‘Earnhardt Day’ slated in Alabama

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Before Sunday’s NASCAR Winston Cup Series Aaron’s 499, Alabama Governor Don Siegelman proclaimed April 29 as Dale Earnhardt Day in Alabama to honor the late racing legend and his family and provide citizens of Alabama a day on which to remember the seven-time NWCS champion.

“Dale Earnhardt was a hero on and off the race track,” Siegelman said. “His passion lives on through his family and his tenacity will always be remembered in Alabama.”

Earnhardt was fatally injured in a crash on the final corner of the 2001 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.

“I was really surprised by that,” Aaron’s 499 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. said of the special day, which would have been his father’s 51st birthday. “We all kind of have a better idea what Dale meant to the sport and what he meant beyond the sport.

“But I never guessed what would be called a holiday in his name in the state of Alabama. He’s raced down here but there are other places that he’s done equally as much ... but Alabama definitely stepped up to the plate here.

“I was really surprised and very honored and very happy about it. I could have gone home after that and not raced at all. No matter what happened in the race it was pretty cool to have that happen.”

Earnhardt, a native of Kannapolis, N.C., won 10 Winston Cup races at Talladega -- a track record that included his final career victory in the 2000 EA Sports 500. At the 2.66-mile speedway Earnhardt also won three events in the True Value International Race of Champions and took home the winner’s trophy in the 1993 NASCAR Busch Series race.

Siegelman announced Dale Earnhardt Day during driver introductions and presented Winston Cup driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. with a plaque and the wording of the declaration.

The presentation was made in front of the largest crowd ever to watch a race at Talladega, dubbed “NASCAR’s Most Competitive Track,” estimated by a NASCAR official at about 180,000.

Siegelman, who is a long-time NASCAR fan, regularly attends Talladega Superspeedway’s two annual race weekends. He attended the pre-race drivers’ meeting and thanked the drivers for contributing to the success of the support and the event.

In the meeting he made a genial barb toward driver Tony Stewart, in reference to a comment Stewart made in a foreign magazine about Talladega fans being the most obnoxious on the circuit.