The Dale Jr. Download - 374 - Geoff Bodine: Rivals and Revelations

Episode Date: March 22, 2022

For some NASCAR fans, the names Earnhardt and Bodine are like oil and water. Today, the much-anticipated interview as Geoff Bodine, one of Dale Earnhardt's biggest rivals, sits down with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mike Davis on The Download.The legendary NASCAR driver began his storied career in an all-female "powder puff" race and wore a wig to do so. From there, Bodine started his young career on the short tracks of the Northeast driving NASCAR Modifieds. In 1978, Bodine won an astonishing 55 out of 84 sanctioned races, a feat still in the Guinness Book of World Records. Bodine's winning ways in NASCAR's open wheel ranks led to opportunities down south in NASCAR's Late Model Sportsman series, now called the Xfinity Series, and eventually a ride in the elite Cup Series.The 1982 Cup Rookie of the Year details his early days and how he got a shot with a Charlotte car-salesman who was starting a NASCAR team. That car owner was Rick Hendrick. Hendrick paired the Yankee racer with a very southern crew chief, Harry Hyde. The effort fizzled quickly and Hendrick told the team they were out of money and shutting the doors. They were done. But Hyde convinced Hendrick to give them one more chance. Bodine talks about the Martinsville win that spring boarded his success and saved Hendrick Motorsports.With Bodine running at the front, run-ins were imminent. There were no greater run-ins than the ones he had with the Intimidator, Dale Earnhardt. The two rivals locked horns on several occasions, leading to a legendary meeting between the drivers, team owners and NASCAR's Bill France. Bodine explains what really went down in a scene famously depicted in the motion picture "Days of Thunder," Dale Jr. admits, how the rivalry created riffs between friends and families.No talk with Geoff could be complete without asking the difficult question about the 1994 Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the incident between he and his brother Brett Bodine. The drama played out on a very public stage and shocked many in the racing world. But behind closed doors, all involved knew why it happened. It's something Geoff has a difficult time talking about to this day.Bodine is also known for surviving one of the most horrific crashes of all time, in the inaugural 250-mile NASCAR Truck Series race at Daytona International Speedway. Most who witnessed the wreck, thought there was no way he could have survived, but amazingly he did. Bodine details the crash and how he spoke with his father, who was deceased, during the near death experience. The incident effected Bodine's career and most importantly his life. He struggled physically with vision and pain, and emotionally with problems that he brings to the discussion at the table. Geoff shares his testimony in a vivid, open and honest way and how it led him to a faith, he believes, ultimately saved his life.. A faith that defines the legendary driver more than his 1986 Daytona 500 win.Aside from his racing efforts, Bodine also shares how he spearheaded an effort to get the United States Bobsled program Olympic Gold. We also learn about the NASCAR Country Music record he helped make happen and how he feels about potentially being in the NASCAR Hall of Fame discussion.OPEN SEGMENTBefore Geoff Bodine came to the table Mike and Dale discuss: Dale details his trip to Houston, Texas for his wife Amy's birthday and how they attempted, again, to meet country music superstar George Strait. Mike has a big announcement for fans of Dirty Mo Media ASKJRHannah Newhouse is in studio to deliver some fan questions inspired by unique observations that impressed Dale and co. Potential additions to the iRacing platform How Amy pulled him from living life in "a big funnel" An International Lost Speedway that peaks Dale Jr.'s interest Why Dale switched steering wheel sizes during his tenure at Hendrick Motorsports Favorite thing to order from Bojangles 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.

Bar, destined to run 500 miles at speeds well over 100 miles an hour is a very special animal. The following is a production of Dirtymo Media. Live from the Bojangles Studios, it's another episode of the Dale Jr. download. I am your host, Dale Jr. and my co-host, Mike Davis, is here. Hey, Mike. Hey Dale. How's it going? Are you excited about this show?

Dude, I've been looking forward to this one for a while. Jeff Bodine is our guest. We've been working on getting Jeff here forever. Where does Jeff live? Florida. All right. So trying to get a flight up here. Same situation with other guys we want on the show, Mark Martin.

We want him in the studio. He lives on the other side of the country. But anyways, we finally got him. Jet Bodine's going to be here and we're going to talk to him about all of the things. I mean, obviously the run-ins with Dad, but we're going to go into his crash in the truck race at Daytona where I almost lost his life. I mean, amazing, right? Lots of stuff there to pack.

So I'm excited about that. Matthew's here. Hannah, she's here as well. Back again, lucky to have her. And so let's get right to it. So we put out this video last week. You guys, I feel like I've told the story a hundred times, but put out a story about how I met George Strait and had a beer with George Strait.

Really random thing. and if you haven't watched that video, go to DirtyMobile Media's YouTube channel, you can listen to it there. But anyways, the reason why we told that story is because this past weekend, I went to Houston to take Amy to see George Strait in concert, and I had worked on this for a month, more than a month.

I set this up with the help of Tony Mayoff a long, long time ago, it seems like six months ago. And we worked with his people, to try to organize a meet and greet to where Amy would finally be able to say she's met him and get a picture with him. And there's this long-running sort of joke that I have with her where I've met him and she hasn't and she's the one that's the biggest fan between the two of us. And anyways, it was an exciting weekend we were going into it.

And her family was going to be with us, her sister and brother-in-law. Anyways, it was a high-pressure situation, man. So I get us this amazing hotel. I picked this great hotel, the post-Oak Hotel in Houston, a really great place. We got a cabana by a pool and hung out for an afternoon, just really chill, a couple, you know, 48 hours with no kids and just kind of be able to do what we want.

And boy, the kids have been just tugging on her pant leg forever. So this was great for her. She had a great time. We had a great dinner. the first night and then, okay, we get a call that George wants to meet

before the show. So I'd planned, I booked a dinner at State 48, which is this high-end steakhouse. And I thought that I, you know, had spread out the dinner

and then the concert enough to be able to give us plenty of time to get over there. It's literally four miles away, but, you know, with traffic and everything, I felt like I had organized this really well but with them calling and saying that George wants to meet before the show instead of after

I was like okay I don't know what to do now so I called State 48 and I moved my reservation up an hour concert George is going on at 8 all right dinner was at 545 so I moved it to 445 so surely we can get out of there

and get to see George right and Tony told me that he's I haven't heard from George's people specifically but I'm working through Tony Mayoff back here in Mooresville and he's talking to him gotcha and he's like man they really want you to be there at 545 oh wow and uh so I was like okay or or uh either was 545 or 645 sorry it was 645 so I got we got uh two hours okay sit down I told everybody I said I know we want to have a good dinner and relax and chill but let's just sit down look at the menu get what you want in your mind right let's order no dilly dally we're not dilly dally that's right you know we're not going to sit around drink coffee after right espresso and order individual

everybody gets some fun dessert no right to eat our main course we're going to have it ordered and eat it and get out there and so we uh we're uber and we don't have a car so we're we're relying on that to work out well dinner goes fine we get out of there at probably uh six o'clock okay so you've got 45 minutes well to get the uber to show up is 20 minutes closest one all right so now at 620 we get in the car as we're driving over there it's going to take now four miles is going to take us you know 20 minutes 25 minutes. Well, we get there right at 645, and I finally, I've got the contact that Tony sent me for George's people, and I finally text them, and they're like, I need you here now. And I said, we're on the property, but we're not going to be there right now. We're on the south, we're on the

south end of this giant stadium, and we've got to get to the south end. It's probably got to take us maneuvering through gates and all kinds of places. And this, and this. So, anyways, we're late. We're not on time. My fault, our fault didn't. It just, it didn't work. I'm going to tell you right now, okay, I know George Strait's a big deal. He's a big deal, right?

He's the king of country music. I had not figured into the fact that we were literally in his state, right, Texas. We're in his backyard. Now, I just went to the Super Bowl to work for NBC, and I've been to the Indy 500. This was sort of similar to, or maybe even a bigger deal. There's more people trying to cram into this giant stadium. It was at the Houston rodeo. Yeah, right.

It ended the rodeo, right? Big deal. There were so many people trying to get into this place. It was massive. Yeah. Bigger than the Super Bowl. Wow. I was there when Super Bowl was happening and people were filing in, you know, before the game.

And there were more people at this or a Strait concert trying to get in there. So I look across this giant sea of people for as far as I can, every direction, there's just crowds and lines and gobs of people. And I'm like, we're not going to get there. And the lady, the, the, the, the, the, the, the lady's like, I needed you here at 6.45, I'm sorry. Shut you down right there. Yep.

She says, I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do. Oh, my gosh. That's so frustrating. I know. And so I said, you know, I'm sorry. I was, I didn't anticipate how hard it would be to get to the stadium. And obviously, how I didn't anticipate it being this difficult to get to where we needed to be.

and that's that's that's I understand you know I just said it put it like that I was I was bad I was angry I'm not at anything or anyone in particular not at them yeah I just I was just you know I and the friends that are with us are like well text them this we'll text them that we'll text I'm like no I was like give me about you know 30 minutes to figure this out and just let me give just let me take a breath, right? So we go in, we go to this suite that we were invited to. We were, we were embraced by the people that owned this suite. They were super cool.

And so we go into this space that was someone else's. They allowed us to be a part of their group for the show. We had a great time. And I don't know, halfway through the concert. I sent out I sent a text to her again, the lady that was communicating with me and I said, hey,

I said there's zero chance that we could see him after the show. And she's like, he's got so much family here. I've got strict orders on how things go and I can't make it work. I'm sorry. And I said, all right, well, that was my last

best effort. Yeah. Okay, so what was A, we got to ask it out. What was Amy's reaction? And I mean, I guess that running jokes still runs, doesn't it? Yeah. Well, the quest to see if I can find a way to meet her to meet George has just gotten stronger, I guess.

