The Dale Jr. Download - 314 - Ernie Irvan: Cheating Death

Episode Date: September 8, 2020

Legendary NASCAR racer Ernie Irvan lived to tell his story, barely, and joins the Download for a tell-all interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Irvan discusses his California racing roots and how his missing father led to a journey to stock car country in North Carolina. From welding bleacher seats to daring the local short track scene, Ernie quickly made a name for himself. As quick as he found success in NASCAR's Cup Series, he found criticism and controversy. Irvan discusses his aggressive approach and how it led an apology that was a turning point in his career. That career and a life almost ended in a horrific practice crash that left Irvan with severe head trauma and a 10 percent chance to live. He shares details of his bloody crash and the pocket-knife tracheotomy that saved his life.After rehabilitation, Irvan beat the odds again to not only come back, but to come back and win. A journey that came full circle in victory lane at the track that nearly stole his life, Michigan International Speedway. The same track that a few years later saw Irvan with another major head injury and subsequent retirement from racing.Dale Jr. and co-host Mike Davis get deep with the former racer who doesn't shy away from the trials and tribulations that shaped his unbelievable racing career.All clear...the DJD also discuss the Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott incident at Darlington and the art of a driver clearing himself on track. They also react to the big news of the day, California's Auto Club Speedway's announced reconfiguration. A change that sets Dale Jr. off into a state of beaming excitement. Will this move start a landrush of more short tracks for the sport? Also, Mike shares his Darlington experience watching Ross Chastain's Dirty Mo Media #77 and how it gave him new perspective on the battle within a race that most don't ever see.The Download finds out about Dale's yummy experience with a food he can't pronounce, a Bolgagi bowl. We learned about the original character known as Suitcase Jake and why beer was once considered healthier than water. All of that and more on 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. back again for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download with me, as always, my co-host, Mike Davis, Matthew Dillner. Leah is in the house. We got Ernie Irvin as the guest today, and he is going to be great. What a career this guy's had. There's a lot that I need to ask old Ernie, and let's get the show started. Let's get it started.

All right, so this past weekend, Darlington, really was a great race. Great race weekend. A lot of great racing all the way across the board. Trucks, Xfinity Cup, and had a lot of fun in the booth, calling some great action there, but I also got to work with Del Jare and Kyle Petty for Stage 2.

I kind of got to get the host in that moment, a lot of fun, a little bit awkward, but you get more and more comfortable as it goes, which is good. I'm glad I got to do that because I get to host the Xfinity race for Richmond as well. So I think Saturday morning. Exfinity races in the afternoon, the cup races in the evening on Saturday at 12th,

and I'll be hosting that Xfinity race, so that should be pretty awesome. You're doing the play-by-play, basically. That's what they call it. Yeah. So, yeah. Well, I heard nothing but positive feedback on the stage two. Good. Play-by-play performance of yours.

Thank you. I also saw where you were talking about, man, 500 miles. This seems like a long 500 miles. Did you say that at some point? Yeah. I just said 500 miles feels like forever. Yeah. Yeah.

That one did take a long time. But maybe it was because we're just so used to all this in short races. I was, so I saw the, I don't, I'm not assuming that my comment 500 miles here feels like forever. I'm not assuming that my comment started the conversation that I saw on Twitter, but I did see a conversation on Twitter about the length of the race. And most people saying, don't touch it. Right. I love it. I guess if there's any question, I don't think that the race is too.

long. Right. It just I don't think it's too long. It does feel like forever, and I'm perfectly fine with that. Yeah. I don't want it to feel shorter than it is. You're not trying to start a movement to shorten

the... No. Some things are good that takes a while. Nothing, nothing, there was nothing wrong or false about my comment. Right. But I don't want that yeah, that race should stay the same length. Anyhow, go ahead, continue. You're the play-by-play guy. You're play-by-play all the time here.

lead us now i really you know i had a lot of fun and and in we had the 77 car throwback delin our heart 1976 throwback 30 mo media on the side um and i didn't even know it but you went to the race mike so you sent me some pictures of you sitting in the grandstands watching the race um and you just seem to be just so happy to be back at the racetrack now i i miss bended the track i cannot wait till we can go back and work in the booth again and call the race live. But what was it like? You said it was pretty profound. It was it was incredible to be back. You know, I couldn't go inside because that's the rules, you know, but I could be on the outside. And just being back in a racetrack in a live event was amazing. I also, I left with a change

worldview about racing because I spent that entire race not watching the lead pack, but watching where our car was, right? And in our car with Spire Motorsports, was, you know, towards the back. That's where they are. It's where they started. It's where they knew they would be racing. And yet, I didn't feel like I thought I had a good grasp on the totality of a race. But until you actually live life as a backmarker, quote-unquote, backmarker, I don't know that you got the full concepts of racing.

And I know you guys have it a lot better than I do just because of growing up in racing. But like, for instance, you know, negotiating for people's tires, trying to be. to get scuffs, trying to get whatever kind of hamming down stuff that you can get from a, forming alliances. This happened during the race. How did you know this was happening? Well, because I was, you know, I sat there with Joey Dinowitz and obviously, Joey is the, well, he serves the role as the competition director for Spire Motorsports, but he is also who I worked with in the sponsorship to begin with. And so he works for Jeff Dickerson and really is plugged in into kind of the the strategy and the development of the race team.

So hear me out on this one. I am. What if I told you that in that race, the very race that y'all watched on television and that you broadcast, this race, Ross made a last lap, last corner pass for a position that mattered a great deal to him, so much so that Ross comes on the radio after he takes a checkered flag and it was like, wow, my heart was racing more in that than it was yesterday in the Xfinity race. which as you recall, he was hunting for the win in that before he got into that little accident.

And so here it is, he's reacting as if he won the race. All he won was 29th place. Well, why is that? And that is because there were only two other cars on that racetrack as far as they were concerned. They go into that race with their own race. They are racing the 27 of J.J. Ealy. and they are racing the 15 of, is it Brendan Pool? I believe the driver, Brendan Pool.

And those are the two drivers that they are racing. That's 32nd, 33rd, and 34th in points. The difference between those two positions in the season-ending payout is roughly $200,000. $200,000 is what they are racing for against those guys. So they're playing this cat and mouse game, this whole race. Now, this is just, I'm living life in a completely different scenario for this race. So the feeling was the 77, we got to beat those two cars.

We feel like we can out tire them, is what Joey said. We feel like we can out tire them. And I said, well, what do you mean? You're like, well, because of our sponsorship in large part, because of our sponsorship, they were able to get a full boat of tires, which would be what, eight or nine sets, right? They didn't feel like the other two could do that. They thought that all they had was scuffs for stage three. And I said, well, how do you know?

Well, we just, because this is what, this is the life we live every week. It's week to week. I said, well, how do you know if they're going to, if we're going to outtire them? How are you keeping that news from them? I said, do you got all our tires set up? No. I said, well, where are you? We only got three sets set out.

This is to start the race. I said, where are you hiding the other sets of tires? And he goes, we'll buy them during the race. Yep. We'll buy them during the race. He says, shut up. He goes, yeah, we're not going to buy them until we need them. So as it played out, stage three set up, all you're trying to do is stay,

you know you're going to get lapped. Just don't get lapped and not them other two guys, you know, it's better if everybody gets laughed or whatever. And so that's the way it sort of played out. Now, Brendan Poole got lucky just in stage three with the leader was about to put him a lap down and the caution came out. he was able to stay a lap ahead of the other two cats. So then it became a race between Ross and J.J. Yaley.

And they are fighting for 30, they're fighting in 31st and 30th place. And I'm telling you what, man, that race was incredible. Ross puts on his new tires. This was the strategy. We're going to out tire him. J.J. is a second slower. But he takes the wave around. And so when they go restart the last 30 or 40 laps,

he's got a huge amount of ground to catch, catch Yaley. He catches him on the white flag lap, going through all this traffic, and then passes him coming off of four and gets a nose and momentum out because he took High Line, got the momentum, took the checkered flag, and I swear to God, you'd have thought that we'd won the dang race. I think it was for 29. And it was just, it was, I was intrigued by the rate, there is a race going on that TV doesn't capture and can't capture, by the way. In fact, without all the context that I just gave you, I don't know how you can sit in the grandstands and really be able to identify these little micro races that are going on, but they're super important.

And, you know, Peter Suspenzo, who's like the, you know, the oldest act of winning crew chief in the sport is right there, you know, executing this thought-out strategy that all had to do with tires. Now I said next week when y'all go to Richmond, could they be out tiring us? I mean, he's like, yeah, it's a week-to-week thing. And so I really gave me an appreciation for a lot of these teams. And I think that a fair question would be, well, why did they do this? Like, you know, like, why does Rick Ware racing what's in it for them? And I think that the answer to that is that it's like everything in life, it's all relative, right? It makes sense for them because they're not spending what these other cats are spending, like Childress and Hendrick.

They're spending what's within their means. and if they get the, you know, one additional position in points, that's probably the difference of $100,000 right there. And then that's going to be bonus. The other thing I thought was compelling is that they budget their race team. Now think about this. You know how we always know what the winner's purse is? They budget based off of what last place finishes,

and they assume that they're going to finish last place. So that way, anything they get beyond that, you know, in front of that, it's just bonus, man. That's just more money they getting put to the race team next week. And that is just a, listen, we've been fortunate enough. I've been in the sport for 19 years, been with you for 17, Dale. And, you know, we live a blessed life. Sure.

But I really appreciated what Spire Motorsports. Also, Peter Suspenzo and Ross gave you a shout out on the pace laps to begin. Really? What was it? They said, we want to thank Dale Jr. And Dirty Mo Media for being on board with us. Nice. I know, right?

So, yeah. Did you get the stripe? I want to know if you know. He kept it clean. That was another thing they said. You know what makes Ross so different than a lot of the other drivers that even may race their cars that he races so well in traffic? And I said, what do you mean by that? He goes, well, when he gets lapped, he doesn't lose time.

