23 Years Ago Today, Dale Earnhardt Removed a Shrapnel From His Head and Lived Up to His Name, “Ironhead”

Dale Earnhardt is the undeniable GOAT of the NASCAR circuits. His legacy has been such that even after he died in 2001, he still manages to touch people’s hearts and minds. One can say that his influence is not timebound, and he will always stay relevant, no matter how drastically stock car racing changes in the future.

On top of all the glory and championships he achieved during his racing career, the nicknames were the ones that still stood out. Dale Earnhardt went by some names, such as ‘The Intimidator’, ‘The Men in Black’, and ‘Ironhead’. For a long time, people thought the nickname Ironhead was given to him because of his ruthless nature and aggressive driving. But a recent revelation indicates that he did indeed have a piece of metal stuck in his head.

Earnhardt truly was an Ironhead well before his glory days in NASCAR

While nicknames are fun to have, for Dale Sr it resulted in surgery. Back in 1976, the NASCAR icon cut his head while working on a race car at his dad’s old shop. He was using a chisel and a hammer, and seemingly ⅛ inch of the metal shrapnel somehow managed to creep inside the skin of his head.

This particular story was put to light from the ‘nascarman’ account on X. The newspaper mentioned in the post, the Knight Ridder Newspaper at the time, was the second-largest newspaper published in the United States. The head summed up the story perfectly: “Dale Earnhardt proves his mettle again.”

As per the information from the post, it was Bobby Allison who bestowed the legendary racer with the nickname Ironhead. But little did he know that Dale Sr had an actual piece of metal between his ears. The problem was identified with a magnetic imaging resonance procedure, but the MRI caused him pain. Eventually, the piece of metal was removed after surgery, making him Ironhead in a literal sense.

Read More: Watch: Dale Earnhardt’s Final Interview Before His Tragic Daytona Demise

Owing to his fame and influence on the sport, people believe they know everything there’s to know about Dale Earnhardt, but that is not true. One particular fact about him would allow you to believe that he also had troubles and roadblocks like any other racer.

20th attempt for Dale Earnhardt to clinch his first-ever Daytona 500 win

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Despite his illustrious wins and championships to his name, there was one thing that eluded the NASCAR icon. It was the Daytona 500; this seemed like the Achilles heel for Dale Earnhardt himself, as even after 19 attempts, he could not win on the famous track. The hoodoo finally broke on February 15, 1998. After 20 years of waiting, Dale Earnhardt finally won his first Daytona 500.

Dale Sr cherished the moment and drove his car into the grass to do celebratory doughnuts. This was followed by the $1 million in prize money. It was indeed a memorable day for the legend who conquered his final peak. Ironically, the one thing that eluded Dale Earnhardt also became the reason for his demise. It was the Daytona 500 race where the legend met with a tragic accident and lost his life at the age of 49.

Dale Earnhardt’s impact on NASCAR and the motorsport world will always be celebrated, and no, we won’t see any other racer worthy of such a nickname.

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