Becoming Earnhardt Vol. 6 - The Silver Fox And The Young Gun

The Dale Jr. Download

Dirty Mo Media & SiriusXM

Sports

5 • 8.4K Ratings

🗓️ 16 August 2023

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It was a rookie season of the ages, until it wasn’t. A cut tire and Pocono’s unforgiving steel boiler-plate walls left Dale Earnhardt with two broken collarbones and an open-ended timeframe for recovery. The NASCAR Cup circuit would then roll on as he began to mend in an East Stroudsburg, PA hospital. The progress he made in the stock car ranks and his grip on the 1979 Rookie of the Year award would be tested as his closest competitors in the freshman race would continue onward. Even worse, his own ride and future could be in jeopardy, as the Osterlund Racing team makes a call to one of the greatest drivers in history to fill-in during the interim. On this episode of Becoming Earnhardt, our exploration of the 1979 NASCAR Cup season unpacks races 20 through 24. Our main character will wrestle with watching from the sidelines as his blue and yellow number-2 gets driven by a NASCAR legend at some of his favorite tracks. The Cup contingent returns to Talladega, Michigan, Bristol and Darlington. When the Osterlund crew finds victory lane without him, Dale makes a miraculous return to the driver’s seat, defying his doctors, the press and the rest of the NASCAR garage. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The following is a production of Dirtymo Media.
0:06.8	There's the kid to watch, this kid are in heart of the Osterlot number 2, the car out
0:11.8	of California, the driver from North Carolina, the second generation driver, his father,
0:16.3	one of the most famous short track drivers in American racing history, the well-known
0:21.2	Ralfour in heart, is kid.
0:25.5	It's been a rookie season for the ages.
0:27.4	Through the first 18 races of 1979, Dad has seven top five finishes, including that
0:32.5	monumental win at Bristol, and despite a couple of crashes, some mechanical failures,
0:37.2	he's fifth in the season points, destined to make a big enough splash in his freshman
0:41.2	year to assure that he'd have a place in stock car racing for years to come.
0:46.0	That is, until July 30th, here's my dad's sister Kay, who was driving home from work
0:51.8	at the time.
0:53.2	I was listening on the radio going home, and there was commercial, and when they came
0:58.1	back from the commercial, there had been a wreck.
1:01.7	Come on and turn to it, look out, Dale Erdher right below us and slam the wall with a
1:06.8	blown tire.
1:07.8	He is all the way around the wall, all the way around the second turn.
1:11.4	Here's my aunt Kathy, who was also home, and got a phone call.
1:15.0	You know, they said, you know, Dale's had a wreck, he's heard, well how bad, I don't
1:20.4	know.
1:21.4	He was walking, he, you know, he got out of the car, I said, well, then he's okay
1:26.7	if he got out of the car.
	...

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