And a lot of drivers lose time when they're getting lap. But they like him because he knows how to race in traffic without losing a bunch of time. Because in their race, it matters, right? Yep. And he put on a well of a show on Saturday. too. Well, I got a lot of respect for us. He was up on the wheel even in this race, but also included having to keep the car clean.

Yeah, I've been wanting to get Timmy Hill on our podcast to have this same conversation that you just experienced in the, so Timmy Hill runs his own truck, and I've wanted him to come on here and explain to us how he does it, right? And talking about little things like budgeting for last place. Right. Just what does Timmy do? to survive with his truck team.

He just finished in the top 10 for the first time this season at Darlington with his very own mom and pop's truck team. I want to know more. And I also think we're going to talk to Ernie Irvin here in a moment, and he's going to give us a lot of more, a few other guests, future guests, ideas in that conversation. Yeah, hopefully. Yeah.

I really appreciate it. It was fun. Did y'all have fun, you know, having a dirty moe media car out there? Dude, you kidding me? It was good. It looked good. Good-looking race car. We wore the shirts at the house and we're just like, it was like a party.

If anything for the shirts, I mean, I'm so. Hell yeah. I'm so happy they had the shirt. I am. They're good shirts. Did you see any shirts out there? No, well, they weren't out there. Oh, yeah.

Joe didn't put them, they couldn't get them. Yeah, couldn't get them to the customers. Right. Well, hopefully we'll start seeing some of them shirts at the racetrack. Yeah, that would be cool. It's a good shirt. All right. A little bit of news today.

Big news. NASCAR announcing that California Speedway or Auto Club Speedway will be engaging in an aggressive plan to redevelop the racetrack into a half-mile high-banked track that will produce fast and exciting short-track racing. Yes. Wow. Hashtag more short tracks. Yes. It will create a unique one-of-a-kind racing experience for fans and reinforce NASCAR's commitment to the region. So I love it.

All right, if this is true, I'm down. We're going to lose a pretty awesome racetrack. California, the multiple grooves, running the fence. It's just such an amazing place. But yeah, the West Coast needs a little taste of Bristol, needs a little taste of short track racing. And if this is what we're going to send out there, it's really going to strengthen our sport.

Maybe in the years to come, more importantly, probably in the next decade, two decades, having some of that action for the fans out there is going to do so much for our sport on a national level. I've felt that way for a really, really long time. So it's awesome news that, yeah, and it's a new short track. We're going to have new short track. Man. Is this the beginning?

Remember the boom of the mile and a halfs where everybody wanted to build one all over the country? Are we getting ready to see a land rush of short tracks into the NASCAR Cup schedule? Wouldn't that be something? Marcus. You're beaming right now. I don't think you beamed like this on your wedding day. I don't think you beamed like this when Olive was born. I'm excited about this, but man, if there's like 10 more coming behind it?

Yes. Awesome. I'm very excited right now. Holy crap. All right, we've got the guest, so let's bring him in. Ernie Irvin. All right. Let's get to Ernie.

Now, the 1991 winner of the Daytona 5th. Is Ernie Urban? Is Ernie Urban? Is Ernie Irvin? But damn, I'm getting tired of getting sweat bumping on his accidents. I don't want to get hurt driving one of these race cars anymore than anybody else does, and this looks like the kind of guy that could hurt you. I said, I'll tell you the same thing I don't Earnhardt.

I said, well, race each other, you hit me, I'm going to crash it. And I've never had any problem with Irvin and I haven't had any problem with Earnhardt. And if they ever touched me, I'm going to wipe them out. I'm a wipe of mine. I'm a wipe of mine. Saturday morning practices are usually pretty quants. quiet, but Saturday, August 20th, was tragically different. Point contender Ernie Irvin experienced a horrible crash.

Fractored skull, a swollen brain, as well as collapsed lungs. Ervin for the chuckered flag, and he's won. Track nearly took your life today. You took something back from it, a big win. All right, guests on the show today, pretty incredible guy. Ernie Irvin, thanks for me. coming out on the show, man. We're so glad to have you here. Yeah, I mean, I've been looking forward to coming on the show. What's you been up to, buddy? Just Jared racing a little bit,

and just doing work around the farm all the time and trying to work out some. So where do you live now? I live in Ocowall, Florida. Okay. Did y'all have an equestrian club in near Charleston, South Carolina at one point? Did I read that incorrectly? Yeah, we built a farm down in, like, south of Charleston, did all that and decided we didn't like it after that. So it wasn't real smart, but we did and sold it. And then we moved back to Concord. We lived there for another two or three years. Then my wife told me that she was moving to Ocala, Florida.

And if I hope you want to join me. So I joined her right here. What's in Ocala? What took you there? There's horses, and my wife loves the property area. It's really beautiful, and so that's what it took us here. What was it about Concord that was, I've got to get back to Ocala. I mean, Concord may have a horse or two, right? Oh, yeah, they do, and I mean, we had a horse farm up there,

and she just wanted a change, and I did too. And it was interesting in Ocala every time we come, here to visit, like with the horse show and stuff. We really enjoyed it because it's so beautiful. Where were you born and raised? I was born in Salinas, California. Actually, born in Carmel. Yeah.

But I actually was raised in Salinas. How did you get all the way over to North Carolina? My mom and my dad kind of separated and then we finally found out where dad was at. And he said, dad said, man, if you ever want to do anything in racing, you've got to to be here in North Carolina. And so I kind of followed what he said. Was there really a time where you didn't know where your daddy went? Oh, yeah.

There was probably two years, three years. Yeah, how old were you? How old were you? I mean, I think I was 18. Were you mad when you finally found out where he was at? Would you go, hey, dad, what's up? Why are you hiding from him? No, I mean, I really wasn't mad.

It was just one of the things that, you know, dad felt like he needed to leave California because of, you know, all the situation. And, you know, mom felt like she wanted to stay there. And it ended up that then when we finally found out where dad was at, then he was like, I mean, I followed what he was saying. I know if you ever want to do anything further in racing, you need to be on the East Coast. Was he a racer to begin with? Yeah, dad raced on dirt tracks most of time.

I grew up basically around the dirt tracks and watching him. Okay. So he must have, you know, with the situation at home being what it was, he left, needed a new beginning, but he also was continuing to pursue the racing. Is that correct? Yeah, dad was actually working with Lake Speed, and we all know Lake. And so he kept trying to not race himself, and he started promoting some racetracks right here. Well, actually up in North Carolina at Concord.

and it used to be the Concord Speedway. Yeah. Not the new Concord Speedway. So he started promoting there, and then it kind of closed down. And so he was kind of like lost and, you know, didn't have a whole lot of racing except for some cup stuff with Lake Speed. Was he the last promoter for the old Concord? I think so.

Wow. I'm not 100% positive because I went here then. Yeah, that's pretty cool because that place, I never went through that track. I don't believe. I might have maybe went when I was too young to remember, but because there's two Concord Speedways. Right. It was an old oval that would become a development, a housing development,

and then they built the next one out on 601, and it just recently closed a couple years ago. So you started racing, though, out in California, and when did you run your first race? How old were you? I was 16. Dang, you started kind of late. I mean, kids these days are racing at three, four, five years old.

Well, I started in go-karts. Yeah. You know, basically I started when I was eight years old and, you know, ran a lot of go-kart stuff. And, you know, actually won the state title sometime in, I think, in the late 80s. And just really enjoyed it. Went to the nationals a couple times. I look at the nationals, the people that were there. And the people that were there is Lake Speed and the Pruits.

They were both there. And so it was interesting. People that I know here now in this time of world. Yeah, the recognizable names. Lake Speed, we talk about him a little bit as being one of the, I mean, he was like a world champ. He beat Sena. Who did he beat Senna?

He went to the first. Yeah. Yeah, he went overseas and beat Senna in the World Championship. Is that right, Matthew? I don't know. You stumped me. Yeah, I think so. He's a world carding champion, Lake San.

I knew that, but, man, beating center. So you move, so, all right, when you move to North Carolina, what are you giving up? What are you leaving in California? I really left my mom because she didn't move at that moment, and basically it was nothing else. No racing, no cars? No, I mean, my racing deal, I actually drove for Jack McCoy. Oh, yeah. And with the Winston West, we did about six or seven races.

And then we were pretty much Jack decided he didn't want to spend any more money. I read a book about Jack McCoy. How did that go? So I know who Jack is. How did your races with him go? Well, I mean, we never really won with Jack. And I mean, I think we struggled a little bit because we didn't know a whole lot. but that's when I met before that I met Ivan Baldwin and then he was working for Jack

and then another name that we all know is Gary Nelson yeah that was the first people that built my stock car was Gary Nelson and Ivan Baldwin so I mean I had a really good um people to follow and be able to help me so you move over to North Carolina and what what did you when you got to Carolina what was there for you what did you have to The job lined up? What was the deal? No, I didn't have no job lined up. It was just basically just dad said you need to be in North Carolina.

So I basically chased my dream about racing. It really wasn't about the Cup series because I didn't know much about that. And it was kind of like way beyond, way beyond I was probably going to reach. And so I never really paid attention to it much. But we love dirt racing and we did that. me and Mark Reno and, you know, Mark Reno, you know him. I mean, Mark was a great guy. He's the one that really started me off in the Carolinas.

Did you have to get a job? So what was your first responsibility in North Carolina? Yeah, working at Charlotte Motor Speedway, welding seats. No kidding. Welding in grandstand seats. Well, yeah, they were all portable. basically. But you can take them, unbolt them and move them.

And I worked with, I think it was Jimmy G., which you know, too. Yeah, my uncle Jimmy G. Yeah, we worked with him. He was right there. And Robbie was there. And so I kind of got to meet them guys. And it was interesting. But they paid by the seat.

