Dale Earnhardt’s Former Crew Chief Reveals the Intimidator’s One Racing Dislike That Led to His Balding

Dale Earnhardt began his journey in the professional world of NASCAR’s Winston-Cup Series back in 1975. His first taste of the Grand National Series came a year earlier, in 1974, at an unofficial exhibition race at Metrolina Speedway. But, despite his growing prowess on the track, a Daytona 500 victory eluded Earnhardt until 1998, a win that remains one of the most celebrated and unpredictable in NASCAR history.

In a more recent conversation with Kenny Wallace, Larry McReynolds, Earnhardt’s former crew chief, shed light on a less admired aspect of Earnhardt Sr’s approach: his reluctance to participate in testing sessions. This trait, according to McReynolds, was something he found particularly challenging about working with the racing legend.

Larry McReynolds recalls the disinterest of Dale Earnhardt in testing

Dale Earnhardt Sr’s historic Daytona 500 win is etched in NASCAR history, but few know the behind-the-scenes story and the challenges it posed for his then-crew chief, Larry McReynolds. Recently on the Kenny Wallace show, McReynolds revealed how Earnhardt’s disdain for car testing often puts him in a tight spot.

McReynolds reminisced, “Dale would just get bored. Yeah. When I first went up there and he came to the shop for the first time, I said, “Okay, Dale, let’s talk about a testing schedule”; “What do you mean testing schedule?”; I said, “Well… where we’re gonna go test?” Well, what the hell we’re going to test? I said, well, we’re going to try to test things that makes us better. He just got bored. He just did not want to test. And I remember going, I think it was to end eat a test with him.”

Further elaborating on how tensed he used to be, McReynolds continued, “And you probably remember, I had a little index card in my pocket. It was the list of stuff I wanted to test. And he grabbed that thing out of my pocket and got that pen and said- “we’ve already tested that that didn’t work, I’m not going to test that. We don’t really have a lot to test out, do we? You wonder why I am bald? He’s part of the damn reason.”

Despite his aversion to testing, Earnhardt triumphed at the 1998 Daytona 500. In the post-race interview, he famously tossed a stuffed monkey across the room, proclaiming, “Finally got that monkey off my back!” The win was as much a sigh of relief as it was a moment of joy.

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Earnhardt Sr. had racked up a remarkable list of victories at Daytona International Speedway, but it took him 23 years to clinch the coveted Daytona 500, underscoring the sheer perseverance and grit that defined his legendary career.

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Before he finally clinched the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt Sr had already racked up an impressive tally of wins, including victories in two summertime points races at Daytona, eleven Daytona 500 qualifying races, 7 Xfinity Series races, 6 Budweiser Shootouts, and 4 International Race of Champions series races. But the Daytona 500 crown remained just out of reach.

The Richard Childress driver had been the bridesmaid, but never the bride, in three Daytona 500s. His closest brush with victory was in 1990, when a last-gasp flat tire on the final turn of the final lap saw him plummet from first to fifth, handing Derrike Cope a surprise victory.

1993 was another heartbreaker. Senior was in the lead for the final 21 laps, only to be overtaken by Dale Jarrett on the last lap. Quite evidently, he had one of the best Daytona International Speedway track records. Still, he never believed that he could win a Daytona 500 race.

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As per autoweek.com, Richard Childress, speaking shortly after Earnhardt’s triumph in ’98, reflected, “But I don’t think he ever believed he’d never win the 500. He’d won enough other races down here to know he could win the 500, but there was always something that got in his way. A flat tire, a caution flag when he didn’t need it, a pit stop when he was leading . . . it was always something. That day, though, everything came together at the right time. He was the happiest that day that I’d ever seen him.” Tragically, it was during this same race in 2001 that Dale lost his life at just 49 years old.