I started watching Nascar as a little girl, which is kind of unusual I guess because none of my family watched racing. I was absolutely fascinated with Dale Earnhardt from the start & remained a die hard fan until his death. I was fortunate enough to have been watching live during some of his finest moments. From the pass in the grass, to the time when he sat on his door frame, steering with his knee during caution laps cleaning his own windshield, to his first win in the Daytona 500 in 1998. Every Sunday I was right there, yelling & screaming at the top of my lungs, cheering for a win. When he passed, I cried for days. It felt like losing a long time friend. After his death I couldn't bring myself to continue watching and over the years most of my friends have followed suit. It's never been the same and they have officially ruined a sport that, at one time, had such a loyal following. These days it's not about who has the most talent, it's about who has the most money. The drivers of today are mostly young kids who come from money and they will never bring the excitement to the sport in the same way that the drivers of years past did. Back in those days most of the drivers came from poor backgrounds and had to really work hard to succeed in the sport.

He never lost the joy of driving! Went out like a true warrior. We could all be so lucky to die doing what we love. Better than choking on a peanut or falling off a ladder.

After Waltrip cried on tv, "It's not fair, it's just not fair", I became an Earnhardt fan. Earnhardt's response: 'that's racing'. No truer words were ever spoken.

Seeing interviews and video footage of Dale always makes me wish he was still here today and Nascar was like this today.

The Oppermans from Texas will always love and miss you Dale Earnhardt Sr, your fans forever. We cried many tears when Dale died. As Jerry and I watched the sky that night a shining star sailed from south to north. We both agreed it was Dale racing across the sky. Magical- even Sugar Bear watched. Our precious Dale Sr and Sugar Bear- one tough customer indeed. Our love for Dale Sr will never die. Bear and I will be with Jerry and Sugar Bear and Dale and my Mama and Neil Bonnett in Heaven

I'm not the least bit ashamed to say I cried when this man died, and I only stuck with the Nascar scene for 1 more season. It was just empty without Earnhardt.

He said back then "I could race for 5-6 maybe 10 years" he raced in the CUP SERIES for 27 YEARS! Even at the end of his career he was contending for championships.

On this day, 19 years ago we lost Dale. This piece is timeless and says all there needs to be about The Man. With Junior retired, the sport is near dead to me, which saddens me greatly because I love stock car racing. Long live The Intimidator.

The only thing about history is you can't go back to experience those glorious days...but the great thing about history is that we can still bask in the afterglow of those moments that inspire us....

I'm 51 years old and this is the first time I've seen this. Thank you so much for posting it!!!

Retro Dale with the best stache in the biz

What kills me is that if you get a driver like Dale today he would get slated on social media and in the press. Yet we look at him as a true legend for being the guy he was. Same goes for the likes of Ayrton Senna and James Hunt in Formula 1.

Love those long wheel base cars.

I started watching racing with my Daddy in 1984. I was 7 years old. We were *Earnhardt* Fans. I miss you Dale.

R.I.P. Dale....you are not forgotten. Thank you for all that you did in the sport of racing and your charity work.

He was one of the few drivers who I truly believe,considered his fans his friends. Maybe even family. He drove as hard as he did for us. Washing my eyes while watching this.

I helped Dale back in 93 while he was staying at a hotel I once worked at and didn't know at that time who he was. He never came off as some arrogant, "Look at Me" kind of person.

We all have a place in our heart for our hero’s. There’s a void in mine right next to my Gramps, my Gram, my Dad and my Mother. It’s where Dale resided.

My buddy was around 10 years old and got his picture taken with Dale and the 2 car at Daytona. Fast forward to the late 90's, Dale came to town for a autograph session. My buddy took his 8x10 pic to have Dale sign it and Dale thought that was the coolest thing, he was showing everyone with him the pic and talked to my buddy for like 10 minutes. Class act. I quit watching after he was killed.

Really eerie that my dad looked a lot like dale during the early 80s....my dad wore his shaggy hair and mustache the same way

I was a NASCAR Ford fan all the way in the 80s and 90s but I admired Earnhardt and RCR. His death was such a shock and blow to NASCAR. RIP legend.

I’m Dale Earnhardt, I’m gonna park wherever I want. That cracked me up when he said “sounded like I got a big head there” 🤣

Best driver ever!!! I loved the way he drove his car and his attitude was great he would mess with the other drivers for fun because he loved racing with them!! He was simply the best

"i think i have got the ability to stay in it for 5,6...18 years" haha dale what a legend :)

I was never a big cup fan until I opened a Texaco Express Lube in the fall of 89. Texaco Havoline Racing was a big part of advertising and we used to get a dozen tickets a year to NHIS. After my first live Winston Cup race in 90 I was hooked and for sure the 28 car will always be special to me. But Dale Earnhardt and that Black #3 WAS Winston Cup Racing and a part of me died that day. I still love Cup racing, but no where near as much as when Dale, Rusty and the boys traded paint.