Now it's the thing that if it wasn't a thing and now is the thing. You know, I felt foolish. As a husband, you feel like I feel like I had it lined up. I feel like I could do it. And I didn't get it done. I didn't do what I thought I could do, and I felt pretty foolish. I mean, to go back a bit,

my wife made my 40th birthday incredible, and it checked all the boxes in it, and she got, I mean, there were things happening on my 40th birthday that she created people that were there and the entertainment and all of it. Was that the whiskey river? That was fun.

Yeah. So she really did a great job. Thanks, yeah, she did. So I'm, you know, I'm trying to make sure that everything works and everything that I have plan happens and it didn't happen. But she was okay, right? I mean, because listen, I saw her Instagram. She seemed to have a blast this weekend.

She did have a good time. And we had a, and George Strait was great in concert. Oh, the concert, yeah, is amazing, right? And, yeah, he sounds amazing. And, you know, for his age and everything, I mean, you can't, it's as good. he ain't changed a bit in terms of his ability to go out there and perform. And man, what a great concert. And so we ended, there's a, there was a fair outside of the, outside the venues.

So we went out and rode some carnival rides afterwards. That big old claw thing that goes upside down. We wrote it. You all both wrote it? Oh man, that terrifies me. I was watching, I was like, this is a good video right here. This thing's crazy. But we rode a roller coaster and all kinds of stuff.

I've got videos of that, but I didn't put it on my... Anyways, man, it was a bummer. I was so bummed out for you. So I assumed... Everybody was kind of bummed. Yeah, I was... Listen, when we put that video out, it got such a good response. Everybody was kind of in on this.

Like, you really, like, pulling for you guys to meet George and assumed it was going to happen. By the way, you didn't give me any insights. I wanted to know it from you on the show. And so... But when Amy put out the Instagram post, it said, almost met George Straight again. and I'm like, oh my gosh, they didn't get to meet him again?

What the heck? And so I was really eager to hear how that happened. And that does stink. And by the way, and I think you feel the same way. Like, we've been in the position as that manager has been. And like, yeah, they are on a schedule. Like, it's not like they could just stop their schedule for one person. No.

Yeah. So, like, it's understandable. I don't have any, I don't have any frustration or anger toward her. I felt bad for her because she was, she could. I could sense that, like, she's like, look, man, if you would have been here, we would have, this would have happened. And where are you, right? You're not here.

So it just, yeah, it didn't work out. I feel like, you know, he's, I got to figure out another way to see how it may happen somehow. It'll happen. Hey, if anything, you still have another birthday present together. Like, see, you didn't use up the George Strait meeting card, yeah. You can do that next year. Yeah. And we would certainly, certainly, you know, see him in concert again.

If that's what, you know, that's what has to, that's where it has to happen. Yeah. His concert is really good. Invite him on the podcast, man. You've been seen to do really well with book and guests, man. I could retire soon. So invite him on the podcast. Greg Olson, George Stray.

I mean, you'd be killing it. You're killing it already. You might as well not stop. Just send him a note. Invite him on the podcast. We should. Hey, let's pause the show to announce some news, shall we? A lot of you have been patiently waiting for this info, and I am happy to finally give it to you.

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So we got Jeff going to come in here in a minute and sit down and talk to us. And I just, I can't wait for this. I'm just really curious as to how he's going to see his side of some of the dustups that he had with dad. And I really want to know a lot more about his accident. and just what he went through. Looking at the pictures of that crash from Daytona. I mean, there's some vivid, vivid, very, very serious images of that available where you can see exactly what his body's going through in an accident like that.

And it's just terrifying, even after all these years, to see them. I wonder if he looks at him. You know, he's got a lot of questions. Yeah. Didn't he say he had a conversation with his deceased father during that wreck? I mean, isn't that something he also says? Like, yeah, there's so many questions for Jeff Bodine. Where do we even start?

I mean, like, I know where you start. You start with Earnhardt, right? I mean, like, there's a lot there. But, man, he has such a history. He does. And we're going to try to get to as much of it as possible. And so let's get started. Let's get him in here and get going.

Let's do it. All right, Jeff Bonine. Coming to the Dale Jr. download. The most picturesque racetrack in America. Martin'sville Speedway and Martin'sville, Virginia. open-wheel division in NASCAR, the Modifieds compete in a national championship. It is Bodine and Evans, a familiar show to these NASCAR modified race fans. Earnhardt gives Bodine a slap and sends him spinning.

Later in the race, Bodine came back an attempt at retaliation. And a bad blood between those two finally boiled over. I guess if NASCAR can't control it, they're going to have an all-out war out here. I hate to see that. He went directly to Earnhardt's garage, walked up, and made him a very car. and made a very ominous gesture. I think he could probably feel Earnhardt behind because he's been touching about every lap.

The way they sling those cars, I mean, you're talking about racing. Side by side. They actually touch and slammed each other up into turn number one, but they're doing it all the way around the racetrack. Earnhardt and Jeff Bodine running side by side. And couldn't get... Oh! Touching around, Bodine goes.

Into the old hard with the back end. Bodine and Earnhardt. Folks seeking to win this thing for the first time. That's not a view you want to see in your rearview mirror with five laps ago. You're riding down for the finish. Checkered flag is out and you are with Jeff Budai as he wins. The 1986 Daytona 500. The ride has done it.

We got trouble. This is going to hurt. Hey, there he is. Hey, nervous. I used to race against your dad. Yeah. How can I be nervous, right? That might come up today.

I don't know why. I don't know why I would. I got to get some props out here. Okay. I like it, man. Our guests are bringing props more or more. I got stuff for you. Wow.

And you just came in on a flight. So this is stuff you probably had to. Yeah, the record. Did you sing on the record? Did I sing? On the record, yeah. When you listen to my song, you need a tissue. You know, I was a guy that,

funded the program for the record. I thought it was a great idea. You funded that? Yeah. I mean, this was what, 1982? No, no, about 86. Really? Okay.

Yeah, about 100 grand. That was a lot of money back then. And everyone else, you know, these songwriters came, they came and got interviews from all the drivers, and the drivers, the smart ones, all of them but me, said, I don't want any slow country song. I didn't think about that. I got the slow country song.

I grew up in the country in all-American farm bowl. The gold card daddy bills me was my pride and joke. Your dad got a good one. A good one? I'm a hard charger, a beat and all that. Let's see this.

I want to see the album cover. For the podcast listeners, Jeff has brought in a vinyl. record world series of country music boy still in the rapper yeah collector's items but now you know people are playing vinyl again so I'm sure you might have a vinyl player I have at least two maybe three copies of that okay I knew I I knew I gave you some what was the name of your song do you get this I didn't have CD see I did a CD several years back because people weren't playing vinyl I said well they had CD players so yeah I have a few of these left all people have to do is email me

Do you own the rights to all of that? No kidding. New World Racing at AOL.com. And yeah, we have a few left, so get them while they're hot. And I know you have one of these. I don't. Yes, you do. The night train.

I gave it to you. All right. Up in Kentucky. Okay. Or John Morgan did. This is a book about, well, the story of the NASCAR inspired bobsled that beat the world. And so we're proud of that. And I have a few more copies of this.

So it's really a great read. Tell us the whole story. Yeah. To put that in context, obviously a lot of people know this, some might not, that you got involved in the U.S. Bodsled team and the effort to make a more, you know, better performing bobsled for our Olympic hopefuls. Well, yeah, but that's how it ended up. But the reason I got involved in, they weren't using American-made equipment.

Our American athletes competing in the Olympics for the United States of America had to buy European equipment. And so that's exactly the only reason I got involved. And back then I was making a little money so I could afford to get it going. And they ended up winning more medals. This is an Olympic gold medal ring from Vancouver. This is a Daytona 500 ring from Daytona. The new Daytona rings are this big, but I might be the only guy in the whole world that has one of each.

I bet. Pretty cool. Wouldn't want to fight you. You going to swing a point, man. I'm a lover. I'm a lover, not a fighter. I'm too old to fight, man. I can just barely walk down the street now.

So let's go back and get started with how your career began. What is this story about you entering a powder puff race? How old are you at this particular time? My parents built a racetrack when I a year old. So I've been around racing my whole life. And my father built me a little go-kart racer one of his five. So I've been racing since then. But, you know, when I got older, I had uncles that race.

My father never sat in a race car. He's very superstitious. But I had uncles at race really good. And, man, I knew I could do it. Just watching my uncle. I knew I could do it. And so about once a month, my father'd have a powder puff derby for the women. Had some good women back then.

This was in the 60s, late 60s. And they were really good. So I came with this idea. I think I was 16. one of my cousins, boyfriends had a racer, Mike Cashline, 588. I said, hey Mike, can I borrow your car this weekend?

Well, what? I told him what I was going to do. I borrowed a wig from my cousin, Pam. I swear to God, I had to, we didn't have full helmets back then, so I had to put a wig on. And they're out there lined up going around, and I just kind of fell in the back.

They didn't, you know, knew who was in 588. Just somebody else is out there, a 58. Well, I was leading the race, coming to the end, I said, shoot, I can't win. My father gave the winner a kiss, a hug, and a trophy in a picture.

I said, I can't win, so I had to shut it off, I coasted off into the darkness of the pity area back in those days. And my parents didn't know that until my brother Brett told that story at their 50th wedding anniversary. They never even knew it. They didn't know it.

We kept it secret. My mother shook her finger at me. Jeffrey, you shouldn't have done that. So what did you do to be able to for a woman then to get in a car without anybody knowing. What did you do? Pits were dark back then, the pit area. There weren't lights.

