That’s quite an introduction.
This week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had his longtime friend and former Dale Earnhardt Incorporated employee Kevin Pennell, who you’ll often heard referred to as “Two Beer” in other episodes, on the podcast.
Kevin got his start working for Dale Earnhardt when he was still in high school, starting part-time and eventually moving to full-time when he graduated. But I guess he started working some at the famous deer head shop on some of the late model cars when he first started, though he hadn’t actually met Dale Sr. yet, but obviously knew who he was.
Kevin was working with longtime employees Tony Sr. and Tony Jr., and Tony Eury Sr. was actually related to Dale Sr. through marriage on the side of the family of Sr.’s ex-wife Brenda, and you’ll often hear Dale Jr. talk about them too.
But anyways, Kevin was in the shop working underneath a car when Tony Jr. had to run out and grab something, and right about that time, Sr. came walking through with his signature cowboy boots on.
Kevin recalled seeing the boots approach him as he laid flat under the car… and then Dale Sr. pulling him out by the ankles wanting to know who the heck he was and why he was in his shop:
“I actually was laying underneath the late model, in the deer head shop, and Tony Jr., Pops wasn’t there at the time, but Tony Jr. walked out and said, ‘I’ll be right back. I gotta go grab something.’ And your dad came in.
Because it was the cowboy boots walking on the floor, that walked over the top of me laying underneath the car, and grabbed me by my ankles and drug me out from underneath the car. And I’ve never seen him in person, never been around him. And the first deal was looking straight up at him, and his deal was, who the hell are you?
And I got kind of the clammy mouth, you know, stuttering going, ‘K-K-K-K-Kevin.’ And he kind of looked down at me, and says, ‘Well, I’m glad to meet you,’ and he started stuttering, going ‘K-K-K-K-Kevin.’ And that’s how we struck things off.”
I can’t imagine a more intimidating scenario to meet The Intimidator, and I’m sure HR these days would not love the way he introduced himself, but it’s a classic Dale Sr. moment…
Someone definitely should’ve told them they had a new guy, though:
They went onto have a great relationship, and in fact, it was Dale Sr. who gave Kevin his nickname “Two Beer,” after a trip down to race late model cars in the Myrtle Beach area.
Sr. wasn’t there, but all the guys wanted to go out after the race, but Kevin was too young and couldn’t get in, so he sat out in the truck and drank beer alone, though he drank a little too much…
“Obviously, the late model racing, we went to the beach and raced with you on some of the big races. We went down there, and everybody wanted to go out to some establishments. Figured I was gonna get in, but I didn’t get in, too young, sat out there in the dually, and there was a cooler of beer.
So I sat out there with the cooler of beer by myself until they decided to come back. I was passed out. I done sat in there and got sick. So they were like, you can’t drink, you don’t need but two beers… they got back to the shop, and story time hit on Monday nights.”
Dale Jr. talked about how all the stories got exposed at the shop on Monday’s very quickly, so of course, word got back to Dale Sr. about this.
He thought it was very funny, and after hearing it, went down to his house, brought back a stein that holds exactly two beers, and the rest is history:
“So he went down to the house, and he came back and he had a stein, and it would only hold two beers. And I didn’t know it at the time, but he sat the stein on the table, and he says, ‘Two beer.’ Like that. And I didn’t answer. And he goes, ‘Kevin.’ Like that, and I go, ‘What?’
He goes, ‘I got a mug right here, and this mug will only hold two beers. Whenever you think you’re brave enough to drink another beer again, you can have it, but this is all you can have. I’m gonna put it up here in the cabinet.’ And he slid it up there in the cabinet, with all the pitchers, and it just got exposed on a Monday Night Thunder night.”
Sure, it would be embarrassing to have Sr. roast you like that in front of everyone, but how cool would it be to know he’s the one who gave you the nickname that has stuck after all these years?
Dale Sr. obviously had a reputation for being scary and hardcore, but every time I hear stories like these I’m reminded of how funny he could really be too:
The full podcast is available below.