It's so hard to believe this was almost 40 years ago

My dad raced and I grew up around racing but this man was my hero and he will always be the best in my mind I followed him since 1994 I stopped watching nascar after he died rip 🏆 3#

I’m sure everyone knows that shop behind Martha Earnhardt’s house was Dale’s humble beginnings of Dale Earnhardt Inc. The shop that belonged to his dad Ralph.

One of the best to have ever strapped into a Racecar. R.I.P. Dale

One man, one mission: WIN We lost a true warrior but he went out exactly the way he wanted. Never backed down. ♥️

Shaking off tears... Miss this guy.

Everybody loves the underdog that made it to the top

He knew how good he was but never said he was thr best ever, he just did what it took to prove himself on the race track. 676 starts and racing at the top of his game until the very last lap.

I’m happy to be a proud of an 87 Grand Prix powered by a Pontiac 428 bb bolted to a Muncie 4spd. I plan this summer to have it wrapped just like this wrangler car. I don’t race it and never will but it’s a car show cruiser.

I can't believe this is the 1st time I've seen this One Tough Customer Dale Earnhardt video. This was awesome, thanks for posting!

What about little dale jr and them water skis lol....that tore my butt up! 😂😂😂

When the man went away and all my favorites either quit or died. The great Alabama gang died or got hurt and couldn't race anymore. Neil Bonnet clifford Allison Davy Allison. Donnie Allison .then Bobby almost died at Nazareth. Rusty quit and what was left to really watch. God bless the boys who raced there toys on sunday afternoons.

900 hundred miles in one weekend now that's a real race driver driving with no power steering that's some Michael Jordan type stuff legendary!!!

NASCAR’s finest days and finest drivers. The Golden Era of the Good Ol Boys. Earnhardt Petty Yarborough Waltrip Allison’s Kullwicki Elliot Gant Bonnet Bodine Just to name a few of the greatest drivers of all time that were able to race head to head during the 80’s.

Dang! Can't believe I'm just now finding this gem. I love these old documentaries. Oh Dale, we're still missing you!

Lots of good memories with my family. We never missed a race Charlotte for the 600 . Dale and Dad are gone . We still have our memories.

The best race car driver ever period

Fighting that steering wheel with no gloves for 900 miles dang

There will never be another driver like this ever. All these young glorified go cart drivers we have now will never hold a candle next to someone like Earnhardt. EVER!

These guys were pillars of NASCAR amazing.

Had to come back to this awesome little video after Jr. mentioned it on his podcast. Excellent time capsule back into early 80's NASCAR.

That's been my driver since the first race I watched with my dad back in 1989

Dale jr, man that tore my butt up. Wow!

There will never be another

Took one of my grandsons to his first race at Martinsville and I gotta admit I still admit I still look for that Black #3

We miss you Dale so much along with your buddies Davey, Alan, Neil, Adam, Benny and now Steve Byrnes and so on. Hope God and Heaven are treating all of y'all very well and given y'all tons of fun, wins and championship. Down here ain't just the same without everyone of you.

We attempted to make the season after Dale passed but the Oppermans could not do it. Dale Sr was our fave man. Even Jerry's service dog Sugar Bear watched Dale with her daddy Jerry. Our precious Dale was gone and it never was the same for us and after Dale's funeral was done we the Oppermans from Texas left Nascar forever. Jerry and Sugar Bear and Fred and Cliff are enjoying watching Dale race in Heaven and Bear and I will join them later. Blessings

when racing was racing

he will forever be the best the intimidator

"im Dale Earnhardt" waves him through like yup yup go on this is your track

Great Quality for a oldie.Wish they all were this good.MISS 3!

NASCAR is Nothing without him.

Dale wasn't the only driver that was tough

Miss the rough drivers can't stand the new age pretty boy drivers.

He was My Favorite Race Car Driver And Bought A Gambler Bass Boat from My Dad Leonard Jones💕🙏😎🇱🇷

NASCAR was a man's sport back then and Dale Earnhardt towered over them all until the very end. He was the heart of NASCAR and it died with him.

I miss that America

God them G-bodies were sexy race cars!!!

Someone should show this to Frans Jr, make him remember how good the sport was before he took over.

Everyone has a hero Dale Earnhardt was mine 😎

The Mike Tyson of racing

Racing had more character in those days, now it's all business.

To think 20 years later he would loose his life doing what he loved!

