The Dale Jr. Download - 243 - Growing Up Eury

Episode Date: February 11, 2019

The season debut of the Dale Jr. Download Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DirtyMoMedia  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is a production of Dirty Mo Media. Hey everybody, it's Dale Jr. We're back again for another season of the Dale Jr. download. Not much has changed. No. Actually, a lot has changed. We got a whole new studio, and a lot of hard work went into it. Really excited about that.

And we're going to put on some awesome shows this season, and I'm excited to get started. So Mike Davis is back as my co-host, Our first, we're going to have a lot more guests this year, Mike. Our guest for today's podcast is going to be Tony Erie Jr. and Tony Year's Senior. And we'll talk to them in a little bit, but let's get started. Year 2019. Set.

Build. Microphone. One, two, three. A shift. Video. Are you ready? Rolling. Dale Jr.

Down. Podcast. Go. Dead. Earl, Jr. Check the fire. You're in. Oh, yeah.

My face. Drivers need to shut up and dance. The Dahl Fun Meter Pell. The Dale Jr. Download. The season starts now. I think

Matthew Dillner has a little too much fun putting those together. No. What made you think that? We talked about, you know, we got a new studio. Matthew Dillner, We also have a new partner.

Leah Vaughn is going to be on the show. You're going to hear from Leah from time to time throughout the season. She's going to have a lot of cool. I won't really go through that detail. She's going to have a lot of cool input on the show. And it's going to be social media-based. So as we're doing the show, there'll be things happening on our social media handles, the dirty-mode media social media handles.

And Leah will be controlling most of that. Live polls, interaction with you fans as we're listening. and doing the show as they're listening. But excited about all this. It's going to be fun this season. We also have NBCSN covering the show for an complete hour on Tuesdays at 5 o'clock. It's replacing the 5 o'clock NASCAR America that you typically had last year. Well, now it's NASCAR America presents the Dale Jr. download starting at 5 o'clock on NBCSN.

So it's going to be exciting year. The studio is amazing. Mike, I know that you spearheaded this. You've had a lot of help. You may can go into detail about that, but it looks incredible. Well, we basically pillaged to everything at your property. We walked over here. So basically, we just moved dirty mow acres right into the shop here.

And so listen, the question is, do you like it? If you're happy, if you think this is a good representation, I mean, we got a little Jimmy Means over here in the corner. We got a pinball machine that's probably not even in a shot that is special to you. This is a little, it's a little shrine, to be honest with you. Absolutely. As we go through the season, we can get into detail on. what these items mean and their reference to whatever has happened in my life or your life even and the stories will tell.

But I'm excited about the studio. It looks great. It feels great. I think it's going to be fun for our guests. We're going to miss the couch. Are you really great? Really? We'll miss that just a little bit.

A little bit. Nobody could get too tired on this set. I've already had people on social media say that we should bronze the couch. some way somehow we should you know be able to remember the couch and acknowledge its assistance

in helping us create this awesome podcast over the year Well the couch is now in Aunt Kathy's living room That's right There you go I mean he's now a living room couch So it's still

Still doing his thing Yeah still the family Well So let's get right into What's going on in the NASCAR world Before we bring on our guest Tony Uri Jr. and Tony U.S. Senior, we invited Tony Jr., hoping that he would bring Senior.

They're going to get on here in a bit. We're going to talk mainly about their careers before they ever started. We won't talk about Bud 8 days. We won't talk about Hendrick days and all that. I want to hear more about what they did when they started racing. What's their memories of getting started in racing? But we're going to talk a little NASCAR news before then. There's a lot going on in the sport.

We had a race yesterday, the Clash. Did you guys watch the Clash? Which version of it? I watched the first, before the rain, first rain delay, first rain delay, I got to, finally had a race that didn't actually finish. I went old school and MRN did on the way back, driving from Daytona. Well, you probably got the better version listening to it that way, Matthew. It was, you know, the rain was very, the rain's always difficult when you have that kind of slow in the process of the race.

You know, we kept having their cars come down pit road, and that's always kind of, you know, kind of rough to be able to enjoy the race that way. The guys ran around the top. Everybody got in line. It wasn't very exciting. And the fans will say, as the race is going on, the fan's reaction to that is, why won't they get out of line? This is boring.

Well, there's a lot of reasons I'll go over them. The package itself creates some of that. So we can look at changing the cars a little bit to try to make the cars race a little better so that when you do get out of line, you don't go straight to the back. If the drivers could pull out a line and know that they would not go right to the rear, they would. They would pull out a line, but the drivers will not pull out a line because they know they're going to the back. And that's a fault of the package and the way the car races, the way that spoiler, restrictor plate, and all that works together. And so the drivers are put in a box.

They sort of have their hands tied behind their back in that situation. It's not that they want to ride around for all those laps doing nothing. Believe me, race car drivers love running two and three wide. They love trying to get the lead, take the lead. They all have big egos, and they want to satisfy those by being badass, and the package doesn't allow them to do that. So once two or three or four cars get to that top line, that basically takes control over the race,

and there's nothing you can do about it. saw it at a few points in the race where the bottom line tried their best to form some kind of lane and create some momentum, and it just never panned out. So NASCAR can look at changing the package. Well, good luck. They are. When we go to Talladega, Daytona, Talladega later this year, we won't be racing a package like this. Now, do I know what that new package is going to be like and race like? No, I don't.

I don't know what that's going to look like. I don't know whether that will fix it, but I'm just trying to help people understand why the drivers do what they do, why they were all running up against that line, and it isn't preference. It isn't by choice. It's by necessity.

And hopefully, going forward, hopefully the Daytona 500 with more cars out there won't be like that. There's a good possibility that if enough cars get in that type line, that will happen. There's nothing you can do about it. But if it's really hot and warm and slick

and the track gets a little difficult that could create some unique situations. So do I need to lose my mind or not lose my mind yet about packages? Oh, yeah. Mike loves packages like you love 8 by 10 photos. We started off. I don't, look, I'm sure there are good reasons why NASCAR did not just go right into the new tapered spacer for this race like they will at Talladeg and Daytona going on throughout the year. I don't know why they didn't just jump on into the Daytona 500 with both feet

and start with the new taper spacer package, right? they didn't and so this is what we have we'll see as maybe on Thursday when we go to the qualifiers if it looks any different if we see more of that in the qualifiers then the Daytona 500 could be similar and that'll be frustrating one of the things that I think they could do to help this clash and I say this I hate I've tried to avoid playing devil's advocate and you know especially after the going, well, this is what they should have done. I try to avoid doing that because it's annoys me when people do it, and I don't want to be that guy,

but I'm only going to say this because I'm afraid that the clash is going to end up getting scrapped altogether. There's been a little chatter about what's the important of this race, is it necessary and so forth, slimming down the schedule and whatnot. and the race itself had lost its identity. I mean, look at all the different names that they've called it over the years and how you're eligible to get into the race. That's changed. All that muddied the waters, all right,

and created an identity crisis for this race. Here's how you cure all those issues. You can cure how they raced in that race. You can cure identity of the race itself. It needs to be strictly for poll winners. I've said this before. They need to go to strictly poll winners of the race. Nobody else gets in.

If you win a poll, you get to run the race. All right. And if that leaves out your stars, so be it. So be it. It's an invitation only, and it will create some interesting conversation about poll winners each week. When guys would win the poll in the 80s, 90s, whatever, when this race had an identity,

they would get out and be excited and say in their interview, I'm in the clash next year. This is exciting. We are in the clash because it was important to be in that race. Just like when you would win, I'm in the All-Star race now. Yeah. Because I won. All right.

So if they would go back to just having poll winners eligible only, no other eligibility, poll winners only, 20 laps. Run the race in 20, it's a 20-lapse sprint. That's what it was. That's what it should be. Run it before qualifying. It is not the dessert of the day. It is not the premier event of the day. Poll is. Poll qualifying is. I think they should be separate days anyway because you should have headlines. I disagree. I think it should be at the start of the day. The poll winner, setting the field, setting the front row for the Daytona 500 is the focus. This clash is a 20-lap exhibition for poll winners at the start of the day. That's to celebrate what those guys accomplished the year before by getting the poll, right?

You have that race, that gets you warmed up for qualifying. And then, because look how qualifying is important. Qualifying is the main thing, but like I look at it like yesterday, I'm driving, and I'm thinking, okay, what's going to be the headline today? Qualifying, who's on the poll for the Daytona 500 should be the darn headline. But then if something happens, Jimmy wins, and all this big wreck happens and all that, and that might be the headline for our sports. I liked it when it was two separate days

because you'd have two separate big headlines of our sport being out there. I don't think you need to spread it out over the weekend. I think that you can have it. You can have this 20-lap race at the start of the day. Then you have qualifying proceeding that. You celebrate the front row and the poll winner of the biggest race of the year, and then

you're done. The question is, is the risk greater than the reward to run the clash? Most people are bringing different cars and... Of course I'll bring a different cars. Who wouldn't want to win a damn race at Daytona? That's the whole thing. That used to be the whole point. Well, I guess I'm asking, I mean, like, what do you think the crew's crew?

I mean, is this not, is this why people would be considering scrapping that race? People would consider scrapping the race because of its relevance and its importance and its identity, which it doesn't really attain anymore. It has lost a lot of that over the years with multiple different name changes, the multiple different ways you could get eligible for the race. At one point, anyone and everyone could get into the race. if you had a valid North Carolina or United States driver's license and had competed in any type of stock car racing event in the previous year,

you basically could enter into what was the shootout or whatever the hell they call it, the unlimited. So they just need to go back to what it used to be. It was great. Then it can be great again. We don't need to have a fault, you know, this mid-race caution period for no reason. I mean, that basically set, that caution period is there in the middle of that race, and there's no point in racing until that, you know, until beyond that caution period.

Everybody sat there and watched that happen and knows that, hey, man, these guys aren't going to race till the end. Well, let's get rid of all that. Let's get rid of that nonsense and just have a 20-lap race and let them go. And anybody that does race, they shame, the other drivers will shame them. What are you racing at lap 6-4? Just get to the end. Yeah, there's a caution anyway. Yeah, that's good.

Yeah. Let's just get to the caution and get beyond that. Let's get rid of all that. So that's my two cents. Well, hold on. Did you have an opinion on how that race unfold? Yeah, absolutely. A lot of people blame Jimmy.

A lot of people, you know, said that Menard came down. I was reading an old, I was reading this old article. So Benny Parsons won the Daytona 500 in 75, 76, right? David Pierce, is leading the race, he comes up on a couple of lap cars, and he spins out going down the back straightaway. David Pearson spun out, leading the Daytona 500 with just a handful of laps to go, handing the victory to Benny Parsons. Everybody was up in arms about how that happened, and David Pearson got out and said, look, it wasn't a lap car's fault. It wasn't this guy and this guy. It wasn't nobody else's fault.

It's just how when I got in that area, it moved the cars around and created a problem and got me spun out. All right, I had contact with another car. is, and people just don't understand how the cars are moving around going at that speed. How the cars, the cars interact with each other and are manipulated by each other. And the movement of the 48 from out behind the 21 affects the 21's car. And he's having to control his car because it's trying to move around because of what Jimmy did. Jimmy just went from behind him to his left rear quarter panel, and the 21 car Menard has to correct for that

because it tries to steer his car in one way or another. All right? People don't realize that. They think the cars are just going, and the guys are in complete control. They're not. All right. So as Paul Menard had to adjust for that maneuver,

that change in air pressure or what happened, whatever creates that function of his car moving around by the air, he steered to the left a little bit. Jimmy was very aggressive in trying to side draft the 21, didn't anticipate the 21 moving, and he hit him. He was very aggressive in trying to side of the 21 car. So in my mind, it's a bit, it's a racing deal.

They're all at fault and nobody's at fault. And so, you know, you could say that Jimmy was extremely aggressive trying to side draft. He didn't disagree with that. He said it. Right. And so I would put that, I would put a little bit of responsibility on Jimmy for being very aggressive for side drafting, but also the 21 car did move. He had a movement, but albeit it was only a half a foot to a foot.

But that's all it takes. If Jimmy's going to be that aggressive on the side draft, the 21 cannot be moving. But you don't know how the change from Jimmy coming, Jimmy moving out from behind that 21, you do not know what the 21 had to do with the steering wheel. to correct how that changed his car. Because the cars move around. If I get to the, if I try to side draft a guy, it sucks his car closer to me. It can do some weird things out there.

And that's what David Pearson was trying to say about how he got in a crash on the back straightaway and lost the Daytona 500. He's like, it's nobody's fault. People don't understand how the cars move around when they manipulate each other and move each other around and they can make contact without totally unintentional.

