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Latest News: Dale Earnhardt Sr. Subject of Prime Video Docuseries
Prime Video is kicking off its NASCAR broadcast coverage by revisiting the iconic career of the late Dale Earnhardt. The first two parts of the docuseries Earnhardt premiered May 22 on the streaming service, with two additional episodes arriving next week.
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Oscar-winner Ron Howard serves as an executive producer of the documentary. According to NASCAR, the project examines Earnhardt’s rise to stardom through “rare archival footage, thrilling races and emotional interviews from his children, colleagues and closest friends.”
Earnhardt won 76 NASCAR Cup Series races and seven championships, becoming known as the “Intimidator” because of his aggressive driving style. The fan favorite died at age 49 following a crash on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
Prime Video’s live NASCAR race coverage begins on May 25 with the Coca-Cola 600. Earnhardt’s son Dale Earnhardt Jr. will serve as a color commentator.
Who Was Dale Earnhardt?
The late Dale Earnhardt remains one of NASCAR’s greatest drivers, having won 76 Cup Series races. He became a fan favorite for his black No. 3 Chevrolet and aggressive on-track style, earning the nickname the “Intimidator.” The North Carolina native followed his father into the world of stock car racing. After garnering NASCAR’s Rookie of the Year honors in 1979, he won his first of seven Winston Cup championships the following season. Earnhardt then became the first driver to top $30 million in career earnings. He died in 2001 at age 49 from injuries suffered in a crash on the last lap of the Daytona 500.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr.
BORN: April 29, 1951
DIED: February 18, 2001
BIRTHPLACE: Kannapolis, North Carolina
SPOUSES: Latane Brown (1968–1970), Brenda Gee Jackson (1972–1979), and Teresa Earnhardt (1982–2001)
CHILDREN: Kerry, Kelley, Dale Jr., and Taylor
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Taurus
Early Life
Dale Earnhardt, also known as Dale Earnhardt Sr., was born Ralph Dale Earnhardt on April 29, 1951, in Kannapolis, North Carolina.
The Earnhardt family’s racing legacy began with patriarch Ralph Earnhardt. Getty Images
His father, Ralph Earnhardt, was a successful race car driver and renowned mechanic. His mother, Martha Earnhardt, worked as a waiter and clerk at a children’s store. The couple had five children in all: daughters Kaye and Cathy as well as sons Dale, Randy, and Danny.
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Following in his father’s footsteps, Dale developed a love for cars at an early age. He dropped out of school in the ninth grade and went through several jobs while attempting to get his own stock car racing career off the ground. Ralph never saw his son race at the pinnacle of the sport; he died of a heart attack in 1973, two years before Dale’s professional debut.
NASCAR Career
Earnhardt kicked off his an illustrious career behind the wheel in May 1975. His first NASCAR race was the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He finished 22nd, in the middle of the pack.
Earnhardt eventually caught the attention of Rod Osterlund, a racing sponsor based in California, and the driver was signed to his first full-time Winston Cup contract for the 1979 season. That year, Earnhardt racked up his first win on the NASCAR circuit at the Southeastern 500 in Bristol, Tennessee. By the end of the racing season, he had become the first driver to win over $200,000 in his rookie year; he was rewarded with NASCAR’s prestigious Rookie of the Year honors.
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The next year proved to be even bigger for Earnhardt. He won his first Winston Cup championship by barely edging out veteran driver Cale Yarborough for the most points of the season. With the win, Earnhardt became the first driver to win Rookie of the Year and the points championship in back-to-back seasons. He also formed his own team, Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Dale Earnhardt had a dominant start to his NASCAR career. He was named Rookie of the Year in 1979 then won his first Winston Cup championship the next year. Getty Images
Not long after Osterlund sold his team to J.D. Stacy in 1981, Earnhardt signed to race for driver-turned-owner Richard Childress. He spent the next two years with Bud Moore’s team, but he reunited with Childress after the 1983 season, and his career took off. After winning four races in 1985, Earnhardt recorded five wins and a second Winston Cup championship in 1986. The next year saw Earnhardt’s best results yet, as he won 11 races and a third championship, finishing in the top 5 in 21 out of 29 races.
Despite his undeniable success, Earnhardt earned a reputation early on for recklessness. Nickamed “Ironhead” and the “Intimidator,” he was prone to aggressively bumping other drivers out of the way in order to take the lead in particularly close races. After a warning from the president of NASCAR in 1987, Earnhardt cleaned up his act and began developing better relationships with other drivers on the circuit.
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His success on the track continued, as he won his fourth Winston Cup championship in 1990, earning a then-record $3,083,056 in prize money. In 1991, he took home yet another title. The streak was broken in 1992, when he finished a disappointing 12th in the standings, but Earnhardt bounced back the following year to win a sixth championship.
With a win at the AC Delco 500 in his home state of North Carolina in 1994, Earnhardt claimed his seventh Winston Cup championship, tying the legendary Richard Petty for most career titles. For the third time in five years, he topped the $3 million mark in earnings and was indisputably the king of stock car racing.
The records kept on falling for Earnhardt throughout the 1990s, although he failed to win another points championship. In 1996, he became the third driver to start 500 consecutive Winston Cup races. The following year, he broke $30 million in career earnings, the most ever for a race car driver.
The only major victory that had eluded Earnhardt up until that point was the crown jewel of stock car racing, the Daytona 500, held in Daytona, Florida. He had come close several times, his bid for victory often derailed by mechanical failure, crashes, or some other bad luck.
