BACK TO GALLERIES
Dale Earnhardt through the years
By Staff Report | Published: 29 Apr, 2022 36
ISC Images and Archives | Getty Images
1 of 36
Dozier Mobley | Getty Images
NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt more than left his mark on the sport with his seven premier series championships -- tied for the most all time -- and 76 NASCAR Cup Series wins, which rank eighth all time. We take a look back at "The Intimidator" through the years.
2 of 36
ISC Archives & Research Center | Getty Images
1975: Driving for Norman Negre in the No. 8 Dodge, Dale Earnhardt made his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the 1975 World 600. He finished 22nd in the 400-lap race. Before his first full season in 1979, Earnhardt would make nine Cup starts over the next four years.
3 of 36
Dozier Mobley | Getty Images
1979: Dale Earnhardt's first of 76 NASCAR Cup Series wins came in the 1979 Southeastern 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway (then-Bristol International Speedway). Piloting the No. 2 Chevrolet for Rod Osterlund, Earnhardt got the lead from Darrell Waltrip with 27 to go and never looked back. He took home Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors as well.
4 of 36
ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group | Getty Images
1980: Dale Earnhardt's first championship came a year after his first win, driving for Rod Osterlund and with crew chief Jake Elder. Earnhardt won five races -– including his first of nine wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway -- and nearly led the standings wire to wire as he held the title lead from the second race of the season all the way onward. Earnhardt was the first driver to win Rookie of the Year and then a championship in his first two NASCAR Cup Series seasons.
5 of 36
ISC Archives & Research Center | Getty Images
1981: A year after his first title, Dale Earnhardt moved to Richard Childress Racing for the latter third of the season after Rod Osterlund sold his race team to Jim Stacy. Four races after the sale, Earnhardt left and finished out the season with RCR. "The Intimidator" would be back at RCR full time a few years later.
6 of 36
Dozier Mobley | Getty Images
1982: Dale Earnhardt teamed up with team owner Bud Moore to drive the No. 15 Ford. He scored the first of his nine career NASCAR Cup Series wins at Darlington Raceway that season. His 12th-place finish in the standings would be only one of two finishes outside the top 10 of the standings over 22 seasons.
7 of 36
Racing Photo Archives | Getty Images
1983: Talladega Superspeedway is a track full of Earnhardt family lore. Dale and his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (more on him later), have won at the superspeedway 16 times with Dale Sr. winning 10 times -– the most among all drivers. The first of those Talladega wins came in the 1983 Talladega 500 with a last-lap pass of Darrell Waltrip.
8 of 36
Dozier Mobley | Getty Images
1984: This season saw Dale Earnhardt make the move back to Richard Childress Racing for a partnership that would last the rest of his career and shape the NASCAR legend for both men. Teaming with crew chief Kirk Shelmerdine in the No. 3 Chevrolet that he would make famous, Earnhardt won two races, but bigger things were on the horizon for this team.
9 of 36
Racing Photo Archives | Getty Images
1985: Dale Earnhardt scored four wins in the 1985 season with all the victories coming on short tracks. He also took a timeout with a traveling tag-along -- a young Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
10 of 36
ISC Archives & Research Center | Getty Images
1986: Dale Earnhardt was no stranger to success at Daytona International Speedway, although it took him quite a bit to win that elusive Daytona 500 (more to come on that as well). Earnhardt won the Busch Clash six times in his career (1980, 1986, 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995).
11 of 36
Dozier Mobley | Getty Images
1986: After back-to-back wins at Darlington Raceway and North Wilkesboro Speedway in April of 1986, Dale Earnhardt grabbed the reins of the series standings and never looked back on the way to his second championship. He totaled five wins that season and led over 2,000 laps (2,127 to be exact) for the first time in his career.
12 of 36
ISC Archives & Research Center | Getty Images
1987: Dale Earnhardt won 21 races in what is now known as the NASCAR Xfinity Series. All but four of those wins came in self-owned cars. He is pictured here after a win in the Busch Grand National Series at Darlington Raceway.
13 of 36
Dozier Mobley | Getty Images
1987: Dale Earnhardt won the event that became the All-Star Race three times (1990 and 1993 as well) but the most memorable of those came in 1987. That is when he completed the "pass in the grass." Bill Elliott was closing in on Earnhardt with eight laps to go, then gave a tap that sent Earnhardt to the infield grass. Yet, "The Intimidator" was able to recover and maintain the lead before contact and a cut tire took Elliott out of contention.