And so, you know, I was just happened to read that story yesterday and thought, man, this is so similar. And here is David Pearson, one of the greatest of all time, in a same situation with the same comments as my opinion of the wreck. And so, you know, I can't, I don't put it entirely on Jimmy. I don't put it entirely off his shoulders either. And, you know, Menard's car did move, but did Monard have to, you know, did Minard have to make that steering input because of his car? moving around because of how Jimmy moved out from behind him, it could have sucked his car around and made him correct for that. I think that a blocking maneuver would have been way more pronounced.

Oh, I don't think he blocked. I don't think he knew that Jimmy was pulling out. To me, it looked like Jimmy's car moved more right than Paul's left, but both of the attitudes of the car seemed to be affected by the change which you're speaking about. I mean, I'll tell you one thing. It's a terrible feeling when you wreck all the field. I've done that. I bet that's

I bet those commercials Like you want to get away You know like one place You'd rather be Than the one that just wrecked 20 cars In an exhibition race You get to go to Victor Lane So that takes a little sting out of it

But it's embarrassing I was happy for Kevin meandering Think about this You know think about this You tear up and destroy all those cars And you've got to go back in the garage The rest of the week and be around all those people That's embarrassing

I wrecked the whole field one time at a test Oh That's worth Boy, that was terrible. We weren't even racing for nothing, right? We were just out there practicing, and I bumped drafted somebody wrong and wrecked all the cars, and I wanted to crawl in a hole, man.

It happens sometimes with an S-H in front of it. So another piece, we're going to just kind of bounce around on some of the things that's changing this year. One of the things that's not changing, NASCAR announced that Group Qualifying is going to remain for the 2000. C-20019 Cups season. Group qualifying.

So why that's important is because they've changed the package. When we go to Atlanta, it won't be quite as critical. But when we go to a lot of these tracks throughout the year with this new package with less power and so forth and drag and all that. Drafting is going to be important. If you were able to catch any of the action at the test for Las Vegas, you saw kind of how the cars are going to be racing around each other for the most part. a good example of what you might see going out through the season. So if the draft is going to be critical, then group qualifying, you're going to have guys wanting to draft, right?

Needing to draft, right? NASCAR said they're not going to take away group qualifying. So when we go to a lot of these races, at least until maybe they change it, we may see some wild things going on for guys to me, manipulate their speed. We may see a lot of what we see, I think, at the plate tracks where the manufacturers all get together and say, hey, let's all go out together. Let's all try to draft together and create the most speed we can.

You may see the Chevalets, the Toyota, is everybody acting independently as manufacturers to try to work together as a group. NASCAR did say they'll adjust as necessary. They're not going to stick their heads in the sand. I just think it's really interesting. We don't believe single qualifying is going to be very exciting, is what Scott said, and I, I can take it or leave it. You know, the group qualifying for me hasn't really made it more interesting to watch.

Going for the poll. Really? No, it hasn't done much for me either. I mean, the cars are still out there running by themselves in the past they have. You know, the guy goes out there and runs a lap, and there it is. It takes a little longer to do it, single car runs than group. But for me, I could take it or leave it. I could do either one. I'm still sitting there waiting to see who's going to get the poll.

Right. Either way. But anyways, Scott Miller from NASCAR, they don't want to go away from the group qualifying because they think that the single car qualifying is going to be less exciting and fans won't be entertained. So they're going to try to stick with group qualifying. That'll be interesting, something to watch, monitor as we go forward. They are going to shorten the first session by five minutes to ten minutes,

so it'll make things more urgent. I like that. Yep. There'll be five-minute breaks between the sessions instead of the seven. I like that as well. So they're tightened up the window, and that's great for the broadcast to have a tighter program. That's what we really care about at this point of our careers. Yeah, I mean, yeah.

What is that, Mike? One makes sure the TV broadcast is on point. Well, it just makes for a better show, a tighter show. There's no waiting around sitting here. Especially with this group qualifying and the way the package is going to work, I think you might see a lot of waiting around and... See, that looks like a Vegas car dealer. Look at all these papers.

It's incredible. I got a lot of information there. Hit me. I mean, if you're talking about qualifying, we should probably mention that Hendrick Motorsports took the front row to Daytona 500, William Byron and Alex Bowman, your old car?

I'm not surprised. I mean, they've been fast every time they go to plate tracks. There's tons of statistics. They've locked up the front row at Daytona four times over the last, what, eight years or something like that. They're legit there, yeah. Yeah. So got me my first.

Dayton 500 pole. And so their single car speed is incredible. Now, I don't, I'm going to reserve my opinion about what they're going to be like in race conditions. We've seen this kind of speed out of them before, but we always see the Penske cars seem to navigate toward the front in the race itself. They all, so the, the hindric cars seem to have the straight line speed, the ability to run fast alone. But I don't know if they pair that with the handling as well as the Penske cars do. And maybe there's something that the Penske cars have or have figured out

that helps their cars and allows their cars to draft better. Maybe the body of the Ford is better at sucking up and pushing and so forth in the draft than the Chevrolet body. I don't know. I know that there are a lot of things in the Cal induction, the air cleaner and all that, that can change the performance of your car in the draft. So Penske's got a great combination, whatever it is. I expect them to be the cars to beat.

They'll be there. They'll be there. Underrated news hidden in the announcements. Each of NASCAR's three national series will have dedicated series-specific officials to conduct inspections. That's awesome. So yeah, inspections. Begin in 2019, according to NASCAR's vice president of officiating and technical inspection, Elton Sawyer, the series will have 12 dedicated officials for NASCAR. The Xfinity will have 10.

The truck series will have eight. that's important because as we change the inspection process and they've made a new rule that they are going to leave the racetrack with a guaranteed winner there will be no Tuesday penalties and no taking it back. No taking it back to the R&D. Right. So when the race is over there'll be a two-hour process of inspection and a declared official winner.

No if-ans or buts. And that's great. We all like that. I think the drivers have been talking, the drivers like. it. I think the series is glad to get, you know, get that off their hands and not worry about having to go back and take the cars to the R&D Center and do all this year in the week where they got to, you know, penalize a guy and everybody's upset because they never take the wins away, all that good stuff. Well, now that can happen at the racetrack and it'll be done and official

by the end of the evening. Great. Why do you, why would you care that NASCAR has specific officials for each series? Well, as this inspection process gets slimmed down and changed, it still needs integrity. Right? We still don't want guys getting through, you know, the system or game in the system. And if you have, you know, officials that really are spread thin, working across all several series, they're going to have a hard time catching all the tricks, right? So to have dedicated officials to the series, they'll be able to kind of stay up to speed with what's going on and keep everybody honest. So I really like what the changes, I really love these changes that NASCAR is making. If you get, you know, you're talking. You're talking about.

about Steve Phelps and I've been impressed with him in his short time at the helm. He's making some, it sounds like he's listening to fans and also teams. And I don't know, that's an impossible position to be in if you really want to shake it. We, you know, we can sit here and scrutinize NASCAR, but listen, I'll give Steve Phelps the benefit of the doubt and say, listen, man, you go make those changes that you think are best. And because you just ask the question, why do I care? I don't care about how many officials are there. I do care about midweek having to go, oh, wait, this guy didn't win or this guy completely fooled the system, that does affect me a little bit.

And so if this is a wait, this is a pretty ambitious step, one of many that they're making this off season. Yeah, I love everything that I'm hearing about NASCAR and the changes they've made. Jim France, his influence is going to be awesome. He's at the track visible. Yeah, which is excellent. Yeah, Phelps is a great guy. A lot of great history with him. in the sport. He's got a great attitude, and he's honest, maybe even to a fall.

He did an article this week where basically admitted maybe we lost our way as a sport, right? You never hear that from NASCAR. NASCAR would never admit to missteps or mistakes. Not often. But he basically said, look, we're hitting the reset button. We're going to look at a lot of things that we're going to change the way we've done a lot of things and you know we we sort he he put it as we maybe alienated our hardcore fan in search of that new fan well that's he said that process and that practice is over that i think that should have a lot of nascar fans rejoicing to hear those words um i did not expect him to be so honest and for coming so that was great and i think that says a lot about you know phelps yeah as a person yeah

and gives me good confidence. Quickly, David Hoots, who's been in the, he's been a long-time race director up in the NASCAR booth. He basically is the guy who controls the event, all right, tells him when to put out the yellow, tells them one, you know, tells everybody how, you know, tells everything how to go. He runs the race, right? Controls the event. He's calling his last race, the Daytona 500.

Anybody got any comments on that? I think David Hoots has done an amazing job, and I'm going to miss him. Yeah, I mean, you. you know, Hoots, people love them or hate him. The guy has been consistent throughout his career and how he calls races. And that's what you want from a race director. Yeah.

I think he's tough as nails, and that's the kind of guy you won't in that position. And hopefully we've got Tim Berman, and he's going to get up in there and take over that job. Who is that? I don't know who that is. Anybody knows who that. I'm hoping that Tim is just as tough.

Yeah. You need to be tough in those roles, man. Race directors are just like tech inspectors, man. You don't want somebody that's different from race to race or depending on their mood. Right. Also, we've got the new Gen 7 body coming out in a couple of years. There's been a little chatter about that.

NASCAR's going to develop a brand new car. All right. And they're talking about maybe having the composite bodies that the Xfinity cars have, which I think is a great idea. Should have some, you know, cost savings for the teams over the years with that. I mean, the startup costs for that will be a little bit high. But as we go down the road, being able to put together composite bodies is a good thing. It's helped us in Xfinity series.

New engine with horsepower. More resembling, the production model is coming as well. So this is all happening roughly around the same time, 2020, 2021. Per NASCAR, the body needs to, the body will highly resemble the production model. I think that's a great thing. Could you imagine? I mean, that's a throwback. That's a throwback idea.

Isn't that what we have stock car racing for? I mean, isn't this what it's all about? Now we just need some manufacturers to bolt some steel bumpers on there again. Yeah, right. I wonder how long that process takes. I mean, obviously, it's, you know, three, two, three years. But man, you talk about an undertaking right there. Yeah, so I feel, I really hope that this meets the standard and the expectations of us as people in the sport, fans of the sport.

The cars do need to look more, even more than they do today, like the cars we're seeing in the car lot and the cars we see driving up down the road. The cars need to resemble those production models as close as possible. we need to have that manufacturer connection. We need to make it important for manufacturers to want to be in the sport. And why would they want to be in the sport? Why would they want to be involved in NASCAR? Well, that would be to sell cars, right? Sell cars off the car lot.

So the cars need to look like the cars on the car lot. The old win on Sunday, sell on Monday slogan that was used so often back in the 80s and 90s when the cars did more resemble their production counterparts. And more than just stickers, because now you look at those Camaro's out, out there and you look at the Mustangs and all the different things. They're starting to look like the production cars now. They are not just stickers. They're slowly getting there as you see the grill and the bodies, the noses and

tailpieces and so forth. But I think it needs to even be more pronounced and more aggressive to move in that direction to resemble the production model. It's important to the fans too as that manufacturer identity and that importance creates superstar personalities. So, and that connects that superstar to the manufacturer. So, okay, you're a Chevy guy, right? Okay, or maybe there's a, you know, and you know a guy who's a Ford guy.

He ain't going to buy a Chevy. No. He's buying Ford's all his life. Yeah. Right? There's going to be Ford's in his driveway. There's Chevy's in your driveway. That's right.

You're more than likely going to pull for the guys that drive Chevys. He's going to pull for the guys that drive Fords, right? And those manufacturers create the superstars that empower, that sort of bolsters that that superstar, that individual driver's identity and his celebrity, if you will. When you think about Bill Elliott, you think about Ford. You don't think about Chevy. You think about Ford. Bill and Ford were synonymous. They were together. Until he went Dodge. I don't even remember that part. I don't, I think more of Ray Everton to his point. I mean, that's a news story when somebody does that, when they jump ship. I mean,

even when Stuart Haas made their manufacturer change, I mean, to some people, listen, there's an argument to me to be made. One is, there's not that manufacturer identity that, you know, maybe our dads had when they were kids or whatever, you know. Yeah. But if NASCAR has a problem with a disconnect between their, you know, their core fan base, this is necessary. Right. I mean, you know, you got to go back. If Steve Phelps is saying, we may have lost our way, that was all because we got distracted on what, where are we going next? Where are we going next? Where are we going next? Where are kids consuming now? What are, you know, how are you going to get fans? And that's important, but not at the risk of losing the people that

care about those manufacturers. And so if we could have, there's got to be an idea that. that can appease both. Right. And so, you know, I'm with you on that. So all this is connected. So getting the manufacturers to see the importance of being involved is very critical to the health of the sport. And it also helps the drivers' personalities

and be able to sell the drivers to the fan. This is why also you're seeing that new Gen 7 body and engine conversation come up. The changes that we have this year to the package that you'll start to see at Atlanta, is a move in that direction, a transition to get to horsepower numbers that resemble those production models. And that makes it more interesting for new manufacturers to get involved. It is more reasonable financially for the new manufacturers to get involved.

