Aggressive and determined on the racetrack, thoughtful, sensitive and well-spoken off the track, Dale Earnhardt Jr. enters his fourth full season of NASCAR Winston Cup Competition in 2003. At the age of 28, his career now involves more than just driving, as he becomes team owner in the NASCAR Busch Series, and continues to see his fame grow well beyond the die-hard fans of the sport.
Dale Jr. became the first third-generation NASCAR champion when he won the 1998 Busch Series title. After a second Busch crown in 1999, he moved full-time into the Budweiser No. 8 machine on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit, following the considerably large footsteps of a legendary father, the late Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time Winston Cup champion, and grandfather Ralph Earnhardt, who was selected among NASCAR’s 50-best all-time drivers. In addition, his maternal grandfather Robert Gee was a renowned NASCAR fabricator and mechanic.
Earnhardt Jr. has recorded seven career victories in Winston Cup competition. Along with the No. 8 Bud team, he has zoomed to six Bud Pole positions and has earned race winnings of more than $13.7 million in only 111 starts. Led by crew chief Tony Eury, the core of the Dale Earnhardt Inc. team remains the same as the crew that has backed Dale Jr. since 1998.
Prior to his Winston Cup career, Earnhardt Jr. dominated the Busch Series for two seasons – winning two championships, 13 race victories and more than $3 million. In 2002, he returned to win two more Busch Series races and will compete in a limited number of events in that category in 2003. A resident of Mooresville, N.C., Dale Jr. began his driving career at age 17, competing in the street stock division at Concord (N.C.) Speedway. Beyond the racetrack, Earnhardt Jr. became a best-selling author in 2002, penning “Driver #8,” the story of his rookie year in Winston Cup, and driving sales onto the New York Times Best Sellers list for more than three months. Giant online retailer Amazon.com named it the top-selling sports book of the year.
His image can be seen wherever beer is sold, leading Budweiser’s promotional efforts as the world’s largest brewer continues to thrive in America. Dale Jr. is also the face of cologne ads for Drakkar Noir and appears in ads for a variety of team sponsors. He made an attention-grabbing appearance in a music video with Sheryl Crow, posing as a present-day “Steve McQueen” in the video of the same name.
Dale Jr. was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, ESPN the Magazine and TV Guide in 2002, along with numerous motorsports publications. He was selected for People Magazine’s “50 Most Eligible Bachelors” issue in 2002, completing a trio of appearances in People’s “Sexiest Men” issue in 2000 and 2001’s “Most Intriguing People” issue. He has twice been profiled with major stories in Rolling Stone magazine and was the subject of the Playboy Interview in September 2001.
On the broadcast front, he made a cameo appearance in NBC’s “Elvis Lives” special in 2002, and he has appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the Today Show, Good Morning America, and was the focus of two major MTV documentary programs: “Cribs” and “True Life, I’m a Race Car Driver.” He also appeared at the 2001 MTV Music Video Awards show.
He enjoys hanging out at his newly redecorated home, and working on his ever-growing herd of street cars and a street-stock race car in his garage. His hobbies include music, computers and computer gaming. He enjoys spending time on a large chunk of land he recently purchased, “chillin’ the most” with his buddies (affectionately known as the “Dirty Mo Posse”).
