It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 25 years since Dale Earnhardt was killed during the 2001 Daytona 500…and it’s almost harder to believe that one of the last people to talk to him was former child actor (and current NASCAR driver himself) Frankie Muniz.
We all know the story of the day we lost the Intimidator. Earnhardt was running in third on the closing laps, behind Michael Waltrip and his son Dale Earnhardt Jr., who both drove for Earnhardt’s NASCAR team Dale Earnhardt Inc.
And rather than try to fight for the win himself, Earnhardt was doing something that nobody expected him to do that day: He appeared to be trying to block for his son and his DEI teammate.
Unfortunately, Sterling Marlin got into the back of Earnhardt on the final turn of the final lap, sending Earnhardt’s car up the track and into the path of an oncoming Ken Schrader. After hitting the turn 4 wall, the #3 car came to rest in the infield as Waltrip went on to win his first Cup Series race, with Junior finishing second as crews rushed to try to save a fatally-injured Dale Earnhardt.
We’ve all seen the replay of that crash hundreds of times. But have you ever seen the video of Earnhardt having one of his final conversations outside of the car before strapping in for the race?
Frankie Muniz, the star of the hit television show Malcolm In the Middle, was the honorary pace car driver for the 2001 Daytona 500. It was the first year of NASCAR’s landmark broadcast deal with FOX, and they were using the opportunity to promote their show, which had premiered a year earlier and was a massive hit.
Before the race, Muniz had the opportunity to speak with Dale Earnhardt during the driver’s meeting – a moment that he would recall years later during an episode of the SpeedFreaks podcast:
“Dale Earnhardt, he came up to me at the driver’s meeting, actually. And he told me, ‘I just have to say, you know, I’m a huge fan. Your show has brought me and my daughter so much closer.’ And I was 15 at the time. I was like the hugest NASCAR fan. I was in awe that a hero of mine was saying that they were a fan of mine.”
That wasn’t the only interaction he would have with Dale that day though. Right before he climbed in his car, Dale would once again bring up Malcolm in the Middle to Muniz, making him one of – if not THE – last person Earnhardt talked to outside of his car before his death:
“Everyone was climbing in their cars. He stopped me again and like shook my hand and he goes, man, I love your show. I love your show. And he got in the car.”
But in another eerie coincidence, Muniz recalls that he happened to be watching the race from Kenny Schrader’s pit box that day and had been given an M&M’s jacket to wear – and the three signatures he had gotten on the jacket were Schrader, Earnhardt, and Sterling Marlin, the three drivers who were involved in Earnhardt’s fatal crash.
It would all come full circle for Muniz years later, when he set out on his own racing career. The former actor made his debut in the ARCA stock car series in 2023 – and the chassis for the car he drove that day just happened to be the one from Sterling Marlin’s 2001 Daytona 500 car:
“At first it kind of, I don’t want to say creeped me out. It was a little eerie to think about when you put all those pieces together, you know, but it made me actually feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be in my life. You know what I mean?
The fact that really one of my first NASCAR experiences, you know, was that race in person and that race. Now my first NASCAR ARCA experience as a race car driver is in that same car is pretty, I don’t know, kind of a crazy story, pretty remarkable to me. It’s incredible.”
Talk about fate.
Muniz is currently driving full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, competing in the #33 truck for Team Reaume for the second consecutive season.
Kinda crazy how things happen sometimes.
