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 Dale
Earnhardt has conquered the 2.66-mile tri-oval at the Talladega Superspeedway
eleven times - more than any other driver in NASCAR history. He is tied with
"The King" of stock car racing, Richard Petty with seven Winston Cup
Championships. He sits comfortably in 6th place on the Winston Cup all-time
winners list.
He has broken records left and right, and he's still driving - truly, a legend in his own time. "He races to win races, so you ain't got nobody backing into nothing." Richard Petty says. "He's got one speed, and that's wide open, and that's the way the champion ought to be." While driving for Rod Osterfund, he was named
1979's Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. The following season, he won the Winston
Cup Championship, becoming the first driver to win the two titles successively.
He is the Dominator of the Talladega Superspeedway, racking up victories in five
DieHard 500's, two Winston Select 500's, three IROC races, and one Busch Grand
National event. He has won more money than any driver in the history of
motorsports, with NASCAR Winston Cup earnings now approaching the $25 million
mark. It seems he's done it all, but Dale Earnhardt entered this season with the goal of breaking two more records. For 1995, Earnhardt seeks to win his 8th championship, breaking the record he and Richard Petty now share. This win would also make him only the second man in history to win three Winston Cup Championships in a row, following in the footsteps of Cale Yarborough's 1976, 77, and 78 seasons. His driving career has been fortified by the backing of owner Richard Childress, with whom he was first paired in 1981. After running 11 races for the Childress team, Earnhardt joined Bud Moore for the 1982 and 1983 seasons. He switched back to the Childress camp in 1984, forming an incredible bond that has held tight to this day. It takes support of a great owner, crew and sponsor to create a great driver. Earnhardt has all of this and more. He inherited the love of racing from his father, the late Ralph Earnhardt, who was the 1956 NASCAR National Champion in the Sportsman Division (now the Grand National Series). Earnhardt still mourns the loss of his father, who died of heart failure in 1973. "Not a day goes by that I don't think of him. Everything I've accomplished in my career I trace to being taught by Ralph Earnhardt," says his loving son. That's quite a tribute. Dale Earnhardt, the fans' 1995 "Active" Category selection for the Talladega - Texaco Walk of Fame.
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