Earnhardt Nation: The Full-Throttle Saga of NASCAR's First Family

by Jay Busbee

Overview

A colorful, fearless portrait of the larger-than-life first family of NASCAR, the Earnhardts, and the rise of the world’s fastest stock car racing organization.

More than sixty years ago, Ralph Earnhardt toiled in a cotton mill in his native North Carolina to support his growing family. Weekends he could be found going pedal to the metal at the dirt tracks, taking on the competition in the early days of box car racing and becoming one of the best short-track drivers in the state. His son, Dale Earnhardt Sr., would become one of the greatest drivers of all time, and his grandson Dale Jr, would become NASCAR’s most popular driver of the 2000s. From a simple backyard garage, the Earnhardts reached the highest echelons of professional stock car racing and became the stuff of myth for fans.

Earnhardt Nation is the story of this car racing dynasty and the business that would make them rich and famous—and nearly tear them apart. Covering all the white-knuckle races, including the final lap at the Daytona 500 that claimed the life of the Intimidator, Earnhardt Nation goes deep into the fast-paced world of NASCAR, its royal family’s obsession with speed, and their struggle with celebrity. Jay Busbee takes us deep inside the lives of these men and women who shaped NASCAR. He delves into their personal and professional lives, from failed marriages to rivalries large and small to complex and competitive father-son relationships that have reverberated through generations, and explores the legacy the Earnhardts struggle to uphold.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062367723
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/14/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	368
Sales rank:	447,148
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jay Busbee is a lead writer at Yahoo Sports, where he writes for the official Yahoo Sports NASCAR Blog. He lives in Atlanta with his family.

Table of Contents

Prologue 1

Chapter 1 Up From Dirt 15

Chapter 2 Go or Blow 25

Chapter 3 That Earnhardt Boy 35

Chapter 4 Gimme Back My Bullets 47

Chapter 5 Keep Your Damn Composure 63

Chapter 6 Win Some, Lose Some, Wreck Some 71

Chapter 7 If There Ain't A Hole, Make One 87

Chapter 8 I Don't Look Like No Eleven-Millionaire 101

Chapter 9 Wonder Boy 111

Chapter 10 Hell-Raisers 123

Chapter 11 Milk Toast 135

Chapter 12 The Gunslinger Slows 149

Chapter 13 No More Monkeys 161

Chapter 14 Earnhardt vs. Earnhardt 171

Chapter 15 Cage-Rattling 181

Chapter 16 Find Your Own Way Home 189

Chapter 17 Lost 201

Chapter 18 It Didn't Look That Bad 209

Chapter 19 The Days After The Day 221

Chapter 20 The Savior's Burden 229

Chapter 21 Free Beer 241

Chapter 22 The Schism 255

Chapter 23 Second Chances 263

Chapter 24 Eulogies and Memories 277

Chapter 25 @DaleJR 287

Chapter 26 Time Rolls On 299

Epilogue 315

Acknowledgments 321

Bibliography 325

Editorial Reviews

A complicated family. A Paul Bunyan-like legend. A nation in mourning. A sport in transition. Chronicling any one of those topics by itself would be like trying to run Talladega in a minivan. But Jay Busbee steers us through it all like an Earnhardt racing in the draft.” — Ryan McGee, ESPN.com senior writer and SportsCenter correspondent

“Jay Busbee drives us down a winding road into three generations of NASCAR’s biggest and most popular stars. Once Busbee takes you lap by lap through the tragic events of February 18, 2001, you won’t be able to put this book down.” — Mike Joy, leading NASCAR announcer, Fox Sports

“In capturing the Earnhardt family’s legacy, Jay Busbee conveys the importance of these larger-than-life characters during a critical time for NASCAR. This book has stories I read for the first time, and each reinforced my appreciation for the role the Earnhardts have played in the sport.” — Mike Helton, president of NASCAR

“Whether you loved Dale Earnhardt Sr. like a hero or pulled against him, Earnhardt Nation is an absolute must-read! Like so many others in the sport, I have lived this book, yet it still opened my eyes and ears to stories I’d never heard before.” — Larry McReynolds. Fox NASCAR analyst and Dale Sr.'s Daytona 500-winner crew chief

From the Publisher

Whether you loved Dale Earnhardt Sr. like a hero or pulled against him, Earnhardt Nation is an absolute must-read! Like so many others in the sport, I have lived this book, yet it still opened my eyes and ears to stories I’d never heard before.

