Dale Earnhardt Sr. would have been proud.
Not just with how Jeff Gordon has gone about his business this Speed Week. But, maybe, with how Gordon has conducted himself all along.
Regardless of how things turned out Sunday.
In 1999, Earnhardt was at the peak of his immense popularity in NASCAR – and the sporting world as a whole. He drove the famed No. 3 car to the first Daytona 500 victory of his career the previous year, and Intimidator Nation was primed for a repeat in ‘99.
Although 20 years his younger, Gordon had beaten Earnhardt to Daytona 500 glory, having won the race a year before Earnhardt, in ‘97. And in ‘99, he was pushing to dethrone Earnhardt as the king of NASCAR. That may have been why, back then, many racing fans had a certain disdain for Gordon, who was regarded by those fans as arrogant – and, of course, as a challenge to their hero. And, after all, Gordon was originally from the glitzy West Coast (California), Earnhardt from the heart of NASCAR country (North Carolina).
It was believed that Earnhardt thought the same of Gordon as his adoring fans. And maybe, to a certain extent, he did. But that’s not how I saw it in February of 1999.
I was working in St. Augustine, Florida, at the time, and covered that ‘99 “Great American Race.” And great it was. Earnhardt and Gordon battled to the very end, with Gordon cutting off Earnhardt late to win his second Daytona and deny Earnhardt of the same.
Earnhardt was 47, so at the time, you had to think his reign was in its twilight years (little did we know that, two years later, he would die on that final turn at Daytona). And the way he lost it in ‘99, with Gordon cutting him off and edging him at the wire, well, most were expecting fireworks after the race.
And maybe there were some. I was in no huge hurry to get to the racers – I worked for an afternoon paper, so had no stringent deadlines to meet that night. And with close to a quarter-of-a-million bodies around Daytona International Speedway that day, I-95 was going to be a parking lot until well after dark. I was going nowhere fast.
By the time Earnhardt and Gordon had made it to the spillover media center in the middle of the infield at DIS, most of the media had left. And if Earnhardt was still seething – or had been at all – I didn’t see it. Instead, I saw a man who had as much respect for the young would-be successor as the then-27-year-old Gordon had for the legend. Sixteen years later, I seem to remember Earnhardt saying how proud he was of Gordon, who was only three years older than Earnhardt’s also-famous racing son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., the defending Daytona champ who finished third Sunday. It was almost like a father-son thing.
Earnhardt Sr. remained the face of NASCAR until his death two years later. And while it wasn’t an overnight occurrence – Earnhardt Sr. remains wildly popular among NASCAR fans, even 14 years after his death – Gordon would become the patriarch of the sport.
And now he’s leaving – he announced earlier this year that this season would be his last as a regular racer and that this would be his final Daytona 500.
But in the days leading up to Sunday’s race, he made it clear he wanted no farewell tour. He just wanted to enjoy this place, this race.
Had Earnhardt Sr. lived to eventually retire, I have to think he would have done the same. And, like Gordon, who led Sunday’s Daytona for a race-high 87 laps before fading (a late accident sent him to 33rd), you know Earnhardt would have seriously challenged in his last Daytona hurrah.
It would have made a lot of race fans happy. And then sad.
Just like Sunday.
bpeterson@durangoherald.com
