================================================ Subject: NCR: Dale Jr. Interview From: "Misty Farmer" To: Date: Wed 4 Apr 2001 12:36:19 -0000 ================================================ Totally NASCAR's Steve Byrnes: For six weeks, we at FOX respected Dale Earnhardt Junior's wishes to wait until he felt ready to talk about the tragic death of his father at Daytona. Last week, at Junior's invitation, our Darrell Waltrip made the trip to Mooresville, N.C. to talk with Earnhardt about these last two difficult months and life without his dad. Darrell Waltrip: I had no idea the outpouring of fans, not just in our little community, but all over the world really, the response to your father's death. Did you have any idea? Dale Earnhardt Jr.: I think we were as surprised as anybody. It surprised me quite a bit. You don't realize exactly who all is paying attention, you know. More people than you think are listening. I think a good majority of the, you know, the people who we had expected to see a reaction from knew or heard of him, had an idea who he was. I think a lot of people wre like, you know, this guy was from what I'm seeing here on television or hearing on the radio or whatever. They were probably like, "Man this guy must have been a pretty big deal." It makes me feel good to see what he meant to so many people and then see a lot of other people too that learned what they can about him that really (didn't know him) before. Waltrip: We know Dale the racer. All of us do, but I think Dale the dad and how he worked with you kids. Did he want you to race? Was that his dream for you to race? Earnhardt Jr.: I don't think he... It was kind of a 60-40 deal with him. He never really pushed it on me. He never came to me and said, "I've got a guy that's got a car (who) wants you to drive it." He never did anything like that. But one day, I came home from school one afternoon. I was about 16 years old, and I walked into the Deerhead Shop, and there, laying on the picnic table, was the front page of the Charlotte Observer sports section. It talked about that series that they were starting up at Concord for street stocks. He said, "If you want to race, here's a relatively cheap way to get into it, and if you like it, you'll find out this way." I never really talked about doing anything else or never really had expressed any concern or asked him about anything as far as he really had no idea where I was going to go with my life or what I was thinking about doing or what my interests were. He was just laying an opportunity out there for me. Waltrip: I know that for you to win the Busch championship, win your first Winston Cup race. Those had to be... How did he feel about that? What did he tell you about that? Earnhardt Jr.: He was really quiet about how he felt about those things, and what those things meant to him in comparison to other things that he had done in his life. He would always... You could tell he was happy because when you're in Victory Lane, you're standing there with The Winston trophy or something like that. He'd look at you and go, "This is cool man. Ain't this cool?" That was the only time you'd ever hear him talk like that. Waltrip: In closing, you know, they always talk about closure. What is it gonna take, or is there anything that will give you closure to this tragedy? Earnhardt Jr.: I don't think you look for something, one thing, or when you ask "What is it gonna take?" I don't think you can look at one thing or a few things and say, "This is gonna help." You'll just go day after day. I would like to win races and possibly a championship one year, and those things will help. If I don't, I'll go do something else. Maybe I'll help somebody else with their race team. You never know where you're gonna go, where life's gonna take you or whaat you end up doing. I think the things that help me just remember him. I don't want to ever forget, you know what I'm saying. There's things that... You'll never forget your dad. You'll never forget those kind of people that influenced you that much. But there's little things about him that you will be reminded of. I don't want to have to be reminded. I want to be able to pull them right off the top of my head anytime I want. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE Budweiser E-mail account at http://budweiser.com Budweiser E-Mail must be used responsibly and only is for consumers 21 years of age and older! Disclaimer: Neither Anheuser-Busch, Inc. (the makers of BUDWEISER beer) nor the operator of this E-Mail service or their respective affiliates have seen, endorsed or approved any of the content in this e-mail and expressly disclaim all liability for the content in whole and in part. To unsubscribe or change your preferences for the Creed-Discuss list, visit: http://www.winduplist.com/ls/discuss/form.asp