And so basically, yeah. So I would try to get there early before they got there because they weren't getting up early. And there was times that I would get there like a six in the morning so I could really put out some seats right before they got there. So it was easier for me at that time. And it wasn't easy to get up at six, but it was easy to try to make a little money. Did you know this about your uncle? Jimmy G's out welding seats at the Speedway with Ernie Irvin? I did.

Who knew that? How random is that? I didn't see that one. That one coming. Everybody knew everybody back in. So you welded seats for a while. I heard that you were a really great fabricator, and something in my mind wants to think that you worked as a fabricator

for certain teams, building cars, helping people build cars. How did you meet Mark Reno? And let's help people understand who Mark is. So how did you meet Mark Reno, and what can you explain Mark to the listeners? Well, when I was on the West Coast, With Ivan Baldwin, we built some of the stuff that Mark Reno would, and actually trick racing fuel. That was real big on the West Coast.

And so I helped build some of Mark's cars. I'm not the real big fabricator. Mark is the fabricator. So, I mean, he started, and then he actually, he had the trick program, and Ronnie saw drove for him, a bunch and some other people. Joe Rutman drove for him some. And then when I moved to the East Coast, Mark had already moved to the East Coast.

It was actually working for Mark Martin. So, and when Mark Martin closed his program down at the moment, and then Mark was there, and so I knew him already. And so we kind of just got together, and I went down there and we had odd jobs. One of the odd jobs was we were building some stuff for your dad. Dale Sr. And so, you know, some of the hunting stuff because he was real big on hunting. Yeah.

So we built some of the stands. It was more Mark doing it. He knew how to do it. He told me, weld this together, weld that together. And so I did. How many times in your life do you think you flash burn your face or your eyes welding? Well, yeah, especially because most time you didn't weld a helmet, wear a helmet. So you just close your eyes here.

Oh, my goodness. That does not work because I've done the same thing. I want to add one thing. You know, Mark Reno is somebody that's fascinating, and he comes up a good bit on this show because his life has intersected with a lot of people. And by the way, he watches this show a good bit because we have people on here that he's worked with.

This will be another case. But Reno was also the crew chief. The first year I was in racing, he was the crew chief because I was working on Finch's team. Now, he got with Finch years, years. years, years earlier than that, but the influence he's had in this sport, he's such an humble guy. You will never hear him talk about himself. He's one of those guys that just, you know, you hardly get him to talk, but when you get him wound up, he'll go. So Mark Reno, influential,

this is the person that you first connected with, basically, that got you involved in racing. Well, I'm involved in racing on these coast. I mean, I actually was racing with, with dad, and my father, and we were doing some, but not a whole lot. And actually, you know, one of the people you all know is Tom Pistone. Me and Mark both worked over at Tom Pistone building some of the cars. And so I mean, all these things that are inter-circled. It's amazing. It was an interesting time.

So you got to racing late models at Concord Speedway, the new Concord Speedway, okay the Big Ten series tell me how you how do you get back in the driver's seat what what opportunity created your chance to go back to driving and racing well um you know obviously i did some with my dad and then right then mark mark's head you said we're going to build a pavement car but we're going to run it on the dirt and so we did um i was you know definitely a part of it trying to help him but he was the brains and money behind it and so we built this car and we decided to go run and we actually were pretty dominant a lot of times at Concord in the dirt, but only when it dry slick.

When it was wet, yeah, when it was wet, I was done. So that car was a white car, black nose number five, right? Yep. You know why I know that? I was at North Wilkesboro Speedway. and you were running one of your first few cup races. I think you might have been racing for a DK or somebody, but you had only raced literally just a handful of cup races

and just starting to get your feet wet. And you gave me a tent-scale RC car that you ran over somewhere at some RC track in town with that body. It has a dirt wedge body on it painted up just like that late model car that you raced. and it was a four-wheel-drive electric RC car. You gave me the car and the radio right there in the driver's owner sort of

of wherever everybody parked their buses. Okay. Not buses, but everybody parked their vans, you know, everybody that. And we kind of hardly knew each other. But for some reason, you gave me that car, and I thought that, I was like, I was with Brad Means, Jimmy Means son. And I said, I got to meet Ernie Irving. and he's giving me some RC car.

And Brad was like, what? Just listen, just wait. We're supposed to meet him right here, and you came by the driver's lounge and ran over to your car, grabbed it, hand it to me, and Brad Means was standing there with his jaw on the ground. I was like, check this damn RC car out. He's giving me.

It's amazing. Do you remember this, Ernie? Vaguely. I mean, one of the things that I was always mad about that I don't remember some meeting Dale Jr. So I knew that he was around because a lot of the things I see, you know, is part of what Dell Jr. was doing. So I just thought I was interested, you know, and then somebody come up and wanted, you know, my autograph or something that I had that I really didn't need anymore. I was not running to my RC car.

So I said, hey, you know, Dale Jr., I'll give him that car. Yeah, that's amazing. You know, it was awesome. Let him mess with it. Well, we did, dude. I played with that car, used it a lot and had a good time with it, and I obviously never forgot that. But you run your first cup race in 1987 at Richmond with Mark Reno.

You and him built a car. Right. See, I thought your first cup race was at Charlotte in the 600 in that Silver 56, Delenheart Chevrolet-sponsored car, and you ran 12. I believe in that race. God, 600 miles was a long, long, long, long way that day. But you ran your first race at Richmond in 87 with Mark. So how do you remember like, man, are you, you know, you said it just a minute ago,

you're not looking at Cup as an opportunity. You're not looking toward Cup because it seemed like such an unattainable goal. But here you are racing going to run your first Cup race. Were you guys, what was your emotions? Were you freaking out? Were you thrilled or were you scared of death? Well, at that time, I was pretty cocky, which I really didn't have any reason to be. But I just felt like it's like, okay, well, you know, Mark had the car.

I helped build it, you know, basically. It was an old, old car that somebody had ran out on the, I think, on the West Coast. And so Mark ended up getting it. I think it had been burned. So we kind of rebuild it, brought it back to life. And I think that was the first race car that we had. And Mark decided, he said, you know, we have the dirt car. And then we went to the pavement car.

Let's do a car. And I was kind of all for it. I mean, obviously, because Mark was going to own it and have me drive it. And so it was definitely an exciting time. and went to Richmond and made the race and ended up blowing up. And so we didn't really finish very well, but our next race was at Charlotte Motor Speedway. And that was the October race.

Yeah. So it was only a 500-mile. Okay. That's why I can last that long. Was it the same car? Yep, I think so. Yeah. Yeah, it's the same car, yeah.

And you know what it was funny. I mean, you kind of know a little bit more about, chassis stuff now. It was a, we had a watz link on it. And a lot of people don't know what it was link is, but we had a watch link on it and nobody ran that.

I mean, there's no cup cars with that. But Mark was, Mark was very inventive. And so he decided, he said, yeah, this will run this car and we went to Charlotte and ended up making the race and that was one of the things we were

worried about. We were all, Mark was really worried about paying for tires, but he said, you know, we're doing it. We're going. I don't know how we're going to pay for tires, but we're going to do it. And so we did that. And a lot of the teams, when they ran out of tires, not ran out, but when they broke, we could get some of their tires or some tires that they took off and we would put them on. And we ended up finishing eight that day.

Oh, yeah, it was top ten. Yeah. How does it end up at Dale Earnhardt paint scheme? or a sponsorship? Well, you talk about the relationship. Dad knew Ernie and obviously was great friends with Mark Reno, and Ernie met Dad through building some of the hunting stands and so forth. So imagine when Mark went, you know, when Dad learned of Ernie driving in this race with Mark's car,

I assume that I'm just, you can fill me in here, Ernie, but I'm assuming Dad just reached out and said, hey, I'll put the Chevrolet store on there. How much you need? You need a little tire money. Is it something like that? It was something like that, but the only reason that it all happened was because of Mark Reno and your late with Senior and ended up that I'm Senior and Kenny Schrader were driving to, I think, Darlington. And that race was going on.

And so Schrader said, hey, he come in and seen the car. He said, well, what are you guys going to do with this? He said, well, Ernie's going to drive it at Rich. and then also we're going to try to go to Charlotte. And so we ended up with the Delanox Chevrolet on the side because Kenny Schrader kind of, kind of, I don't know if he kind of tricked your dad doing it or what. But you know Schrader really well. Sure.

Yeah, he's one of them that, you know, he can, he can BS the best. and so he's the one that kind of got the whole thing going, and it was also because, you know, Del Senior, obviously your dad knew Mark Reno, and so they were doing it a lot because of Mark, and I think your dad had heard about me in Concord, and I didn't have a real good reputation, but I had a good reputation as winning. Yeah, you talked about it.

So you were cocky. You had a reputation for being aggressive, but you won a lot. And you carried that reputation and attitude on into the Cup series. You went and raced for D.K. Ulrich, and you drove this white number two car with Kroger sponsorship. And this is, to me, obviously, finishing eighth in the Delinardt Chevrolet Monty Carlo at Charlotte was amazing. But with a moment that I think I remember seeing you flash the brilliance, and potential in your cup career was at Bristol and D.K.'s car. You guys had done something with your pit strategy and some tires that got yourself up toward the front.

And you literally, in a car, D.K.'s cars didn't run at the front. You know, D.K.'s cars typically ran in the very back end. When you started driving them, they got better. They ran better. They ran faster. They ran, you ran, you know, 10, 50. spots better. But then at Bristol that day, you're leading the race in this car that doesn't lead.

This car does not lead races. And you were out front. You ended up getting into the fence off before. But that to me was the moment when I thought, oh, man, he's going to get snatched up. Some team's going to get him. And he's going to be – because, you know, I'm a Dellenhart fan at this time, a little kid, a Dillenhardt fan. I don't like people – I don't like people coming in.

And I don't like dad. I don't like the competition getting tougher. I want Dad to win every race. I want him to lap the field every week. And I'm like, oh, man, this guy's going to be. Ernie's going to be up there going to be beating Dad for races. We're going to have to 10 with this one. Yes.

