The Intimidator
Dale
Earnhardt was born April 29th, 1951 in Kannapolis North Carolina. He
is the son of driver Ralph Earnhardt. He
started racing on local tracks when he was just 15. He dropped out of school in
the ninth grade to race all the time and work as a mechanic.
In
1973 his father Ralph died while working on his car at the racetrack.
Two
years later dale had his stock car debut. He finished 22nd in the
world 600 at charlotte motor speedway. In
1978 he caught the attention
of
a racing sponsor named Rod Osterlund from California. In 79 was his only sponsored driver.
After
five years with Osterlund. He joined Richard Childress’ Chevy team his career
took off beginning with five wins and his second Winston championship in
85.
Tiny Lund
Dewayne “Tiny” Lund
was born in Harlan, Iowa on November 14, 1929.
He was given the nickname tiny because of his large size he was 6-6 and
300 pounds. He stared racing motorcycles at the age of fifteen. Then as he grew
older he stared racing midgets and sprint cars.
In
his first NASCAR race he crashed and rolled his car breaking both his arm and
seatbelt. Ironically Rupert Safety Belt Company sponsored him at the time. He
saved a fellow driver Narvib Panch from a burning car with the help of three
other men. He then drove for that driver in the Daytona 500, which he won by
gas mileage in the year of 1963. The driver drove for the wood brothers. Which
earned him and three others the Carnegie Medal of Heroism.
He
is a member of Iowa’s motorsports hall of fame.
Some of his other hobbies include fishing. He caught a striped bass that
weighed 55 pounds which was also his racecar number for most of his racing
career. He drove a lot of different types of cars including Chevy, Ford, and
Dodge, which is what he drove when he crashed at Talladega.
His different numbers include 21, 55, and 26. In 1975 on Aug 17 from fatal injuries that he
got in a crash in his final race the Talladega 500.
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