These manufacturers that want to be in the sport cannot afford to come in at 750, 800 horsepower. It's more reasonable for them to consider coming in at 450, 500, 550, whatever. So the opportunity for more manufacturers to be involved, to be able to have a car on the racetrack that looks like the production model that they're selling on the car lot, to have drivers that are connected to that manufacturer and loyal to that manufacturer. That's really very similar to where we were in our heyday. Yes. And it ties right in with Steve Phelps in his conversation about maybe we've lost our way.

So all this sounds really good. Yeah. And my hope, again, is that when these cars are developed and we do get to see the Gen 7 body for the first time, that it looks so similar to the street car. I think that's everybody's hope. Can I just add one more thing? I'm ready to be completely optimistic about NASCAR's future. I'm tired of hearing people, you know, shoot us down. I'm starting to take offense to it, as a matter of fact.

And you know, it's like a lot of people, a lot of people sit. they don't want to throw darts at NASCAR and you know and we get we get hit in the face with it every day but you know the fact of the matter is is that this thing didn't in the sustainability of this sport isn't a coincidence right and there is a connection to the automobile still and so with Steve Phelps it gives me i've made a personal choice to to to hit the master reset and say i'm going to be optimistic about this because frankly it's exhausting it's exhausting sitting here complaining about things it isn't it i mean like you know, the one thing, as I say that, I'm going to complain about one thing. It's like,

I really was rooting for the, to be an awesome weather weekend for Daytona. You know, it's like, I didn't need to see these rain delays and stuff. And that was just so disappointing to me, because I'm really rooting for these changes to work, for people to, you know, finally get exhausted with me on the complaining and find all the good things about NASCAR. If we can literally look at all the good things that we do, while we do this sport, there's a lot more than what we would, you know, go nitpick and complain about. Now, NASCAR will have. this new race director. He's going to have his moments.

People are going to scrutinize his calls. You know, that's going to happen. But listen, I mean, let's really kind of get together here on this. It's just exhausting being the one that sits there and bashes NASCAR. You know, that's just kind of where I'm at with that. I guess my point on that is that's why I'm receiving all these new changes with an open mind about it. Yeah, I think it's important to not look day to day. It's more to look into the future.

We're in a transition with these new rules this year. that are going to take us somewhere. And we're going to take these next couple of years to learn how to make this package work and how to make the racing exciting for the drivers, how to make the cars fun to drive for the drivers. And it's going to be a five to maybe even a 10-year process. Yeah. But the drivers need to jump on board with that as well.

They're not without sin in this. Without a doubt. Yeah. I mean, the drivers, you know, there needs to be a master recalibration of their mentalities. A lot of these young guys, you know, there needs to be some ownership about it. I'm not going to get on my soapbox about them. But I'm just saying is that, you know, that goes across the board. The drivers need to jump on this too.

You don't need to go sit there and scrutinize it when your car is, you know, these rules packages. Again, I'm in the camp. I don't want to have to hear about rules packages because that bores me and I don't relate to it. So I don't need the drivers to force feed that to me at all. Everybody sees all the changes happening within the sport. And I think everybody wants the best for it. Everybody wants the best for it. But you're right, Mike.

Mike, you've got to realize that anytime you say anything bad about the sport, you're taking all the wind out of the sales. That's right. And fans will say, well, I want honesty. All right. That's true. But you also got to think about the health of the sport and the future of the sport and whether what you're going to say or do or how you're going to articulate yourself

is going to help things or hinder things. So we're going into the – I always learned – I learn, too, as a driver, NASCAR is going in this direction. You're going to get on the damn ship? or you're going to stand on the dock. That's right. So you can complain about rules or an infraction or packages, whatever, but ain't nothing changing. Right.

So might as well pull your weight. Get on and pull your weight. All right, so we got the URIs coming up here in a minute. Excited about that. And before we get to that, though, we got a pristine auction read. All right. They're back. Oh, yeah.

So pristine auction was a big supporter of the podcast over the last year. They're back again. And what it is basically is an online sports auction site where you can bid and win authentic sports memorabilia from the comfort of your home. They offer daily auctions where all bids start at $1, so that's pretty cheap. Pretty easy for everybody involved. That didn't go up in the off season. That's good to know. Stayed at a dollar.

It did. There's no waiting around. So the auction is going to end quickly. You've got to hurry over and check it out. They're daily auctions, but they also have other formats. They have the 10-minute auction, which is a lot of fun. items pop up just for 10 minutes and they're gone. And you can jump in there and get some really, really great deals.

And they guarantee the authenticity of their items. It's authenticated by the most trusted sources. There you go. You hit that pronunciation. I've been practicing. 2019, man. You're on it. Well, I've been practicing over the office.

Sitting there reading old racing programs and practicing authenticity. That's his offseason. I've signed for pristine as I know a lot of the driver. have as well. So you know when you're bidding on these items, they are signed by the right, by those individuals. You cannot trust that anywhere else. What's the best part though, Dale?

The best part is so affordable. Yeah. Okay. I didn't know where he was going with that either. I know. I think the best part is knowing is genuine. Because everywhere else you go, I mean, I'll even go on other sites and see autographs and go, that's not mine.

That's not, I did not sign that. What an awful feeling that must be. It is an awful feeling because you know someone's getting taken. Yeah. And that's the worst feeling. But if you go to Prestine, that's my autograph. Any other autograph or item you see on there is genuine. Right now there's a signed die cast by my buddy Martin Tricks Jr.

It's his number 78 car from 2017, his championship season. The bidding is only at $15 a signed die cast. Hell, I might get in on that. It's the blue fade paint scheme. He drove to a win at Kansas. So it's a winning paint scheme. 15 bucks right now. I'm sure that's win up in just the last few minutes.

And I'm sure he left that win and went directly into a tree stand because it was in Kansas. Yeah, or he's coming from a tree stand. Or he was probably both. Go check out. Prestineauction.com now. You'll be hooked. It's free to register. It's free to bid.

So free. It's free, man. You only have to pay for the items you win. That's Pristine Auction spelled P-R-I-S-T-I-I-Oction.com. When you register, be sure to select Dell Jr., download. podcast from the drop-down menu in the how did you hear about a section that lets them know that we sent you and then they'll know to keep supporting our podcast you the listeners are in control thank you all right so our guests are here today for the dale junior download we talked about it we told everybody who was coming on for the first show this year tony yury junior pops is tony yury junior's guest we were hoping that you would come along pops and and we're we're so glad to have both of you here i've got a lot of things that I'm excited to talk about and a lot of things that I don't even know about.

And I'm hoping to have you guys back multiple times this year. And so we can get more, get further down the line and the story that is y'all's lives and career and racing. But for today's show, I kind of wanted to talk a lot about what you guys experienced when you first started. What was your experiences, your first memories of going to the racetrack and each of your driving careers, maybe how, you know, y'all interacted with dad for the first few times. We want to get to that first trip to Daytona that you went on with dad.

I've got pictures of the pit stops and all that. So first, let's just go ahead and kick right into it. Tony Sr., what's your first recollections of racing, your father, Ralph? When did you remember going to the racetrack? Well, my dad, my dad raced at a dirt track there in Canapolis, a quarter mile. Canapolis had a dirt track? Canapas had a dirt track. It was out off of Center Grove Road. It was a little quarter mile, started out street stock racing, playing, just having fun. And dad and my cousin, it just kept escalating

getting bigger and bigger. So it got to where we needed more motor. So we didn't really know a whole lot about motor. So your grandfather, Ralph, called Daddy up and need a water heater putting house. So he goes over, pushed him in a water heater. He goes out in the shop and he's talking to him. and he told him, he said, I'll tell you what I'll do. He says, I'll swap you this water heater job for a motor. He said, I'd need a motor from a car. So he says, well, we'll get you a motor.

That ain't no problem. And so he ended up building him a motor for his little car. So it just kept getting bigger and bigger. Well, they became really close friends and started quail hunting and deer hunting and everything together. So while he was at, he'd stopped by the shop, and they'd just talk and laugh and carry on, you know. So it ended up, me in,

me and Randy and Dale be out in the yard riding a go cart over in the woods or something. Yeah. That's kind of how it all got started, escalated. So this was probably around what year? Oh, this was probably in the 60s. Yeah. Yeah. And so you and Dad were teenagers.

Yeah. So y'all, I've heard stories about y'all hanging out, cruising, you know, driving around town and stuff, but I didn't know y'all knew each other as boys, as young kids. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we, I guess. This Dale was probably 15, 16, whenever I first met him. Yeah.

But me and Randy went to school together, so that, you know, I really knew Randy better than I did Dale. But when I got to hanging out over there, then we got to riding that go-car in the woods and all that stuff. And then we got close with all of them, you know, so it just kind of escalated from there. And then it got to where we was hanging out up there at the idiot circle, riding around the idiot circle. What's the idiot circle? I think I know what that is. Probably the same place we were hanging out, Tony Jigger. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, they had just uptown Canapolis just had a big circle back there, and everybody would go up there and just ride around the circle. When you get tired of riding there, you go to Concord and ride there a little bit. That's where we would go, yeah. All hang out in the parking lot and everything, so. So tell me about that,

tell me about cruising back then. I know a good story about you guys. Y'all saw a guy out there with the car a little bit different, and so y'all went home, worked on yours in the middle of the night. Yeah, we were riding around town there, and your dad had that 56 Chevrolet, and we was cruising around there, and this guy comes in, he's got the front of it all down low on the ground. You know, you didn't see a whole lot of that. Come in, it really looked good.

The back was up, you know. He said, that ain't nothing. I can have mine like that in about an hour. So we take off out of town. We go to the shop, pull it in the shop, got the torch out, jacked it up. Heated the springs up, let her down. We got her like we wandered. Set the camera on it, and we took off.

We went back up town. Give him an hour. Give me an hour. I'll have that thing. That's buddy. Goodness gracious. So what's your first recollection of you and dad going to the racetrack together? Well, you know, I was driving dirt car.

He was driving dirt car, but I never really raced against him. He was always, like, in a different class than I was. You know, he was always there. We, before I started racing, Daddy and Ralph raced in the same class there, and Dale was in the class under that. So by the time I started driving, and Dale had moved on up, so I never got to race against him. But around the old Concorde, the metro line of racetrack, you know, that's where we all raced.

What got you into driving? What made you want to try it? Did he love to go to the Outer Banks fishing? So every weekend when we'd go to the racetrack, he'd let me take his car out and practice it. So every week I was practicing, practicing. So he was going to go to the Outerbrace fishing. I said, well, you just need to let me take that car and racing. He said, I don't care to take it.

So they took off the Outerbank. So me and David, my brother-law, we went to the car. go we went to race. Yeah. And I don't remember how it turned out, but. You ended up building another car? Well, yeah, we ended up building another car. But then later on in that year, they had this race at Metralina.

And they said no drivers that's currently driving could be in that race. But it had to be someone off of your crew had to drive that car. So David Oliver's dad come to me and says, I want you to drive my car. So we went to Metroline. and Randy, he was in Dale's car that he drove, and I drove David Oliver's, and I ended up winning a race. So the next year, Dad said,

all right, I'm going to give you my car, I'm going to build me a new one, so that's how I got started. Ah, okay. And so David Oliver is a guy who owned the car that we restored for you. That was the car that you ran your very last race in? Well, David was the driver of that car, Oh, okay.

Yeah, Danny Simmons owned the car. David Oliver drove it for a while. Yeah. But David Oliver is the, his dad was the owner of the K-2 car. Okay, the pink car, the dad drove. Yes. Yeah, okay. All right.

So you and dad married sisters. Of course they did. Yeah. How'd that happen? Well, he came to me and says, I want to go to Carolina Speedway and race tomorrow's on Sunday. He said, I don't have no help. Will you go with me? I said, yeah, I go with you.

So I ain't doing nothing. So me and him and Randy jumped in the truck. We all took off and went Carolina Speedway to race. We ran that race. We was coming home. This turns into a big story here. Go to town. Go to town.

