Guess we can’t say “Raise hell, praise Dale” about this guy.
A Georgia educator who shares a name with a NASCAR legend quickly went viral this week after a his school shared a post celebrating his new gig.
Meet Dale Earnhardt. No, not the seven time NASCAR Cup Series champion, one of the greatest (and most recognizable) drivers of all time.
This Dale Earnhardt was recently appointed as the International Director for the Christian Heritage School in Dalton, Georgia, a private K-12 school with around 600 students. It’s unclear if he’s any relation to the more well-known Dale Earnhardt, but you’ve gotta think there aren’t that many Earnhardts around so he’s gotta at least be a distant cousin, right?
What do you think? Is there a resemblance there?
Anyway, according to his bio shared by the school:
“Earnhardt brings more than 25 years of experience in independent school education, most recently serving 19 years at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School, a highly respected private boarding and day school in Rabun Gap, Georgia.”
An impressive resumé, no doubt, but has he ever won the Daytona 500?
Well as you can imagine for somebody sharing such a unique name with a NASCAR legend, the internet immediately ran wild with the post. Let’s take a look at the comments:
“Can we get this fella to grow the proper mustache to suit his name?”
“A whole new meaning to “praise Dale””
“Be funny if he was the drivers Ed teacher.”
“I bet this dude has disappointed a lot of people in his life when they thought they were meeting Dale Earnhardt and this guy showed up.”
“The school is going in a good direction with Dale behind the wheel.”
“Glad to see The Intimidator got another shot. I always felt he was taken too soon”
“School just added a new holiday to the calendar, Talladega week.”
“Imagine you get sent to the Intimidators office”
“In unrelated news CHS was just sponsored by GM Goodwrench!”
“Coming out of a one-on-one meeting: “I just meant to rattle his cage a little bit””
“Teresa gonna sue him”
You’ve gotta wonder what it’s like for Mr. Earnhardt sharing a name with the Intimidator. How many times has he had to pull out his license to prove that’s really his name? How many people have hung up on him thinking it was a prank when he told them it was Dale Earnhardt calling? Sure it would be cool to have that name, and I’m sure it’s a great conversation starter, but I have a feeling it’s caused a lot of problems too.
(Confession, I tried to find this guy on LinkedIn and Facebook so I could reach out to him to ask these questions but didn’t have any luck – Dale, if you’re reading this and want to chat, hit me up).
I need Dale Earnhardt Jr. to get this guy on his podcast so we can hear his story about being named Dale Earnhardt.
But anyway, congrats on your new job, Mr. Earnhardt.
