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Editor’s note: “nascarman” is a NASCAR historian whose features are regularly on racing-reference.info. Follow him on Twitter @nascarman_rr.
Legend cars were first produced and raced in 1992. Today, these scaled-down replicas of 1930s coupes and sedans are raced across the country as a point of entry for a racing career.
The cars were an idea from Humpy Wheeler and others to make the sport of auto racing more accessible to competitors. The roots of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s career also date back to that moment, 25 years ago.
Earnhardt Jr. began his driving career as a 17-year-old, racing a legend car listed as a 1937 Ford. It was painted as a tribute to grandfather Ralph Earnhardt’s cars, a white machine sporting either a red or black number eight on the side depending on the photo.
With small sponsorship from Boulevard Gulf, his car was owned by Hank Jones, a business partner of Dale Earnhardt Sr. and owner of Sports Image, an early merchandise company Earnhardt Sr. later bought.
When the Cup Series came to Charlotte Motor Speedway in the fall of 1992, the young racer made a big impression in his time on the big stage. On Friday after Cup qualifying, one day before his 18th birthday, Earnhardt Jr. won his first race ever, passing Hank Jones on the last lap. Last August, he tweeted about the victory.
My first ever! Put the bumper to my car owner in turn 4. He kept all the but I got to keep the . https://t.co/MZJg83KHn4
– Dale Earnhardt Jr. (@DaleJr) August 2, 2016
Results show that Earnhardt Jr.’s victory carried a purse of $300. From the pits, Dale Earnhardt was a proud father. And perhaps in the best compliment he could have given, Dale compared his boy to his father Ralph.
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“He was awesome,” Earnhardt Sr. said at the time. “He passed just like his grandfather used to do. I don’t know what he’s going to do. When he gets through with college, if he still wants to drive a race car, then we’ll talk about it. But he ain’t getting my ride.”
Dale Earnhardt got a great thrill out of watching his sons, Dale Jr. and Kerry, race so early in their careers. But of course, there were things he wished they did differently.
“It’s something that you can really get excited about,” Earnhardt told Neil Bonnett in an interview. “Then they go out there and they race one night, and they get in an accident or tear the car up or something, they come home and you’re as mad about getting the car tore up as they are and hurt about it. And I sort of get aggravated about it because Kerry and Dale Jr, they tear up their car and, I don’t know if they don’t seem as interested as I did when I was starting out … about fixing it.
“Usually I tore mine up on Saturday night, I done had it tore apart on Sunday and was putting it back together on Monday. And these guys, they sort of hang around about Wednesday before they get going good on it. They get close to a race and get thinking about it, I reckon. But it’s pretty neat.”
At the end of 1992, Earnhardt Jr. and Jones traveled down to Daytona Beach for the inaugural “Legends at Daytona” race on a quarter-mile dirt oval at the Daytona Municipal Stadium. The race was scheduled during Kart Week and run on Dec. 30. An impressive collection of drivers were assembled for the event.
Current Cup crew chief Rodney Childers raced at the track two nights before in go-karts. Competing against Earnhardt Jr. were David Pearson’s youngest son, Eddie Pearson, and President of International Speedway Corporation, Jim France.
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The Legends race received a good deal of intrigue.
Former driver and MRN reporter Dick Brooks was the PA announcer at the speedway while Matt Yocum covered the event for Daytona’s NBC affiliate, WESH. After heat races, the 18-car, 25-lap feature event began at 7:30 p.m. However, right after taking the green flag for the main event, Earnhardt Jr. had an unfortunate collision with the structures used to line the track along the outside wall.
“I hit a hay bail,” Earnhardt Jr. said. But he wasn’t the only one to hit it. In the wreck with him was owner Hank Jones. Jones broke a trailing arm and was unable to continue. Earnhardt Jr. however, spent several laps making repairs and finished 15th, 13 laps down. The track was criticized for being too narrow and the race was plagued by caution after caution.
Finally, Scott Porter of Wisconsin won the event with Pearson and France also failing to finish.
In 1993, Earnhardt Jr. moved his career to late model racing. For his 40th birthday, Charlotte Motor Speedway gave Earnhardt Jr. a legend car painted similar to the one he began his career in, a nice gesture to recall his beginnings.
Still, 26 Cup wins later, Earnhardt Jr.’s first taste of victory came racing legends.