Larry McReynolds. Fox NASCAR analyst and Dale Sr.'s Daytona 500-winner crew chief

A complicated family. A Paul Bunyan-like legend. A nation in mourning. A sport in transition. Chronicling any one of those topics by itself would be like trying to run Talladega in a minivan. But Jay Busbee steers us through it all like an Earnhardt racing in the draft.

Ryan McGee

11/16/2015
In this professional history of the Earnhardt family of race car drivers, journalist and editor Busbee focuses on its most polarizing member, Dale Earnhardt Sr., often called the Intimidator. Dale’s father, Ralph, began short-track racing in his native North Carolina in the late 1940s as a way to make extra money and escape the tedious life of a cotton mill “lint head.” Dale Sr. inherited his father’s love of speed and went on to become one of the most successful drivers in NASCAR history, winning 76 Winston Cup races before his death in a collision at the Daytona 500. His son Dale Jr. took to racing as well and gained celebrity that rivaled his father’s. Busbee smoothly integrates the Earnhardt family saga with the evolution of stock-car racing from its Southern bootlegger roots to its current status as a multibillion-dollar institution. In his role as Yahoo’s longtime NASCAR reporter, Busbee has an easy familiarity with the legends and technicalities of the sport, but never drifts too far into racing arcana for a general audience. Busbee’s narrative may lack stunning revelations, but it provides an engaging account of the tragedies and dramas of an archetypal family in a uniquely American sport. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Jay Busbee drives us down a winding road into three generations of NASCAR’s biggest and most popular stars. Once Busbee takes you lap by lap through the tragic events of February 18, 2001, you won’t be able to put this book down.

Mike Joy

In capturing the Earnhardt family’s legacy, Jay Busbee conveys the importance of these larger-than-life characters during a critical time for NASCAR. This book has stories I read for the first time, and each reinforced my appreciation for the role the Earnhardts have played in the sport.

Mike Helton

01/01/2016
The name Earnhardt goes hand in hand with NASCAR, and sports journalist Busbee (Yahoo Sports) examines three generations of this racing family in his debut. Mechanic and tinkerer Ralph Earnhardt quit his job to earn a living on the early tracks, winning his first NASCAR championship in 1956. His son Dale Earnhardt, a feared competitor known as "The Intimidator" and "The Man in Black," lost his life in a crash at the Daytona 500 in 2001. Without exploiting or sensationalizing his subjects, Busbee recounts tales of family neglect, legal battles, and the excesses of the NASCAR life without dwelling heavily on the beer, women, and rock 'n' roll. He keeps the focus adeptly on the father-son relationships among the Earnhardts, and the control of the racing business after Dale's death, when Dale Jr. discovered that he didn't have control of the rights to his own name. While seatbelt and other equipment failure contributed to Dale Sr.'s death, it also led to mandatory safety devices being used in all races. VERDICT Racing fans will be pleased with this evenhanded and insightful treatment of the Earnhardts; readers with only a casual interest in racing will enjoy the tale of this popular spectator sport.—Susan Belsky, Oshkosh P.L., WI

Library Journal

2015-12-08
A pit-crew view of a definitively dangerous sport-turned-big business and cultural bellwether. Forget the fireworks and half-clad cheerleaders: when Dale Earnhardt (1951-2001) showed up at a racetrack, "his presence alone was enough to get the denizens of a nursing home up on their feet." Yahoo! Sports writer Busbee's account is appropriately lively, a tour de force of bravado. Still, death pervades the book, which begins with the unexpected end of "the Intimidator" on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. "Whenever Dale Earnhardt wanted a win," writes the author, "he'd eventually get it"—but not on this chaotic, big-purse day, when crashes had taken out half the competing field already. Tracking back and then forward, Busbee examines Earnhardt's storied career, not so much with an eye to the wins and thrilling victories as with a view to how Earnhardt changed auto racing, monetizing it with souvenirs and endorsements, driving not just a car, but the business and brand that he built, which "rivaled the most popular athletes of the era—Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods." Earnhardt's son continues on, though with many differences: "His father treated the press like broccoli, an annoying necessity. Junior's press conferences are often remarkable—part therapy session and part stand-up routine." Whether by virtue of father or son or, for that matter, grandfather, the Earnhardt legacy remains strong in racing today. Those who denigrate NASCAR racing as the sport of stars-and-bars-waving louts may be surprised at Busbee's fluency and thoughtful approach to his subject as well as his knack for just the right transition—including the closing, which is perfect, for after all the business and profit-taking and statistics are racked up, what remains for the rest of us, in appropriate homage, is to find a stretch of empty road and "floor it." A smart look at an iconic but not necessarily admirable superstar and at what goes on behind the scenes in big-money sports.

Kirkus Reviews