14 of 36
ISC Archives & Research Center | Getty Images
1987: Dale Earnhardt scored back-to-back titles for the first of three times in his career with arguably the best season of his NASCAR career, netting his third championship. Earnhardt won two of the first three races and six of the first eight -- including four in a row as he went on to win a career-best 11 races in the season, lead 3,357 laps and post a 5.9 average finish.
15 of 36
ISC Archives & Research Center | Getty Images
1988: The season saw Dale Earnhardt finish third in the final standings and post three wins. He led the standings for part of the spring before being overtaken by eventual NASCAR Hall of Famers Bill Elliott (the 1988 champion) and Rusty Wallace. But the year also marked a shift in sponsors from Wrangler's yellow and blue colors to GM Goodwrench's imposing black paint scheme.
16 of 36
ISC Archives & Research Center | Getty Images
1989: Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace were in a late-season battle for the championship. Earnhardt won five times, including the season finale at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but Wallace was too tough to overcome that season as he won his lone title. The two drivers, who developed a fierce rivalry through the years, are pictured together here in 1990.
17 of 36
ISC Archives, CQ-Roll Call Group | Getty Images
1990: Dale Earnhardt scored nine wins this season on the way to his fourth championship in the NASCAR Cup Series. After 13 races, Earnhardt was fifth in the standings before a run of five wins in nine races closed the gap on Mark Martin. He remained second until a dominating victory at Phoenix Raceway, where he led 262 laps and overtook Martin for the championship lead -- a lead he would hold onto in the final race the next week at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
18 of 36
Dozier Mobley | Getty Images
1991: Dale Earnhardt led the standings after all but five of the 29 races in 1991 as he scored his fifth championship and capped his second set of back-to-back titles. He won four races that year, including his 50th NASCAR Cup Series victory, which came at Martinsville Speedway in the spring.
19 of 36
Dozier Mobley | Getty Images
1992: Dale Earnhardt won one race in 1992, and that would lead to a breakup with crew chief Kirk Shelmerdine at season's end. The lone victory came in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This photo shows Earnhardt in Victory Lane with his sons, Dale Jr. and Kerry.
20 of 36
ISC Archives, CQ-Roll Call Group | Getty Images
1993: Paired with crew chief Andy Petree, Dale Earnhardt won five races into the partnership with a victory at Darlington Raceway, where he led 212 of 367 laps. Winning six of the season's first 18 races put him in commanding position for title No. 6.
21 of 36
Dozier Mobley | Getty Images
1994: Dale Earnhardt tied Richard Petty with his seventh NASCAR Cup Series championship. He won four races in 1994, grabbing control of the points lead in the late summer and never looking back. To date, only Earnhardt, Petty and Jimmie Johnson have won seven titles in the Cup ranks.
22 of 36
ISC Archives, CQ-Roll Call Group | Getty Images
1995: During the mid-1990s, Dale Earnhardt had a growing rivalry with Jeff Gordon, who he teased as "Wonder Boy." Gordon was a rising talent in the NASCAR Cup Series ranks, winning the first of four championships in 1995 and serving notice that he was here to be Earnhardt's next great challenger. Earnhardt finished second in the standings in 1995 but won five times.
23 of 36
Allsport | Getty Images
1996: Thanks to two wins in the first four races with new crew chief David Smith, Dale Earnhardt spent part of the season atop the standings. A midseason wreck at Talladega Superspeedway left Earnhardt with a broken collarbone, sternum and shoulder blade, but he didn't miss a race. Two races after the incident, Earnhardt showed his signature grit and toughness by winning the pole at Watkins Glen International and leading 54 laps in that race.
24 of 36
ISC Images and Archives | Getty Images
1996: Dale Earnhardt Inc. expanded into what is now the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 1995, and a year later, Ron Hornaday Jr. won the title in the No. 16 Chevrolet for DEI. Hornaday would win another title for the company in 1998.
25 of 36
ISC Images and Archives | Getty Images
1997: Dale Earnhardt had his first winless season in the NASCAR Cup Series since 1981. Despite that, he still finished fifth in the points standings. Before the Daytona 500, he did extend his winning streak in the annual twin qualifying races to eight straight years -– a streak that would go for 10 years and end in 2000.