And do you remember that race? Because I will never forget it. I will also, so I was, Ernie, I was a big Jimmy Means fan. And you might remember that. Oh, yeah. So when I saw those cars run well, it was like. You were almost like an underdog, you know, and D.K. was certainly an underdog, and there you are out front leading this race running really well at Bristol. Was that – did you know what you were doing in that moment?

Like leading? Yeah. Did you – was it like – could you believe it or were you like, this is what I do? I'm right where I'm supposed to be. Well, I mean, I really realized that that's where I was supposed to be. And I mean, obviously leading my first cup race, driving for DK, knew probably a lot of the potential of the car. Bob Johnson was the crew chief. He's an old name.

And we did some trickery, you know, basically trying to get in the front. Because Bob, he was pretty cocky too. And he knew he said, man, if we get up front, we can look. lead this race. And obviously, D.K. was trying to advance his team, trying to do as much as he could. And, I mean, all those things put together, and we led the race. And we were actually on Hoosier tires. And so Hoosier tires are a lot of times, were faster some of the time. And so it was interesting. We ended up, you know, leading that race and never really realized how critical that race would have been. I mean, obviously, if I had a crash like early, you know, that would have probably

been the end of my little bit of a career. So I just felt, and it was pretty awesome to lead the race. And I mean, I just was really excited, but I was kind of, it's like, oh, ain't no big deal. We're going to do that some more. Yeah. So that, to me, was the moment when I think that the rest of the world realized who you were and what you could be. And not long, you're driving for more. to McClure. So you go and drive for Morgan McClure, and it's a winning car, and you won with it. So talk about that to me, that to me seemed like such a great fit. Those guys were cocky. Am I right? My perception of them was they were like, hey, man, we're as good as anybody. We can do this. You seem like the perfect driver for them.

well Tony Glover and me got along really well and they they had just hired Phil Parsons and then they ran like two or three races and really never mesh very good we have a few guys yeah yeah we have a few we have 11 or 12 or something oh holy just a few maybe more I remember and and then Tony Glover said he said hey called me and said I said hey called me and said, okay, let's go test you down at Atlanta and see what you can do. I know you can do good. We just need to go down there, run a good test, and be able to, you know, maybe put you in this car a lot. And so we went down there. It had been raining. And so, I mean, I said, okay, so we were sitting there and waiting for it to dry up, dry up. And it finally dried up some, but the old Atlanta Speedway would leak water all the time as far as in the corners it would drain down.

Yeah, weepers. Yeah. And so it's like Glover is like, man, I got to get you in this car. I got to get you, you know, seeing about getting going. And he said, Tony said, I'm telling you, just go out there, do a good job. Don't hit nothing. you're going to be this driver. I said, okay, well, here comes the cockiness out of me.

So I decided, so I went out there and warmed up some and then stood on the gas. And basically, Glover tells me, he said, I ran like a half second faster than the pole was the race before. I don't know that for sure, but that's what he told me. And that made me more cocky. and it was the way that maybe I was going through the water and didn't really care about it because I knew it was going to stick, I hoped. And so that's when Morgan McClure, you know, Larry called me and said,

hey, let's do this deal, try to run you as many races as we can. So they didn't run the full season back then? Oh, no, they ran the full season. I mean, obviously, you know, Larry, Larry, they were always in between a little bit of sponsorship stuff, but they had the Kodak program. And so, so Larry said, you know, I think it was more trying to make sure that it's like, okay, well, you get out there and do it. As long as we can do, keep doing good, we're going to keep you in the car.

Gotcha. I got to ask you, Arnie, I mean, because you keep bringing up the fact that you were cocky, and I know that that was sort of like the reputation, but explain to me a little bit more about this cockiness. I mean, is it the confident kind of cocky or did it literally come off as, you know, sort of a jerk to other people who don't know you? Did you care about relationships? Was it with your team?

Was it with other drivers? Like, who was calling you cocky beyond yourself? I mean, I'm not real sure who was calling me cocky. But, I mean, I just knew what I could do with the right with the right stuff and the right car um i i knew i had i mean i could drive a race car as good as anybody i felt um it didn't really matter but if i had the right stuff under me i knew i could win races um it was it was a long um drawn-out goal to try to do it but you know i mean i i felt like that's kind of what helped set me apart from a lot of people and

um when i got in the morgan mcclure car it was like this is easy I mean, it's a lot easier than, you know, D.K.'s car because it was, you know, D.K. had, didn't have a whole lot of funding, and he didn't have the cars as good as the Morgan McClure team. Yeah, you became a force right away with the orange number four Morgan McClure, Kodak car, and it was a good-looking race car. So you go out there and you're, you start to have success and you're winning races with those guys and your confidence.

It's feeding that confidence, feeding that cockiness. It's my perception that the relationship between you and the team kind of soured a little bit, right before you ended up going to drive for Yates. Is that true? Did you guys end on good terms? Well, I mean, we kind of ended on good terms. I mean, me and Tony were still friends,

and me and Larry still talked. There was no problem there. I mean, it was a lot because I wanted to do things and make the team better. And Larry said, he said, we'll do anything we've got to do to make the team better. And it just never really happened. And the unfortunate situation with Davy Dynne, with a helicopter wreck, and then they call me, and it was actually Lee Morris called me. And me and my wife were Kim.

We were in bed that night and up at Pocono. And they called me and they said, hey, we're thinking about you driving the Texco car, 28 with Robert Yates. And would you be interested? And I knew that I had a contract. So I told them, I said, well, I'm under contract with Morgan McClure and Kodak. And so, I mean, I just don't know how I can get out of that. And then they said, well, if we can get you out of that, would you be interested in driving a car? And I said, most definitely, I would love to drive that car.

Yeah. So they just negotiated a buyout? Evidently, they never really told me a whole lot. It just, I mean, I think they may have. I'm not real sure. But next thing I know, they told me that I can. could relieve myself of the contract. So I did that and started driving the 28 car.

Before all that happened, I think, what year was that? What year did you drive that car for the first? 93, I think. In 1991, you had kind of got the name of Swerve and Irvin. Was that a name that you liked, didn't like? Did you mind a nickname like that, or did it bother you? Well, I mean, I'm not so sure that it bothered me because now, again, the cockiness come out. Yeah.

So I really didn't care. At least they were talking about me. And I think Sterling Marlin's the one that kind of come up with the name. I think you're right. Yeah. Did you get along with Sterling back then? Yeah, we got along all right. Were there any drivers that you didn't like or just kind of had a hard time being around?

Like I had a few. I think everybody's had a few. I really never had, I mean, I don't know if they liked being around me, but I never really had no problems with, I didn't think anybody. Maybe I may have roughed a few up, not on purpose. They may not have liked me at the moment. But, I mean, you were so involved in racing after me. you knew that it's like, I mean, everybody kind of like forgets it after a little bit.

And, you know, they still remember it. They put it in their memory bank and just go on. At Talladega, you had to apologize to the competitors for some recent events during the driver's meeting. Is that something that you wanted to do yourself? Was that what, how did that, I remember that happening. And I felt like, you know, watching the, watching. your comments, it was a very genuine, you know, a very genuine. It was emotional.

Yeah, emotional sort of reaction that you had. Is that something that you took upon yourself to do to sort of let the guys know, hey, man, I'm not out here to create a lot of problems? Well, a lot of the reason that I did it was Rich Rettie and your dad both talked to me and they said, hey, you know, you're not going to, you're not going to be able to continue this path. You need, you need to figure out, you know, where you're at and what you're trying to accomplish and realize that, you know, you have to race against these guys, you know, probably for the rest of your career. So you need to, you need to, like, straighten up, you know.

And so that brought a lot of thoughts to my mind. And so I finally, I just did it all on my own. I said, I went up to Dick Beatty. You remember him? Oh, yeah. And he was the main guy. And I asked Dick, I said, hey, would you mind if I said a few words at the driver's meeting? And Dick said, you know, I mean, none of the really competitors ever stopped.

up and or step up and talk at the driver's meeting. And so he said, you know, I'll do some checking and figure it out. And this is still at Talladega and driver's meeting was going on, well, getting ready to go on. And Dick come up to me and he said, yeah, it'll be fine to, you know, say a few words. And so then just a little while later in the driver's meeting, Dick, well, actually, I think it was, I can't remember, I think it was Mike Helton, or somebody had said, Ernie wants to say a few words. And so I walked up. You know, again, the cockiness is coming out of me.

And I walked up and said, you know, I've had some problems. I've roughed a few people up. I've had been involved in some wrecks that I, you know, didn't really need to be involved in. But I want to apologize and I also, you know, want to get your guys to have, I want to have some trust around me and I'm going to try to change. And I'm not exactly sure how it all worded, but I remember seeing Rusty Wallace's face. And it was one of them and it's like, yeah, right. Yeah, let's just see how this happens. and you know so we went we were at talladega and i started the race and you know we finished

all right we didn't have no problems um didn't didn't have any wrecks or cause any wrecks um and so that was the lead to trying to do what your dad had said and um and then rich or petty yeah that it's like trying to earn the trust of everybody in the garage area and um from that moment on I don't know if I really changed my driving style, but I really didn't get involved in a whole lot of wrecks after that. I was still involved in wrecks because that's just natural. And so it ended up that, you know, it seemed like I started earning their respect. And, you know, obviously when I started driving the 28 car with Robert Yates, I think I, you know, that escalated the confidence in people know. how I could drive.

I'm curious about something. I mean, I'm assuming, Ernie, that you agreed with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, with what they were telling you, right? But surely the irony wasn't lost, at least in your mind that, you know, one of the notorious aggressive drivers of all time is telling you that you need to calm down to be,

you know, to make it in the sport. And I just, I remember this so vividly of you standing up and thinking, well, I mean, I know he's a, aggressive, but he's not so aggressive that he's got to stand up and apologize and get the confidence of the entire series. And I was blown away by that. So I guess my question is that did the irony ever occur to anybody that, you know, that it's Dale Earnhardt delivering this message and therefore it must mean I am super aggressive so much so that if he's telling me this, then it must be bad. And did you agree with that?