And they were on the track. Are we going when I got in it to go out? So nobody saw what was happening. Mike did, the owner of the car, my cousin. That's it. No one else saw what went on and no one else knew what one. So there was no disguise. What, you think I put lipstick on?

I don't know. I'm asking you entered a powder puff race and nobody do it. I don't know. What do you do? I put a wig on. You did? Yeah. Put a wing on.

I swear to God. Were you beautiful? I've never been real beautiful. Not like you. Yeah, no, we're in a lot of work over here now. All right, so you didn't win. So you sandbagged because you can't win. Can't get that kiss from Dad in the victory lane?

Well, I was leading, but I had to shut it off and co-s out of it. That's the only race I didn't want to win. So after, you know, that kickstarts this incredible career in Modifieds. Like you were one of the best greatest modified racers, especially in the 70s. In 1978, you won 55 sanctioned races that you entered 84 races. You didn't get into a cup until what, how old were you? You ran your first cup race in 81 or 80? Actually, I drove.

My first cup race was with Dick and Bob Bear, owners of. That's right. Huxer playing Speedway and Loudon. Tom Pistone car. That was in Daytona, right? Seventy-nine. 79. So you ran modifies all through the 70s, won tons of races.

You know, kind of similar to Dad, a lot of you guys really didn't get into the Cup Series to your late 20s, early 30s. 32. That was still young. That was still considered pretty young back then. You know? I mean, Bobby Allison and guys,

they were 50 years old winning races, still competitive. So it's totally different than what we have today, where everybody thinks you've got to be 20 years old. You've got an incredible career as a modified racer that we could discuss, you know, and hopefully get you back here on the show sometime and really dive into all that. But obviously, you know, with the limited time that we got you here today and how long we've been trying to get you here, I want to fast forward to you. You don't have enough time for my, for me.

We could sit here and talk and talk for hours about this whole career that you have, and it's multi-layered. You finally get an opportunity to get in the Cup Series. You know, everybody knows you're a great race car driver, but that opportunity to get in a great race car in the Cup Series, it didn't materialize right out of the gate. You had to really kind of grind like a lot of guys. You drove Bob's car a couple times.

I know the video, I think, from 81 at Daytona, when I don't know what happened to that car, how you got up over the bank and hit the ambulance. How did that happen? I've seen that a million times. Somebody had blown an engine going on three and four. I was right behind Terry Libani. Well, Terry got high.

He missed it. I hit it. So I'm sliding through the corner sideways. Now, get down in the grass while I'm putting the brake on it. And that's not slowing down. I'm in the grass. So it comes around that corner, hits that bank, and drives right up over it. And the TV car stopped me from going down in the tunnel.

That's right. So they took the car back and I said, man, the brakes weren't working. A kid got in there and said, brakes are working. I was pushing the clutch pedal. There you go. I'd never been in a car before. I'd push in the clutch pedal. no wonder I couldn't stop.

That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Because that thing rolled right over that bank. So y'all pull a car, y'all take it back to the garage, and you all end up going back out on the racetrack. They cleaned the mud off, the dirt off, and we went again. It didn't hurt it all. Back then, those cars were pretty strong.

Had a chrome bumper in the front, and they were pretty tough. So I didn't hit the TV car too hard. So what happens after that? You're kind of getting these random opportunities, not a full-time ride in any car. So what happens next? How are you getting the next chance to go in the Cup Series? Well, I actually had to go back racing Modifieds.

During that time, I was racing for Amanda Zvaakas out of Richmond, build a car, and we won all the races. Of course, I had power steering. Put power steering on that car, and they didn't have it back then. So, man, I'd wear him out. Oh, Sam Art. I love Sam Art. He was fast all the time, but I'd wear him out. Jack Ingram, I'd wear him out.

Tommy Ellis, I'd wear him out. And I ended up racing there two years, but I was living in. at the race shop in Richmond, Virginia, in those small motor home, small one. And that's just, my family was in North Carolina, we didn't move there. And I didn't, we weren't seeing them in all. I said, that's enough.

I can't do this anymore. So I went back to do some modified stuff. And in the meantime, I hooked up with Frank Plessinger, who had a late model. Back then they called them late models, or Grand National line, a late model. And we made a deal around a few races. And one was Daytona.

And we ran good. I think the engine broke. But then we went to Darlington. Man, that's a track too tough to tame, right? If you can tame it, you're pretty darn good. Well, I started right behind David Pearson. I said, I'm going to follow that guy because he was the best there. Right.

He was the best. So I followed him. He showed me how to pass and we're not to pass and how to do the thing. I ended up winning a race. What car was this? What color was it? Red at 99. 99.

Yeah, red Frank Plessinger. Bragg tank team. Fat boy was on the team and Red Cagle with the crew chief. He'd take his leg off and hit you with it if he didn't do good. But I mean, we won a race. So the next day, Cliff Stewart called me up, who won the 50 car, Spectum Furniture, said, boy, if you can win Darlington, you can win anywhere. They hadn't been running very well.

He said, why don't you come down here and let's talk? So that's how I got that ride by winning Talladega. Yeah, Darlington. Yeah, so you get in the 50 car. Morgan had drove that car and they won Martinsville. It was a reasonably decent race car. So how did that work out? It was Darrell Brown was the crew chief.

We ran good. Actually, we should have won Rockingham and the rear-end ratchet broke. Spunout, come off turn two. The big thing with that story is I met BNR, Ronnie Bingham and BNR engine shop. They were building it. That's why that car was so fast. They had good engines. So then why I get with Rick and Rick, I introduced them, but we'll get to that, I guess, later.

But Cliff was good in the second year is when Rick and Harry Hyde were forming that team. Yeah. And Harry had me come down to talk to your dad and talk to Richard Petty about driving. And he said, ah, no. Say what now? Yeah. Well, yeah. We don't let go with a small car dealer, a new team.

Come on now. Oh, yeah, yeah. So dad and Richard talked. Yeah. I mean, Dad and Rick talked, because dad tested that five car in Charlotte, shook it down, drove it a little bit, beautiful car. Yeah, beautiful. Harry did some good work, but they didn't want to drive, so they called me.

I went down there to talk to him and got the ride, and Randy Dorton, great guy, shame what's happened to him. He became a great engine builder, but back then he was a kid, and things were breaking. They weren't running real fast. So I introduced BNR to Rick and Randy and joined that, made that cut. connection and then the engines got better and things started going better for us you were the rookie of the year in 82 yeah when do you make the decision to go drive rick's car at the at the beginning of 1984 no no it was uh late in the year when they called me to come down and and uh the story is we

talked in rick's office and they said oh well okay told me what they he only promised maybe 15 races. Really? But I wanted to drive the car because of Harry Hyde. It wasn't Rick Henry. Okay. And I've told him that. He knows that.

I wanted to drive for that guy because he was a winner, winning crew chief. And so I told him, yeah, I'd like the deal. And he said, well, we'll talk about it and we'll give you a call. Well, back in those days, phone call, had to dial it. He had to be home. We didn't have these things. Yeah, right. So I'm thinking, I've heard this before.

I'll go home. I'll part of the phone might. might not ever ring. I said, Rick, you mind if I wait out in your waiting room for the car dealership? He said, yeah, go ahead. I had impressed him so much that I wanted to ride that badly that they came out five minutes later and said, you got the job. Wow.

So you're, and at the moment now, he's saying, you know, I'm not sure we can run a full season. Are you thinking you're going to piece it together with other opportunities? Like, you know, back then guys would run for different owners. You're just going to see what happens. So it was a bit of a gamble. Yeah, I thought with Harry Hydeau, I was going to win. Yeah. He's going to show me how to win, teach me how to win.

But everybody knows. No guarantee. Everybody knows the story. Like, y'all were almost shutting down when you won Martinsville, the first race with the team. Yeah, he told Harry and I that he was done. He spent too much money. He was going to have to shut the door. He wasn't going to let us go to Martin'sville.

Harry said, look, the car's ready, the engine's in it. Maybe a few tires, that's it. But it's all ready to go. Let Bowdine go there. He's won a few races there. I won late miles and the modified. That's right. And so he did, obviously.

He and Linda were at a church conference in Greensboro. They weren't even there. And, yeah, we won. I mean, your dad didn't fall out. Bobby Allison didn't fall out. Beat him. I'll just beat him. I'll never forget.

I passed Bobby Allison on the outside going to turn three. And he was leading a race. And, you know, I had success there. I just applied everything I learned there to this. Big heavy old cup car and it all worked. And after the race, didn't have these things. So Rick didn't even know he won. He didn't even know he won.

He called his mom up and said, Ma, what happened at Martinville? Ricky, Ricky, he won the race. He won the race. So Rick and Linda went to my house. I was living up just south of Greensboro then and toilet papered my house. That was a celebration.

They toilet papered your house. Toilet paper my house. Rick did? Rick Hendrick, toilet paper? Yeah, Rick and Linda. I don't know who was throwing it, but it was up there pretty high. When you saw that, what did you think happened?

Did you know who did it? He certainly didn't. I didn't know exactly, but I figured it. Of course, I called him up and said, what's all this toilet paper hanging from my trees? It's hilarious. Just celebrating. So is it true or is it just legend that that race would have been the last race of Hendrick Motorsports as we knew it until you won? Rick told that story.

It was done. It was over. If we hadn't won, it was over. He was shutting the door. You were there when he said that. We were doing a TV thing at the museum. I mean, there was a sponsor owned the car. Oh, by the way, I haven't got that check.