He was never afraid to push one too the metal and the best. R.I.P.

from no electricity, or heat for his baby to bouncing checks to stretch the money another day , like the rest of us that are blue color workers,he was determined to find another way and his dad gave him the know how and in his soul he knew he could make more money racing then in the mill ! and he never lost the love of the race, we will forever miss this man and relate to his dream ! He did it !!

He was the best driver ever

“It’s not that your out there running. It’s how long you can run and how well you’re running.”

R.i.p The Intimidator!

I'm almost 50, and like my dad grew up playing all sports and watching major league BB, pro FB, BB, etc but never watched and knew absolutely nothing about NASCAR. My dad worked for a big company "Unilever", so he got tickets to plays and all kinds of events, and once he took me to the Budweiser 500, and around 1983 he gave me ticks for me and an older buddy of mine to go to the tractor pulls. Before that, some time I would guess either 1970 or 1980 my dad and I and a buddy of mine went to the Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario CA to see some drag racing, and I remember watching both Shirley Muldowney and "Big Daddy" Don Garlitz, but as far as understanding or caring at all about racing....nada. Now I'm hooked on old documentaries of all the great drivers, and I realize that you really needed to be one tough mother to do well in this sport, especially from 1950-1990, or any time before that obviously. It's really a pretty cool and interesting world these guy's lived in, especially since most of our Great Country didn't know diddly about racing. That documentary 1979, "A Perfect Storm" was really a good one to watch!

Happy birthday, Dale. You are missed, still.

Damm...so in short Dale was Never a rookie he was still incredible and this was allegedly an off year..the narrator sure was right. They we're looking at a dynasty. That's for sure.

The racing in those days was real! I watched Jr. and was a huge fan of his but now I couldn’t care less about NASCAR!!! I don’t watch it and I just don’t care!!

This is a gem. I'm not even a race fan, but I know we lost an American Icon 20 years ago.

Dale was definitely a champions champion miss him dearly

That was awesome thanks for sharing

"I have the ability, I feel, to stay in it another 5, 8, 10 years, I'm hopeful"

Great video. From a newcomer with early success to Legend in twenty years. Who would've thought it in 1981? Well, maybe Dale himself knew the sky was the limit. And with Dale Jr crackin' up the crowd at the end, that video showed an early glimpse of the the reach the Earnhardt name would have almost 40 years later.

Such an awesome video. Posted in 2012 and is now in my recommended lol Man am I glad it was!

Remember talking to ppl at the ole water hole in the `90s and would bring up that Dale had driven a car # 2 and it caused an uproar...naw man he's always driven a # 3 ... okay pal.

If Earnhardt hadn't have died, when he retired he should have been made the CEO of NASCAR. He would have kept the sport on the right track. He had all the money in the world in his career, but he still lived like a good ole' boy. You didn't see him kicking his feet up in a mansion in Beverly Hills or Hollywood.

The greatest of all time

Excellent video. Earnhardt is simply a legend.

What a classic gem this was.

R.I.P Dale. God would have bee great for him to see junior win daytona. His boy is doing good now.

Back in the Day!!!. Love the Earnharts #9forever

Wow, there's some pretty priceless stuff in there. Dale Jr. (at least I think that's him waterskiing, and not Kerry), and that little girl at 19:28 is hilarious. Thanks for the rare find! Almost seems like it was recorded from a beta tape, or something.

College Station, Texas is mentioned at the end of this video. That’s one mile south of my house. Well, that’s where it used to be. Crazy.

that is tough Earnhardt right thare.

NASCAR went down hill after he was killed...he was NASCAR and he was THE MAN.

lol at 1:10-1:13 stay in for 5,6 8, maybe 10 years try 21 years all of which were remarkable in some way excluding 2001

It sure is great to see these guys 1981 was the second cup race I attended at Riverside seeing this cast of talent by councedence I'm about 5 miles from where the track used to be fortunate we were to have it as long as we did....peace

Went to Talladega 5 years in a row 10 straight races went to Bristol about 6 time Atlanta a few times Charlotte 2 times for world 600 Saw him win a few meet him at a Chevy dealer when I lived in Denver in about 87. They were giving people small post cards with a picture of him an his car. I had a Busch 500 from Bristol with him on the cover of one of the races I went too. He looked up and said "about damn time" got to love old "ironhead

5,8 10 Years he said !!! He was a Monster a Legend a Myth a HERO, he had many more years left when it was taken from him

9:10 lol this was my favorite part

I have this same very video from the DVD collection set from the special Dale tribute movie CMT made around 2007. I so wish Nascar and the World in general was like this again. It turned into pure evil and BS overnight after Dale left and 9/11 in 2001.