Dale Earnhardt Sr. by Matt Christopher

Author:Matt Christopher [CHRISTOPHER, MATT]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2009-12-19T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

1981–1983

Checkered Flags

Now that Dale Earnhardt had reached the top, he wanted to stay there. He would soon learn that would be difficult.

Earnhardt liked his team and his crew. After his first year with Osterlund, he had signed a five-year contract with the owner.

But the team didn’t get off to a good start in 1981. Osterlund was thinking about getting out of racing, and his waning interest in the sport showed in the team’s performance on the track. Neither Earnhardt’s car nor his pit crew was top-notch. Dale was still driving as well as ever, but instead of finishing in first place, he was finishing farther back. He was competitive but just couldn’t win.

Halfway through the 1981 season, Osterlund decided to get out of racing altogether. He sold his team to another man, Jim Stacy.

Stacy made some changes to the team, few of which Earnhardt supported. After only four races, Earnhardt was allowed to break his contract and leave.

Luckily, he had a place to go. His friend, former driver Richie Childress, had just started his own team. The two men respected each other, and Earnhardt raced for Childress for the remainder of the season.

But starting a new race team is hard. It costs a great deal of money, and the team owner and his drivers have to court sponsors for money. They also have to hire the pit crew and mechanics. Since most of the best men are already with established teams, they often have to start from scratch, taking a chance on younger men and hoping they develop.

The team worked hard, but by the end of the season Earnhardt had failed to win a race. After coming in first the year before, he finished in seventh place in the points championship.

After the season, Childress and Earnhardt took stock of the situation. Childress knew that the inex perienced and underfunded team was hurting Earnhardt’s chances to win. Meanwhile, a bigger, more established car owner named Bud Moore was after Earnhardt.

Childress told Earnhardt he should accept the offer, telling him he was “too good a driver for my team.” Although he regretted leaving his friend, Earnhardt agreed and reluctantly joined Moore’s team.

But that wasn’t the only change in Earnhardt’s life. Now that he had attained some success, he was able to do what he hadn’t before, namely, be a provider to his children. Dale Jr. and Kerry had lived with their father since 1980. Earnhardt was able to pay for their education and give them things they had never had before. Regrettably, however, he wasn’t able to spend much time with them. Racing was consuming his life.

He was famous now, and people were beginning to treat him differently. Even though he had moved from Kannapolis to nearby Mooresville, he had always been able to hang out with his old friends, playing horseshoes and just relaxing. Now, however, people he barely knew were showing up unexpectedly, and he began to slowly withdraw from many of his old friends.

Earnhardt needed someone he could depend on to stand by him.

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