You guys said you're going to send me for keeping Henrik's going. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Every time I see Gordon, I said, Jeff, I haven't got that check yet. What did you do? Move? I sent it that address. You're talking about, like, I think it was like a 50th anniversary or there was some anniversary video that all the drivers, including yourself, Jeff, you know, got together and did a deal with Mr. Hendrick.

And so you're saying that all those other drivers said that they owe you money because you're the one that kept the business going. No, no, no, no. I told them they owe me money. Well, you're right. They all became multi-millionaires because of this guy. Well, if they hadn't been a Henry Coters, where would their careers be? They might be better. They might not be as good. Who knows?

Jimmy may still be running Baja and motorcycles, right? Yeah, sure. That was a, I forget the nationwide check. What was the sponsor on the side of the car? Can you remember what it was? Northwestern Security. your life. Yeah.

They came on board. So they, yeah, they basically were a one or two race deal or something like that. And that win triggered them to sponsor more races. And so y'all were able to continue. Did it ever get dicey again with money near the end of the year or at any other point? You know what happens when you win a race, especially a cup race. I mean, that's big. That's big.

And Rick wasn't going to quit then. He tasted that victory lane. He wanted more. Yeah. So Harry High. Talk about him. You and him raced together

for a couple years but then it got got a little weird at the end. What happened? You weren't there it wasn't weird. He was just old school.

You and him did? Y'all kind of fell out though, didn't you? Yeah, yeah, because he was old school. You know, when we won Martinsville and the race cars

you balance the cars out with the lead and stuff you put in it. He liked to put all the lead in the trunk. He'd have all this 50-some percent weight in the rear.

Now it worked to Martin'sville and worked some tracks, but as things changed, tires changed and the cars and everything, it wasn't working so good. I said, Harry, when you put that lead in the back, it's like a pendulum on a clock. It swings the back end out going through the corner. He said, Bodine, I don't know about any pendling, but that's where the lead's going. So, yeah, we were kind of button heads about setups and Brickside. Of course, Harry told him, I don't want to work with that, da-da-da-da-a-da-bo-dine.

He's a hard head. Before that, though, what was Harry like? I mean, like, we love Harry Hyde stories. I love Harry Hyde. Give us the best Harry Hyde stories. I love Harry Hyde. I mean, he taught me how to win. We won our first race together, so that was pretty cool.

No, Harry was a funny guy. He really was. You know, the movie Days of Thunder, it's about your dad. Yeah. It's about me and Tim Richmond. Tim and I were teammates. Well, Tim had a birthday. Now, in the movie, had him going down the road and riding in a trailer,

a tractor trailer rig, and the cop pulling over, and it was a fake deal. Dylan she, the cop, was a she, a stripper. Well, that didn't really happen to going out a road. It happened at the shop. Harry hired a stripper. It was Tim's birthday. Hired this stripper to come in, dress to the cop, and do the thing in the shop.

So that's what Harry was. He was funny. He really was a great guy. I loved him to death. So that really happened? I thought that was just complete make-believe in the movie. You're saying Harry Hyde, it just wasn't in a hauler going down the road. He hired a stripper.

That movie was real. Well, how much? Everything in there was real, really happened. The meeting in Daytona was Junior's dad and I. He spun me out on Saturdays and race at Charlotte. Then he wrecked me in Sunday's race at Charlotte and got the phone call from Rick Henrik. Hey, meet us at the airport tomorrow.

We got a little meeting in Daytona. So I all met there and got things worked out. That's when your dad realized, you're where your dad was over here, Rick Henrick and Childress. Everyone's down there and Bill France is there. And he realized that guy was the boss. boss. Right. Well, because he told us he was the boss. He told us how we're going to race. And the rest

that year, we race that way. But your dad realized he needed to be his friend and he became his friend. And I didn't. I was just the old Northern boy. I didn't know what I was doing. Yeah, to kind of tease us up, you and dad had quite a few run-ins. You were on the bad end, a lot of them. Would you agree? There are so many, I was on the bad end of so many. After he spun me out Saturday, Rick Henry called me up. Hey, I'm tired of earn a lot. hurt wrecking my cars. If you can't do something about it, I'll get somebody in there at will. Holy cow.

Pressure was on, right? Yeah. We had a good car for the World 600, too. Oh, the thing was running good. Had to do something. So I bumped your dad coming off of two and going, and got next to him going down to three, he forgot the turn.

I read a while. So, yeah, that's why we had the meeting. But it was a good meeting. But hold on. Where did that start? Where did the thing start with you and Earnhardt? We were buddies. When I first got in, do you remember my boys, Matthew and Barry coming down and racing you riding your go-kart?

Yes. Yeah. They go down to the lake. I didn't ever went down to the house, but they rode go-carts. And one weekend, your dad came up and hit me in a shoulder. He loved hitting people. Yeah. With a car or with his hand.

Hit me in a shoulder. You owe me 100 bucks. I said, what are you talking about? Your boys were down there riding Dale Jr.'s go-kart, and they wore the tires out. You owe me 100 bucks. We want the dinner and all that, but as soon as you win, it doesn't matter what you're, if you're racing, basketball, football, it don't matter. Once you win, beat the other guys, things change a little bit.

So when was that? When did that start? Okay. You're saying your friends, y'all are friendly, and then at some point that had to turn. Well, I won Martinsville, and first time winner, a lot of people like it, but when you start running good, then you get more competitive and, you know, you're running with the best. He was one of the best, so you get bumping and it goes from there. When you and dad were beating buttonheads, what was, I mean, what was that experience like for you?

So for me, you know, watching, it was a bit tough for me because my grandfather, Robert G, worked on your car. He owned part of your Saturday car with Rick, him and Rick on that Nova together. Right. And especially on Charlotte Race Weekends, you might know this, you might not, but my mom would come from Norfolk down and stay at Roberts, my granddaddy's house, which is right next to the racetrack. So I'd be in the condo with Teresa watching y'all race, and then when the race was over, me and Kelly would be over at Roberts with mom.

You know, I was kind of in the middle a little bit. A little bit, you know, but, you know, there were times when it was like, yeah, you know, cool dad you know rough yeah don't don't take no nobody but then there were times when well damn dad that cost you five laps now you're in the penalty box i want to see you win not damn don't you know there were times when dad would do things the result of the day was secondary he was so caught up in making sure you knew he was pissed that damn he threw the wind right out the window it didn't even matter right i was like i never understood that part you know but um Me neither.

How did you? No, I know why. I know why. You know, a lot of drivers, and you had Mark on here a few weeks ago, whatever. Love Mark Martin. He wasn't happy to beat him for a rookie a year. I don't blame him. You know, Mark was a smart racer.

He'd see your dad come under somebody faster. He'd just move over. He knew there's a lot more racing to go. He didn't have to race right then. Me, on the other hand, I'm a hard-headed Yankee. You know, I'd just start racing harder. Yeah. Well, you know, sometimes you've,

get bumped when you do that. Challenge a guy, you're going to get bumped. And that's how it all started. I was just a hard-headed guy and didn't want to get out of way. And so how did y'all, and I know there was the meeting in Daytona with Bill France, Jr. In the movie Days of Thunder, you, you know, there's two guys tearing rental cars up on the way there. That didn't happen. Y'all rode in a car together, though.

I heard that y'all were told y'all were going to go to dinner. Yeah. Yeah, and y'all had to drive in the same car together. Well, Bill threw me the set of car keys. You two guys need to ride together to work this thing out. So I'm following Bill and Rick and children are in the car ahead of us. And you and dad are in a rental car together. And you're driving?

Yeah. And your dad waxed me in his shoulder. What? Give him a shot. So I'm driving. I said, what? Wax me again. He wanted me to hit him and get in trouble again.

Your dad was a smart son of a gun. He wanted me to hit him, and I wish I had. You did? I wish I had. I said, no, I'll tell you what, I'm not going to do it. We just got our assitude out. I'll pull over and let you do it. He said, no, no, just keep going.

He knew what he was doing, but he just wanted me to get in trouble. But I wish I had. It would have been something really to talk about. There weren't cell phones. You weren't able, you and dad weren't able to text back and forth. There was probably little to no communication between y'all during all this, right? So you're, you know, you and dad are running in each other on racetrack. There's zero communication outside of that.

You aren't, you know, nobody got in anybody's face. Nobody confronted each other. You never had, there was no moments outside the car where y'all said your peace or nothing. Your dad was a big guy. I'm a little guy. Well. So, you know, we were told how to drive that year, the rest of that year. by Phil Jr. said at the meeting oh yeah okay so when you go to the meeting

or you walk in you when you walk in there and sit down that's the first time that you're in the room together with dad you know I'm sure you were like hey man uh I'm on the I'm on the bad end of most of these deals didn't say that y'all didn't have any conversation like that you all you just sat down he said he had you know back then had all these VCR recorders he said he laid a tape down he said I got the tape of these braces this last weekend. I know we're not going to have to look at them because we'll work it up. So I loved your dad, but your dad goes, Billy goes, what happens? Saturday's raised, Dale. Man, Billy, you know, we pitted. He didn't pit, which I didn't. And I just come up behind him

and trying to get earned him off a two. It hit the apron and just slid up into it. I just made a mistake. Hmm, okay. What happened Sunday? say, damn, Billy, going out of backstretch, he's outside of me, and I went in the corner, I know you can't go in the corner underneath the guy, you're going to get loose. I just went in there and got loose, and I screwed up. By now, after this, I looked at your dad and said, Dale, for somebody's supposed to be so damn good, you make a lot of mistakes. I said, Billy, I think we need to look at the video, and the video showed he didn't hit the apron.

