There have been many rivalries in NASCAR, but some remain etched in time forever. One such has to be between ‘The Intimidator’ and NASCAR’s Wonder Boy. Dale Earnhardt Sr in 1994, won his 7th Cup Series championship and was in the pinnacle of his racing career. This was the same season when 22-year-old Jeff Gordon got his first Cup win at Charlotte Motor Speedway in the Coca-Cola 600.

Who would have imagined the youngster in the very next year would go and win the championship against Dale Sr? In 1995, Sr won 5 races, but Jeff Gordon bested him with his 7 wins. This brewed a rivalry that went on for 8 years before Dale Earnhardt Sr passed away in the horrific Daytona 500 crash in 2021. The two were competitors on track, but off track, it was more of a mentor-mentee bond. Recently, Jeff Gordon shared how Dale Sr taught him to live life.

Jeff Gordon opens up on his time in Japan with ‘the intimidator’

This was a time when NASCAR held exhibition races in Japan at the Suzuka Circuit. NASCAR was looking to expand its reach into global markets and this is when Suzuka Circuit Manager Hiroshi Suzuki came to NASCAR with a proposal. According to Suzuki, the track was growing in popularity due to Formula One racing there and NASCAR must capitalize on this opportunity. But this wasn’t the first time! NASCAR went to Japan in the 1960s to expand, but it did not turn out to be financially viable. In 1996, when NASCAR returned to Japan, many, including Dale Sr, Gordon, Rusty Wallace, and Dale Jarrett, participated in the event.

Wallace won the race, Dale Sr finished 2nd and Gordon finished 3rd. NASCAR raced in Japan from 1996 to 1998, and recently, Gordon on Kevin Harvick’s ‘Happy Hour’ shared a story of him and Dale Earnhardt Sr. during one such visit. Gordon said, “So I remember..we went to this Japanese steakhouse, which I loved, I love Japanese steakhouses. But this one was a little bit different, where they brought out shrimp that were still alive and put them on the grill and cooked them right in front of you and then they cut the head off and they served it to somebody at the table and of course he picked me. And he’s like, no, Jeff, this is like for good luck, this is a delicacy, and I’m like, of course he tells me to do it, I did it. I mean, I didn’t love it, but it was like a story, and I’ll never forget it. “

The young Jeff Gordon idolized Dale Sr and wished to learn from the legend, and according to Gordon, Sr knew this. But Dale Sr being Dale Sr, it wasn’t just race craft or how to be a better driver, Sr also taught Gordon how to live to the fullest. “He got me into drinking Vodka and Grapefruit juice too. Like he was like oh this is the best. And he did that so it made me want to look at beyond racing and how to work hard at it but enjoy the fruits of your labor and I saw that through him. I don’t know if a lot of people knew how high-end he lived. I mean, he did it right, but he didn’t bring that out in public,” Gordon added.

In the 8 years of racing against each other, Gordon won three championships (1995, 1997, 1998). His 4th came in 2001. Recently Gordon, in an interview with Fox Sports, dwelled on how the 1995 Cup championship shaped his career; after all, he defeated the great Dale Earnhardt, who was a dominant force during Gordon’s Cup debut in 1992. Gordon said, “To be able to go toe to toe with him (Dale Sr) and Richard Childress Racing and actually pull that championship (1995) off, from that point on, it just felt like, All right, we have a car and a team that can do this every year…it certainly was a string there for about four or five years that we were one of the top teams and went into every race feeling like we could win it, and every season that we could win the championship because of what we accomplished in ’95.” 

This was back when the playoff format was yet to be introduced, which means consistency throughout the season was key. Gordon, in the interview, also dwelled on what it was like to race in that era.

Jeff Gordon opens up on the challenges of his championship years

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Unlike the elimination format, the 1990s were simpler times, win maximum races, gather maximum points, and be crowned the champion at the end of the season. And Gordon mastered that in the 1990s. He was the winningest driver in the decade bagging 49 wins and three championships, whereas Dale Sr had 37 wins and no championship. During that time, one bad race could cost you the championship.

Gordon, on this, said, “I only know what it’s like to win a championship in that sense and in that format because you had to do it for the whole season. If you had a bad race at a Daytona or Talladega, which were always the wild cards, you could rebound from it. But I would still say those were the biggest challenges are those types of tracks.” The car during that time was also subpar compared to what we have seen over the years. According to Gordon, it caused a lot of problems making things difficult when you are eying a championship.

“It seemed like we had a lot more failures back then — tire failures, part failures, and so I feel like there was a lot of pressure on the team to really make sure that those things didn’t reach out and bite us. We probably lost a championship or two along the way in those ‘90s because of it.” The margin of error in a race was very low, as it all compounded to deciding whether you would win the championship or not. Like in 1996, Gordon lost the championship to his teammate Terry Labonte despite having 10 wins in the season. Or in 1999 when he bagged 7 wins yet finished the season in 6th place. With the current format, a few good races also keep you in championship contention, but that wasn’t the case back then.

What are some of your memories of watching Dale Sr and Jeff Gordon race? Let us know in the comments below.