So we go over there and race. He ended up in a wreck. We fixed it and he finished the race. I don't remember where he finished, but we loaded it up. And we had to take it back to James Miller's house. So it was over in Rimer Town. So we took it back over,

and he's running wide open. He said, I got a date with Brenda. I got to get home. He said, I'm late. He said, I got to go get Brenda. And so when we get to James, he calls Brenda, tells her he's late. She said, well, I can't go nowhere anyway

because the daddy told me I had to take Sandra with me. He says, okay. So he hangs up the phone. He says, you got to go with me tonight. Wingman. Yeah. He said, you've got to go with me. He said, I got to take Sandra with me.

Me and Brenda's got to take Sandra with us. So I said, who is saying her? He says, oh, she's pretty girl. You'll like her. Yeah, your future why. Yeah. So we get in the car, it would take off, and he's just flying. It's the same 56th.

We're flying down the road. We gets out there on Concord-Solberry Highway. I mean, we're running. We're getting it. This guy backs out of the driveway in front of us. We go down through the ditch, knocking the mailboxes down. We're stuck in the ditch. We can't get out.

out. So electric fences up on the front fender, fires just flying off of the front fender. So we'd get out of the car. But Randy, he was in the pastures out on the right. And Dale said, Randy, don't get out that door, that electric fence will get you. So we all go out the left side.

Randy walks right around the car and touches that fence. We laughed. We stand on the side of the road laughing. The car is not really tore up. It's just in the ditch. So stood there figuring out how we were going to get out of ditch. This guy comes back. Randy standing there and stops and he says hey will you take Randy to the

dad's house to get a truck can come back and pull us out of the ditch he said yeah I'd be glad to so Randy jumps in a car with this guy and they take off so they're gonna go get the truck well we're standing there well here comes this guy in a pickup truck somebody Dale knew he said I'll pull you out he just jerks us out of the ditch said all right cool so the man that went towards mailboxes stuff up he's standing out there and we'll be back tomorrow or fixed mailbox All right, so we jump in the car for take off. But now we're going faster than we were the first time.

But we're really late now. So we go by Randy. Randy's coming with a truck. Four guy. Yeah, we've gone flying by him, you know. So we get over to Knappas where the old Kmart is. The cops get us. Oh, man.

So we're sitting in a car. I'm sitting in the car. They got him out. They got him out. They got him in the car. They're over there. They're just talking. I'm sitting in the car.

I'm going like, we're fixing to go to jail right here. I mean, we were hauling it now. We come by where that QT is now, we were hauling it. And I'm sitting there to car. He comes over and he goes, sticks his head in the window. He says, get in the driver's seat, crank it up, and mash it to the floor. No. I said, match it to the floor.

He said, yeah, just stomp it to the floor and make all the noise you can make. Okay, so I crank it up and just like that. He's all right, cuts it off, goes over and gets in the car. I'm going like, what was that all about, you know? So he comes back to his laugh and he said, I got a muffler ticket. So we take off and then we ended up going to pick up Brendan Sander, but that's how it all got. The hangover movie's got nothing on you. I'm serious.

That's like the original hangover. My gosh. So a lot of people think about, you know, y'all is just race car drivers. Y'all had jobs. Y'all had real jobs. Where were you working? Great Dane trailers in Charlotte. Yeah, and how long did you work there?

I worked there 16 years. Really? Yeah. And then their next job was for your dad. Was working for dad. Yeah. Dad worked with you at some point. At great day.

How did that work out? About two or three times he worked out. Would he get fired? He was working in the winter, and then the summer when he started racing, he never showed up, and they'd fire him. Then he'd come back. But he was such a good, loonum, welder, and worker and stuff that he'd come back in the winter and tell Blackman, I'd leave my job back.

He'd hire him back. What kind of work was? was it for you guys? A trailer work, but Dale, he did a lot of aluminum welding and stuff like that. What were you doing? I was doing lift gates, brakes, stuff like that. Yeah, sounds tough. So you end up quitting your job.

Did you quit your job? Yeah. Go work for Dad. So how did that conversation happen? Well, like for three or four years there, I was just work at night. I'd leave Charlotte at 4 o'clock and go straight over there and go to work and we'd work 10 or 11 or whatever. At dads. At dads.

Yeah. It's behind your mom's house. Yeah, so this shop's behind Martha's. Yeah, right. Yeah. So I would go there every day and work at 10 or 11 o'clock. So over the winter, we kind of messed around all winter long, you know, and it comes time to go racing.

We ain't got no car ready. We get a car from Hutch and Pagan, and we start building it, and Harry Hyde Jr., I think, put the body on it. So the car wasn't ready to go, so I keep going over and going to work. with him and Teresa go to St. Thomas. Well, they got married, and that was her honeymoon. Yeah, so they go to St. Thomas. Well, he's got his little bag phone.

That's when the first mobile phone came out. It was in a bag. Yes. So he's down there on the beach with his bag phone. He's calling every two hours. You got, where are y'all at? You're getting anywhere on that car? I said, deal, I got a job.

I have to work every day. I'm only here three or four hours a night. I'm doing all I can do. So he kept on and on. He seemed we weren't going to get it done. What it was, we were going to test with children. So he says, you just need to come to work for me. I said, you've been hollering that for two or three years, but it's never happened.

He said, well, I'm going to have to hire you because that's the only way we're going to get that car done. He said, I'm going to talk it over at Tresa. I'll call you back. So he called me back next day and said, you just need to go in and quit your job and I'm going to hire you. I said, well, we need to talk about how much money you pay him first. Right. I said, I don't trust you. So we got in an argument over to pay and all that.

So I ended up quitting my job. I had a, if he was there 15 years, you got a little retirement thing anyway. So I'd been there 16. So I said, all right, that's what I want to do anyway. So I quit and went to work for him over tomorrow. Did you ever have any reservations down the road, you know, a couple months ago down the road?

You're like, man, I made a mistake. I wish I hadn't done this. No. No, it was good from. It was good from day one. Yeah. So around, I mean, obviously, time Tony Jr's in your life and he's uh how did uh how did Tony Jr. you have to kind of

explain to the listeners how Tony Jr. got involved in racing because he was you know you and you and Sandra split up and then Tony Jr. was not around racing a tonne. So how did you get into racing? How were what was your first memories of going to the racetrack or getting around race cars? I basically Robert G our grandfather I mean that's how I would actually

I remember they were talking about how mean he was and like hey you don't want to be around Robert like he'll wear you out but it was I told mama I said I want to go out there and hang out with granddaddy and I went out there for a weekend

and we mowed grass picked up rocks done the normal stuff that he does but you'd get to go out there in a race shop and like he had all these race cars and I mean you remember it's like there was shed shed in the back it had the old darrell waltrow up 88 car like i'd walk back here and just

pulled a cover off and you'd just be an awe you'd go down in that little shed and that little shed just had pictures of the 71 uh roadrunner all the wrecks i mean just stuff from the 70s and it was just like and you'd be like there were speed records on the wall of like posters and stuff and it's like you didn't you didn't know what all that meant back then but you was just in awe that all this stuff is around yeah And so basically me and Granddady hit it off. Everybody called him Albert. They called me Little Albert because I looked just like him. So we went everywhere together.

I started spending every summer out there. So like I guess I was 14 then. So basically I spent the next three summers staying with Granddaddy. Like I'd get out of school in June and I would stay there in August. Like wouldn't have come back home. Like I enjoyed it so much. But it's one of them deals where if you got your chores done around the house, It's like you got the grass mode, you got the leaves up.

Well, then you could go to the shop. You know, and then some days you'd get to go to Hendrick Motorsports. When they were up in that gray building up there on top of the hill, you'd get to go in there. And I can remember to this day, it's like, there was Cheech and Paul and David Watkins. All these guys are up there, and you're just looking at the stuff they're building. And you're just like, you're in, like, this is so cool. I think it's Tony Bunnell. Worked a lot with Granddady out in a paint shop, so I'd go out there and kind of hang out with him.

but it was just so impressive. Like, Grady took it to another level as far as the way his cars looked. Like, he was going to show up at the racetrack. He was going to run good, but he was going to look good. Was he what they said he was? Was he the intimidating guy that you were scared about initially? He was never to me. I mean, I got chewed out one time.

It was pretty good. What for? I wrecked his scooter. And it was like, I was just telling the guys that shopped this. I mean, it was like, I was out there, he was gone to work over at Hendricks, and I was sitting there with Mike Jared over there at the shop. Yeah.

And I got this bright of deer. I was going to get on that scooter and go across to see Cooter. Cooter lived next door. So I went over there, and I went across the hill, and it, like, jumped, and it done the death wobble, boom, down we went. You know, tore the signal off, tore the mirror off. And I was like, oh, no, this is not good right here. Like, I can't take this butt-whip right here.

So I go in there, and I put it back in its spot, hang his jacket on it. And I can remember to this day, I'm out there mowing. I was like, I ain't going back in that shop. Hopefully I'm gone before he ever realizing it. I can take this chewing over the phone a whole lot better than I can. I mean, I got joining through your head. So I'm out there, and I'm mowing out there as far away from the shop, and I see him come out there.

And he's like, uh-oh, waving. He gives you that hand like this. And I was like, oh, no. So I cruise over there, and I get over there, and he goes, boy, you've been on my scooter. I said, yes, sir. you wrecked my scooter didn't you i said yes sir he goes don't be getting on nothing i got i said okay i said well granddaddy i'll come out here and i'll work the next couple weekends until i pay for i'll pay for it to get it fixed you ain't got no money i ain't gonna have no money

and i'll be in a box dead and my scooter still be tore up i mean i remember like yesterday so when granddaddy passed away Mama's like, well, you know, they give everybody, all the family, you could, you know, you pretty much got first divs. And she's like, what do you want? I said, I want that scooter. Why you want that scooter? I said, because I'm going to fix that scooter.

If it's the last thing I do, I will have that scooter. So that scooter's fixed at my house. The lights back on it, the mirror's back on it. I ride up down the driveway and go get the mail. That's awesome. But it was, it's a classic, you know. He wasn't as bad as everybody made out of it, but he made you appreciate what you were doing, made you put everything you got into it.

Like you're going to do it right, you're going to do it one time. Attention to detail. Attention to detail. And that's probably, I can say that that's probably the one biggest thing that I was really glad I went out there because that's what he taught me. It's like do it once, do it nice and do it right. And you can appreciate and people will applaud you for having a nice piece. So that was the biggest thing that I got out of him.

You know, I just really done that and really just, it was a good time for me. I was really glad I got to do it. One of the things you talk about with Robert G is how pretty his race cars were. And one of the things I would hear about all the time was how he made the dashes look like wood grain. Oh, yeah. So quickly, if you can for all the gearheads, listen, and how would he make that dash look like a wood grain dash? Well, he would basically take it and paint it orange.

Then he would take the torch and take the sud off of it and blow sud across the dash and then take a rag and wipe it. And, I mean, it looked just like wood grain. Like it was one of the... And then he'd clear it? Yep, then he'd clear over it. Yeah. So he was a signature of stuff like that. I mean, you can get into a whole other series of stories of him,

like him and Buddy Parrott, the DiGuard years. Like, I've had so much fun just going over. Like, one night we went Buddy Parrott's house, and I think Todd was probably 20. Brad was still about 17 years old, and just going over and just listening to the DiGard stories, and it's just incredible. Yeah, one of my understanding,

Another favorite of mine is the car that they used to take to Daytona to run a modified race with Darrell Walschip was old Camaro. Yep. And the front front, that, Robert G was regarded as one of the best fabricators and body men in the business. And worked on a number of different cars, recognizable race cars over the years, the 71 K&K Dodge and so forth, worked for Harry Kendrick forever in their body shop. But one of the things they did with that modified on the front fenders, they were big old humps. Oh, yeah. took a fender off Volkswagen and fabricated that into the body of that Camaro. And how would you, I mean, the fact that he could think, this is what I need, where am I going

to get it, I'm going to get it from this place, this car that doesn't even have no connection to a muscle car like a Camaro and merge it into that body and make it work, just incredible. So you spent a lot of time with Robert G. That's our grandfather. but how did you get connected back to your dad? How did you and your dad start to interact? And eventually you guys moved in together. You lived with him for a while.