He just ran into me in your granddad's car. Oh yeah, we're looking at it right now, actually. Look above your shoulder there. Yeah, that was. He spun me out in the beginning, and that's why he tagged you pretty good there. Yeah. And he's about to get you again here. This Sunday.

Oh, that's sun. But we both blew tires and wrecked after that. Yeah, we both blew tires and wrecked in the Saturday race. But Billy goes, Dale, looks like you didn't turn when you got to turn three. Looks like you just went straight. He said, I'm going to, you're messing with the way I make my living. I'm going to tell you how you guys are going to drive the rest of the year. Boer-down, you see that three-car coming, just move over.

Don't be faster, just get out of the way. Earnhardt, you see that five-car comes, just get out of the way. If those cars touch for any reason, you ever hear of a Chinese fire drill? The vegetables go over there in the Chinese port, and they might sit there for a week, maybe a month, maybe two months. By the time they get in and figure out what they are, they're pretty rotten. He said, we're going to have a little Chinese fire drill. You're going to come in there because we know something happened to those cars.

We're going to find out the brakes failed, steering fail. It might take a lap or two. It might take 30 minutes. We don't know. But we're going to figure out. So you got my point. And the rest of the year, there are no problem with anybody. And y'all would pull over for each other?

I mean, like that's how. Oh, hell, yeah. Oh, man. That's still kind of hard to do, right? Well, the boss told us to. Yeah. So in the car ride, outside of him telling you to run into their car, Did y'all have like a truth?

Was there a moment where you and Dad like had it? Hey man. Sorry it's all happened. Let's put it behind us. Or y'all just never even had that kind of comment. Y'all just took direction from Bill and went on. I've hit my head a lot in racing, so I don't remember everything. I remember telling him I wasn't going to do it because we just got her ass to chewed out.

I think it was pretty quiet the rest of the way to the restaurant. Did y'all? So I do know that like, I think when there were. some more Runnies. Not that year. Yeah, but like after that, it started like, it still didn't fix it. I'm driving Budmore's car. You know, by now they have scanners and stuff. People can listen.

Everyone's listening to what you're doing. And your dad had a flat tire at Bristol, so he lost a lap or two, and he's back out there with fresh tires, and he's fast. Quirkey's leading, the late, great feeling quickie. I'm second. So I'm trying to hold him up. I said, what the heck am I doing this for? I'm just going to, you know, I'll let Alan hold him back, keep him down a lap. So I moved over and, boom, coming off turn two, I'm spinning out.

Bud Morris car. Richard goes on, what happened over there, Dale? He just did my way. I took him out. Everyone's listening to this. Oh, yeah, there was more. This story was never over. Yeah.

What was your role in any of this? I mean, like, there had to be in the time. We're catching a lot of Dale Earnhardt taking you out, But there had to been a time when you retaliated, right? Never? No, no. You were clean as a whistle. That wasn't my driving style.

After he spun me out in the Saturday race at Charlotte, you know, we got going and we ran side by side. People were on their feet. They knew I was going to do something. We go, I slid him high a couple times just to let him know I wasn't happy. Never wrecked. We never wrecked, touched or anything. And disappointed a lot of people, I think. They thought I was going to retaliate.

But no, no, this wasn't my style. You know, I, no. Did any of that have to do, if I may back up a little bit? You know, you're coming from New York. I'm wondering, I didn't even ask you, how were you received when you got into NASCAR? And did this, was there a disrespect to northern drivers, and did that play into any of this?

No. I really surprised my wife and I, said, these people down here like me. Okay. Up north I got booed because I'd beaten all their, regular heroes. Down here, they really, when I ran late miles, I won all the time. They liked me. It was crazy. And I said, wow, this is great. I never had this before. So you were accepted in the sport. And so, I mean, because you're dealing with some pretty strong personalities between Harry Hyde and now

you're having these run-ins with Earnhardt. I'm curious about Rick Hendrick. And did he give you advice on how to find some sort of resolution? He said, take care of it. I'll get somebody else that will. No, you know, Rick used to go around with Jack Tant and Ray Hendricks. They're not related, but Ray was a great modified driver and late model driver. And they, he used to see, Rick and I are the same age. So he'd go to races with those guys when I was racing there against Ray.

So he knew me for a long time. He used to watch me race, Trenton and some big race, Martinsville. So, yeah, it was kind of strange when I learned that. He said, yeah, I used to watch you race. I was with Ray Hendrick and Jack Tan. He didn't give me any advice, no. Gotcha. So the Earnhardt-Bodine rivalry, how does it end?

Hmm. Yeah, how does it end? Where were you? When dad passed away, where were you and my dad in terms of y'all's relationship? I was in the announcer's box. I don't know if I was doing TV or radio that day, yeah. That was a bad day. how did it end

I already had my crash in the truck race when I left I had the 17, we ran good I don't think we had any trouble back with the 17th y'all kind of stopped around that point when you became owner

your own car you Bud Moore was the last run in yeah yeah so it was 17 cleared up yeah there was just really no relationship well things changed racing changed more Gordon came in

and a lot of other guys were running, and it just wasn't your dad. Yeah. So he had to race against everybody, but yeah, it was good. I mean, it was good that I don't know if because he was getting older. He got a little milder or what. Maybe.

He did have Taylor around that time and a daughter. That changes. Calm down. Yeah, that changes. So why did you want to own your own car? Did I? I don't know if I really did. Now, when Allen was killed tragically,

you know, I was always an on-hands driver. I love going to shop, working on the car, trying to make them better, checking them out. And Felix Sabatis was the executive of Allen's will, and he called me up and said, hey, you need to buy that team. I said, oh, yeah, yeah, well, you're hands-on.

That's what you've always liked to do. You used to own your own stuff. So I got thinking about it. Of course, Payne Stewart was in on the deal. He was trying to buy it. A golfer. A golfer. But Mr. Quickey,

wanted a real racer take over because Alan had built a really great team and he's a champion so uh mr quick and I we all worked the deal out and I ended up with the team did you take over the same shop wasn't the shop over there at the uh near the speedway I had on I preserved his office oh wow which I thought was that is pretty cool fitting yeah preserved it had a flexivus thing so people couldn't go in but they could go look and see everything was there that he had But we had it on an engine shop and offices and a whole big deal. That's where the Spire team is today. Yeah.

Yeah. I quarterly join those guys race out in that building. And then I bought the shop out in front. We had her trucks over there. Dave Resendez drove for me. Tammy Joel Kirk, she would have been a great racer. Just her sponsor went away. Yeah.

They could have paid me in Brise, but they handed up all me quite a bit of money. I would have taken a brazen. I would have gone out and sold them. I don't know. Yeah. You had quite the operation. Yeah, I did. It was really good.

And unfortunately, you know, I had people helping me with sponsors and with operations and the money part. And one of my sponsors didn't want to pay me. I want to name names. They're on TV. Oh, goodness. They sell stuff on TV. I sued them for $18 million. you know, I sold a team or, you know, Felix got some friends of his to come in and buy my team,

be partners with me for a while, but then they, they wanted the team all themselves, so they bought me out, you know, a penny on a dollar. Not very good for me, but they wouldn't let me sue them. I had a contract. I said, look, it's here. No, no, it looked bad if you did that. Well, they're millionaires, billionaires. They didn't need the money.

I did. Yeah. So eventually it just was eating at me. at me I mean because it affected my boy Barry's career he was a really great racer he was on his way he was really good and that all went away and I finally got a got a new jersey to put this together and man we had a case case it was for 18 million most cases don't go to court you know that right settles settle we're in there getting ready to go in there get the jury and you ought to settle I said what all this money I paid you and we got to

got all this good case. You never know. Get the wrong judge, get the wrong jury. You could walk out with nothing. Your lawyer is advising you to settle. Yeah. I got you. So we wrote a number down.

Yeah. I got peanuts. You know, but man, I wish we'd gone to court. So you did settle. Yeah. And that still eats at you today. Oh, yeah. Well, no, it doesn't eat at me.

I don't worry about it. It's just money. Yeah, but it seems like it affected even your son's career. I mean, like it still of this day. No, it did. No, he's doing well. He's working. I have two boys, Matthew and Barry. Matthew's worked for DGR, David Gillen. Yeah. Great fabricator. Really, they love him. Barry, this is going to be shocked to the world, is working for Richard Chilers racing. Wow. And they love him. They love him. He's smart. He's meticulous. He's been around racing all the life. So they really love him up there. And so thank you, Richard, for, and everyone else. there for putting Barry to work but yeah they love him does everybody up there appreciate the irony

in that then that because that that's that's sweet irony is what that is right i don't know barry doesn't say anything about it i'm sure he does it but i mean that's that's cool that's uh they all they all like full circle right yeah i guess you could say that but yeah well barry was certainly old enough to remember the entire rivalry oh yeah we all you know is when all y'all were doing that out on the racetrack the kids were running around the infield being goofballs but did you hang with him yeah

I spent some time around Barry we were like he said he came over and rode go carts a time or two and we would so all the kids they were crew chief sons

Doug Williams boy Scotty Brad Means Jimmy's son Bob Wickham's son Mike Brett's daughter Heidi his son Barry

all of us would find each other you know that was our as soon as we get the racetracker go Who came? What kids can?

Who of my friends came? And you'd walk, kind of wander through the garage and go up in each holler and, hey, Barry here this weekend or is hiding here? And we'd all hang out all the way up until we were, I don't know, 16, 17 years old. So would you and Barry have felt the tension between the dads? Yeah. And did you ever talk about it? Yeah. So when, well, yeah, because when dad and him got into their feud, you'll think,

this is hilarious. So my cousin, Tony Jr., worked on Robert G's sportsman car, which is the car he drove on Saturday. That's it. That's at the house next to the Sharmer Speedway. I'd be over there. Tony Sr. worked on dad's sportsman car. So you got my dad and Tony Sr. on one side, and then you got Robert G. and Tony Jr. on the other side. This is combustible. And I'm kind of floating back from one to the other, right? I'm floating back toward dad's, I'm floating back to dad's house or the shop one day. I've got on a number five Levi-Garrett hat. And they took that hat off.

