6 Years After Tragic Dale Sr Tragedy, Dale Earnhardt Jr Fulfilled Late Father’s Promise

For Dale Earnhardt Jr, it was keeping the promise that his legendary dad had once made a British-born racecar driver back in 2001. But for the driver, it was the consummation of a hope that once lingered in his mind. After the tragic death of Dale Earnhardt, he had let that promise slide, but Dale Jr. carried on his father’s wish 6 years later.

On his 67th birthday, the page NASCAR Legends on Twitter commemorated the fulfillment of a promise, along with the special day of this motorcar legend.

A promise that remained unfilled for 6 years

Let’s rewind the time to August 2001, shall we? As the playoffs were knocking at the door, the NASCAR Busch Series decided to unleash its thrill on the road courses of Montreal and Watkins Glen. However, the owner of JR Motorsports was left with the burden of replacing Shane Huffman as the driver of his team’s number 88 Chevrolet.

But Junior seemed to know exactly who he would have behind the wheel of his car. A teammate from the 2001 Rolex 24 entered the arena. This person had helped the father-son duo master the Chevrolet Corvette, which led their team to grab a commendable 4th-place finish out of 79 formidable opponents.

Dale Earnhardt promised Andy Pilgrim that he would get him a NASCAR road course race but unfortunately, just weeks later, the former lost his life at Daytona. Andy Pilgrim finally got what the “intimidator” had promised him when the Dale Junior and Pilgrim finalized the deal of driving the Navy Monte Carlo in 2007.

Andy Pilgrim was a seasoned driver with two decades of experience behind the steering but none with a stock car. Nevertheless, Pilgrim used his natural driving prowess and quickly picked up his pace with the blue and white Chevy.

Quite a fascinating story, don’t you think? But what if someone told you that had a FedEx package been left undelivered to Andy Pilgrim, the friendship between him and senior Earnhardt would have never even started?

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Andy Pilgrim remembers the time when he and Dale Earnhardt shared the track of Daytona during the 24-hour Rolex 2001

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Andy Pilgrim conjured his famous ‘Pilgrim Pass’ and scored Corvette Racing’s first endurance win at Road Atlanta in 2000. Throughout several laps, he waited for his chance while tailing Dodge Viper, who was in the lead. With just 2 laps to go, Pilgrim made his move. He faked a run on the outside of the front stretch and immediately steered right, and pressed the accelerator. With this unprecedented move, he caught Viper off-guard who lost all downforce and went off track.

Seeing his skill, Dale Earnhardt had sent a package to Pilgrim, congratulating him and informing him that they would share the track on October 17th at Daytona. Fast forward to 2017, Pilgrim showcased the same car he had driven that day at Hershey Auto Museum and deeply pounded into the river of nostalgia.

He said, “It was a FedEx package. That package I opened it up and looked at it and it says Dale Earnhardt Incorporated on it. I didn’t know what it was, so I opened it and there was a letter inside.”

“I was almost shaking, it was like this is unbelievable; this is gonna be awesome. So that was my introduction to Dale Earnhardt,” he added.

Pilgrim’s manager Gary Claudio forbade him from spilling the news to anyone beforehand. Indeed, it was difficult for Andy, but considering the fact that he would be sharing the track with Dale Earnhardt and his son, keeping the secret must have been exciting.

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