3: The Dale Earnhardt Story (Dale Earnhardt Survives)

3: The Dale Earnhardt Story is a 2006 television movie produced by ESPN, with oversight from Dale Earnhardt, depicting his life. It chronicles his life from his humble upbringing in Kannapolis, North Carolina, throughout his career racing automobiles to include his rise to dominance in NASCAR, culminating with his retirement at the end of the 2005 season. Its central theme focuses on the relationship between him and his father, Ralph Earnhardt, as well as the relationship between him and his youngest son, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. It was first broadcast on December 11, 2006, and subsequently released on DVD. Barry Pepper was cast in the lead role by Earnhardt himself who was to busy running his DEI team and racing in Lemans to do the acting himself; Pepper gave a credible performance which earned him a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie.
Many of the film's race scenes were filmed at Rockingham Speedway. The track had lost its second race in 2003 and, outside of the enduring Subway 400 in the early spring, was used mostly as a test facility and driving school during the remaining NASCAR season. Chad McCumbee, who portrayed Earnhardt Jr., later became a NASCAR driver in the Truck Series. He also raced alongside Dale Jr. himself at the Pocono 500, driving Kyle Petty's 45 car, as Petty was in the TNT broadcast booth.
Actors playing the part of the Flying Aces were Ray Everett, Greg Davis, David Brooks, Robbie Hicks, and Don Gyr.
== Synopsis ==
The film details the early life and entire career of stock-car racing legend Dale Earnhardt. From an early age, Earnhardt learned about cars from his father Ralph, who worked at a mill to feed and clothe his family but also rebuilt jalopies in his garage and raced them at local events on weekends. Ralph, a minor legend in Southern stock-car racing, inspired Dale to follow his own passion for racing. After dropping out of high school to race, Dale started out in his father's shadow and struggled to establish himself for more than a decade. Dale finally broke into NASCAR in the late '70s, and in time became the top prize money winner in NASCAR history and won a record eight championships. The lessons Dale learned from his father are revisited when Dale's own teenage son, Dale Jr., decides to take up racing at the age of 16. Dale Jr. then continues to grow as a driver throughout his father's final years as a NASCAR driver. The movie ends with Dale Sr. retiring at the end of the 2005 season, with a music video at the end with a collage of Earnhardt's best moments from every season in his career, with the song being The Intimidator by the Charles Daniels Band; the scene fades out with Earnhardt walking into the sunset at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
=== The 2001 Daytona Wreck Highlighted ===
Dale gave an interview on Totally NASCAR on the SPEED channel the Monday night after the 2004 Daytona 500 and surprised many people with an answer to a question asked by Steve Byrnes. Byrnes asked, "Dale, people still ask you about the 2001 Daytona wreck where your seat belt snapped. What was different about this wreck?" Dale replied, "You see, I had some dreams about the 2001 Daytona 500 after it happened. The worst of them was, it was the final lap, but Mikey was leading the race with Jr. in second. Coming into the last turn, Sterling bumped into my left rear, and I overcorrected, which sent me into the wall at full speed. The hood flew up and I couldn't see nothing, but my belts broke at that moment anyways and my chin smashed off the steering wheel. About half a second after I hit the wall Schrader hit my right side and my head hit the driver's side rollcage bar as we both started to slide down the banking onto the infield. Mikey went on to win the race, but my car had stopped in the Turn 4 grass. I couldn't move anything and was just stuck sitting there as I saw Kenny Schrader come over to the car and scream for help. The dream then faded with Mike Helton saying 'we lost Dale Earnhardt in turn 4 of the final lap", I woke up at that moment screaming."
In 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story this nightmare is featured prominently, in much detail (omitting the blood and gore aspects of the nightmare that Dale doesn't talk about publicly), more so then Dale's nightmares about his 1996 Talladega wreck that are also shown earlier in the show. Dale did this to emphasize how bad the crash could have been if things went slightly differently that day and he'd been hit in the left rear instead of the right.
== In Person Cameos from the Busch brothers ==
During the days where they were available throughout the 2006 season and post 2005 season, when filming for the movie began, the Busch brothers played themselves during the rivalry scenes between themselves and Earnhardt in the last half of the movie, which emphasizes Dale's final 5 seasons, how his son grew as a driver during that time period, and the friends and enemies Dale made during that time.
=== Kurt Busch ===
Kurt did an incredible job reenacting the behind the scenes pitroad friendship and shenanigans him and Earnhardt secretly had and did, including a scene where the week after the 2002 UAW-GM Quality 500, before qualifying for the Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville began, Earnhardt would step on Kurt Busch's foot and say "Sorry, that was a an accident, just like last week." with a big grin, which was one of the memorable quotes of the movie.
=== Kyle Busch ===
Much like his brother, Kyle Busch did his own cameo in the movie for his rivalry scenes with Earnhardt, with the movie exaggerating this rivalry and Kyle Busch being the movie-trope "Young hotshot" replacing the "Old timer", starting off with a completely fictional, made for movie drama introductory scene before the 2005 Gatorade Duals, in which he is seen making fun of Earnhardt's old age with his fellow rookies Denny Hamlin (in cameo, only featured scene in the movie) and Reed Sorenson (in cameo, only featured scene in the movie), a notable and humorous quote being "Earnhardt's got way to many fans for an aggressive geriatric about to retire". Hamlin and Sorenson listen and laugh but quickly change the subject, showing some respect for the legendary veteran driver before the scene cuts back to Earnhardt chatting with fellow veteran driver, friend and biggest career rival Jeff Gordon before the race.
Category:Dale Earnhardt Survives