How did that all happen? Well, the first, I guess, the interaction was like I'd get to see him at the racetrack. Like, that was probably the first incident. Like, I went to Darlington with Granddaddy for the first time. That was probably one of my first races because it was close. I think I went to Daytona in 88 for the July race, but I never got to see the racetrack. and then in 80 I guess it would be what 80

it had to be 80 87 I think I went to the track Darlington and it was kind of funny because like all these guys are over there you went with a box truck with an open trailer you know so that's how you went so we're going down there I'm over there waxing on the car and I can remember I'd look over there and he'd be over right beside him

but that time like there was a feud between Bodine and Earnhardt so I'm sitting over here with all this Levi Garrett stuff on. But Granddaddy pops is over here with all the good rich stuff. And I'm over there, polishing the waxing the car. It was the old Nova that's down there at Hendricks now. And polishing it.

And they're like, what are you doing over there, boy? I said, I'm over here polishing this bumper because this is all y'all gonna see this week. So I started talking smack right then, you know? That's awesome. We ended up, we won the race.

Bowdoin won the race. So our granddaddy gave me every hat, every trophy we had. I'm like, I ain't four foot 10, but I got this armload of stuff and I've walked a long way around Darlington just so I can walk by their truck. I said, is this what you boys are looking for?

And they're like, you keep on and you're going to get it, you know? And I was like laughing and granddad is like, y'all leave my boy alone. Well, just so happening the next week was like, our next couple weeks was like Bristol. So I go into Bristol. Never been to Bristol. You have to unload everything.

take it down in there. So I'm down in there. Well, I started talking my smack again. Well, Rick Boss, he comes over there. Come here, boy, he grabs me, takes me over, rips my shirt off, cuts my shirt off of me. I got my Levi Garrett shirt. He cuts it off of me.

Takes my Levi Garrett hat, pours carousine on. They lighted on fire in the middle of Bristol. Oh, yeah. Seems aggressive. I'm sitting there with a pair of jeans. You know, they all go on a tech. So I'm standing over by the truck by myself. And I'm standing there with no shirt on nothing but a pair of jeans.

And they're like, I'm like, that was all the clothes I got. So they're like, well, here, they get this good red shirt, and they throw it on me. And they're like, all right, now you look like something. Oh, my gosh. So Granddaddy comes back, and they're like, we fixed your boy up.

We got his head right now. So that was kind of like, he's like, you all need to leave my boy alone. I'll be having to hear about that shirt all the way home. You know, but that was kind of like our first interaction to be able to see each other at racetrack and was just racing. And then at that particular time, you know, I'm 16, 17, same deal. Like, you're chasing uptown cruising, you're trying to be a teenager.

But at the same time, I'm driving Hendricks every day after school, trying to do whatever, learn whatever you can just to be around race cars. And then we were building a house. Mom and my stepdad were building a house in Mount Pleasant. So I was driving from Mount Pleasant to Canapolis to go to finish school because I didn't want to change schools because everybody I went to school. school with my whole life. I didn't want to, like I had two more, I had basically a year and a half left. So I'd drive from Mount Pleasant there every day. And then, uh, then it was like I was

living in the travel trailer. Like we only had a, we bought five acres where it had a trailer and then you had a travel trailer. Well, I was living in the travel trailer and mom and stepdad and the two brothers, they were living in the trailer. So basically, we got into it because like one's working first shift, the other one's working third shift. And they wanted me to babysit as soon as I got home. Well, I'm 18 years old. I'm wanting to go hang out with my friends. Instead, I got to two brothers from like three to seven. And then, you know, you're not doing anything. So we kind of got, had a falling out. And then, uh, so mama called Pops and told him, said, you need to come get him. He's gone crazy. Like, you need to come get him. So he comes down there and he sees these,

he's like, he says, you just need to get in the car. So I get in the car. We basically, from that point on. I live with pops. And it's like, we've been like, I guess we'd say we've been more best friends than we have anything, like two roommates. I mean, we love each other, but it's like we've, we were 24-7 together. Yeah. Like we were two roommates, best friends, get up. You know, I stayed at home there for a little bit and he's like, all right, get up all that couch. You're going to work. And he goes, you ain't sitting there burning my electricity up. So I go to work and, um. You went to work at dads. Yep. So I went up there and just helping. It wasn't nobody. him and Rick. About what year is this?

This is probably 90. This is probably 1990. Okay. So I still out of year of school. So when I first got there, that's where we were building that car that's in the showroom over at DEI. It was that first Daytona car. And they had a big rule change and a bunch of stuff went on. So that's when we got the first Hopkins chassis. But I was, like, I could polish a crush panel better than anybody you ever seen. So that's like, I went up there, like, that's all I did.

I polished crushed crushed panels, chrome them up, because I'm sitting down at Grandad's everything that was aluminum. You polished. Like, it didn't go on a racetrack unless it was polished or chrome. So they were laughing at me like, your granddad done ruin you. And I'm polishing this up. But we built that car and I polished everything in it, crushed panels. And Richard Chilers was like, man, this is a beautiful car. Well, we won the next five goodies 300s with it.

Like, that car would hauled butt. But that's basically how it got started. But your dad, he was like, hey, I'll pay you five dollars an hour to work here. And I was like, all right, that sounds cool. I mean, I ain't making nothing. So I'm making $5 an hour. First week I go in there. He's like, all right, come in here.

How many hours you work? I said, 96. He goes, what? I said, 96. He goes, ain't no way. I said, I'd work 96 hours. So he's, Yuri, get in here. So he goes in there and he tells Pops.

Like, this boy says he works 96 hours this week. And he goes, well, if that's what it is, he's rode them down. every day on that refrigerator said that's what it is. He goes, well, do you realize he says that right there? He says, he going to make more money than you got. The clock says, well, that ought to tell you something right there. It goes back to the negotiation of your salary years ago. It was like, I don't know what it was.

It was like right at a grand or something. And I was all, I'm like, yeah, I'm getting ready to get up. You know, my man throws $400 across the table. He goes, this is all you getting. and he goes, and by the way, you're going on salary next week for $200 a week. And I looked at him, I said, I don't think that was in my favor. You know, so I worked probably two years at $200 a week because, I mean, it didn't matter to me about the money. It was being around race cars, being around dad, you know, it's like it was a whole new life for me, basically.

And we had a good time. I mean, when you first start out in this business, it's like you're on the road and you're having a good time. Like you're going from city to city and you're just racing, you know, and me and your dad, we've, we've picked each other on the road. Like, I've had a blast with that. And, you know, it's memories you'll never give up, you know. Yeah. So this is right about that time you went to work for dad.

Robert had slowed down a little bit, wasn't racing as much, didn't wasn't building cars like he was. Yeah. So it was a good transition at that time for you. Yeah, he'd just, he'd really slowed down. Like, I think they kind of shut that whole, um, the Bush deal down back that day. I think he built one other car, and it was that 51. It was that Exxon 51, which was just like he ain't never seen nothing like it.

I think the pedals, the fuel, everything that was steel was chrome and the bike. And you don't see, like, it was like a show car. Like people couldn't believe he was going to put it on the track. And that was the last car he did before he had his stroke. And then, so it was a good transitional period. You know, me and pops getting together. and, you know, then working up there. But, I mean, it's just, that was kind of the whole getting into it.

I mean, the first race I ever went to was with Rick Hendrick down at Road Atlanta. You know, we went down there for a test. He was going to run that race down there. So that was the first race I'd ever been to in my life. Really? Yeah, and that's like Rick's got a picture of me like I'm staring over the fender looking at the motor, and it's like, I ain't ever seen nothing like that. Like, you don't pop the hood on 80 Camaro and it looked like that, you know?

So it was pretty wild Just kind of seeing everything So I want to ask you about your driving career When did you run your first race? How old were you? I guess I was, I don't know, what was I? I had to be like 17. Yeah.

What were you driving? I drove a, actually it was a kind of a funny story Because it was like, you guys We're talking about building a street stock Or a super stock. Yeah. You know, you had to have a cage with a stock front and rear clip And you and Carrie Dale

We're going to go run that. and they went and got this chassis. There was goat standing in the middle of it. He even cudzu out of it. So they went down there to get that car and they were going to make a superstock out of it. Well, their daddy was like, no, we ain't doing all that.

So we're going to go down here, Doug Wayne's, get you a Monte Carlo, put you a cage in it, and that's what we're going to do. So that's what they went down there and did. Well, I went over there to Dale, and I was like, hey, any chance you're going to do something with that chassis? What you wanted for? And I was like, well, I mean,

y'all hang out here to like 10, 11 o'clock every night. I said, I'll build me a car. All right. Well, don't you take nothing out of money. And we just bought like that Team 3 deal, Kenny Wallace. The Gray 24? Yeah. He went out of business.

And Dale went down there and bought everything. Got it for basically, you know, pretty much nothing. Sold the cars and didn't have nothing in it. He had the shed and it was full of parts that were just bent up. He's like, hey, you can get anything out of that shed. Don't get nothing out of my shop. I said, yes, sir. So I went down there.

I got truck arms. I took a 60 rear in-house and went over to Darrell Walters and traded it for a bent 64 and then we straightened it and I took a clip we'd cut off and put the clip on it. In a week I had it rolling. Big E's like, you're pretty serious about this, ain't you? And I was like, well, yeah, this is fun to me. So I'm like, ready. He's like, well, now that you got it rolling, what are you going to do?

I said, well, I got to wait six weeks. I said a body costs $1,200. So I got to save up six weeks worth of paychecks and then I can get me a body. all right let me see what I can do he goes in there, gets on the phone with Hanfke calls Hanfke, hey can your boy put a body on this car for me? So he said yeah, he comes up to him. He says,

all right, I got your body took care of it. I'm like, sweet. Like this is cool. So if I go get a body put on it, come back, I do all the interior work, polish it. I got it looking right. Well, I'm out there building this car and they're all out there hanging out on Monday nights and Hank Jones comes in. And he

sees this car and I mean I done learn how to paint it everything like I got it sitting there I'm a semi Hank comes in goes my goodness boy he goes what do you got going on here and I'm like well I got got to get me a sponsor he said I want the whole thing wow so I put he said I he said go to Simpson get you a driving suit go get you a helmet what he says I'm going to have Sam bass just a little bit no he says Sam bass is going to draw you up a car like we're going decout this whole deal up and Dale's standing there and Dale's got his he goes well you're going to sponsor him you ain't going to sponsor my kids and he goes well i'll sponsor them too so that way we all three ended up with forced image on everything wow and then uh so dale comes up

to me he's like what are you going to do about a motor and i'm like well jeff collins told me if i could maybe talk you out of one of these pink short locks in here that he would teach me how to build a motor because i didn't know how to build one i said he'd said he'd teach me i just had to buy apart. So I said, it might take me a year, but I said, you just hold on. He walks off. He goes there and calls Keith Dorton and says, I need a late model motor. He buys me his big old motor. And I still got it to this day. It's in my shop on the motor stand. I will never sell that motor. That motor is sitting right there. That's pretty cool. And he's like, he's like, all right, I've got you a motor. Well, this motor's $20,000. Like, it ain't no joke. And I'm sitting here. And I mean, I got this old big

spring car and I'm like tickled to death but scared to death in the same deal because I ain't never I ain't never drove nothing off the highway right so but he told me he's like if you're ever going to drive a car you're going to drive a leave while you ain't driving a street start and get killed and I was like okay I go down there and I run this car I'll never forget it the day I remember going down to concord it was like we got down at like one o'clock and get this car down there and Dale's got got me running all over the shop that morning he tells him I got to keep that boy busy I can tell he's nervous. So he's got me loading the truck and everything. I got my car in there, getting down there about 1 o'clock, and I had Robbie Faggart come down there to shake it down

because he running at Concord all the time. He's like, he goes out, he's a man, this is a beautiful car. I can't believe you're going to run this. And I was like, well, you know, whatever. I'm just looking forward to it. So I get strapped in this thing. He says, it's a little tight, you're good. You can go through that travel wide open. I'm like, just looking at him. So I'll never forget it. I go out there, and I'm, like, okay, here we go. And I'm like going through the gears and I get up in high gear and I'm running. I'm so nervous right now.

Yeah, and I'm going around there and I'm like, I'm lifting everywhere, you know. I see pops wave me. I come down pit road and he says, you all right? I was like, yeah. I said, did I go fast? He goes, no. I'm nervous now, you know? So I'm like, all right, let me figure this out.

