The following is a production of Dirtymo Media.

With open wheel racing going through a national divorce in 1978, it's rain as America's top brand of motorsports was in doubt.

The timing was perfect for stock cars to come in and capture the

hearts and minds of a country that didn't know if it had a stomach for fenders and fisticus.

Well, NASCAR's 1979 season fed us all we wanted and more. Like NASCAR, 28-year-old rookie Dale Earnhardt was trying to make a name for

himself. Up until that point, people didn't know him as the seven-time champion or one tough

customer. Whatever notoriety he had was more for being the son of Ralph Earnhardt. Everything changed in 1979,

not just in how NASCAR became America's favorite motorsport,

but in how my dad became the Dale Earnhardt, we'd come to know.

I am Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

And on this episode of Becoming Earnhardt,

we open up the family scrapbooks to begin our race-by-race journey through the 1979 NASCAR season.

And my dad's number two, Australon Racing Team.

Our first stop, California.

Well, hello, everyone, from Riverside, California.

Barney Hall and Jackie Root and the entire Motor Racing Network crew

ready to bring you the kickoff race of the 1979 Winston Cup racing season,

the Winston Western 500.

Riverside International Raceway first opened in 1957,

and it was located about 50 miles east of Los Angeles.

NASCAR begins competing on the nine-turned 2.6-mile course in 1958.

By the early 60s, it's an annual stop on the Grand National Schedule,

...