“Never Heard Ralph [Earnhardt]’s Voice”: NASCAR’s Historian Reveals Touching Gift to Dale Sr as He Solves Fans’ Penultimate Dilemma

Stock car racing has come a long way since the time of Dale Earnhardt, Bobby Allison, and the like. But what has remained constant is the love for the sport in the minds of the fans. The NASCAR fans gape in awe whenever Dale Earnhardt Jr brings out an old album of the anecdotes of his legendary father in his podcast. Perhaps something that the fans love even more than racing is the insider information, never-said-before stories, and behind-the-scene dramas revolving around the lives of their favorite drivers over the years.

The Earnhardt family is one with many mysteries. Perhaps one of the most intriguing of those mysteries is the fact that nobody from later generations had ever heard the voice of Ralph Earnhardt, the father of the great Intimidator. However, recently, when NASCAR historian Ken Martin dug up a priceless Ralph Earnhardt tape from NASCAR’s archives, fans went berserk with a shocking revelation.

Fans got to hear a voice that they had never heard before—that of Dale Earnhardt Jr’s granddad

Today’s NASCAR world is densely populated with media personnel flocking in from everywhere all year round to cover all things information. Whenever a speedster emerges victorious in a race, the first thing that they do after climbing out of their car is to talk to the reporters about the past few hours. However, back in the day of Ralph Earnhardt, interviews and press conferences weren’t that common.

Ken Martin went to the NASCAR headquarters in New York in 1997 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of NASCAR and found video footage of LeeRoy Yarborough and Ralph Earnhardt fighting for the win at the Charlotte Modified 250 race, back in 1965. Fast forward to 2023, Martin revealed why it was such a huge discovery.

The 63-year-old Director of Historical Content at NASCAR said, “The reason that it had such impact is that people said they had never heard Ralph’s voice.”

Ken Martin made a VHS copy of the tape and gave it to Dale Earnhardt as a gift. It elated Dale Earnhardt to go back to his childhood when he stood on the grandstand with his aunt and brother, watching his dad race.

Watch this story: “If I Ever See This A**hole…” – Dale Earnhardt Jr Opens up About Holding a Grudge Against One Particular Driver Since 1996

The late driver of the infamous #3 RCR Chevy said in an interview, “…to watch it again on video it was just like sitting there again. It was just amazing how the cars looked then and how they ran the track and how they would just turn down the track. The speeds weren’t as great but it was just amazing how things were; still competitive at that level.”

Would it surprise you to know that Ralph Earnhardt was just as competitive as Dale Earnhardt? After all, Dale Earnhardt must have inherited that dare-devilish attitude from somewhere.

Ralph Earnhardt was not happy with the way he won

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The maiden Charlotte 250 was a prelude to the 1965 National 400 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. LeeRoy Yarborough won the race in person after dominating throughout the last 83 laps, but NASCAR disqualified him for an infraction of the law.

Apparently, Ralph had used wheels bigger than 8.5 inches. As a result, the officials pushed Ralph up to the winner’s seat, who took home the $300 check. Although Ralph admitted that the entire grid knew about it beforehand, he was not happy about the way he won owing to Yarborough’s DQ.

During a post-race interview, he smiled saying, “Well, I’d rather out run him but we wasn’t allowed the wheels and he is running the wheels; illegal I guess.”

The outcome of the race might not have been ideal for Ralph Earnhardt, but the video was definitely worth cherishing for Dale Earnhardt and perhaps even more engaging for Dale Earnhardt Jr. today.

Read more: Dale Earnhardt Jr Reveals How NASCAR Robbed Him of a Championship in 2014