Dale, Thanks For The Memories

March 16, 2008

By Kim Roberson

Kim Roberson

Today marks the end of an era for NASCAR fans. When the 44 car makes its last lap this afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway, Dale Jarrett will climb out, hang up his helmet, and walk away from driving in NASCAR’s top series after 668 starts. DJ has 32 wins, 163 top 5’s, 260 top 10’s, and walked away as the 1999 Cup Champion while driving the 88 for Robert Yates Racing.

Not bad for a guy who had no plans to follow in his fathers shoes.

Ned Jarrett, Dale’s father, was a two-time Grand National Champion himself. He retired in 1965, and says he had no plans for any of his sons to follow him in the stock car racing business. Ned explained that Dale lettered in four sports in High School, and could have had a full scholarship to several schools for his golf playing abilities. That changed in 1977, when Dale and two friends were working to get a car ready to race at Hickory Motor Speedway. As Ned tells it, Dale had no plans to drive the car, but was told if he could get an engine for the guys to use, he could run the car in the race. Dale went to his father, who went to a family friend who happened to have a race engine he wasn’t using. Dale started last in the race, ended up 9th, and Ned explained as soon as he was out of the car, he told his dad that is what he wanted to do for a living.

Five years later, DJ got his first start in what was then the Busch Series, running a Ford for Horace Isenhower. Two years later, he made his first Cup start, running the 1984 Sovran Bank 500 at Martinsville driving the #02 Chevrolet for Emanuel Zervakis. It would take another seven years for Jarrett to get his first win, driving the legendary Wood Brothers #21 and Michigan International Speedway. In 1993, DJ won the first of his three Daytona 500’s, defeating the late Dale Earnhardt in what became known as "The Dale and Dale Show". The race is probably most memorable for fans because his father was in the booth calling the race for CBS, and Ned proudly called his son’s victory as mother Martha covered her eyes in the family van. “C’mon Dale, go baby go” called Ned as Dale led Earnhardt on the last lap. “Alright, c’mon…hang on the inside…don’t let him get on the inside of you coming in this turn…here he comes…Earnhardt…it’s the Dale and Dale show as they come into turn four…you know who I’m pulling for, it’s Dale Jarrett…bring her down to the inside there, don’t let him get down there…he’s gonna make it! Dale Jarrett is gonna win the Daytona 500!” For a father who didn’t want his son to follow in his footsteps, could Ned have been any more proud of his son that day? When DJ climbed out of the car, a huge grin on his face, he told his father “You came so close back, I believe it was in ’63, when you ran out of fuel…I thought I’d get this one for the whole family.”

When I took my parents to Daytona 500 qualifying 12 years later, we were sitting up in the stands and my parents were asking me about the various drivers. This was the first time any of us had been to Daytona for any kind of racing, and the first time my folks had been to any kind of NASCAR event. When DJ went out in the 88 UPS car, my dad leaned over and said “Isn’t that Dale Jarrett’s car?” I said yes, and he said “Isn’t he one of the older guys?” I nodded and he leaned back in his seat and said “I think that is who I am going to root for. We old guys have to stick together.” And that is how my dad became a DJ fan.

Since that day, dad has followed DJ, and when we talk after the races on Sunday, we talk about how he did. He has a brown UPS golf shirt he wears out on the course with his golfing buddies, and a UPS embroidered bathrobe he wears around the house. After today, he will have to find a new favorite driver, and he isn’t sure who will be the new guy on the top of his list. “There aren’t too many old guys left.”

As for Jarrett, he says he has tried to keep his mind off the fact that today is his last point’s race. Sure, he’ll be back in May for the All Star Race, but today effectively marks the end of his career.

"It's been a terrific experience," Jarrett told reporters this week. "When I climb from the car [after the race], I'm sure it's going to be pretty emotional." He expects there will be tears…it is just a matter of where he will shed them. "If ya'll just let me walk away, I can go back to the motorhome or back home and have my tears there."

Ironically, Jarrett actually owns tickets to Bristol. "For about seven years now we have owned six tickets to the Nationwide Series races and the Sprint Cup Series races. So I still have those and it is still the most requested ticket we have (by friends and family)."

Not that DJ will need tickets to see the races. He might be getting out of the car, but he is hardly getting out of NASCAR. Since the beginning of the season, Jarrett has been following yet another milestone laid by his father: broadcasting NASCAR for ESPN/ABC. It was a move he made after talking to his father. "I think it was neat that he was asked to do it, and he's good at it," Ned told USA Today earlier this week. "With his experiences dealing with the media, it just seemed to make him comfortable in front of the microphone. He'll make it into a second career, and it'll probably help his notoriety as much as driving a race car as it did for me."

Ned will watch his son begin his final race from the starters stand today as he waves the green flag for the Food City 500.

I have a feeling that DJ won’t be the only one shedding tears today as the checkered flag waves 500 laps later. We won’t be seeing Dale in his UPS shorts (“Maybe you should stick with pants”), the little boy no longer needs to hold his breath until Dale races “that big brown truck”, and we won’t hear the mall attendant call out “Will the owner of a white Ford Taurus please race the big brown truck”. This year, we were rewarded with DJ not only racing the truck, but racing it against former teammate Elliott Sadler, Kyle Petty, Bobby Labonte, Martin Truex Jr. And there was his dad on the sidelines, cheering “Go Dale, Go!” That ad makes me tear up as I watch Dale take the key to the truck off the keychain, and hang it up...but he keeps the keychain…and the memories.

Thanks for the memories Dale. Thank you very much.

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