So I was just like, I'll never forget. I go off pit road. And I come, I remember going through that dog. leg going through three and I'm like well if you're going to do it you better get after it and just do it so when I come off a one I went flat-footed and I went through that dog leg wide open and I mean it was the most adrenaline you ever had and I'd sit there and I picked it up but I was like I was happy it's stuck I was like oh this is great I'm like going to town so I practiced the rest of afternoon well then cars start showing up so now the nervousness is coming back up because you don't want to

wreck somebody being somebody's way because you know you're like you ain't going to win tonight i mean you're just trying to get some experience so i go out there i'm out there and practice and i'm going through that trial i'm thinking i'm he man you know going through there i go through there uh-oh that butt flew out from one of the thing i'm spinning around a deck you can hear the deck lid fly up and i'm going backwards i'm spinning every which way down the back straight away and it stops up there against a fence And I'm like, I didn't hit nothing. I was like, what just happened right there?

Like, I had no clue what was going on. And pops comes in the radio. He goes, you all right? He said, you hit anything? I said, no. He goes, you know what happened? I said, I have no clue. I said, I went through there just like I have every other time, and I said, I couldn't tell you.

Well, I looked down at the bottom, there's two cars wotted up down in the bottom, and one of them had busted an oil tank. Oh. And went through that trial and laid oil down. He goes, well, now you know what oil feels like? I'm like, well, I don't like it. I don't like it. But, you know, it was a good experience.

Like, I had a lot of fun with that car. That car, you know, we've done, I've had so many memories of that car. It's like, you know, it's funny. It's like just going down there. Like, I think I won one heat race or something, but it was like. How long did you race? Because it was that? Just two years, I think it was.

So, three. Yeah. The old slick wasn't your retirement tour either. No, I mean, I ended up running. He ran through late models with me and Kelly and Kerry for a little while. I thought you raced a little longer than that. I only got to run it about 10 or 11 times. Here's what my problem.

He's working. I'm working. So I'm doing 12 races during the summer. So I get to run two weeks. Then I got to go to racetrack. Then I get to run two weeks or go to race track. And sometimes it was a three-week deal that we run. So I remember forget his daddy come up to me one time.

And he's like, hey, he's like, he throws these Penske's shocks up on the counter. We went to Charlotte. And they'd just come out with him. He throws them up on the counter. He goes, you see these four shocks right here? I said, yes, sir. He goes, I want you to know how to build them and everything about them by in the morning.

I was like, okay. So, I mean, I'm cross-referencing Carreras to Bill Steens to learning how to build them. And, like, I figured it out. So, like, I become the shock guy, you know? So it was like, all right, so I'm figuring all this out. With his daddy comes up to me, he goes, all right, all right, you got to make a decision right now.

And what's that? You're going to drive a race car and work on them. And I just kind of look back at him. And I was like, well, I don't know. What are you mean? Well, you're going to have to pick a point. Either you've got to go full-time driving or you're going to work on them. And I said, well, my last name ain't Earnhardt, so I'm just going to work on them.

I said, because I said, chances of me making it are slim. I said, and as much as I know about the shocks and everything else on these cars, I just work on them. I'll always make a decent living by working on them. What do you reckon he did that, though? I mean, was it too much? Well, you're just, you're focusing on. this and you're focusing on that and he just wanted me to pick a lane but a lot of people do that you know

and that was cool i mean it was you know i appreciate him doing it because it's like it put me in perspective of what i was going to go after so like my goal was you know i was going to be one of the best crew chiefs go win races and and do that and that's what that's what i was i mean me and pops like we won a lot of races together and it's just it's you know through big e or if it's through you guys steve park you know we've had and i've grown through all the drivers that's come through there. So it's been a really, it's been a really,

really cool deal to grow up in because I got to build my own car, learn everything or is about it, so I can do anything on a car. Yeah. Well, then I go and apply myself to the Bush car and then learn to buy shocks. And it's like, and then I,

Alba, which is over Hendrick Motorsports right now, well, she was the GM rep that would come and put a pie system on your car. So I went to a three-day pie class so I could run the pie system. So when we went testing, like I ran the data system. So like I could sit there. So that's why I like the kind of like the engineering side of it's how it kind of got me involved in that, you know.

Plus, don't you think as, you know, as you went on in your career as a car chief, crew chief, having some sort of driving experience when a driver's talking to you about how the car's handling, what it's doing, helped you. Oh, absolutely. I mean, if you're in that driver's seat and you can actually understand when they're talking about how it's light and doing stuff. And, you know, because if it don't feel right, you're not going to go fast. So it helped me out a ton. And then you could go try things.

Like when I was doing the shocks, if I wanted to try a shock, I could go feel it myself. Like I understood what it was doing. So that whole deal, anybody, that's why every good crew chief has been driving at some time. Did you guys say you raced against each other? We did. We ran against each other a time or two. Myrtle Beach once or twice? I don't even remember.

I think we might have done twice. Like I think when I went down there on a weekly show one night, me and two, drove down there Kevin and we drove down there running with you and then I always tried to run the they had the bush race and then they run a late mile stock race right before the bush race so I would always take my car down there and try to run that race and then get out of the car and then go over there and change tires wow yeah I remember you went to Wiltsboro to try that one yeah I went up there like I sucked up there like I spun out I did too I mean it's a tough place but we had a good time I mean it's like nowadays to say that you've been on North

Wiltsboro. I mean, there ain't many people say that. So it's like it's a really unique, but you don't understand it to you drove on it, how it goes downhill into one, so the car is trying to spin out, getting down into one, and then you're kind of going uphill.

You can't even see the apex because you've got to go over a rise before you go into the corner. It's really on the side of a hill. You talk about that track at North Worthboro going uphill and downhill. It's pretty pronounced. So I talked about it at the start of the show.

I want to get you guys back on here so we can talk more about bud days, HMS days, are doing now in your lives. Fury. All the fans want to know about that. But before we let you go, I want to get, you know, we got Daytona,

Daytona 500 this weekend. I want to get your first trip to Daytona. What do you remember? My first trip to Daytona. Man, that's a hard one. Because, I mean, we won the race. So, like, it was 91. 91?

91. That was that car you were talking about. Yeah. Because it was like, yeah, because in 90, me and Dale Jr. watched it front with Martha. up at the lake house. I helped build that car, but I didn't get to go because of school.

So we watched it up there. And 91, I finally got to go. We went down there. We won that race. And I mean, I just remember walking into place and it's just like, like, wow, you know, and you pull in there. And it's just like there's so much atmosphere going on. And the way the garage was set up back in those days, I mean, it's just,

Daytona's always been special because it's that first place, you know. But to go down there and win that race, I think we won it five. times in a row, which was huge, you know. So you were on all those trips after that. Yeah. Your first trip there was winning. Yeah. Winning the Bush race or the Xfinity race.

Yeah. Tony Sr., your first trip to Daytona? 1976. Yeah. So what was that? Well, your dad wanted to go run Daytona. All he had was a little old short track car that he ran up at Hickory. So we got Harry Hyde Jr.

come up and put a Pontiac front in on it. a Nova and we put a Pontiac front in on it because they said Pontiac was better and back then they took Plenishing hammers and hammered defenders out and all that stuff so the car was still short track car in the back had big old fender welders lane in the back we tighten the front all up the front looked like a speedway car was supposed to look in the back it was just old hickory car in the so we went down there took everything he had in the back of a steakbed one-ton truck open trailer went down there All the big guys ran that race then, you know, you had kale in it and Daryl and Bobby and all those guys was in that race.

Went down, qualified 13th and was happy as we could be. Broke, none of us had no money. All four of us. We had four people. All four of us stayed in one motel room. And we put a case of oil in the back of the truck when we left, and we got back, we had one quart left. That's how much oil it drank. The truck.

Yeah, the truck. But we had a big time. We went down there for like 12 days, 11 days, something. He was there for a long time back then. But, you know, we had a good time. The spoiler wasn't right when we got there, and we took it back to the motel room because they run us out of the garage. So we took all our stuff and drills and hammers and everything.

Back in motel room, we built a spoiler in the room. Drilled the commode seat full of holes. As you do. That's what we was holding on. We'd set it on the commode and drill the holes in. That's a good of our benches in here right there, boy. But we qualified by 13, finish 13th, and we all come on back home, and that was the first time. Yeah, I remember you're running in the top 10.

You know, I'm hearing this story from you for over the years, and y'all running pretty well. And had water, got water in the fuel? Yep. Yeah, the car, you know, the car was on an open trailer, been out in the rain. We drove down there. We was in rain going down. and you know everything was wide open nothing was covered and he'd run fifth six pretty much all day and then the car got the surgeon and it wouldn't run right and

he kept hollering he felt like a vapor lock or something you know we couldn't figure out what it was and uh will cronkite was helping us and will says it's probably got water in the fuel or something says said I don't know what we can do I said well it's got that fram filter on the back he said well look Let's just take that filter off and see what's in it. So when the caution come out, we stopped and screwed that filter off there. And the whole filter was full of water. So I just dumped the filter and everything out on the ground.

Just dumped it all out, screwed the filter back on there. But it took off in. That's where all the water was. So it ran after that. So he ended up, he sat right there and run with them all day, but we never got our lap back. So we ended up losing a lap, so we ended up finishing the first car on the one lap down. When you got home, what did you do with the car?

You cut the front back off and go back to the short track? Yes, he did. We actually, if I ain't mistaken, I think we took that car to Martinsville right after that. Oh, that would damn. Wow. You know, y'all, you know, with Robert G., man, he was like a legend, and, you know, I got some friends that work with your dad and stuff

and work with him and always talked about certain things he would say were just so damn classic. And I heard you impersonate him there before. That was good. And it's like, that was a darn good person. But it's like, you know, they always would tell him, one of their favorites was, if the motherfuck don't go, chrome it.

That's it. What was some of y'all's favorite geisms, like things that he would say? Oh, my goodness. It's like I showed you that sign that he had over the door forever. And he said everything I like is either immoral, illegal, or fat.

That was like the sign. Everything I like. Yeah. Yeah, he said, we might not always run good, but we're going to look good. That's it. Yeah, that's incredible. I'm telling you, he's a piece of work now.

He's like, he named, they had a dog, they bought him a shit zoo. And about that time, Fat Back McSwain, Mike McSwain, he was down there working, and they were working on one of those Charlotte sportsmen cars. And he's down there working with Granddad. And Granddaddy's putting a body on for him, slicking it up. He looks over at Fat Back, he goes, Fat Back, I'm going to name this dog, back after you because he just like you, he ain't well for a shit. So we always had that dog running around.

We had that dog that sent that paper over there, Earnhardt, he was running around there all the time. But it was just, granted, it was classic. And some of the stories, like Buddy Perry to tell you, like him painting that car that day on the creeper, they said they got down there drinking whiskey, and he was so wiped out, both of them were. They said that they would mix up the paint and hand him to spray. ray gun and he couldn't stand up so he was on a creeper so they stuck his leg up and they would

he would spray it and they would pull him on that creeper by his leg and that's the way they painted the whole side of the car with him on the creeper and then pulling him back and forth that's incredible oh it's crazy but I mean it was like you'd go over there for Charlotte Week and it's like my man would go out there and fire the grill

up he had it back shop open and he would just if you walked up you ate a steak like he bought a steak anybody that walked up on that deck. And I'm talking, there's 45, 50 people here. And they'd walk up, hey, Robert, how you doing? I'm doing great.

You need a state. They throw it on there, and here we go. Heck, yeah. Well, man, I appreciate you guys coming over here. I know you guys got a lot more stories to tell, and we're going to get to it later this year. Fans want to hear it. But I wanted them to hear kind of how you guys got started

and always fun to rehash some of those great stories. You know what would be a good idea? What's that? Talladega Week. Maybe y'all did a lot of y'all's best work for three of you. Talladega week may be a good time to have you boys back. You talk about the motor that I still have that motor from Talladega. Oh, yeah.

They won all those races. So we can definitely, we can talk about that for sure. Yeah, we'll bring it in here. We'll roll it in here. It'll be a reunion show. There you go. All right. Thank you all.

Hey, everybody. It's Dale Jr. for the Dale Jr. download. This is the announcement. for the live Ask Junior segment of the show brought to you by Nationwide. So Matthew, what's the first question? Well, we got people populating the chat room right now and it seems like everybody wants to know

what you think of the new digs, man. Oh, the new studio. I love it. You know, there's basically all this stuff that's in here was pull out of my collection. So I'm pretty excited about it. Hard to pick what my favorite item is. A lot of people that saw some of the pictures on social media asked about the fire suit.

That's from the 2004 Corvette crash where I caught on fire. They had to cut that suit off of me in the infield care center. Some people said that they would have thrown it away, but we keep everything. And I'm glad I kept it. I probably wasn't excited about having it for a few years, but eventually I got to where I was really glad I kept it. The number two roof from basically either 79 or 1980. Del Earnhardt, Australon, Monty Carlo.

