Dale Earnhardt Jr Talks About His Iconic “Skeleton Gloves” That Sent His Fandom Into a Frenzy

When it comes to sports icons, there’s something or the other that we remember them by; whether it be Ronaldo‘s iconic ‘Siuuu’ celebration or Muhammad Ali’s Ali shuffle, there’s always a signature move that a sportsperson likes to create. Mostly, it’s like a trademark, a “wow moment”, a particular feature that fans will associate them with. NASCAR also has its fair share of signature items – a particular helmet that a driver always wears to his races or a certain gesture a driver makes after winning a race. It is these things that give fans something to remember them by, even when they’re not professionally competing anymore. The same is the case with the iconic Dale Earnhardt Jr.

While the helmet has always been a staple form of artistic expression at NASCAR, it is Dale Jr’s “Skeleton Gloves” that made an impact on fans around the country. But how did the gloves make their way into Earnhardt Jr’s races?

Dale Earnhardt Jr got the skeleton gloves idea from a racetrack, but it wasn’t NASCAR

One might assume that Dale’s signature skeleton gloves are a lovechild of him and his time on the NASCAR racetrack. But the truth seems to be quite the contrary. Speaking on his podcast, The Dale Jr Download, the veteran revealed how he first got the idea from a track that didn’t even belong to NASCAR.

“I saw a guy. I think it was motocross, probably 15 years ago,” he quipped.

Dale also revealed how he immediately thought the gloves looked really cool.

“One guy had all these skull gloves, and it just really stood out, and as a racecar driver, I’ll just say this, watching a NASCAR race, right? The drivers would always have white gloves, you could always see their hands moving from the, you know, watching the race from the cameras or the TV or from the grandstands or whatever. You could always see their hands when they wore a light-colored glove, and I thought, man, I bet those would be cool to wear; it’ll be different,” Earnhardt Jr revealed.

However, the gloves have now taken on multiple roles to slowly transition from being just an iconic staple in Dale’s driving gear.

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Skeleton gloves, now part of a movement, raised above eight figures for charity

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The gloves are more than an inanimate object for the show now. Over the years, Dale has succeeded in capitalizing on the popularity of the iconic pair of gloves for causes that are, very well, beyond his personal gains.

The Driven To Give Glove Auction, which started in 2014 and is backed by The Dale Jr. Foundation, has been responsible for raising over $11 million in charity to date. Every year, a select number of NASCAR drivers sport autographed gloves on the track that eventually get auctioned off for charity. According to the Dale Jr Foundation website, over $60,000 was raised for the Dale and Amy Earnhardt Fund at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in 2022 alone. The gloves certainly came into the track when not many were experimenting with that particular piece of gear.

The signature gloves that Earnhardt Jr donned to races year after year became his staple trademark. And more so, because he did it at a time when not many NASCAR drivers were taking the artistic freedom to experiment with their gloves, which Dale seemed to be well aware of.

“I thought imma start doing that, that’ll be different; that’ll be.. nobody’s really doing anything with gloves. It’s kinda fun, I like skulls, always had skulls on the back of my helmet and so I was kinda into that and so I just started doing it, I just started wearing them and that was that,” he added.

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It is not without reason that Dale Earnhardt Jr is considered iconic. Be it on the track or off of it, Dale has certainly earned his place among the most popular NASCAR drivers of all time.