Well, I mean, I agreed with that because of Dale Senior and Richard Petty both telling me this. And when those guys speak, I mean, you have to listen just because of their reputation and, you know, their status in the sport. I mean, I felt like, you know, this is this is something I need to do. And so that's the reason that I said, you know, I need to stand up and, you know, tell people that I'm sorry and try to do better. And I'll tell you, too, that Richard Petty had the same conversation that you had with them with Dad. Right. That's true. He said that. Yeah. So, you know, in 1980, Dad dives three wide on the very first start of the race at Martinsville. 1980 those big old cars with no brakes

Martinsville dad goes three wide underneath Richard into term one the very very beginning of the race of a 500 mileer at Martinsville and causes about a 15 car crash in the middle of one and two and Richard got dad by Richard poked dad in the chest after that race and said hey you got to figure this out had the same conversation so I think dad probably

was seeing a little bit of himself possibly I don't remember him getting up in the driver's meet No. Hell, he just straightened it out. Yeah. I think, honestly, you know, you said that you didn't think you changed your style much, but you did clean it up. You did avoid being the sort of focus of a lot of the crashes that were happening around that time.

And that was, I think, you know, your style was so unique. It could be compared to Dad. It could be compared to a few other people, Gary Ballou, maybe. but it was, you know, there weren't a lot of guys like y'all. You, to me, fit in that mold of Gary Blue, Deller and Hart. It's kind of, you know, do whatever it takes. You go out there win the race no matter what you've got to lean on a guy or whatever you have to do, the cockiness and all that, the belief in yourself.

I think you carried that with you. You might have cleaned up, you know, a little bit of the recklessness maybe. So you go and you get into the 28, car. All right. Now, you know, you had a, I felt like you were in a perfect situation with the four car, great combination of a team and driver who had a sort of similar, similar mindset, but now you're in possibly the fastest car in the series. All right, I always loved Davey and thought he was an amazing race car driver. But I thought, I think that you were possibly a better race car driver. Once you could kind of

clean up the rawness and the rough edges, you had that aggression and speed and you were like the total package, speed on the road courses, wherever you went. To me, when you in that 28 car became a

combination, it was as formidable as Tim Richmond in his peak in that 25 car. Like, you were going to go out there and dominate. This car had you never you never you always if you had the

best drivers but rarely did you have them in the best cars with the best motors right and the best setup the best crew chief you had the perfect package is I mean are you pitching yourself to have this opportunity

to drive this car most definitely I mean I had a lot of respect for Davey knew how talented he was and hearing from you that you thought that I was more talented than Davy but that's kind of crazy because I mean Davy was very good and then being able to you know drive for Robert Gates and the respect that Robert Yates had in the garage area and one of the things I remember

I told your dad that when I that was before he learned out Cox I was. I told him, I said, you know, he gave us our first opportunity, Mark Reno and me, to be able to do what we did. And just being, I told him, I said, you know, one of these days, I'm going to be your worst enemy because I'm going to outrun you and I'm going to beat you and I'm going to win the championship. And he kind of did the Dillernard laugh and was walking off said, okay, let's see how this works. So, but then I ended up driving the 28 car. And it was just, I mean, Tony Glover originally told me when I was driving a four car, he said,

trust me, this is going to be a lot easier than drive a DK's car. And I did. And I was, you know, one race is Daytona 500 and, you know, some road courses. And so I was very fortunate. And then I drove the 28 car, which is combination of probably one of the best crew chiefs. one of the best, by far the best motor builders with Robert and Doug. And just trying to have the best combination. They had the best cars. Ford Motor Company was behind the whole program. And it was even easier to drive the 28 car. You know, when you ever have a car that handles and a lot of

horsepower, it's going to, you know, go to the front. And when I, when I, started driving that car. I mean, I don't remember the first, I don't recall the first five or six races we ran. I kind of, I remember them, but I mean, I'm just like, you know, this is what you're supposed to do. And so I went out there and did it. One of the, one of the things I remember so much is coming up at Darlington, and that was my first race. And the reason Ford Motor Company wanted me to drive this car was because of my cockiness and because of my, um, a great aggression to be able to, you know, more carry on what Davey had done. Davey was kind of aggressive, but he was maybe not quite as cocky as me, but he was,

he was very humble, and he did a lot of good stuff. And so I, you know, was right behind Dale Sr., going down a straightaway, and I come on the radio, and I told Larry, I said, hey, watch this. And so I got into the back of Dale, Sr. And lifted the tires up off the ground a little bit. And it went back down and he continued on. He was waving and just on his back on his mirror, whatever, in the back glass. And you're telling me like, let's go.

It's going to be fun. So that was what the reason that Ford Motor Company, that was the reason Ford Motor Company and Robert Yates, chose me to drive that car. Yeah, in my mind, you were the answer to Dale Earnhardt, to Chevrolet and Dale and Hart and the Black 3. The Black 28 was now going to be an intimidating force on the NASCAR circuit with Ervin behind the wheel because he was a guy,

you just, when he was in the mirror, you didn't know what was coming, but you knew he was going to be tough and rough. That's interesting. Yeah. That's how I saw it. Yeah. You know, as a kid back then watching it.

And I was in real fear that Ernie was going to, you know, start taking wins and taking championships and opportunities away from dad. That was, he was, they were going to be hard to beat. And y'all were. You know, you guys, you guys made a great team. How was the, how was the relationship going? I mean, we're going to get to Michigan in the crash. But up to that point, how was the relationship going

with Robert the team, how are you fitting in? Where are you mentally as a driver at that point? Mentally as a driver, I felt like I was on top of my game. I felt like that I was deserving to drive that race car. I wasn't deserving to replace Davey Allison. I was going to continue the era of Robert Yates racing and Texco. So I felt like I was confident, felt like I knew I had the right team. Everything matched.

I mean, the pit stops were awesome. We did everything. That car could do everything right. And our relationship was very good. And Larry and me got along very well. And we're able to talk and be able to make the car better every practice. Yeah. Larry was kind of becoming, or maybe at that time it already became one of the more appreciated crew chiefs in the garage. And what was working with Larry like? We know what he's like today. He is a broadcaster and a great mind on strategy and so forth for the listeners at Fox.

But what was he like as a crew chief and how was he aggressive? What was his strategy? Larry was very technical. Not the lot of the kind of technical they have these days. But Larry, he was, his philosophy was, is you watch the Braves play baseball. You eat, eat them pizza at night. And then basically, you know, you drive the race car and he thinks about the race car all the time and he knows and he's up late and up early and had had everything on his mind to try to make the car better.

Yeah. So everything's going really well. You're past the midway point in the 1994 season. You're 20 some points behind that in the championship looking at a looking like a real contender to win the championship that year had been leading the points at times. And you have a practice crash at Michigan. There's no, I've always wanted to talk to you about this. I've had a lot of questions about this accident.

There's no video of it, not a lot of imagery or anything for anybody to really understand exactly what happened to you that day. Can you explain how the crash occurred? I basically blew a right front tire. I was actually going to, I was practicing. Larry said, let's make a 10-lap run and see what we got. And so we were making a 10-lap run. lap on on the 10th lap um larry said you know the thing's not exactly right let's just come in here and and work on it and i said well i'm just going to make one more lap and just see what i got

and i mean obviously it wasn't going to change anything because that's the car was handling and it just so happened that i drove into turn one and blew the right front out and hit the fence and i don't remember a whole lot after that except for 21 days later i kind of woke up. So when you hit the wall, was it hit with the right front? I'm 90% sure. Yeah, it was hit with the right front. And I mean, the car, the car was definitely hurt real bad, but not like Michael Walter

crashing at Crystal. Right. It was hurt bad, but it was more hurt because of the things that NASCAR have changed now to make the cars better. And, you know, head-neck restraint. and all this stuff that had advanced after my crash. Well, actually, Bobby Allison's crash, my crash, and it just kept proceeding to get better as far as the safety in NASCAR.

What was the injuries that you had from that, Rick? I'd have to get my wife to tell you all those. But basically, I had a basal skull fracture, and I had a collapsed, I think a collapsed lung. And I mean, I was kind of like drowning in my own blood because the basal skull fracture and things. And so they actually at the racetrack had to put a trachanometry, whatever that's called, a trache in my throat to get it where I could still breathe. And it just so happened because Roger Penske was way beyond his, you know, every day. Everybody had, if Roger Penske was involved, it was really good.

And Roger owned the racetrack. And there was a trauma doctor in the corner. Wow. And that's, I mean, I don't think that's happened all the time, but it just so happened. And that's where I crashed. And obviously, they had to do a trachometry before, I mean, they got me out of the car and they had to do that. And one of the things that his name was Dr. Mano, and he, you know, broke out the stuff that he needed to put the trache in. And it just so happened that the blade was gone.

And he actually, I think, cut my throat, my pipe, air pipe with, I think, a pocket knife. And got it done. And got it done and obviously was able to continue to breathe and then was transported to hospital over in Ann Arbor. Yeah. And it transported me there in a helicopter. But I don't remember. I remember the night before playing Monopoly with Doug and his wife and cheating really bad and winning. so that's what you're supposed to do when you play Monopoly.

And little cards under the table and things like that. Yeah, how do you cheat Monopoly? Okay, I did that. But I kind of remember doing that. And then I remember like 21 days later. You know, I always wondered, you know, usually even in the most horrible situations, there's always a silver lining that sticks out, no matter how many bad situations, you know, stack up,

it sounds to me like that doctor being in that corner, which I don't know if you, if it's, it wouldn't be a fluke because like you said, Roger Penske does everything, you know, top notch in the right way, but is it, you don't survive if that doctor's not there. Is that overstating it? No, I'm, I mean, I'm pretty much 95% sure that I would have never survived. if he wasn't there, that's for sure.