Dad saw it and goes, you know, a few choice cuss words. What are you doing wearing that hat? And I'm like, well, ma'am, you know, I'm not smart enough to articulate this. But in my mind, I'm thinking, I get it. you know, in this moment, you cannot hate this man any more than you do. I know that you and Bowdoin aren't cool.

But this is my granddaddy's car. And so, but they took the hat off my head and set it on fire. And Tony Jr. Tony Jr. came by the shop after the Saturday race in his Levi-Garret crew shirt. Oh, no.

And they took it off Tony Jr. and set it on fire and threw it on the ground. And told him you had to go home without a shirt on it. You think it was deep? You think it was true or deep? It was so real. It was so real. And so, you know, and what would happen is to get your question, Mike, is in the infield,

you got really weird between me and Barry, even hiding to a little bit because I didn't know where, you know, they're all the bow dyes, right? They're all here. They're all here. They're all here racing. And so, I mean, you know, and then when they weren't wrecking, we'd all, hey, man, we're cool again, you know,

we're for our friends again. But then when they crash each other on track, you're like, well, I'm sure they're just as mad at us as we are at them, right? And so we wouldn't, we wouldn't communicate. But I remember when, oh, man, I'll be, this is hard to admit, but I'm only human. Remember Wilkesboro when Brett won in the 26 car? Yeah.

So we're all sitting on top. All the kids are all on top of the comfort coach vans in this little parking lot. There's a small parking lot next to the winter circle. All the drivers had these comfort coach custom conversion vans. And we'd all climb up on top of them and watch the race. And that, damn, Brett led the whole damn race, it seemed like. And Heidi and I think Barry and all of them were on top of her van, and we're about 20 feet away sitting on top of ours and just grab.

riding our teeth going, er. Don't let Brett win, no. And then when Dad and Dad and Rudd spun out at Wilkesboro and you rolled around on the bottom and win the race, I'm like, oh, no! Everybody knew that was going to happen.

Rick Hanrick on a restart, I was running third. He said, they're going to wreck, they're going to wreck, stay back, they're going to wreck. I said, yeah, I know it. Sure enough, they did. Yeah. Went around on the inside and won the race. Yeah, Dad and Rudd had a really rough relationship, you know, around that.

And the Rub was super. We've had him on the show, and he's, like, super upset about how Dad pried him out of that three car. When Rudd got to Piedmont Deal, Piedmont Deal, he got Richard. Rudd feels like that he sort of primed that whole program to be successful, and then dad come and shoehorned him out and took it back. And so Rudd was bitter about that. and for a long time. And much like you, you know, Red would come over and they'd water ski out on the lake together.

And then that happened and they were, you know, they were a bit of rivals. It was over. Yeah. Yeah. And so that was really an interesting situation. So the rivalry wasn't just on the track. It was in the infield with the kids. Yeah.

That's how intense it was. I mean, the whole family got involved. I mean, I love Robert G. Golly, I love that guy. So Robert is my mom's father. A lot of people really know my dad. That's history. But Robert, on my mom's side, one of the best fabricators in the business, right?

Oh, yeah. And just amazing for morale, team morale, right? Yeah. Well, after we won Daytona, you know, if we didn't go to New York City and all over to be on TV, they came to Daytona on pit row, good morning America. So we're getting, we got the car out there, and we're all sitting around waiting for everything to go, Robert, he falls asleep. He'd fall asleep during the race on pit row.

falls asleep. But yeah, he was a great guy, very talented. We were working on a car one night down in the shop, and back then they had chrome bumpers. And a friend of mine, I forget what, came in and put their foot up on the front bumper. He said, son, I just spent eight-hour polishing that bumper and shining it up.

Get your foot off. Yeah, yeah. He was proud of his cars. He did. He would polish to crush panels to a mirror finish. All the duckwork around the radiator, when you lifted the hood of that car, it was immaculate. And if it could be polished and it could shine

and it could reflect a mirror finish, he would make it so. How long did he work at Hendrick? I don't know when he got hired on, but he lived up where Rick Hendrick was born. He owned a service gas station, full service gas station, and Rick would come get his cars worked on, or they knew each other from way, way back. Robert G then worked on the 71 K&K Dodge

with Harry High. And I think, you know, eventually when Rick started his team, he ended up over there. Yeah, he did, yeah. But just a great body man and fabricator and his son, Robert G. Jr., works here now. Did you know that? Did you know Robert Jr. works here? Yeah. Yeah.

I have another friend here, Billy Taylor. Yeah. Billy Taylor knows everybody. He knows everybody. Hope I get the scene. Absolutely. That year we won all those races, Billy was a crew chief. Really?

The ones that didn't win, it was his fault. The Modified, he was your modified. And he owned cars too, didn't he, right? No, he worked for other drivers before that. Okay. Richie Evans, Maynard Troier, but when I left the Modifides, went to drive the race of a farm car. Billy went down there with me that winter.

Witted in my little motor home out in Connecticut with the snow, and they had a restroom inside. We'd go in there and get a shower. It was rough. But we built, took that, they had one. car in Oldsmobile. We rebuilt that whole car. Beautiful, Emron Payne. It was gorgeous.

Actually, I led Daytona with it until the engine blew up. Yeah. That's the first time. Yeah. So yeah, I love Billy. Y'all bring up Brett's daughter. What's her name? Heidi. Heidi. So what is the relationship with you and Brett? I mean, I don't know the

Brett's side of this whole story. Did you were you guys tight? And where does he fit in this whole Earnhardt-Few thing? Do you just stay out of it? What's his story? No, Brett and I are brothers. We're better brothers now than ever. You know, we had a little feud going.

Had a little trouble at Indianapolis, the first race. But now Brett and I are tight now. We're better brothers than ever. Of course, Todd, the same way. Todd's, I'm the oldest. We have an older sister, five years older than I am, Denise. Then me, then Brett came along 10 years later. Our parents didn't know anything about family planning.

And then Todd came along five years later than Brett. Wow. He was a mistake. That's what they said. I said, well, my, I know. Poor Todd. Yeah. So Brett's 10 years younger than you?

Yeah. Ten years. I didn't know that. Yeah. It's a lot. And so Todd's 15 years younger than me. Yeah. So I don't look at, do I?

Well, I thought y'all were much closer together. Yeah. When Brett is driving in the sportsman cars, the double zero and so forth, and then he's kind of sniffing at some cup opportunities, how helpful, what, what did you, what role did you play in trying to help him? get into those opportunities. When I driving Robert G's car, Brett was working, came down and worked at the cup shop. Well, we practiced that Martinsville qualified, reigned out.

You know, we used to have off weekends for Cup. Next weekend we had to go to Bristol. So here comes Robert and Rick. Who are we going to get to drive the car? We were going to get, I put Brett in there. What are you talking about? I said, look, he driven modified. He drove some late models up north.

You put him in there and he'll win the race. Guess what happened? He won. He won the race. So then I said, hey, let him drive that car. I don't need to do it. So I turned it over to him. That's really what got his career going.

Yeah, I figured you. I thought you were pretty instrumental in helping that along. So he ends up getting in the Cup Series. You mentioned the run-in at Andy. I didn't mention that. Well, you did. You did. Listen, and if you didn't, it's still in everybody's head.

I mean, it kind of was public. Yeah. Yeah. There was a lot going on behind the scenes, and it's up to you how much you want to divulge. But I'm going to assume that the beef or the problem with you and him was something completely personal, not racing related. It ain't like you're bounced off each other on the racetrack and that started it. There was something else going on behind the scenes that bled out onto the racetrack. And then in your interview afterward, you spoke about how, you know, disappointed you were that it had,

it had to play out so publicly on the racetrack like that. Yeah, I hurt. Heck, I raised him 10 years younger, so I changed his diapers. He used to go to racetracks with us when he wasn't even old enough. We'd sneak him in, the modifies. So, yeah, I love my brother, and we had some initial going on, but there's more to it than just that issue that led him to do that.

and I knew it so we worked it out we're better brothers now than ever it's just a race so we were on Oprah with that she we didn't go to Oprah they came to us and we did an interview about it and so that's pretty cool I mean people are people were that she used to do an inspirational part of her program and that's after we got back together so they used that as that part of her program so how long did it take for y'all straighten out the problem. Oh, dude, I don't know. I really don't.

Short, short time long? No, it took a while. It took a year, maybe two. Yeah. But, yeah, we're brothers now than ever. And we're all three of us. We love each other, support each other. We've all had her issues up and down.

But now we're pulling for my sister. She's doing okay, but we just pray for her all the time. What's she going through? Oh, emphysema, and that's how our father passed. He had that, and she inherited that. So we're just dealing with that and praying for her. But she's doing good. She lived down near Atlanta.

Her two girls are down there, so she's down there. So you and Brett had that public issue, which was really stark and confused the hell out of a lot of people when it happened. Everybody's like, what's going on with them, right? Why are they having such a hard time with each other? Just families. If you have a family, you have an issue once or twice during your life or more. What was Todd doing during all this?

What was his reaction to you and you and Brett? Well, he loved both of us, and he cared, but he wanted us to work it out, which we did. But he knew what happened also. So there was really no big problem. It was just a series of events, you know, the family deal. Yeah. Let's talk about the crash at Daytona. First off, I want to lead up to that by position us to where your career is at at this point.

