3] [7]}

He is buried at the Earnhardt Estate in Mooresville, North Carolina. ^[8]

Earnhardt has a street in his hometown of Kannapolis named after him and one of the entrances to Texas Motor Speedway is named "Dale Earnhardt Way," a fitting tribute to a man who lived to be on the road. A memorial statue erected in his memory can also be seen at the Daytona USA museum in Florida.

Beautiful tributes to this racing legend can be found at the Dale Earnhardt Official Site.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Auto Racing; Dale Earnhardt, 49; Racing Star, New York Times, nytimes.com, 19 Feb 2001. Accessed 27 Apr 2020.
2. ↑ "North Carolina Birth Index, 1800-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VHFL-KHF : 8 December 2014), Ralph Dale Earnhardt, 29 Apr 1951; from "North Carolina, Birth and Death Indexes, 1800-2000," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2005); citing vol. 37, p. 553, Cabarrus, North Carolina, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Wikipedia-Dale Earnhardt
4. ↑ "North Carolina, Department of Archives and History, Index to Vital Records, 1800-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7J9C-L8N2 : 24 October 2019), Ralph Dale Earnhardt in entry for Kerry Dale Earnhardt, 8 Dec 1969; citing Birth, North Carolina, United States, North Carolina State Archives, Division of Archives and History, Raleigh; FHL microfilm 102155798.
5. ↑ "North Carolina, Department of Archives and History, Index to Vital Records, 1800-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7NXV-VP6Z : 24 October 2019), Ralph Dale Earnhardt in entry for Ralph Dale Earnhardt, 10 Oct 1974; citing Birth, North Carolina, United States, North Carolina State Archives, Division of Archives and History, Raleigh; FHL microfilm 102155798.
6. ↑ "North Carolina, Department of Archives and History, Index to Vital Records, 1800-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:7NXG-B5PZ : 24 October 2019), Ralph Dale Earnhardt in entry for Kelley King Earnhardt, 28 Aug 0072; citing Birth, North Carolina, British Colonial America, North Carolina State Archives, Division of Archives and History, Raleigh; FHL microfilm 102155798.
7. ↑ Wikipedia:Death of Dale Earnhardt
8. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 28 April 2020), memorial page for Dale Earnhardt, Sr (29 Apr 1951–18 Feb 2001), , citing Earnhardt Estate, Mooresville, Iredell County, North Carolina, USA ; Maintained by Find A Grave . Find A Grave: Memorial #20861