When you came back to, when he came back to the sport and came back to the garage, you're wearing an eye patch over your left eye. What was the problem with that? There was some vision issues? Yeah, when the basal skull fracture, evidently with the fracture, it kind of got one of the nerves that helped control the left eye.

And so I was seeing double. So they, natural deal, they put a patch on your eyes, so you're only looking out one eye. And then also my vision out of my left eye wasn't very good. So it wasn't bad having a patch on it, but it wasn't ideal. Let me ask a quick question. Let me back up for a second. When you, you were in a coma for 21 days, is that what you said? When did it all happen?

Well, I mean, I think I was in a self-induced coma because that's what the doctors did, just try to keep me from getting overly excited when I started waking up. And that's kind of what they do is what I understand now. I'm just curious, like, you know, when does the situation, the gravity of the situation actually, you know, occur to you and did you think that you would ever even have a decision to try to come back? I mean, at some point you had to have a decision of do I, am I done or am I going to try to get back? Do you recall if that, if you ever had to cross that, that path? Well, I mean, I knew that, I mean, I got hurt. I mean, I didn't know the severity of the

injuries. With a basal skull fracture, most people die from that. and I was very fortunate to be able to have the right doctors and be able to, you know, have them save my life. And but I was in a coma, self-produced coma. And they always had the TV on, you know, in the races or whatever they could because they thought that that could help me start, you know, coming to. And the first thing I remember, I kind of remember, that they were talking about the 28 car and Kenny Wallace, and they were at Richmond. And I'm thinking, I can't really talk because of the trache in my throat. And I'm kind of looking.

They saw that I kind of woke up, and I'm kind of, I coming to and looking. And it's like, and I'm hearing that Kenny Wallace in the 28 car. And I'm thinking, wait a minute, that's my car. Yeah. Now, I can say that I could be, I was real clear about thinking that, but I really didn't know really what car I was driving. But today, I mean, I mean, I mean, I think I remember that, man, it's like my brain waves weren't right, but, you know, something's wrong because I'm not not at the racetrack.

Yeah. And it just so happened that I woke. up and saw that. And I think I I think I said, you know, I mean, I kind of put motions out that I kind of wanted to know what, what was wrong. And, and, you know, my wife was there, Kim.

And she just, I mean, she kind of was my, my soothing, voice because I remember her voice. And she helped me, you know, try to get through all that. And then after we, they helicopter me, no, I'm sorry. After that, then they got me in an airplane and took me to rehab in Charlotte. What was the rehab like? That was something that I wanted to know.

and how difficult was the rehab for you being, you know, race car drivers are not patient. You're not, you don't want to wait on your body to heal. When it's just, when it's just good enough, it's good enough, and you're ready to go back. So how challenging was that for you after, you know, after really having such a great opportunity, you're ready to go back, you want to get back in that car and prove you can still do it. So rehab must have been very difficult. Well, rehab was very difficult. I mean, I had to learn how to walk because I really couldn't even walk.

And basically, I had to kind of learn how to talk all the time. You'll be able to carry a sentence on and all those things. And it started advancing very well. I remember sitting with the doctor. And, you know, the doctor kind of said, said, so. And Kim was sitting there too. And the doctor said, well, so what do you expect and what do you want to do in your recovery? Right.

And I said, I want to get back to racing. And then the doctor said, hey, you know, the chances of you driving your little girl to school are going to be maybe we can do that. and Kim, my wife, she got the doctor out of the room and told him, don't tell him that because then he won't have the energy and the courage to try to get back, to go and racing. That's going to be his motivation. And if you have real good motivation, a lot of times you can do the unexpected. And I was very fortunate that the doctor never told me that again.

And Kim was helping me go through this rehab and try to get better. And I was advancing very well as far as the rehab. I remember, you know, doing the test that they ask you show you a picture of an animal. and one okay well what's that and they showed me a picture of a camel and you know

it has a hump and all that stuff and so I couldn't remember what a camel looked like I mean I remember what it looked like but in my mind I couldn't tell them that was a camel

I was like I know it's got two humps and I just kind of like it's like I really felt like I was really stupid because I didn't know what the camel looked like. Didn't know how to say camel. Right.

So obviously now I can know how to say camel. So I'm a lot better. Good Lord. Did Kim want you back in the race car? Or did she want you to call it a career? She wanted me to have the willpower and the motivation to do exactly what I wanted to do. And she also knew that the doctor had told me and told us that if you could ever drive your little girl, Jordan, to school was going to be a great recovery. And she wanted me to have that ambition to get back in a car because she knew I was going to get better the ambition that I was going to do.

Your life was going to get back in order if you aspired to be getting back in the car. So you're rehabbing literally to get back in a race car, but she's thinking, you know, wherever the chips fall, at least he's aspiring. His bar is so high that it's going to get him back as close to normal as possible. Yes. I mean, I'm pretty sure that that's kind of what she thought. That's courage, man.

There's a lot of courage in this story. I can't believe it. I mean, because on a different scale, but the concussion recovery, I mean, like, I remember at a time with you, we weren't even trying to get back into a race car. You were trying to be able to walk down a wedding aisle without help. I guess the point with the thing that strikes me is that you even did get back in a car. I mean, a basal skull fracture. I mean, we know so much more about them now and know how, you know, potentially they're most all fatal and not many people survive them.

I cannot believe. And with you telling us how bad off you were and what a dark place. that must have been for you, I cannot believe that you wanted to get back in a car. Right. You know, I can't believe that you would even put yourself back in the situation that got you there. Right. So talk about that, Ernie. Was there ever, I mean, was there ever a minute where you were like, man, am I doing the right thing?

When you talk about getting that race car, get back in that car and you're going to have to really commit to drive in that car to its limit and beyond the limit. You're going to have to be willing to crash again. You're going to have to be willing to hit things. Were you ever doubtful about that or fearful even about, man, is this the right choice for me? I never thought that I couldn't do it. Never thought that I shouldn't do it.

Okay, here's the cockiness to come out of me. I had kind of humbled out myself a lot, but I still, in my desire, I still wanted to get out there and win races. The thought of doing it, most everybody said that that's like a 1% chance. I felt like that I could do it. I could get out there and win races again. And obviously I couldn't walk upstairs hardly. So it really was a lot of things people said. It's like, you know, they didn't tell me,

but there's no way you're going to get back in a car. If you can ever drive a streetcar, again, it's going to be good. So, I mean, I never thought that I couldn't do it. Well, you did get back in a car. You got back in a, you raced a truck. and then you got back in their cup car you won you won a few races

that first one in 1996 at New Hampshire right? I don't know how I can't so I don't know how you did that I don't know how you had such a severe injury that had debilitated you so much and you got not only

you not only rehab to become a normal person again just to be able to live a normal life and take care of your family, but you became an elite athlete again, which is another level that a lot of people don't even know. And you won. You want when you're so obviously, I'm going to assume that while you're back in the car and you're winning races in that 28 car again, I know that you know that you're not the same person, you know, and you're, you still feel things about yourself that remind you of the, of, of your crash, that you have injuries, that you have permanent, uh, parts or things about your body that aren't going to be the same, right?

Oh, most definitely. Um, the, the, the biggest thing that, that helped motivate me to get back was Kim, my wife. And, uh, Robert, yeah. Gates told me, said, if you can ever drive a race car, well, he said that, okay, you get better, you're able to drive again. I've got a car going to be right there for you. We're going to help you be able to reach your goals. That meant a lot, just because you had to have motivation with the recovery. And so that helped motivate me. And, um,

And then I got back. I really kind of think that I was about 75% of what I used to be as far as, you know, what I could do with a race car. I could still do a lot with a race car, but I wasn't, I wasn't carrying, helping carry the team, you know, because a 28 car was an awesome car. but I was kind of kind of helping the team was helping me to be able to be the 100% because you know obviously if you have a really good race car driver and you have a really good team and you have a good engine it makes it better and so I was kind of like I don't know if I wasn't 100%. Yeah. So but I was I was I was I was um I was I was was probably, you know, 75%, and I could still drive, I could still do pretty decent.

Still better than a lot of those guys out there, even at 75%. At least that's where... That's the way out. Well, yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, I, that cockiness come out again. So, yeah, I mean, it's like, you know, it seemed pretty easy. It wasn't as easy as it used to be, but I had difficulties. The first three or four races with an eye patch on. And I ran into a few more things, bumped a few more cars. But everybody kind of, they really didn't hold that against me.

And I remember the first race at North Wilkesboro and being able to get in the truck. and I was, I probably cost myself that race because I had told, because it was my truck, and I had told them, okay, you can, you've got to tighten this thing up or loosen it. I mean, I'm not sure exactly. But you do that, I'm going to be able to win this race. Well, they weren't able to do all the changes that I wanted in the middle of the break. And so they kind of started without me because I, I didn't, we didn't have all the changes done.

And so that kind of ended that day. And then, but being able to drive in the Cup series again with the 28 car, which was now the 88 car because, you know, the 28 car was still driven by Dale Jarrett. But what really helped my confidence was is I went out there. I qualified, you know, good. I can't remember exactly what position. but qualify in the top 10, I think.

And it was faster than my teammate, which was Dale Jarrett. So that gave me more motivation. And I ended up running pretty competitive in the race. And I think I finished a seventh or eighth, I think. I'm not sure. But maybe nine. But it was a really, really first outing. And I was very confident in myself.

I can't believe it. Yeah, I'd always wondered about that wreck in Michigan, and I knew it was severe and even worse than, you know, hearing some of the things you went through, it's even worse than I thought, and to think that you came back and got healthy and you won. And then won at Michigan in 97. I mean, an emotional, emotional victory lane.