You're, you know, how are you dealing with where your career's going? And I've always been fascinated with trying to understand, you know, a driver like you who's had so much success. You've tasted all this, you know, you tasted victory and success in this sport. And then there's a time when that's going to change, you know, there's, It's inevitable that we, every one of us that go into the sport are going to leave it. Most of them, most of the drivers don't really get a choice in how that works and how it plays out. Now, we talked about you having to, you know, you selling your team and not made, that really didn't go the way you wanted it to go. Position us to where, you know, try to explain to me how, how you're feeling about where your career is at that point.

Yeah, you know, when I got into racing, I thought I'd race forever. Didn't realize you get old and things change. No, yeah, after selling the team, very fortunate, Joe Bessie, late model driver from New England. Yep. He drove down here some and he wanted to form a full-time late model team. And so we talked and we were talking about doing that. He said, heck, why don't we go cup? I said, well, he had a sponsor.

His wife worked for Pico Energy out of Philadelphia. They broke her electricity all over the country. And she was really good at her job. So she ended up with a sponsorship from them. So we went to come. You know, just didn't see that coming, but it happened. The first year was pretty good. Jim Long was a crew chief.

Second year, we started out at Daytona, and, man, I saw the car in the shop. I called Joe up at Joe. Body on the car is a mess. It's terrible. You need to do something about it. He didn't come around much. And we went to Daytona with it. Well, in the meantime, I put this deal together with Kyle Busch drove front.

Billy Blue. Billy Blue. Billy, I love you. I hit my head a lot. And while Barry was going to drive the truck, but they said, why don't you drive it at Daytona? You know, you've won there? You've got more experience? I said, yeah, okay.

First time they're going to run the truck to Daytona. So I had both. The cup car, and that wasn't running good. The truck was running good. No restricted plates on the truck, man. That was fun. And unfortunately, we didn't qualify. with a cup car. The body was so bad. It was awful. I love you, Jim Long, but it was bad.

But the truck, so we're getting a truck race, and man, we're flying. I love that. You get up, you get a, you can slingshot. Yeah. The old slingshot down the backstretch. Get a run off the corner and you'll go by him. Man, I was doing it. Well, we had a tire go down or something, had to pit, or something happened. I knew I ended up in the back. So here I come back to the front. And I just caught the front pack. And Kirk Busster driving for Roush. There's two other trucks around him. He couldn't get by him.

Well, I caught these guys, and I just told my crew. I said, man, I can pass these guys any time I want. I'm just being careful. How did that work out? The next lap is when I can't think it never can remember this guy's name. Through the tribal, he cut down in front of Kirk, trying to get in front of him, that clip. So I see him go sideways.

Well, I figured I'm going to go past him before he hits a wall. I didn't see the other truck inside of the kid And he hit him and they both turned right in front of me And you know, I hit the wheel And it threw me up at a catch fence at 180 miles an hour And the front got cut off The Roe K's got cut off And got hit again spun around like no

I'd like riding danger field Didn't get any respect They kept hitting me And ended up My upper body was laying on the asphalt I have pictures of it And you can see it in the video of the race but in some fire.

A fire guy came out and put my fire out. I had my gloves came off during the wreck. I have pictures of you. You can see my gloves coming off. Pretty cool. The guy found him. I autographed for him later. Goodness.

A couple years later, but, you know, it knocked me out. I was out. They were getting me out. I wouldn't breathe in when it came to me, which was, you know, several minutes. They can't just run out there. And they undid my seatbelt. I started breathing. They said, never opened my eyes, never talked.

I just remember where am I, Daytona, crash and I passed out again. Then as they're rolling me to the ambulance, the little oxygen mask slid off my face. Now, still having an open eyes or spoke. Now, I felt it slide off my face. How do you feel that little thing slide off your face when you just got through crashing 180 miles an hour? I reached up to put it on, and the TV camera was on me. My mom was home watching. She's crying, thought I was dead. Everyone thought I was dead at that point, but they saw me move. And that was a God thing. Didn't know the camera was watching. I just, It felt that little thing slide off my face.

But during that crash, you know, I was knocked out immediately. I tell this story. I do speaking with men's groups and churches. I just did one in Merritt Island last weekend or two weekends ago. And I have a little video shows it's called the Victory Lab. Jeff Bowen on Victory Lab. Shows the little go-card. Shows this, shows this, shows the wreck.

And then I talk about it all. And during a crash, when I was knocked out, my father came to me, who was sick when he died. But he looked great, you know, smiling. And I looked at him and said, Dad, I'm coming to see you. He said, no, it's not the time you have more to do. I'm still alive. You know, and I had more to do. God sent me to, I've been to the Middle East four times to see her troops.

I mean, I've done things that I never would have been able to do if that hadn't happened. Well, if I died, people say, that's a bad. People say, that's a bad wreck. I said, it's the best wreck I ever had. One, I saw my dad, and talked to him, and I survived. A bad wrecking when you don't survive. So I'm very blessed to be alive. I had faith way before that, way before that.

And the whole story, it's going to be in the book we're writing. It's coming out soon. Dominic Argonne's coming to see me tomorrow. We're going to try to finish it up. And it'll be interesting. It'll be interesting. Not just about that, but what you were in at that. sporty car wreck you got in.

Yeah. I know. Well, when you say it was the best wreck you ever had and you got to, because you got to talk to your dad. So when I have dreams and my dad's in them, which maybe happens once or twice a year, I feel like even though I know it's a dream, there's something, it's almost like a visit. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I got a chance to see.

Sure. Right. And that's kind of what you're telling me is like, man, I don't. That was awesome because I got a chance to talk to my dad. You know, I want to talk to my dad right now, right? You do too. And so I could totally relate to what you mean there. Well, you hear about people talking about death experiences,

and until it happens to you, it's hard to believe. But it happens. It really does. It happened to me. And I don't know about the time you got into wrecking a sports car to fire, and you said somebody, you know, somebody pulled you out. that's pretty special yeah

you know I don't I just know that yeah I mean I just know that I got something grabbed me under the arms and pulled me out of that car I didn't yeah I'm out of there yeah I kind of fell it

you know when whatever had a hold of me let go of me I fell out onto the ground you know I didn't have my legs working or anything you know it was weird but you know when I look at pictures of your truck crash I don't know

that there's a more vivid account of what a person goes through a high-speed stock car accident. Yeah. You know, as the body and everything is kind of ripped away from that, you're exposed. Do you, have you looked at the photos of that crash? Oh, yeah. When you look at that and see yourself in there, like, what's that, what crosses, what goes through your mind?

Yeah, you know, I still look at them and look at, there's a piece of brake rotor that follows me through all these pictures. This one gentleman took, it's pretty neat. And his photos are incredible. You can see bolts and stuff flying through their cells. It's really detailed. I keep looking. I know God was there.

His angels were there protecting me. I'm still looking for them. I know they're in there. I guess they don't like getting pictures taken, but I know they're there. No, I just feel blessed. You know, it's not a scary thing. It's a blessed thing.

I know God. I was touched. I've saved. You can't. Nothing was. was there to save me. I put the seat in. It was the seat that wrapped around your shoulders.

Yes. You know, LaJoy started selling them. But that's the first thing I did when I bought the 7th team and make that seat that comes around your shoulders and put the seat belts in, you know, that held me in place, but it didn't save my life. Yeah. I mean, the hoop bar and all the roll cage in and round, it's all gone. Gone.

Like, I don't know how, I don't know how nothing came in contact with you. because you were completely exposed as this thing's tumbling through the air. Well, I wonder why my wrist, I broke this wrist, but I got, my hands work. While this arm's hand goes numb now lately, my wife says too, but I have a bad back, lower back, like most race drivers. And you did have some injuries. Yeah, I broke, crushed part of my back. It didn't break it.

It was just crushed the wall of it. You know, I had some stuff done to my heart this winter. You ever hear of Watchman? If anyone out there has AFib, you need to talk to your heart doctor about it, because I had AFIB. That's when your heart doesn't beat right. The problem with that is your heart will form blood clots when your blood isn't flowing right. This watchman, there's a little appendage in your heart where the blood clots form, I mean, small.

And they go in there and block that, so your heart won't form any blood clots if it slows down. In the meantime, you're on blood thinners, and I was on FFRAF. for a long time, buddy. They're terrible. You just nick yourself. You bleed like a pig. But they go in there. They've been in my heart like four or five times, but it's amazing what they can do now. They plug that thing up. The skin grows around it. You're good. You won't get any more blood clots. So anyone with AFib, get it checked out. Check out the watchman. Pretty incredible. When you come out of the other side of this accident in the truck series, um, where's your mind on, where's your mind about racing? Where's your body physically?

in terms of being able to get back on the racetrack? Well, when I woke up in the hospital, they're checking me out, and Dr. Kennedy sewed me up. And it's funny because when they're going to lift me from the ambulance cut to the hospital caught, I heard him talking. And they said, on three, lift. I said, I hurt really bad. Be careful.

And they lifted. I passed out. So he's sewing me up, and he said, this mic's sting. And he poked me. And I said, man, I heard a lot. So in what up? The microphone cut. I got a scar here somewhere.

And I'm going to get a CAT scan. I'm claustophobic. I had him before. So I heard him talk about it. I said, I'm claustophobic. Cover my eyes. I haven't opened my eyes yet. So they're probably thinking, oh, he's okay.