Dale Earnhardt finally won the Daytona 500 in February 1998. Getty Images
Earnhardt survived a harrowing crash at the event in 1997 only to return in fine form in February 1998, when he won his first Daytona in 20 career starts. It broke a winless streak of 59 straight races. Without any more wins that season, he finished eighth in points. He notched three race victories in 1999 and went on to place seventh that year.
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While no longer dominating the field on a regular basis, Earnhardt remained one of NASCAR’s most consistent drivers heading into the new millennium. He tied for the Cup Series lead with 24 top-10 finishes in 2000 and won two races, placing second in the championship standings to Bobby Labonte. This created optimism that, even approaching age 50, Earnhardt could compete for a record-breaking eighth championship the following season. Instead, tragedy loomed.
Death: Crash at the Daytona 500 Crash
The 2001 Daytona 500, as always, marked the season-opening race that year. In addition to driving the No. 3 car for Richard Childress, Earnhardt had his own team racing. His Dale Earnhardt Inc. shop fielded cars for his son Dale Earnhardt Jr., Michael Waltrip, and Steve Park.
As the race got underway, it became clear that Earnhardt, his son, and Waltrip were three of the top contenders. After avoiding an 18-car accident on lap 173, the trio held the lead in the closing circuits, with Earnhardt seemingly content to block other cars from challenging Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr. for the lead.
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But on the final lap, Earnhardt lost control of his car and turned across the front of Ken Schrader and into the concrete retaining wall in turn 4. After Waltrip raced across the finish line to win, safety crews quickly made their way toward Earnhardt’s wrecked car in the infield grass. After they removed Earnhardt from the vehicle, the driver was taken to the Halifax Health Medical Center just 2 miles from the speedway.
At 5:16 p.m., Earnhardt was pronounced dead from his injuries at age 49. “This is undoubtedly one of the toughest announcements that I’ve ever personally had to make,” then-NASCAR President Mike Helton told assembled reporters. The official cause of Earnhardt’s death was a basilar skull fracture resulting from blunt trauma to the head.
Devastated fans left flowers and other items outside Earnhardt’s race shop in Mooresville, North Carolina. On February 22, 2021, family, friends, and other drivers attended a memorial service for the beloved champion.
Earnhardt’s death helped lead to many crucial safety innovations. Later in 2001, NASCAR mandated drivers to use a HANS device, standing for “head and neck support,” in competition. The implement is designed to prevent excessive head movement in the event of a crash. Tracks also began adding SAFER barriers, or retaining walls made of steel and hard foam that can absorb kinetic energy during accidents.
Wives and Children
Among the mourners were Earnhardt’s family. At the time of his death, the race car driver was married to Teresa Earnhardt, his third wife. The couple had been married since 1982, welcomed a daughter named Taylor, and co-owned Dale Earnhardt Inc. Teresa continued to oversee the team after Dale’s death until it merged with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2009.
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The NASCAR great was previously married to Latane Brown, from 1968 through 1970, and Brenda Gee Jackson, from 1972 through 1979. He and his first wife had one son, Kerry. Earnhardt welcomed two more children—daughter Kelley and son Dale Jr.—with his second wife.
Dale Earnhardt Sr. and his son Dale Earnhardt Jr. raced as teammates and opponents during the two years they were both competing in NASCAR. Getty Images
Like their father, Kerry Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. advanced to NASCAR’s top series. While Kerry was winless in seven career starts, NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Dale Jr. won two Daytona 500s and 26 career races from 1999 through 2017. Largely because of his family legacy, Dale Jr. was named the sport’s most popular driver 15 years in a row during his career. The retired star co-owns the JR Motorsports racing team with his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller and serves as a TV color commentator for Prime Video’s NASCAR coverage. For her part, Taylor Earnhardt Putnam has enjoyed a notable career in professional rodeo competitions.
Legacy: Hall of Fame, Car, and Movies
In 2010, Earnhardt was posthumously named to the inaugural class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. He is still celebrated as one of the greatest drivers in the league’s history. His seven Cup championships are tied for the most all-time with Richard Petty and Jimmie Johnson, and his 76 career race wins rank eighth as of May 2025.
In his iconic No. 3 black Goodwrench car, Dale Earnhardt races No. 24 Jeff Gordon. Getty Images
Although not officially retired, Earnhardt’s No. 3 car number was quickly removed from active competition in the sport’s top series for some time. Kevin Harvick, who replaced Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing following his death, piloted the No. 29 instead. The 3 wasn’t used again until 2014, when Childress’ grandson Austin Dillon began racing in Cup competition.
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In December 2004, ESPN premiered the biographical TV movie 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story, starring Barry Pepper as Earnhardt and J.K. Simmons as his father, Ralph. Three years later, Dale – The Movie released; Paul Newman narrated the documentary project. Most recently, Amazon Prime Video backed a four-part docuseries titled Earnhardt, which debuted in May 2025.
The late race car legend’s cultural impact has also permeated other sports and attractions. The Chicago White Sox’s Class A minor league baseball team was named the Kannapolis Intimidators in honor of Earnhardt from 2001 through 2019. Two separate roller coasters at the Kings Dominion and Carowinds amusement parks were also themed around Earnhardt and his nickname through 2023.
Quotes
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You win some, you lose some, you wreck some.
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You can’t let one bad moment spoil a bunch of good ones.
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