The Intimidator's gone.... but never forgotten......

we're glad we had the chance to see

and enjoy racing the way it was meant to be!

Artwork Submitted by Scott Kenny, From Australia..... Thanks Scott!

Jr's Special paint schemes for Talladega

April 25, 2006

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Dale Earnhardt Memorial in Kannapolis,NC

FredFred..... Thanks for the great photos!!!

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Jake..... thanks for the pictures!!

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The Heaven 500

The Heaven 500 was just getting started,

an All-Star race, for the racing departed.

Heroes of the track, with nerves like steel,

and sitting on the pole, was a cat named Neil.

Adam Petty was there, with his beautiful smile,

Kenny Irwin determined, to finish in style.

Lee Petty was glowing, with that Grandfather pride,

with Davey & Clifford, both in a new ride.

Fireball Roberts, floated in on a cloud,

while Tony Roper waved, to the Heavenly crowd.

Moroso & Nemecheck, then Tim Richmond appeared,

Kulwicki strapped in, while the racing fans cheered.

The honorary starter, for this Heavenly race,

Ralph Earnhardt was chosen, a tear on his face.

But the red flag flew, just before it had begun,

and every eye, was open wide, and looking to the SON.

A last minute entry, was the cause of delay,

while the fans were instructed, to kneel and to pray.

The Heavens turned black, and the clouds turned dark,

the lightning was brilliant, the thunder did bark.

Then out of the rumble, for all there to see,

the clouds formed a number, a black number three.

The Heavenly fans, then erupted with pride,

and welcomed this star, who had recently died.

With a bolt of lightning, Dale Earnhardt arrived,

as he stood before Jesus, his spirit revived.

Jesus hugged his precious child, then revealed his perfect plan,

"I brought you home, to let you know, that I'm your biggest fan!"

"The Intimidator was needed, for this Heavily race,

leaving all of your earthly fans, with honor & grace."

Ralph Earnhardt then stepped forward,

embracing his son, then whispered in the ear of Dale,

"Let's go and have some fun!"

As Ralph stood proud, the green flag flew,

the crowd went wild and the tension grew.

And just like Salvation, the admission was free,

as every eye focused, on the black number three.

When the checkered flag dropped, no dry eyes remained,

it was a photo finish, as Jesus explained.

He said, "There are no losers, on this Heavenly track.

This was a welcome home party, for The Man In Black!"

(Author Unknown)

"What it means to be an Earnhardt Fan"

Submitted by our friend Brent Hecker.

I heard last night on Totally NASCAR that the number of people

watching the Daytona 500 set a record for number of viewers

to ever watch a stock car race.

Many of these people are new comers to the sport

and probably tuned in because they heard about

the death of the sport's icon last year in the same race.

This new type of race fan watches not fully understanding

the obsession some of us have with the sport.

Those of us that are hard-core race fans pick our

driver's at an early period in their careers and

follow them through to completion and

we begin the cycle all over again with a different driver,

or we don't follow any driver and just watch a race to just watch a race.

However, a group of race fans exist in a different

echelon of the motor sports world.

They carry a certain swagger to the race track that others do not.

They smile when others claim that their driver is the

best for they only need to remember one number to end the conversation, 7.

They stood by while their hero failed to win for an entire season

and they were the only ones not to ask when he would retire

from the sport for they knew that he would have to be

pried from the car kicking and screaming.

They watched at Talladega in 1996 as he flipped through the air,

landed on his roof, and walked away with a broken sternum and broken clavicle.

They watched two weeks later when he won the pole for a road course

and then stayed in his car for the whole race

and he gained a reputation as being indestructible.

They watched a winless season and a losing streak end

with a prize that eluded him for 20 years

and we celebrated with him on CBS and ESPN.

They always wore black and you know where their loyalties lay

by the hat they wear or the sticker on their car.

They walk with a straight back and head held high.

He is their hero, forever immortal.

He came from nothing and became the winningest driver in the history of motor sports,

yet he never forgot his friends and family and never forgot where he was from.

He signed autographs for anyone and everyone and relished being an icon,

yet he never put himself above anybody.

That's what defined his greatness as a person.

I never believed that we were different until I went to the Kmart 400 in June of 2001.

It was there that I saw the difference for the first time.

People were practically in fist fights at other trailers trying to buy shirts,

die casts, and hats, while at the Dale Earnhardt trailers, people made way for one another.

Other fans looked at us in our black shirts and understood that we were a force that

transcended the sport. We walked with our head held high and we were silent on lap #3.

The PA announcer did not even say a word during that lap, 150,000 people

and all you heard was the throaty scream of the fields 800 hp engines.

We set ourselves apart, a sea of black in a rainbow of color.

We held our three fingers against the blue sky and will forever hold them there,

a memorial to a person that most of us never met,

yet he left our lives forever touched with his duality.

A tough as nails competitor on the track, at his job,

and a kind hearted friend and family man off the track,

an example to all of us of how to live our lives.

To him his family was first, his friends second, his job right there with them.

The last of his bred, his kind now extinct.

Why do I write this one year after his death?

To explain to the millions of new viewers

and fans of our sport that they missed their chance to see greatness personified

in a man who never went to high school.

He was my racing hero and I miss seeing him compete on the track.

Brent Hecker------ February 20, 2002

Submitted by our long time friend and customer...

Brent, we couldn't have said it better...

Wish we had this edge of the seat racing with the #3 still today!!

Its been three years..... Three years ago fiction became reality in the final moments of what is now the EA Sports 500.

True it has not been three total years, but we don't mark time like that as race fans, the true race fans that is.

October 2000 is now the end of September 2003, but the memory will never fade.

4 laps to go in thirteenth place, no one wins from that far back with a little over 10.5 miles to go,

not even at Talladega, but he did.

The black car with the day-glow 3 on the roof was thirteenth,

twelve spots from a million dollars, nobody is supposed to win from that far back,

even with the restrictor plate on the car and an iron bar on top of the vehicle to slow them down.

This feat is one that will never be duplicated, not in the new era of aero-equality and common templates.

How many people remember who pushed him to the win that day (pause, Kenny Wallace)?

How many people remember that he cheated his own teammate out of his first win (pause, Mike Skinner)?

Even better than that, how many people remember that there has only been one race at this track since then won by

someone without that last name Earnhardt (Bobby Hamilton, spring 2001)?

Yet that one felt different than the other 75 wins.

In Victory Lane that day, I think we saw the true champion emerge,

the one we have heard all about that guarded that lion sized heart with an iron gate.

The smile was different, the joy was different, everything was different, almost like he knew that was it for him,

someone else had to take the torch and move on.

In 1998 when he won the Daytona 500, a prize that was not to be his for 20 years,

he didn't pull Richard Childress to the door of the car or on top of it for that mater.

But the lucky fan that happened to be matched with him got to share a moment in victory lane

with the only 7 time Winston Cup champion

(Richard Petty won championships before Winston came along as a sponsor,

it will be the Nextel Cup next season, there is only one 7-time champ).

Dale let the person inside come out, and it has been three years since then.

The moves were scripted straight from the movie “Days of Thunder”, and we will never see that again.

Brent Hecker 9/23/03

Kyle... thanks for the great photos!!!

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