The worst day of his life.
Last week, Prime Video premiered the first two episodes of their four-part series Earnhardt, which focuses on the life and legacy of the late, great Dale Earnhardt. Featuring interviews from Dale’s friends, family, and obviously his son, Dale Jr., the documentary also features never-before-seen footage of Dale during his racing career from both his personal and professional life.
It’s an incredibly interesting, and nuanced, look at Dale Earnhardt the race car driver, the man, the friend and the father, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his sister Kelley played a huge part in the production of the series, in addition to being heavily featured in it, telling stories about their dad and memories that were both good and bad.
There are so many compelling stories told by his children that most of us have probably never heard before, like this one about Dale thinking Jr. wanted to go to art school, and had no idea his son wanted to race. The comment about his dad being Dale Earnhardt, and Jr. wanting to get into racing, I think really speaks to their relationship when he was younger and formed a lot of his motivations to become a professional driver like this dad:
“Take all this art s— out of here.” 😅 All episodes of Earnhardt are now streaming. pic.twitter.com/4NWncPyFU5
— Prime Video (@PrimeVideo) May 29, 2025
Of course, Dale Sr. was a seven-time Cup Series Champion, and is the most recognizable driver to ever do it. His place in pop culture is prevailing, and while he was a very real, flawed man, many did, and still do, view him as a larger-than-life, superhero of sorts. The dichotomy of his legacy is fascinating, and in so many ways, he very much lived up to the Intimidator nickname he earned through his years racing.
But tragically, he was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, and NASCAR changed forever. The Intimidator managed to win an incredible 34 races at Daytona during his NASCAR career, including the 1998 Daytona 500. He was so good at these big tracks that it was always said that he could “see the air” moving around the cars, knowing exactly where to go to get the best aerodynamic advantage and move (or stay) up front.
His son, who was a very young and fresh driver at the time, Dale Jr., was in the race that killed his father, and he finished in second place. Obviously the track had an entirely new meaning to the Earnhardt family following that tragic day, and July 7, 2001 was the first NASCAR Cup Series race to be held at the track since Dale Earnhardt lost his life there just six months earlier. In a storybook finish, Jr. won that race, and it was 11 years to the day from when Junior’s dad had won his first race at Daytona and it remains one of the most iconic days in racing history.
But the part where Dale Jr. talks about leaving the race to go to the hospital and see his dad is simply heartbreaking.
He recalls running through all of the hallways, and finally finding the room that had about 10 doctors around the table trying to save his dad. Finally, someone grabbed Jr. and told him that his father didn’t make it, and he could go see him and say his goodbyes. Jr. says he walked in to see his father laying lifeless, while his stepmother Teresa, with whom he had and has a very strained relationship, standing over him.
Jr. says she was as “sad as you can imagine,” and he couldn’t get any close than the door, about 15 feet away. He didn’t want to remember that picture of his dad, so he “just left”:
“I’m hustling through halls, you know, looking in every room. And I look over and there’s dad on a table, seemed like eight or 10 doctors surrounded that table, and they’re all working. Finally, somebody grabbed me and told me that dad was gone or dad passed away or dad didn’t make it, and I could go back into this room. And so I go back into the room, and there’s no doctors. There’s just dad.
Teresa was standing over dad, and she is just so sad. Sad as you can imagine somebody in that moment being losing their spouse. I didn’t want to go any closer. I stood at the door and, again, dad’s 15 feet away. I didn’t want to remember him that way, so I just left.”
I can’t even imagine the overwhelming emotion he must’ve felt, and the intimate picture that paints of a man who was a larger-than-life giant, in the most human form you can imagine, while his family is left to deal with the shock and sadness of everything that just transpired.
His other children, Kelley and Kerry, also talked about their feelings and everything that happened in the hours and days following the horrific tragedy of Dale Earnhardt’s death, and they get very vulnerable and raw in terms of recounting the details of that sad, sad day. It’s the first time I’ve heard any of them talk so in-depth about that day in particular, and I have been really impressed with how open they all are about all aspects of their life with Dale, as well as his friends and other family sharing stories that really give you a picture of the imperfect, flawed, yet incredible man that he was.
The entire film is so well done, and I can’t recommend watching it highly enough. The first two episodes are now streaming on Prime Video, and the last two will be out tomorrow.