Remember it like it was yesterday. To go back and conquer the place that almost took your life. Yeah, obviously I won at Richmond. Before that and Loudoun, Richmond, and then Michigan, being able to do that was, you know, I mean, I felt like I kind of had conquered the world because, you know, when at Michigan again, the track that almost took my life was able to, you know, defeat that track because, you know, I'm able to win, and I'm very, very fortunate to do that. And it was, you know, a lot of the team. The driver was kind of 75%, but the team really carried me. In 1999, you go back to Michigan, you had an accident in a Bush series practice. Is that what sort of led to your decision to retire?

And had you gotten to the point, I guess, after that crash, you probably had a little bit of a setback with your head injuries, which I've experienced myself. and you, I'm asking you, I guess, did you get together as a family and go, you know what? I've kind of came to the, I want to do this, but my body's not going to allow me to continue. I mean, I never really told the family. I never, I mean, I just, in my mind, I was working out that morning, I think his name is Phil Horton. And he was kind of my workout guy and helped me recover and stuff.

from the second accident and I knew that it was worse because multiple head injuries they keep multiplying and they keep multiplying worse and worse and I felt like if I ever want to drive my little girl to school again I'm probably going to need to be retired

and so I mean I felt like I needed to make a press conference and tell them that I, you know, love the sport, but I love my family. So I felt like it was smart for me to retire. How hard was that? How hard was it after, you know, obviously it's difficult in the moment to make that decision and tell everybody that you're going to do that.

But how difficult was the next several months, the next year, to have to say goodbye to something that meant so much to you? That hadn't changed. I mean, it's kind of hard. to stomach it still, still. But I know in my mind I wasn't going to be able to do it again. And I wasn't, I mean, now because of all the healing has happened, I can do a lot of things still, but driving a race car, probably not very good.

And if you're not able to be 100%, I just felt like I just need to, you know, be honorable to my family and retire and be able to keep the motivation, but I still had the desire, but I knew I couldn't do it. Did you ever reconsider? Did you ever go through, you know, just days where you were like, I probably have a little bit I could still offer the sport? I mean, I really think that in my mind I knew I couldn't. I knew I couldn't drive even the same.

75% that I was. I never really did any testing after that. We did some cognitive testing, and I was probably as bad as I was after the first head injury. And so just knew that the multiple head injuries, it wasn't going to get a whole lot better. Yeah. It was just probably more than likely you knew in the back of your mind that it it's probably more unlikely going to happen again. And how many chances do you got before your life with your family is taken away from you?

Which is the same question you had to deal with. Yeah. So, well, I'm proud of you for being able to make that choice for yourself so many years ago. And we're thankful because we can sit here and talk to you today and have this conversation. And you can enjoy a good quality of life because of that choice that you made, such a smart choice. one thing that I remember when you lived, when I was racing and we would fly to Charlotte or we would fly over to Darlington, we always crossed over your house. And one day, your house burnt down and all your trophies were in there and you lost your trophies. And it was a big, so it was a big deal to read that.

Really, really heartbreaking story with everything that you'd already been through in your career and the difficulty. of trying to rehab from injuries and so forth, to have something like that just out of nowhere, take away a lot of momentos and memories and trophies of a great career. That had to be so difficult, but the sport came together, the NASCAR came together and was able to help replace some of those trophies, if not most of them.

What did that mean to you? What was that like? That meant with NASCAR replacing all that stuff, that meant that, hey, I was obviously a part of the sport and they remember and being able to to accept those kind of rewards and they knew that I basically didn't have any of my trophies being able to get those things. That was something that, you know, I mean, I never thought that would ever happen. Yeah, it must have meant a lot.

Yeah. So we see a lot of those in the background behind you. What do you, you know, your son races. Talk about that a little bit. Jared has, Jared's been racing for a while now. How involved are you in that and how much joy do you personally get from watching your son compete? I mean, it's 100% of joy being able to watch him race and no. knowing the talent that he's got and no one that you feel really bad that you're not able to bring him more opportunities.

And so those are things that, you know, it's like, gosh, man, I wish he could get the opportunities to, you know, be able to carry their Irvin name on. And it just hasn't happened, but, I mean, he's able to go race a little bit. and we're going to race a 10,000 to win race down at Citrus County this weekend. In the cars in the back, I'm facing the car right now. So I'm real involved in it. I mean, I help every part of it. I'm not a real good crew chief because I don't remember what I used to do. and so we always try to have a crew chief that kind of knows the ins and outs of the super lay model stuff and had some really good ones and you know right now you know we just get one when when we race and it's kind of hard to we can't really afford to be able to have a full-time crew chief and be able to race full-time so

this will be our seventh or eighth race this year. Randy Renfro, we drive for him quite a bit. We have it this year because of all the corporate stuff. But, I mean, it's really enjoyable to watch him. I kind of live through him in these days. I mean, just because I know I can't do it. I know that if I got in the car, I wouldn't going to be able to be anywhere close to as fast as he is. So I refuse to get in the car.

And plus he's only 120 pounds. And I'm about 175. So I can't fit in the seat. So that's good. Yeah. Does Jared have any of his dad's cockiness? I think so. he's

he's a to me he's a way better race car driver than I ever was he thinks the whole time I mean and he thinks of it's like you know if I make this move there's a chance that I'm not going to be able to

you know finish the race and one of my mottos and one of my things I tell him all the time you have to first finish before you can first win and so I think he listens to me on some of that stuff because I tell him that all the time and I just, I kind of love to watch him race.

Man, it's got to be amazing. Well, buddy, it's been great to talk to you, and I know you're enjoying life down there in Florida, and good luck at the racetrack this weekend. Appreciate you coming on here and telling us about something. some of the most difficult days of your life. We want to celebrate you and what you mean to this sport,

what you've meant to a lot of people's lives, my life, is better having you in it. And hope to be able to see you more often. Down there in Florida, we don't get to see you too much. The racetrack up here in North Carolina in Moresville and Race City, USA. But we miss you, and it's just going to be great. to catch up. A lot of people are going to love to hear from you and know what you got going on, buddy.

Well, I enjoy being on the Della and Arts TV show. It's pretty awesome. I've always wanted to. I always wondered why nobody's called me about doing it because I was watching it. I'm like, man, why don't they call me? Yeah. And so it was, I mean, I really enjoy being on the show and feel very honored. to be on the show.

And then also, it's great to hear from you again. Don't get to hear from you a lot as far as, because I don't go to the racetrack a lot. Because nowadays, it's kind of hard to get to the racetrack because of, you know, all the COVID stuff. And so I just haven't went in a while. And I'll probably go some more here in the future. Well, we'll see you there.

And it'll be great to see you. So take care, man. Thank you. We have a great show for everybody. Thank you, and we hope to see you soon. Amen to that. Okay. Appreciate it.

All right, man. And Ernie, again, that was fantastic. Please send, tell your wife, thank you. She was super patient with us. We were trying to get it arranged early in the year when we were, you know, before a pandemic hit us all. And we were trying to arrange and schedule you in here because that would have been the ultimate treat. Is you at this table? Tell her hi, thank you so much for all the cooperation.

And whenever this thing ends up and you guys are in the neighborhood, we'd love to get you in the studio. Well, that'd be great. I mean, I'd love to be in the studio. And some of my friends that are down here, which is Danny Lossacki. Oh, yeah. He said, man, we ought to make a weekend out of going up there, going a couple of the shops, and going to Dell Jr. shop.

and I just want to watch a show him person, you know, is what Danny says. That'd be bad ass. Danny, the dude Lysoski, has a seat in our studio anytime he wants. And you do, too. He lives right here in Ocala. Yeah. And so we got my arms right now on the poker table. We play poker all the time.

And so we do that on Thursdays. And Danny's going to be back because he's got a race team that he doesn't drive. Danny crew chiefs it and makes the cars and he plays poker anytime he's in town and so we're going to play poker again next Tuesday so what you need to do is you need to show up here one time and

we'll never tell you anybody that you're coming so it'll be a surprise the way you play Monopoly apparently we're not getting in a poker game with you we know what you're doing underneath that table these guys know how to cheat way better than I do. I didn't even know how to play poker. And then they said something about going playing poker.

And I'm like, you know, there's some other friends. They said, hey, says, why don't you come to the poker game? And I'm thinking, oh, man, all they're doing is trying to set me up, try to win some of my money. And so we do a poker game. It's $50 to buy in. You can't buy in again. So you end up getting eliminated. I've been eliminated every time.

but sometimes I've finished in the top three one time I got money so I'd love to try I'd love to come play some poker with you guys that'd be fun I needed your part especially especially with Danny's here because you know I got to say that most of the time when Danny's here

there's too much drinking and not enough playing but the other guys take the money and me and Lassowski because I let him mix my drinks. That doesn't really go. Didn't go very well. I'll bring my own drinks.

I'll bring my own. B-Y-O-B. I won't let Danny mix my drinks then. Well, don't have Danny mix your drinks, but I got beer, and we've got mixed drinks if you want it. Yes, sir. Thank you, Ernie. Thank you, man.

Okay, thanks. Take care. We're live. favorite part of the show is here. That's right. It's Ash Jr. Brought to you by your friends at Xfinity podcast partner and premier partner of NASCAR. NASCAR.

Let's hear what you have sent to the Xfinity race. Leah has all your guys' questions ready to go, so let's get started. Yep. First question. We have a couple of Darlington-related questions, so we'll get those out of the way first. First one coming from Linda Lee. Should the truck series make a regular appearance appearance at Darlington? I think everybody should race at Darlington. Trucks, Xfinity, Super Late Mods, whatever. Tour mods, tour mads.

Lone mowers, mad of fads. Darlington, man, yeah, we should just pack the week full of racing, just braces and Ray Arco, all of them, Canyon, what the heck ever. You know, start the racing on Monday and not stop until Saturday night or Sunday sometime. And, you know, everybody can just hang out, camp, barbecue. watch some racing, get back down, go back to the camper, drink some beer, barbecue, get up next day, do the same thing again for like six days. How's that sound? They're loving it.