We cut that roof off of a car in a junkyard, painted it here at the shop, got the decals made down the street, 150 bucks. We've got a roof to hang on the wall. That's a great idea for any man cave around the world. And whoever your favorite driver is, just go to the junkyard and get a roof.

Anyways, yeah, I like it. I think, you know, we were in this, everybody remembers the old studio with the couch, and that was fun and great, but, damn, we really, Mike. And his team put a ton of work in this, and we're going to have a lot of fun with this. this year. I'm going to add one more thing. You know, we've been talking and doing this show so far, and you hear race cars being worked on in the background. That's not an accident. We are,

it's still every bit as much in the race shop. And so that's kind of something we like. We like to hear that stuff. All right. Mitch, Mitch. That's a good one right there. What's your, this is interesting, what's your racing fetish? I don't know if we want to get into that, but what's your racing fetish or what type of racing that maybe you always wanted to try but never got to? My, I guess if racing fetish. Yeah, that's a weird. Thanks, Mitch, Mitch. Thanks, Mitch.

I would say that my, I wish that I was racing or had the chance to race in the 70s. I think the, from 75, even before that maybe, but 75 to 80, the bodies of the cars, the manufacturers, all that stuff was cool. The clothes were cool. The personalities in the sport. was all that stuff was just awesome to me. So I watch a lot of those races just to sort of get, you know, get an idea or, you know, because I'm so curious, you know, about what the cars drove like and how they drafted,

raced, handled, how the tires felt, how the tires changed over a run, all that stuff. So I love watching those old races from the late 70s. Once they changed bodies in 81, that's, that was still pretty cool to me. But, man, those old, you know, big Monte Carlo's and, you know, Dodge Chargers, the Laguna, the Oldsmobile 442, those cars are amazing. All right. Samuel wants to know your 500 picks so it can help his fantasy team. Well, it's no surprise to me that Hinder cars were on the front row and that they dominated pretty much Pol Day qualifying.

They've had that kind of speed at Talladega and Daytona for years in qualifying. whether they have what it takes to draft and handle the way they need to, you know, is another, you know, question. I don't know that anybody's going to be as good as the Penske cars. Whether the Penske can win the race, I don't know. That takes a lot. There's a lot of things that happen throughout that race that change, you know, that can change that. But, you know, we've seen them get swept up in accidents before, not even of their doing. But the Penske cars, to me, look the best in race trim.

Like I said, I'll be there for the duels and I'll be taking in the action. and trying to understand who I think the favorites are, but right now my money's on any of the Penske cars. T.J. Majors are spotting for Joe Legano. The guy's a champion. How's he going to react and race now that he's a champion? Probably with a whole lot more confidence. And so I think that he's coming in with the most confidence as anyone else,

and he's got a great spotter that I've worked with for a long time. So if I was having to pick a driver today who would win the Daytona 500, I would put my money on Joe Ligano. I think Brad Keselowski will be in the mix as well. New spotter there too with Coleman Presley. Yeah, could that be a plus or minus? We'll know later. But Blaney had a great run there over the last year,

and he could be a contender. You saw how Paul Menard ran in the clash, which is basically a Penske car. So I think those cars look the best. Jonathan Moore wants to know. Who is the best raw talent that you've ever raced with? So raw talent to me, you've got to define that. I guess.

And raw talent is a guy that basically doesn't know anything about racing. You put him in a car and he's fast. Like how does he fat? Well, he's got raw talent. All right. So he has an ability that he's not learned. One guy that I thought had raw talent was Shane Mill. Yeah.

Shane Mill to me just knew how to make a car fast. He might not have always made the best decisions on the racetrack. and that was something that would be learned over time like anyone else. But when you put him in a car, he can get more out of that car than I think most people did. So that was one guy that I really thought had loads of raw talent. I can't say whether my dad's talent was raw or learned. I think another guy with raw talent is probably either one of the Bush guys, Kyle or Kurt. I think those guys had driving ability before they really knew how to drive.

and learn how to drive and learn how to make good judgment on a racetrack. I'm going to think of about 10 or 15 more throughout the day now that I've been asked this question, but that's probably my answer so far. All right. Albert wanted to know, how's dad life treating you? We've had a break now, so we haven't had many ILA updates. Well, I've been posting on social media so people can see a little bit about how Al is doing and what we got going on.

She's doing great. Dad life's great. I'm loving it. I'm in the middle of it. doing, you know, I'm doing my part. And so it's great. I really would need more specifics, I guess, as to what people would want to know about dad life.

But it's fun, everything I hoped it would be. Aila is just an incredible individual and such a personality. And she just, that shows more and more each day. And she's more and more fun each day. And she's starting to understand how, I think she's, We were enamored with her right out of the gate. Now I think she's starting to have that with me and Amy, and she's starting to want to be around us and enjoying us as much as we've enjoyed her,

which is really cool. Hey, Danger Mouse just chimed in, and this is an interesting, yeah, I like Danger Mouse. Danger Mouse. Would you ever consider, you've got a lot of different cars and some Hot Rods, that cool truck you got, bringing any of your cars like car shows or Hot Rod Drag Week or whatever? Well, Ray Everingham has this car. show every year. We send a couple of cars over there each year. So my cars go to some places, but yeah, I don't know. I haven't really, if I can't go do it because I'm usually working or

doing something else. So Sonny or some of the guys on the property might take the car somewhere. If we're trying to sell something, we might take it to the Charlotte Fair or something like that. They go to the Charlotte Auto Fair to track every year. I've tried to get over there last couple of years and since I've retired. I can just see you on a little lawn chair. Yeah. Just hanging out. Shilling some old parts. Selling some old wheels and crap. Sure.

The best thing we do is basically we take the snake in the cooler and put a free drink sign on it and videotape everybody. Fake snake. The fake snake. Yeah, let's get that straight. Has Sunny ever gotten you with the snake? A couple times, yeah. So there's rubber snakes that are going to find them all over the place around the property.

They keep moving. All right, Devin wants to know where does the Elvis car, Richmond, 2007 rank with, you know, some great schemes, maybe like the gray ghost that's behind you right there. I went and signed autographs in Indianapolis this past week and signed a handful of those Elvis cars. And it surprises me that I see so many of them. We ran that car one time and we blew the motor. We actually were running pretty good, I think top five all night and the motor blew. And we didn't get a great result.

And usually when the car doesn't finish well, I don't see a lot of those special paint scheme die casts being brought around for autographs. But for whatever reason, obviously, I think it says a lot just about Elvis's fan base. and the people that, you know, support or follow him, I was a big Elvis fan. My grandmother, Martha Earnhardt, was a huge Elvis fan when I would go to her house as a little boy. She had figurines and pictures and just stuff all over the house with Elvis Presley and his music playing all the time. So I became a big Elvis Presley fan.

It was a big deal for me to be able to drive that car that night. But with that terrible finish that we had, I didn't anticipate that car having such an impact, we still see it today, fans still carried around. I think it says more about Elvis than it does about anything else. Because he was such an icon, and even today, you know, still a lot of people support him and, I think, you know, listen to his music. I still do. I have a lot of Elvis music.

I got to have room in my house dedicated to Elvis. I'm almost ashamed to say. I've always had an Elvis room in my house with a bunch of his memorabilia in it and still have that today. Amy's not taking that out. I'm surprised on that one. I know. As I got married, some of the things in my bachelor pad became less bachelor-like, and I anticipated the Elvis room to go away one day. I've got like a closet now. Yeah. Hey, we do need like a Velvet Elvis in here or something. I just thought of that. We're saying that. We need some Elvis memorabilian here. I got a bunch. Yeah, but Lorenzo chiming in. What do you think? What's your thoughts on seeing Carson running USAC,

the midgets and she ran the chili bowl. Yeah, so Carson ran a handful of races last year in the midgets. She's going to run the full season this year. And this all came up. That's incredible. I know. This came about really quickly. She was sponsored by Pristine Auctions last year.

She wanted to run more. Kelly, her mother said, you need to put together a proposal. She, Carson, put together a proposal, gave it to an agency who put, you know, sent this proposal around and got enough sponsor. Got enough attention for sponsors to come together a good handful, two or three different sponsors. Brandt is one of them that sponsors our race team here. Nationwide's one. Nationwide's one.

But she got a handful of people interested through this proposal that she created to be able to fund the entire season with Billy Boat. And Chad and those guys who are tremendous people. She's having a lot of fun. She's in great company, in great hands with the Boat family. and I'm going to be watching a lot of midget car races on my laptop or my iPad here this year, and I'm excited about it. I watched her just the other night, and she's learning as she goes, going to all these new tracks, and it's a bit of a challenge to her, but she's taking it on head on, man, and she's fearless,

so it's fun to watch. We have probably the most pressing question we've ever had on Ask Junior. Wow, okay. Get ready, okay? Kevin wants to know, what's for lunch today? I don't know. I'm going to be on a plane to Florida. We're going down to meet up with Team Rubicon, who is an organization that goes out to different areas in the country to help with disaster relief.

So we teamed up with them and Mountain Dew to help bring awareness to their program. And I'm going to go down there today to do that. So probably just a salad or something on the plane and probably the same thing coming home. But I'm excited to meet the folks with Team Rubicon. I've been talking to them for several months now, and we're finally going to get together, and I'm looking forward to today. All right, last question from Bonnie.

Did you watch the Grammys? And if so, what was your favorite act? No, I didn't. Amy put the red carpet stuff on, and I leave the room, man. I cannot take that. They chitter-chatter about the dresses and who's wearing this. I think this person's coming in and they're going to dress like this. No, they're not going to be dressed like.

I'm like, why are we debating what they might wear? I just can't take it, man. So I left the room. Yeah. I mean, congratulations to whoever. Whoever did. Everyone who wore it best. But I'm good.

We debate like that about Mike Davis, by the way, before he comes in. What's Mike going to wear today? What's Mike going to wear today? Is it going to be like that? Is it going to be Western wear? There's going to be more metro. Is he going to wear his chaps? Whoa, now.

I don't want to think of you in chaps. I didn't say only chaps. Is it going to be a Bama jersey? Oh, that all look good. All right, man. What's happened to, that brings up a question. Why is it bad to wear jerseys now? Everybody's saying you can't wear jerseys.

Just walking around in public. I'm with that crowd, too. There's a growing, there's a growing... It's too cool. Yeah, you can't wear, like, basketball jerseys or football jerseys or hockey jerseys out in public. Can I wear a hockey jersey on the show one day? At a game, it's good. But apparently there's a growing group of people that feel like they should not be worn in pub.

Hipsters. All right, Ask Junior, presented by Nationwide. Got to thank Nationwide. That's right. Well, I hope you guys enjoyed it. Like really? Really? So if we got a new segment of the show called Like Really?

And the host of this part of the show is Leiavon, who is a new. Yeah, of the Dale Junior brand team. The Dale Junior brand team. And Leah is, yeah, I'll just let you tell everybody. Yeah, who are you? Why are you here? It's a loaded question. I spent last seven or so years in drag racing and decided to come join you guys on this side.

Nice addition to our team. Yeah, so what do you think you're going to bring to the table for the podcast this year? All the social media stuff. So we want to do live polls. We want to bring everybody kind of inside our studio. So that's kind of our goal this year. Awesome. All right.

So tell us about like really. Like really, man, it's been an interesting start to 2019 in social media already with the egg going viral on Instagram. So weird. So weird. It made me question everything I know about social media. Yeah. It's got 52 million likes on Instagram. Like, really? Yeah.

So we moved on to the egg and it's now a baguette. Like the crusty bread. Have you seen that? Oh, that's the viral thing now? That's what's happening on the internet right now. A baguette. If baguettes could move, how would they move? So there's four options.

It can move like a worm. It can gallop. It can go end over end like a robot. Or it can crawl like a caterpillar. And people, 10.6 million people are enamored by this. This is what's what the nation's captivated with. This is our priorities. Yes.

Which explains a lot. So, and this is also what your core identity is. I mean, your purpose for being here is about basically coming up with things that will make, like the baguette that'll make us go viral. Do you know that? I mean, if food is going to go viral, I think it needs to be bacon. Bacon. I'm down with that.

Right? Yeah. Hell yeah. Not a damn baguette. A baguette. What is a baguette? You know, like the hard loaf, like crusty bread that you go to Panera and you get a baguette with your suit.

That's a baguette. That's a baguette. Yeah, I didn't even know it. It's like a hoagie roll, I guess. I didn't know it had a name like that. That's a weird. It's kind of French. Kind of a weird name.

