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DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 4: Dale Earnhardt Sr. & Dale Earnhard, Jr. pose together at the raceway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The Earhnardts and Andy Pilgram earned second in the GTS category during the 2001 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. (Photo by ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)
via Getty
DAYTONA BEACH, FL – FEBRUARY 4: Dale Earnhardt Sr. & Dale Earnhard, Jr. pose together at the raceway in Daytona Beach, Florida. The Earhnardts and Andy Pilgram earned second in the GTS category during the 2001 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. (Photo by ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)
Will NASCAR ever see another father-son duo as iconic as the Earnhardts? They may not have had the most conventional and complication-free relationship, but it was special just the same. Remember when The Intimidator introduced Dale Jr to racing at an early age? Junior recounted how his dad put him in a go-kart when he was just three years old and sent him down a hill, only to realize that he hadn’t installed brakes on the kart!
Dale Jr humorously recalled rolling down the hill until he hit a tree, prompting Dale Sr to rush over and exclaim, “Did you hit the tree? Did you hit the tree?” That moment was probably the first of many classic ones to follow, many of which included Dale Sr ribbing Junior about his driving or Junior giving his old man some grief about being a legend. But at the end of the day, it was all love and laughter. However, Junior recalled one memory that seemed to have surprised him just as much as it grossed him out. A chance encounter in the kitchen.
In an appearance on Kelly Senyei’s Sports & Forks podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr took a sentimental journey through time, highlighting one of the weirdest and most unforgettable moments he shared with his dad. Senyei, a professional chef, couldn’t help but ask Junior to fill in the blank: “One food I will never ever eat is…” Dale Jr, with just a moment’s thought, replied, “Maybe frog legs.” Now, that was an answer Senyei probably wouldn’t have been anticipating.
This prompted Junior to recount that odd night from his childhood (when he was 10 or 11) when he woke up because of sizzling sounds from their kitchen. He revealed, “No one was ever up at this hour. This was really strange. I go into the kitchen, and Dad was standing there in his PJs, cooking frog legs in a frying pan. I had never seen it before, and I’ve never seen it since.”
Dale Jr gave a lively account of how comfortable his dad was while enjoying a late-night bite! “For whatever reason, he wanted to get up and eat frog legs,” he remembered. “I didn’t eat one, but I was like, I looked at them, and I’m like, ‘Yep, yep. Those are definitely frog legs.’” Even though this was strange for him, Junior liked it because there were very few occasions when he had private time with his beloved father.
“I loved it because no one else was awake, and I had him to myself,” he said. “And if you know my father, a famous guy, in every waking moment, everybody in the world is trying to get a minute of his time.” In that moment, everything was serene and the opposite of their normal busy lives. Thus making it a memory for him to treasure. Well, except for the sizzling frog legs that seemed to have made Dale Jr feel croaked and grossed out enough to not want to eat them ever.
Cherishing the moment but not so much the dish his father was eating, Dale Earnhardt Jr told Kelly Senyei, “So, sitting there, watching him cook frog legs for 15 minutes… I’ll never forget that. But that’s probably something I would never eat.” Despite what has undoubtedly become a core memory for the 15-time Most Popular Driver, he can’t imagine eating frog legs.
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This funny and personal incident gave fans a rare chance to see into his father’s private life and realize another side of the racing legend hidden from them completely. And not to forget how the two bonded. That said, as unusual and surprising as this memory was for Junior, there’s one moment that’s etched in Dale Jr’s mind as the “most valuable” one with his father.
There’s one win that will “never be topped” for Dale Jr
Dale Jr’s love for racing may have started because of that fateful go-kart ride with no brakes. But it’s almost as if that and every other racing memory he shared with Dale Earnhardt Sr led up to this one moment: winning The Winston All-Star race in 2000, becoming the first rookie to achieve that feat. It may not have awarded him any points, but it gave Junior a core memory to cherish forever.
In an entry from the Dale Jr Diary from 2001, Junior wrote, “My father joined me in victory lane for many of my wins in the Busch and Winston Cup Series. The one that stands out most clearly is the win in Charlotte at The Winston.” For him, it was like he’d emulated his father’s 1987 victory, which, according to Dale Jr, was “the best race I saw him run.”
He added, “I felt I had equaled that performance. As if to say, ‘Look, Dad, the same race, the same excitement, the same result!’ I could see in his face that night he agreed. Of all the time I have spent with my father, this moment is the most valuable to me. I will never forget his smile, his expression, or anything else about those moments with him on that stage that night.” Dale Earnhardt Sr had finished the race in third, and as soon as he got out of his car, he changed his clothes and rushed to Victory Lane.
“My dad and I, with that elusive Winston trophy there in front of us. It belonged to him as much as it did me that night,” Junior recalled. The JR Motorsports owner wrote on his website, “It was a great night made perfect by his presence. It will never be topped.” That said, the Earnhardt legacy has had some downsides, too, including tragedies involving them. The Dale Sr tragedy remains one of NASCAR’s saddest days.
The premature death during the 2001 Daytona 500 race event still gives us goosebumps as we recall it. Following the incident, safety procedures such as the HANS (Head and Neck Support) device and SAFER barriers emanated from the day’s experience up until now.
