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JENSEN: Blood Thicker Than Water?
In some ways, the late Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. couldn’t be more alike, and in some ways they couldn’t be more different...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted March 23, 2009   Bristol, TN
SPEED.com's Editor-in-Chief Tom Jensen. (Image: SPEED)

In some ways, the late Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. couldn’t be more alike, and in some ways they couldn’t be more different. And it’s the differences that have fueled the controversy surrounding Dale Jr. this year.

For the elder Earnhardt, winning was everything. He didn’t care what he had to do, or who he had to muscle out of the way to put his black No. 3 Chevrolet in victory lane. And there’s no question he didn’t give a lick about the court of public opinion.

When he wrecked Terry Labonte on the last lap to win the night race here at Bristol Motor Speedway in 1999, many of the fans were furious about his rough driving and booed him on the way to the press box elevator for his post-race interview. Others among his diehard loyalists were thrilled that their hero had won. As he stepped on the elevator to a deafening combination of boos and applause, Earnhardt looked around and said, “God, I love this s—t.” He was at the center of the storm, but he was the race winner.

For Earnhardt Jr., family is everything. That much is obvious from the people he employs at his own JR Motorsports team, how he takes his extended family on vacation and, yes, how impassioned his defense of his cousin/crew chief Tony Eury has been in the wake of a supremely disappointing start to the season for the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Friday at Bristol, Earnhardt Jr. flat out said he was torn between the desires of his sponsors and fans for him to win, and his own simple desire to race with Eury Jr. and have fun.

“You have the professional side where you have the National Guard and AMP and all the people that support, they want to you to go out there and win races,” said Earnhardt Jr. “You are in this business to professionally succeed and win races and championships and that is your ultimate goal and you should do everything you need to do as far a pieces of the puzzle to get there. Then there is the other side of you that thinks like you are still driving late models and just want to go to the track with your buddy. You just want to have fun because you did this for fun and people decided to pay you to do it.”

And there you have the crux of the situation — Dale Sr. didn’t care what he had to do to win, Dale Jr. doesn’t care what he has to do to take care of his family. I’m not arguing one approach is right and one is wrong; but there’s no question they are different. You could make a strong case that Dale Jr. is a kinder, more thoughtful and all-around nicer person than his father. And you could absolutely argue that winning was more important to Dale Sr. than it is to Dale Jr.


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