Dale Earnhardt (Johnsonverse)

Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. (/ˈɜːrnhɑːrt/; born April 29, 1951) is an American retired professional stock car driver and team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2005 in what is now called the NASCAR RCA Cup Series, most notably driving the No. 3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing (now Earnhardt-Childress Racing).
The third child of racing driver Ralph Earnhardt and Martha Earnhardt, he began his career in 1975 in the World 600. Earnhardt won a total of 79 Cup races over the course of his 33-year career, including four Winston 500s (1990, 1994, 1999, and 2000) and the 1998 Daytona 500. He is the only driver in NASCAR history to score at least one win in 4 different and consecutive decades (scoring his first career win in 1979, 38 wins in the 1980s, TBA wins in the 1990s, & TBA wins in the 2000s). He also earned six Cup Series championships. His aggressive driving style earned him the nicknames "The Intimidator", "The Man in Black", and "Ironhead". He is regarded as one of the greatest drivers, and by many NASCAR fans, the greatest driver, in NASCAR history.
After the 2005 season, Earnhardt retired from full-time competition to race in the Corvette Racing CTS team, as well as focusing on managing his race team, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (which merged with RCR for the 2009 season to create Earnhardt-Childress Racing); he continued racing part-time in the Cup Series until 2008. Earnhardt has been inducted into numerous halls of fame, including the NASCAR Hall of Fame inaugural class in 2010. He also lends his name and expertise to the Dale Earnhardt NASCAR video game series (1983-present), which became the best-selling racing video game franchise of all time. 
== Biography ==
=== Early and personal life ===
== NASCAR career ==
=== Early Winston Cup career (1975–1978) ===
=== Rod Osterlund Racing (1979–1980) ===
=== Rod Osterlund Racing, Stacy Racing, and Richard Childress Racing (1981) ===
=== Bud Moore Engineering (1982–1983) ===
=== Return to Richard Childress Racing (1984–2005) ===
==== 1984–1985 ====
==== 1986–1987 ====
==== 1988–1989 ====
==== 1990–1995 ====
==== 1996–1999 ====
==== 2000–2003 ====
==== 2004–2005 ====
== Post-retirement ==
=== Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Earnhardt-Childress Racing ===
=== 24 Hours of Le Mans career (2006–2010) ===
=== NASCAR return appearances (2006–2008) ===
== No. 3 car ==
Earnhardt drove the No. 3 car for the majority of his career, spanning the latter half of the 1981 season, and then again from 1984 until his retirement in 2005. Although he had other sponsors during his career, his No. 3 is associated in fans' minds with his last sponsor GM Goodwrench and his last color scheme — a predominantly black car with bold red and silver trim. The black and red No. 3 continues to be one of the most famous logos in North American motor racing.
In 2004, ESPN released a made-for-TV movie entitled 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story, which used a new (but similarly colored) No. 3 logo. The movie had the direct involvement of Earnhardt during production.
After Earnhardt's retirement, Jeff Burton drove the No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet, and remained in the ride until the end of the 2013 season. Starting in 2010, the primary sponsor was changed to Coca-Cola due to GM phasing out the Goodwrench brand in 2009. On December 11, 2013, RCR announced that Austin Dillon would drive the No. 3 car in the upcoming 2014 Sprint Cup season.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. also raced a No. 3 sponsored by Wrangler on July 2, 2010, for Earnhardt-Childress Racing at Daytona. In a green-white-checker finish he outran Joey Logano to win his second race in the No. 3.
On September 5, 2009, when Austin Dillon, the 19-year-old grandson of Richard Childress, debuted an ECR-owned No. 3 truck in the Camping World Truck Series. Dillon and his younger brother Ty Dillon drove the No. 3 in various lower level competitions for several years, including the Camping World East Series. In 2012, Austin Dillon began driving in the Nationwide Series full-time, using the No. 3; he had previously used the No. 33 while driving in that series part-time.
Richard Childress Racing entered a No. 3 in the Daytona truck race on February 13, 2010, painted identically to when Earnhardt drove it, but with a sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops. It was driven by Austin Dillon. It was involved in a wreck almost identical to that which took the life of Earnhardt: being spun out, colliding with another vehicle, and being turned into the outside wall in turn number four. He walked away unscathed. Dillon again returned to a No. 3 marked racecar when he started fifth in the 2012 Daytona Nationwide Series opener in an Advocare sponsored black Chevrolet Impala.
Formula One driver Daniel Ricciardo chose the number 3 as his permanent racing number when F1's rules changed to allow drivers to choose their own numbers for 2014 and stated on Twitter that part of the reason for his choice was that he was a fan of Earnhardt's, while his helmet design features the number stylized in the same way.
== Legacy ==
== Awards ==
* He was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt in 1994.
* He was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.
* Earnhardt was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.
* He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2002.
* He was inducted in the Oceanside Rotary Club Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame at Daytona Beach in 2004.
* He was inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2006.
* Earnhardt was named first on ESPN's list of "NASCAR's 20 Greatest Drivers" in 2007 in front of Richard Petty.
* He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 2006.
* He was inducted in the Inaugural Class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame on May 23, 2010.
* In 2020 it was announced that Earnhardt was voted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame.
== Pop culture ==
* Made a cameo in the 1983 movie Stroker Ace along with drivers Kyle Petty, Ricky Rudd, and Tim Richmond.
* Played himself in the 1998 movie Baseketball.
* Played himself in a 1998 episode of King of the Hill.
* Appeared in Brooks & Dunn’s, Honky Tonk Truth music video in 1997.
* ESPN and Johnson Films produced a made-for-television movie on Earnhardt's life titled 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story, released in 2004. Earnhardt (played by Barry Pepper in the film) had direct involvement in its production.
* In 2007 Paul Newman narrated a documentary on Dale entitled Dale.
*Voiced Dale Fuelhart in a 2017 episode of Mickey and the Roadster Racers.
== Motorsports career results ==
=== NASCAR ===
==== Sprint Cup Series ====
===== Daytona 500 =====
===== Busch Series =====
==== Winston West Series ====
==== Busch North Series ====
=== International Race of Champions ===
=== ARCA Hooters SuperCar Series ===
=== 24 Hours of Le Mans ===
=== 24 Hours of Daytona ===
Category:Johnsonverse