But why are people debating on how it would move? Um, some random guy asked it and it has gone. It's got 95,000 retweets. People are voting on how it would move. Why would you want your food to move anyway? What are the options? So it will, it's a worm. You could crawl like a worm or it could gallop like a horse. End over end like a robot. Or like a scrunch, like move like a caterpillar. Which is like a worm. Yeah, pretty much. Kind of. It has a little more like scrunch to it. So I say that the only way it can move is end over end.

Rolling. Yeah, because it's hard. It doesn't move. It couldn't slinky. It would crumb all over the place if you tried to bend it. So 62% people say that it moves end over in, like kind of like a robot. Well, at least we got that going for us. I know, right?

Because we're all on the same. Are you? Wait, what team are you on? I'm on team who gives a shit. I didn't say it, boys. But like, you know what's on? my mind right now is like who in this company is most likely participating in this conversation that's what i really want to know and it's like uh because i could think of a couple right now you know mayhoff's up

there oh jumping in this thing oh yeah tony mayhoff is i don't know man i like bread so i'm i'm in on it but i'm in on team end over end because it's not a baguette doesn't have enough flexibility to move in any other fashion what else are people saying um about the baguette or another no okay let's let's move on because we got some new emojis coming out this year. Really? Very exciting. Now, this is something I can get behind.

So I think the one that people are most excited about is the yawning face. Good. I could use that one. Yeah. Everybody's looking at me like, why? Why would you use that? Is this tiring? Yeah.

Yeah. So, I mean, that's a good one. You would love that one. Yawning, yeah, I think so. I mean, all the new ones will get used a lot. Every time we send Dale Jr. an idea, like from a brand standpoint, we'll be like, hey, so check this out. This is what we're going to do with this.

50% of the time he will now reply with that. With the yawning phase. And he'll be right. Everybody will use the new ones a lot. You'll get tired of them quickly. What else are they come out? What new ones? What new ones are in there? So in the animal department, we have a sloth.

Because, you know, a lot of people are into sloths. Really? Okay. No. A skunk, a flamingo, an otter, and an orangutang. I think they... Scum's good. You know, there's not a good representation of race cars.

It's only like the open-wheel indie car is the only race car. There's not an American-made stock car. Yeah, there's not a stock car. What are we doing about that? We shouldn't start a petition. Yeah. Is that how these emojis happen? You know, people are crying for them to create this yawning.

There's a thing called emojipedia, and they are in charge of emojis. Really? Yes. Yes. Emojipedia. Where's that headquarters? I don't know, but we need to find them. Hey, you know, the best one.

It probably lives on the internet. Yeah, maybe. Sounds like it. Probably. I'm excited about the waffle. Oh, yeah. There's a waffle. There's a waffle.

Okay. I love waffles. That's not my favorite one, though. What's your favorite? Service dogs. Of course. We got two different kinds of dogs. So we have the guide dog.

We had enough already, didn't we? This is your favorite emoji? Yes. A service dog. Anything dog related is obviously going to be my favorite emoji. Well, there, there you go. So, all right. Well, there's a, there's a, there's a,

There's a way to tell what your favorite emoji is. If you go to your phone and go to text, and I'm going to text Mike and I'm going to go to emojis. And what's the first one? Oh, what's the first one that pops in the top? I'm a little nervous here. What's the first one? Mine's the crying face.

That's mine too. Probably mine. Everybody, that's the one you use the most. Yep, that's mine. Everybody uses the same one. Poop is my second. What's the second, as far as going left to right? Left to right is the proper order.

I got fingers crossed. Dale Jr. has used the fingers crossed lately. He has used that face with the mask over it because he's been sick. He winked at me, which was weird. What was the context here? Come on. Yeah, it's not like you're good looking. Like, hey, there you go, my case. I stand corrected. He didn't wink.

That's an accusation I have to, you know, strike from the record. It was actually another sick face. You were really sick this weekend, weren't you? Yeah, he was talking about his whole house, had the stomach flu. He gives me this one enough, the little dude that's doing this. Oh, yeah, that's a good one. That's a good one. I use the baseball a lot.

I always have the vegetable, the purple vegetable is always up there in mine. Really? Yeah. He puts food. I don't even want to know why. I just love eating egg. I think it's a great vegetable. Okay.

I think the most bizarre emoji that they're coming out with is the pinching hand to show like just a little. Yeah. Yeah. People are kind of belittledered by that. Yeah. Like, why do we need this? Why wouldn't it just be together, Leah, like this? Because it needs to show that it's just.

That means something else. A little bit. Yeah. Just a little bit. Okay. So. Keep us posted on this. That's all.

I use this guy too. Oh yeah. Face Palm. Yeah. Like, oh my God. Right. SMH. I use that one a lot.

All right. So that's what's exciting. I like it, man. New emojis. I get excited about emojis. I use them a lot. Mike's not much of an emoji user. Well, I'm not much of a texture.

He isn't. Mike does use the, you know, where you can highlight, you can kind of highlight the text in either, thumbs up it, thumbs down it. Oh, Oh, yeah. I like that. Give it a heart, give it a ha-ha. He uses that a lot.

Yeah. If I could just text in GIFs, I'd be happy. Yeah. You are like the gift god. Man, I love a good GIF. Yeah. There's some that would say you're not even pronouncing that right. That's how much you love it.

Oh, don't get into that. That'll be the next viral conversation that means absolutely nothing to the actual America fabric. Cool. So this is like, really. And we're going to do this every week? Hopefully. All right. If the Internet provides some content.

I don't think they'll let you. down. Keep talking, bud. White flag, bud. White flag right there. White flag. I want to ask all of you a question, all right? You ready?

What happens this Thursday that makes the long, cold, off season a distant memory and makes you happy all over again? Oh, baby racing. Is that what it is? What now? What happens this Thursday that makes the long cold off season a distant memory and makes you happy again? I guess the duels.

Valentine's Day, you idiots? Oh, shoot. I forgot. Jesus. You're married. Oh, man. forgot. Come on. Oh, my bad. Come on. You're not, come on. You know, you're not a fan of Valentine's Day. I didn't even know that. I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day. I hate that holiday. Anti- Valentine's Day. You know, the great thing about Valentine's Day for me. No, tell me. When it's over? So I don't like it because it's like an obligation. Yes. You know, and the great thing for me was that all Amy and I would do, and she was great with it. She was, we had a, we would just drive to a drug store. And individually,

go into the drug store. While the other waits at the car? While the other way it's in the car. How romantic. And get candy for each other and bring it out and then go back to, you know, go back to, we're usually at Daytona, so we'd go back to the bus and then give each other their candy. That was our house. That was our, I'd take her to dinner.

I'd take her to dinner anyways. It ends up being a more stressful holiday. I mean, like if it's going to be a holiday, it's nobody's birthday. It's nothing significant that happened on that day, I think. But it's like, it's stressed. Single people don't like it. Couples don't like it. I think it's going to find out a lot more people like it than we think.

It's so forced. Like I would rather somebody, like on a random Tuesday, surprise me with a box of chocolate, flowers, take me to dinner, whatever. But like, it's so forced on this day you have to do this. Yeah, right? Just be nice to your significant other wife every day. Is that why you were thinking racing about Thursday? Yeah, because Tuesday I'm going to be really nice to my wife. Tuesday.

Thursday, I'm going to be more concentrated on racing. All right. I think the moral of the story is treat your people right all the time, right? Boom. Dale mentioned earlier in the Ask Junior live segment. He's heading to Daytona today to meet up with the friends at Mountain Dew and participate in that event with Team Rubicon. For the first time in the history of the Great American Race,

the Pace vehicle will be a truck instead of a traditional car. And the truck driving the truck is... Me. Dale Earnhardt Jr. And a 2019 Silverado. You nervous? No. I would be, but I drove the Pace car at Indy last year, and so I kind of know what I'm getting myself

into. Plus, it'll be fun. You know, I'll be able to go through pretty much all of the pre-race festivities and see everything happening, which is a lot of, it's really interesting and a fun time to experience a Daytona 500 pre-race show. Yeah. And everything, you know, the driver's meeting and all that. So I'll be, it'll get me excited to watch the race.

Yeah, so last year you were the Grand Marshal. This year, you're the Pace truck driver. Next year, waiting the green flag. Is that what we're going to campaign for? my fingers crossed, as you can tell by the emoji I use. Oh, dear. I use it a lot. Oh, my gosh.

My fingers are always crossed. Right. Yes. Well, all right. So Chip Wild, you've heard it here. Dale wants to wait. Maybe that's a NASCAR thing, not a Chip Wild thing. I'll tell you what.

I'm driving the pace car this year. I gave the command the year before. And the people that are tired of me or not fans of mine are all on social media going, oh, man, when's this guy going to go away? So, in spite, I would love to give the command next year. Listen. And not give the command, wade the green flag. Just out of spite.

This is when you can roll on that old, deep, but goody emoji, that bird finger emoji is always for a change. I want to try to find a little different job every year in Daytona. Dale Jr. 2020 is going to sell French fries. Turn one. After the green flag, what can we do? What is it? Yeah.

No, for real. Maybe you can be up there doing what David Hoots did. Programming. That's what that new guy's doing. That'll be fun. Well, listen, good luck with that. because if you mess that up, I mean, that goes viral. We'll be talking about that on like really next.

I got two buddies on the front row, William Byron, who worked for Junior Motorsports, and Alex Bowman, who also drove for Junior Motorsports. So those guys will take care of me. Good. I won't be too nervous having those two behind me. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that is our first show. And Dale, I'll give you the last word, but I will say it's good to be back. It's good to be back in our new digs.

It's good to have Leah on board. Matthew's got his whole room in there that he gets to take. take over. It's the joke. We need a name for that room. But yeah, it's good to be back. Dale, close us out. So what you think my final thoughts should be? Can I do my weird NASCAR history? Do that. That'd be cool. All right, so final thoughts, I got some weird NASCAR history for you. I was reading a program from 1975 at Riverside Raceway. In September of 1976, the California Board of Education was converting all mathematic textbooks to the metric system in a preemptive response, NASCAR changed the distance of the June 13th, Riverside 400 race from 400 miles to 400 kilometers.

That's 248 miles. California schools were going to convert to the metric system in 76. So Wilson Riles said that the California schools will convert to the metric system starting in 76. He's the state superintendent of public instruction, whatever that is. All right. They declared the present system of inches, pounds, and courts on its way out. All right. And he said he's determined to see new math and science texts only use metric measurements.

He said the metric system will simplify arithmetic and daily life if we give it a chance. He said it was inevitable that the United States would switch to the metric system within a decade. All right, the U.S. metric study recommended that the United States implement a carefully planned transition to the principal use of the metric system over a decade. Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 to coordinate and plan the increasing use of the metric system in the United States. Wow. Voluntary conversion was initiated, and the United States Metric Board was established for planning, coordinating, and public education. The public education component led to public awareness of the metric system, but the public response included resistance, Mike. Oh, apathy and sometimes ridicule.

Oh, God. In 1981, the USMB reported to Congress that it lacked a clear congressional mandate necessary to bring about national conversion. Because of this ineffectiveness and the effort to reduce federal spending, the USMB was disbanded in the autumn of 1982. But did the California track not get the memo? And they just decided to change their race? I just think... It's California. Phoenix still hasn't got the memo.

Phoenix and the errands people that used to sponsor that. Imagine a time in the mid-1970s when there was a real push to have the metric system be adopted, you know, countrywide. NASCAR, NASCAR was going to buy in. NASCAR, like, we got this. We'll lead it. We'll lead it. NASCAR, hold my beer.

That's when they decided, you know, we'll just stick with our, yeah, we'll just stick with the. Yeah, we'll just stick with the virtual system. That's weird NASCAR history. I great show man love the new studio we're going to have a lot of fun this year guys again the podcast comes out every evening on Monday and do you know exactly what time Mike well I believe we said on seven ish six or seven is that right Matthew I just say ish no pressure but that's not what we discussed we discussed it was going to be Matthew what time's going to be ready uh bang you guys put me on the spot damn seven all right seven o'clock so confident seven yeah for real he doesn't This is a little long today. Face palm emoji on you right now, boy. All right, so every Monday night, every Monday we're doing the podcast.

Every Monday night you're going to have a podcast to listen to every single Monday. You won't have to wait today. On Tuesday, NBCSN will be airing a video version at 5 o'clock, one hour long. Thank you for listening. This is Dale Jr., Mike Davis, Leavon, Matthew Dillner. We'll talk to you next week. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Dirty Mo.