26 of 36
ISC Images and Archives | Getty Images
1998: For years, the Daytona 500 was the elusive race for Dale Earnhardt. He had lost in heartbreaking ways, such as a cut tire on the last lap in 1990 after leading 155 laps only to finish fifth and watch Derrike Cope take the victory. Earnhardt's 19 years of futility came to an end in 1998 when he led 107 laps and took the victory for his only Daytona 500 win in his career. In this photo, a young Austin and Ty Dillon join Earnhardt in Victory Lane.
27 of 36
ISC Archives, CQ-Roll Call Group | Getty Images
1998: Dale Earnhardt had four runner-up finishes in "The Great American Race" coming into the 1998 edition. The 1998 Daytona 500 win was a popular one in the garage as seen by the amount of congratulations Dale Earnhardt received on pit road heading to Victory Lane. Before 1998, he had four runner-up finishes in annual 500-miler. The No. 3 Chevrolet had a lucky penny on the dash given to Earnhardt the day before the race by fan Wessa Miller.
28 of 36
NASCAR Creative Design
1999: Dale Earnhardt had a way with words, and "The Intimidator" was in full force at the Bristol Night Race in 1999. Earnhardt and Terry Labonte went back and forth for the race lead over the final 130 laps. On the last lap, Earnhardt gave a tap to Labonte that sent the "Iceman" spinning and put him in Victory Lane. Afterward, Earnhardt said, "I didn't mean to really turn him around. I meant to rattle his cage, though." It was the duo's second duel at Bristol Motor Speedway in five years, with contact between the two on the final lap leading to Labonte's wrecked car crossing the start-finish line first for the win in 1995.
29 of 36
ISC Archives, CQ-Roll Call Group | Getty Images
1999: Dale Earnhardt Inc. scored back-to-back championships in what is now the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Dale's son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., driving the team's No. 3 Chevrolet for full seasons in 1998 and 1999. During that time, Junior won 13 times. Here, the Earnhardts celebrate his 1999 title.
30 of 36
ISC Images and Archives | Getty Images
1999: Dale Earnhardt was a frequent competitor in the International Race of Champions (IROC), winning 11 times and becoming a four-time series champ. This photo shows Earnhardt in Victory Lane after an IROC triumph at Talladega Superspeedway in 1999.
31 of 36
ISC Archives, CQ-Roll Call Group | Getty Image
2000: Dale Earnhardt Jr. moved to the NASCAR Cup Series in the No. 8 Chevrolet fielded by Dale Earnhardt Inc. The organization's first Cup victory came just seven races into the season when Dale Jr. won at Texas Motor Speedway. He would also win a few weeks later at Richmond Raceway.
32 of 36
ISC Images and Archives | Getty Images
2000: Dale Earnhardt's 76th and final NASCAR Cup Series win came at Talladega Superspeedway, as he tried to mount a charge against eventual champion Bobby Labonte's grip on the points lead. Earnhardt had long been thought to "see the air" at superspeedways and rallied from a position of 18th with 15 laps to go all the way to the front with two laps to go. He would hold on for his 10th victory at Talladega.
33 of 36
ISC Archives, CQ-Roll Call Group | Getty Images
2001: Dale Earnhardt competed in the Rolex 24 one time in his career and scored a podium finish in the GTO Class. Earnhardt teamed with his son, Dale Jr., as well as Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins to bring the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette home fourth overall and second in the GTO Class.
34 of 36
Brian Cleary | Getty Images
2001: Dale Earnhardt's final race was the 2001 Daytona 500. He passed away at age 49 in a final-lap crash just two months before his 50th birthday.
35 of 36
Streeter Lecka | Getty Images
2010: Dale Earnhardt was part of the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Earnhardt was inducted along with Junior Johnson, Bill France Jr., Bill France Sr. and Richard Petty.
36 of 36
Sean Gardner | Getty Images
2018: Dale Earnhardt's racing legacy lives on in his children. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won 26 NASCAR Cup Series races and is a co-owner with his sister, Kelley Earnhardt Miller, in JR Motorsports, a NASCAR Xfinity Series organization that has won three championships. Dale Jr. also is known for his passion for the sport's history and the first-hand knowledge of his father's accomplishments. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2022.