Eric's Life And Times Of Dale
Earnhardt... continued - 2000-2001
2000
In the off season, Dale had an
operation to fix his back. He didn't get to test as much because
of the recovery time, and I was a little worried. That didn't last
for long... Dale won the spring race at Atlanta... People began
to talk... "This could be the year!" - "This could be his last chance."
I thought he was going to get that 8th championship for sure! I had
so much faith, but Bobby Labonte was just too consistent! Little
did I know that this truly WAS Dale's last chance at the glory of an 8th
Winston Cup Championship! It was a lot of fun to see the relationship
of father and son with Dale Jr. now racing his first full season in Winston
Cup. They really got a chance to bond. By the end of the season
Dale had only won 2 races, but he had scored 13 top five and 24 top ten
finishes in 34 starts! He finished second in Winston Cup Points.
...............
...............
Dale and Dale Jr. on the track.
.
Left: Dale's 2000 Monte Carlo...
Right: Dale's Taz car from the 2000 Daytona 500...
Above on the right is Dale
Jr. in the Budweiser car.
Another view of the Taz car
Designed by artist Peter Max...
This is Dale's car from The Winston in 2000.
Another view of the car that I nick-named
"the popsicle box car!"
Dale's first victory of 2000, and
75th of his career, came at Atlanta in the fourth race of the season.
In the picture below his crew whips out a quick stop to help Earnhardt
win the race.
Dale won the race by mere inches
over Bobby Labonte! Very exciting finish!!!
This is Dale's huge trophy for winning
the race.
Dale wins his 76th NASCAR Winston
Cup race on October 15th, 2000... By passing at least FIFTEEN cars
in five laps after a late
race restart! This was the
most exciting race I've ever seen in my life!!! As it will turn out,
this is Dale's final victory before he
passed away. It's fitting
that he gave such an exciting performance for his last win. This
will forever be the most exciting race that
I have ever seen!
This is the car that Dale won his
76th and final race in on October 15, 2000.
..
Left: Dale leads the race;
Right: Dale's last win, and his last trophy.
Another view of Dale's 2000 Chevy
Monte Carlo
2001
Well, at the end of 2000 I was
more than a little disappointed... I knew that Dale would just have
to start all over again in 2001! Dale did so well in 2000, I knew
he could do it again in 2001! I could feel it, this was to be the
year! I could hardly wait for Daytona, I was counting the days for
over a month prior to the race... This was it, this was the year!
For some reason I just had a premonition that the Earnhardts were going
to finish 1-2 in the Daytona 500... I thought #3 would cross that
line with #8 right on his bumper. The way he looked in all of speed
weeks, I was so confident, I knew that this was the year for that final
championship. But as The white flag flew, the Lord had other plans
in mind. There would be no second Daytona 500 win. There would
be no eighth Winston Cup Championship. There would only be pain and
suffering for the fans, friends, and family. Dale was taken from
this world at his favorite track! Dale was taken from us while he
was doing what he loved best... Racin'.
For the first time in his life,
Dale Earnhardt raced in the Rolex 24 hour race
at Daytona during Speed Weeks leading
up to the 2001 Daytona 500.
One of his three team mates for
the event was
his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
The four team mates took turns driving
their 2001 Chevy
Corvette during the 24 hour event.
They came in
second in their class and fourth
overall in the event.
Dale was Very successful in the
IROC series (International Race Of Champions).
He was in it almost every year,
and won the championship four times in his career. This would
stand as a tie for the record with
Mark Martin until 2005 when Martin took his fifth IROC championship.
Dale's last IROC car
2001 BUD Shoot Out car
Another view of Dale's cool Budweiser
Shoot Out car
Dale did well in the Budweiser Shoot-out,
as usual, but he wasn't able
to stop Tony Stewart from winning
it for the second year in a row.
Dale's Last Race...
..
Dale hugged Kyle Petty before the
race... How ironic...
It's like he knew he was going
to be seeing Kyle's son Adam up in heaven soon.
Dale and Teresa were a wonderful
couple...
I'm glad that some of his last
moments before the race were spent with his loving wife.
..
Dale appeared to be very cool,
calm, and collected, as well as happy before the race.
Dale waves to the crowd one last
time...
Good-bye Dale. Thanks for
the memories!
.
It looked like Waltrip, Earnhardt
Jr., and Earnhardt were going to pull off a DEI 1-2-3 finish!
I was so excited by that thought!
These are pictures of the final lap... ever.
Dale hung back to protect his son
and his good friend Michael Waltrip
who were driving two of his DEI
Chevys...
...But that wasn't the final lap...
Because this is!
Continue on to: Remembering
Dale Earnhardt:
Dale
Earnhardt Career Stats (Memorial Page 2)
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This site was created
in February, 2001, and last edited on January 29, 2007. If you have
any questions or comments, please
e-mail me at ericunderwood@hotmail.com
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