Dale Sr. Could Have Been Rowdy…And That Doesn’t Mean Kyle Busch
Column By: REID SPENCER / NASCAR – DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Could you have imagined the late Dale Earnhardt as the Rowdy Burns character in the 1990 stock car racing film “Days of Thunder?”
According to Dale Earnhardt Jr., who on Saturday night will make his last trip around Daytona International Speedway in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, that casting scenario might have been close to the truth.
“The rumor was they offered Dad the role of Rowdy Burns,” Earnhardt said on Friday during a question-and-answer session with reporters. “I don’t know if that is really true or not, but that was the rumor. But Dad turned it down because he didn’t want to play the bad guy.
“Just a rumor, I don’t know if it is true or not. I was so young, you hear the rumor later, but I never did get a chance to figure out if it was really true or not.”
The part of Rowdy ultimately went to Alabama-born actor Michael Rooker, who played one of the primary adversaries to Cole Trickle, played by Tom Cruise.
And though Dale Jr. doesn’t recall with certainty whether the Rowdy role was offered to his father, he remembers vividly Cruise’s visit to the Earnhardts’ Deer Head race shop (so named for the hunting trophies that lined the walls).
“Tom Cruise comes over to the Deer Head Shop,” Earnhardt said. “DEI (Dale Earnhardt Inc.) wasn’t built yet. So we are excited. We are going to meet Tom Cruise. Me and (sister) Kelley (Earnhardt Miller) are there – we are giddy.
“And he comes in… he’s about a foot shorter than I thought he’d be, and he had pimples all over his face. I remember that. They (Cruise and the film’s producer and director) go into Dad’s office. And they come out 30 minutes later, and I guess they were picking Dad’s brain.
And that’s where the rumors originated.
In true “Days of Thunder” fashion, NASCAR fans will be able to ride with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Saturday night, when the in-car video from the No. 88 Chevrolet will be live-streamed on Facebook Live during the Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola (7:30 p.m. ET on NBC).
Viewers will be able to get an up-close look at Earnhardt’s last ride at “The World Center of Racing” as a full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver.
EVEN WITH A WIN, RICKY STENHOUSE JR. HAS SOME CATCHING UP TO DO
Although Ricky Stenhouse Jr. won at Talladega Superspeedway in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ most recent restrictor-plate race, the driver of the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford isn’t definitively locked into NASCAR’s playoffs – but the odds are heavily in his favor.
Assuming Stenhouse makes the playoff, however, he’ll start in a deep hole to Martin Truex Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Larson, who have accumulated 21, 16 and 13 playoff points, respectively.
Truex has won a whopping 11 stage points to go with his 10 playoff points earned from two victories. Stenhouse, on the other hand, has only the five playoff points earned from his Talladega win, and without improvement in that respect, he’ll start the playoffs at a disadvantage.
“You have to think about the playoffs and how far behind you are when you start the playoffs,” Stenhouse said. “You definitely want to get more stage points, and that’s a difficult thing to do when Martin and Kyle and those guys are taking them all. They’re doing what they have to do. It’s going to be a lot easier (playoff) for them.
“It’s definitely a priority for us to get stage wins. Here at Daytona is a good chance for us to play a little strategy, try and get a stage win and try and put ourselves in position to get a win. I think if we prioritize this weekend, it would probably be the win and get five more points instead of stage win and only getting a point.”
When it comes to races at non-plate tracks, the approach might change.
“That’s a concern of ours. Something that we’ve been talking about is to go out and get stage wins without really having a good car (using strategy). At our place, it’s just trying to get our car better where we’re capable of going out and winning stages.”
LONG-TIME RACING WRITER DUSTY BRANDEL IS 2018 SQUIER-HALL AWARD WINNER
You’d be hard-pressed to find a racing journalist with a more comprehensive resume than that of Norma “Dusty” Brandel, who on Friday was named the 2018 recipient of the Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence.
Brandel began her career in 1955 as a writer for the Hollywood Citizen News. She covered her first NASCAR race in 1972 at Ontario Speedway and was the first woman to report from inside the NASCAR garage.
In 2001, Brandel received the Angelo Angelopolous Award from the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association (AARWBA), for which she currently serves as president and executive director.
“As the first woman to report from inside the NASCAR garage, Dusty Brandel blazed a trail for generations of reporters who followed her lead,” said Brian France, NASCAR chairman and CEO.
“Though she was a pioneer for female journalists, that fact soon became just a footnote in an exemplary career – her journalistic talents and her dedication throughout a more than six-decade career far transcended gender. We look forward to honoring her with the well-deserved Squier-Hall Award.”
Brandel will be honored with the Squier-Hall Award, named for legendary broadcasters Ken Squier and Barney Hall, during 2018 NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction festivities in Charlotte.