Next question coming from Jason Edwards. Have you ever cleared yourself like we've seen drivers do this year and cause a wreck? What's the conversation like with the spotter crew chief and the car owner when you make that call like that and it ends badly? It happens a thousand times a race during on sim racing online. if you pass enough race cars, kind of learn, and if you bang into enough stuff, you learn where the corners of the car,

where they are. And just like you kind of know your own body and how not to run it into things and bounce off of things, you know, when you walk through the door, you don't run into the door jam. You know, you learn where your body's at and how not to run into things with it.

If you're trying to squeeze through a tight space, right? You know in your mind, when you're going to make contact with something because you know your body. Well, when you drive a race car, you belt it in that thing really tight and it becomes like an extension of your body. And you know where every edge and bumper and corner of that car is. You know it without looking. And if you drive by enough race cars, you kind of know by the speed in what you're going by the car. and all those things.

You kind of know when you're clear. You've got a pretty good idea. And sometimes, I think Truex knew it was probably pretty tight, pretty close. Also, the side draft maybe hung the nine there momentarily and slowed down that pass so that it wasn't complete. And sometimes you take the chance that maybe you can force the guy out of the gas to give up the, you know, give up the spot.

All those things kind of had a role in what happened there in the term one with TrueX. But, yeah, I think, you know, you clear yourself a lot. We do rely on the spotters, but there's sort of this balance between listening to the spotter and taking that information, but also you making most of the decisions yourself. You've got to drive the car, you know. and I can drive a race car and go buy a car and pretty much know I'm clear without even needing any help. It's nice to just be able to get that second opinion, I guess, from the spotter. Typically, yeah, race car drivers tend to clear themselves a lot in a race, a lot.

There's a lot of that going on more than we would all. I think we'd all be surprised by how often a driver probably cleared himself, even though the spotter was still working and clearing. you know, I think the spotter also knew in confidence that he was clear as well, exactly in the moment that he has eclipsed the bumper of the car that he's trying to pass. So it's just one of them things going down into term one for Truex and Chase, where Martin was like, man, I think I might be clear, might probably, maybe not, and I'm going to just go in there and I need the spot.

It's now or never, and hopefully chase lifts. And if there's contact, I don't think Martin think it thought it was going to send them both into the fence like it did, even if they did get together. But it ended up as bad as it possibly could be for both of those guys. Our next question comes from Matt Slaga. I'm going to Atlanta this weekend and doing the NASCAR racing experience. I'll be driving five minutes on the track. Do you have any advice?

Five minutes. Yeah. Try to make it, try to stay out there longer. I don't know. What are they going to do? Charge you more? I would probably say that for Atlanta, they're probably going to have,

for five minutes, they're probably going to be pretty strict about obviously how fast you go, but also where you are on the racetrack. They tend to paint these marks on the track and they're like, hey, straddle these marks, right? We don't want you next to the apron. We don't want you up against the wall.

They're not going to let you kind of do your own thing. They're going to tell you to stay right in the middle of the track to avoid any kind of issue. But try to figure out if you can get down into term one a little low, right next to the apron, if possible. And also in turns three and four, how bumpy it is through that part of the track. Getting down into term one, there's a big bump and a couple of, there's a series of sort of wavy, very challenging bumps in the bottom of the racetrack next to the apron. So I'd check that out. Turns 3 and 4 is a similar sort of wavy all the way through there. It's kind of like the car goes over these heels.

So they're not necessarily bumps, but they really upset the race car when you're going through there at 150 miles an hour. You won't be doing that, but you still get an understanding of just how kind of imperfect, you know, the track is. And when you're watching it on TV, if you've never been in a car, you don't see that, right? you just see the car go through the corner and go, it looks relatively smooth, all right?

But once you get out there in a car and you can kind of test it out, you learn that the tracks are actually quite imperfect, and there's a lot of, some may call character in the surface. So I'd check that part out with just a five minutes that you have. Our next question coming from, Travis Elkins. He wants to know who are some of your favorite stand-up comedians? Um, my favorite stand-up comedians. Richard Pryor was one.

Eddie Murphy, man, you know, I kind of, I don't know, I haven't been watching much stand-up comedy over the last several years, but, man, I was kind of into it way back in the day. Like I said, the two guys I mentioned Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy are old school. Their stand-up to me is still pretty funny today. Mitch Hedberg. Mitch was all right. Gaffa.

You had to be kind of, yeah, Gaffigan was great. Bermiglia, Mike Berbiglia? Probably listen to him, but don't know. You can't put a face with it. Gosh. I'm going to be upset because as soon as we get off here, I'm going to remember one that I really liked. That's the way it always happens.

You know, we've had several great comedians at the Dale Jr. Foundation events that we do each year. That's true. And some not so good, honestly, if I can be on. But so we used to, at the foundation event, we have this foundation event each October. We're not going to have it this year, but we'll restart it back next year.

But we used to do concerts or bands. We had Alabama play one year. But then we went to comedians, you know, because Alabama, So we had Alabama playing and I'm serious like As soon as the event is over The band starts playing

Like half the people left Or even 40% right Left the event And so I'm standing there going Alabama's playing And All these people left That's so messed up

So An American We um I felt terrible So we took a Uh Uh We changed

it up to have comedians and everybody sticks around for whatever reason everybody wants to you know what's a good you know everybody loves to laugh and so those have been pretty successful for our events all right that's all we got for today that's it that's it okay all right man I like them all

good questions this is my favorite part of the show Mike and it goes really fast that's true it's just like Xfinity internet very very fast Xfinity X5 keeps me connected I honestly can't think of a better way to stay up to speed with NASCAR and Dirtymo Media and everything else. You heard it here, folks.

Don't forget DEL's here at the table every week to answer your questions. So, get those brains working, get creative, and hit us up at Xfinity Racing on Twitter using the hashtag Ask Junior for a chance to hear from Dell Jr himself. A big thanks to Xfinity for being a premier partner of NASCAR. We love talking about originals on the show, and today we have a doozy. Bavilleen is a big part of our show and they're the ones that are getting us talking about some of the originals of our sport because they are the original motor oil.

So let's talk about Jake Elder. Oh yeah, an original there. Better than only suitcase Jake, suitcase Jake, because he would change teams all the time and he basically just carried a suitcase around because he never knew when he was going to leave and go to the next team. He had his suitcase very close.

On the ready, His career started with petty enterprises. He was a mechanic or crew chief for some of the best drivers in our sport. Fred Lorenzen, Darrell Waltrip, Benny Parsons, Parnelli Jones, Bobby Allison, AJ Foyt, Ricky Rudd, Terry Labani, my dad, during his championship year of 1980 for part of the season. Before he packed his suitcase. And left. He worked with Holman Moody and was part of the team that brought Mario Andretti, the 1967 Daytona 500 win. He had a big connection with my grandfather, Robert G, and worked with him for a while.

Also, the championship crew chief for David Pearson in 68 and 69. Jake had 44 wins on record as a crew chief at the cup level. Jack Roush said that he could chase demons from a race car. Wow, I guess that's a compliment. After Dad's first win, he told Dad's. with me, kid, and we'll have diamonds as big as horse turds. As one would always say, you know. Here's a salute to you, suitcase Jake, a true original like Valeline.

They invented racing oil. Valvene, the original motor oil. Last call. Last call. Great show. Your open segment was insightful Mike, Ernie Irvin. Incredibly emotional interview there. That hit me on a lot of levels.

Great-ass junior. So let's go with a beer fact. Why not? Beer has been around for a while. Not as long as valet. Well, probably, maybe. Probably longer, right? They're the original. Since around 3,500 BC.

Beer's been around since then. Wow. According to the ancient history encyclopedia, beer was once considered more healthy than water. Dang. I think a lot of people still feel strongly about that. that. Yeah.

It's safer to drink because harmful microorganisms were cooked out in the process. And water in those days wasn't as clean. Straight out of the... So water has now become cleaner. Yeah. And out that nile. They didn't have filtered water back then, did? And now this is more healthy.

Plus, beer contained nutrients that other drinks of the day did not have. That's pretty interesting stuff. Go get you some dirty moz swag. Throwback T-shirts from Ross Chast. Haines number 77, Dillenhart Tribute, and Dirtymo Media, sponsored Chevy, is available now. The Dicast 2, all at dirtymo Media.com. That's right. All right.

A few times to see this episode this week with Ernie Irvin as our guest. I cannot wait to see some of the pictures that the team, Brian, and those guys are going to pull together. Our usual time on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Also, another showing at 9.30 p.m. on Friday. and then Saturday at 12.30 p.m. lunchtime. So three showings this week with a great guest. I think it deserves it. Yeah.

All right. Already over, man. Another awesome history lesson. Coming into Richmond this weekend should be a lot of fun. One day show for everybody. We have the Xfinity Race and the Cup Race double-header kind of fun and double-header thing going on there. It'll be a long day for me. Yeah.

Yeah. That's it. I'm excited. I got a great week ahead of me. Good, good. I'm excited. Drink some lemon juice and tea and get that voice box ready. No, no, no, no.

Beer, it's healthy. Ken Squire here is going to be. Did we talk about my eBay store last week on the show? Yes, we did. I had a few bites. Wait, wait, wait. Did you start it? Oh, yeah.

Oh, shoot. So you had the steel in the works. We started it. All right, I want to know about it. I got a few things. I don't want to tell what they are because then people are going to know it's my store. Well, I thought that was the point. No.

That's what you said last week. I'm not going to be like, hey, Dillenhardt Jr. You're buying my junk. Oh, so you're just like, oh, I'm farmer Ned, and here's my crap. It's me and a friend, so we have a store together that is not tied to anyone, anyone's identity. It's just so. I still want to know it. You got to tell me.

I will. Off camera. Okay. Y'all have a great week. Check out Dirty Mo Media on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Dirty Mo.