But as soon as they put me in my hospital bed, I opened my eyes. I mean, they laid me down, open my eyes, and everyone's looking down at me. And I said, I must look pretty bad. You're not smiling. and they said yeah then I told him a story about my dad went home the next day had a broken wrist

I didn't want to do it in Daytona I saw actually I saw the same and I had a bad back I saw the same guy your dad had up in Winston's sandal and it fixed his neck I can't think of his name

but same gentleman two weeks later I started working out yeah I had a back brace on and Cass Jim just down the street from where I lived had a fella helping me He was going to train me. He was my trainer.

I got in there and rode a stationary bike for about five minutes and passed out. Goodness. Went back the next day, the next day. Two months later, I raced. Now, I shouldn't have. I wasn't ready. It was Richmond. It was hot, so I had a lot of IVs.

It didn't work. We drilled holes into this chest protector and back thing, trying to let air in and out. That didn't work. And I had a problem with my vision. My family knew. Doctors knew. They checked me out.

They spun me around. that down. Well, apparently you got some waters loose in there, and they might hook up, they might not. If I moved like this, everything kept moving. So if the car wiggled, everything kept moving. We tested there, and I went out to qualify, and it wiggled, and I spun out. What happened?

I just got on it too much. Nobody knew. So I had to be really careful driving a car. And we qualified, I think, third. We had a fast car. I wasn't even halfway through, man. I was tired. My head was over here.

I said, find a driver. I can't do this anymore. So Todd had wrecked, had crashed earlier. I said, get my brother. We're all about the same size. So caution came out and did my belts coming in, and they threw one to go. So I had to come in. I think we lost three laps, maybe four.

Todd made them all up. Oh, he's a good driver. Wheelman. No, no, he's a good driver. We had a good car. They weren't that good. We had a little help. We had some better tires.

That'll be in the book. That's one of the stories that'll be in the book. Because I had the good ones and I had the bad ones. And I had the regular ones. So you got to buy the book. It's coming out, folks. Jeff, I got to back up for a second. Because, I mean, I remember if we can go back to the wreck for a second,

I didn't want to interrupt you guys. But I've been intrigued by this conversation with your dad ever since you said it, which was right after the wreck. Now, it felt to me when you said it for the first time, that you were, first of all, it was deeply personal. and I always felt like it was privileged that you were even allowing people to know this, right?

So if I ask questions it feels too invasive, then I don't, you just don't have to answer it. But my question is, I'm curious if people still ask you about the conversation. I'm curious about details, like what was the setting that you saw your dad in? Because I believed you from the moment you said it.

I believed it. I mean, like, when it's real, when you look in a man's eyes and see that really happened, that ain't, that's not bull crap. that's what I remember seeing you. I'm just curious about the He was just a white background. It wasn't a tunnel or anything and you know everyone's experiences

there's a difference. It's just white and no distractions behind him and like I say he's wearing a hat always did. He looked good. He was a little thin like all the bowdines now. I feel it's a duty to tell people about this. If you're a Christian

you're supposed to try to lead more people to believe in Christ accept him as your Lord's Savior. Because if you don't, according to the Bible, send the Bible, you're not going to have it. So that's what I do with. God gave me a great testimony to use to do this with. It's a miracle I'm

alive, but I'm alive. He gave me that miracle because I was a believer way before that wreck. It confirmed it. There was that affirmation for you through that experience that... It's all going to be in a book. There's a reason why it happened. It really is a reason. He kept me from killing myself

several times. Not on a racetrack. He did that there, but after divorce, it's pretty traumatic. And I was going to take my little yellow corvette and hit the median going 180. He kept me going on a straight narrow road, jump off the balcony, 18 stories up. He pulled me back. Nobody else did. So I just said, hey, I don't know if I can do this, Lord, but I want to repay you. You saved my life.

What can I do? How can I lead more people to believe in you? I didn't know it was going to be a wreck. So you were asking that question before the wreck? Oh, yeah. You were looking for ways. For about six months, that's my prayer. It was my prayer.

I want to repay you. Use me in some way that'll lead more people to leave in you. I prayed it day and night. If I woke up in the middle of the night, I prayed the night before the race and the morning of the race. I didn't know it was going to be a wreck. I'm glad it was because it's pretty nice. Did you ever?

Okay, so when you're getting into this type of conversation, it unnerves some people. I'm wondering if you ever had regrets of allowing the public into your personal life into that personal conversation. Did you ever regret going public with that? Not at all. That's why it happened.

That's why I ask him to give me something and I could help lead more people who believe in him. Do people not believe you? No, a lot do. I'm sure some are skeptical. I was skeptical when you hear people say, oh, I saw this, I did this. Somebody pulled me out of the thing.

Until it happens to you, There's always a little skepticism in there. But when you hear it from a guy like that over there, Dale, or for me, maybe people believe it a little bit more. So, yeah, he's giving me a lot of opportunities to use that testimony they gave me, that great testimony to share with people. So that's my obligation. That's my duty.

That's what I love. You know, I don't do it for me. I do it for him. Understood. I remember when Dale talked about that sports car crash that you alluded to, he was talking to Mike Wallace in an interview for 60 minutes, right? And none of us have been privy to this bit of information. But I can imagine when you hear Dale's story like that, you're like,

I know what he's talking about, right? Sure, that's why I brought it up. Yeah. Yeah, somebody pulled him out. You know, miracles happen. If you believe, miracles will happen. You talked about your own personal struggles that you've had over your career since the accident and since you've had this revelation. Do you feel like that it's helped you, do you still have moments of a struggle?

Do you still have, you know, do you still have days when you fight depression or, you know, disappointments in your past? ass, things like that. Pinch me, I'm here. No. It'll hurt. I'm still a human being. Of course. Of course.

We all do. Yeah. You know, that's called Satan. He's after it. He's trying to kill all their joy in life. Yeah. But when you have faith, he can't do it. So yeah, of course you go through those things.

You deal with it all the time. And, yeah. I mean, look, I'm not, I don't complain about anything in my life. I've been bankrupt. I lost race teams and things have happened. It's all good. I thank God for everything that's happened to me. It's made me stronger person and it's made me who I am.

Yeah. And I kind of like who I am most of the time. Sometimes not. So we talked about at the start of the show, you get into the bobsled deal. You know, you want to, you said that it, you know, you were driven into doing that by trying to put an American-made sled. underneath the athletes. I love of this USA. You know, my dad was in World War II,

got shot in the butt. Didn't know he was at Normandy until not too long ago. He never talked about it. You didn't know that. Didn't know he was in Normandy. He survived it, obviously. He ran up a hill.

He told us he ran up a hill and turned around to wave his troops on it. I said, Dad, I'm glad you turned around. I wouldn't be here. You know, he got shot in the butt, not in the front. So yeah, great, you know, appreciation for the military. I was in the National Guard six years.

I raced, went to college, braced. So I'm thankful for that. USA is, I don't care how bad it is. You know, things are pretty rough right now. But we're still in the best country in the whole world. We're going to get it worked out. It's going to work out. We're all going to survive.

but yeah I love the USA I mean what's not to love I've been around the world I've seen places where people live and how they live and what they have to put up we all see it on the news we really have it pretty darn good here and so that's why I got involved just to ride equipment for our kids you know I'm a racer nobody I didn't have to buy my race cars you know get sponsors these kids had to buy their own equipment

they were mortgaged in their homes to get a bobsled to race in the Olympics for us, the USA. I said, no, we're going to change that. And so you ended up succeeding. You ended up accomplishing everything that you ever wanted to with that. Well, I didn't build them. I hired friends of mine, chassis dynamics in Connecticut. We used to build race cars together, the white tornado, the car that Bray Everhand has, that was a white tornado.

That was a chassis dynamics. creation that we put together. And I knew these guys could do it. Bobby Coonio, head engineer, Bobby Vee, he passed away. They needed to work. So I said, here, I got something for you.

They said, let's do it. They built the best in the world. Actually, changed the way bobsled to build around the world. It did. Yeah, they... Talk about that. Well, we applied our racing thought process

to build in a bobslet. it. Europeans build a frame, got it all done, then build a body around it. How are you going to work on it? Our bodies came off so you could work on it. Plus, we used a little torsion bar to control the front. They used those valve springs. And, you know, really, we didn't copy anyone. It was an American design, so we're all proud of that. You know, when we went to South Korea in 2018 to the Winter Olympics, Dale went to go do work for NBC and we befriended these bobsledders and they were kind of big NASCAR fans right oh yeah but this is despite all the years that you guys put at work hearing these bobsleders in south

korea talk about the bodine bobsleds and how they're the deal they are the the number one deal I mean like what they do that really kind of put it in perspective for us on the impact you made in this sport yeah it's surprised us you know they actually like me me. I'll explain why. You know, when you're like in racing, your competition, they don't like you if you win. But these guys, they like me because we help the United States teams get better.

So their countries had to help them get better. So they loved me because we forced their countries to help them. Wow. Yeah, so they kind of like me. When I wrecked Daytona, they were watching, they were all silence. And Bob Cooney was telling me about it. They were at a race. It was a silence.

And then once they saw me move, they all cheered. I mean, the Europeans, it was crazy. They liked me, which was pretty neat. Yeah. When did you run your last competitive race? Oh, man. Well, you know, I drove for James Finch. Dangneyer won the Daytona 500 with James Finch.

If, I think Sterling, yeah, Sterling ran into James Finch. Jeff, Gordon, in the front straightaway. So they threw the red flag. I was running third then. Sterling was first. He pulled his fender out. They sent him to the rear. He can't do that. He got out of his car. I said, what are you doing, Sterling? You can't do that. That's right.

And then Ward Burton was next, and then me. Well, my car was terrible all race long. Man, we kept adjusting. It was just awful. James Finch got so mad he left the track. That's right. 2002. He left the track. And on the last pitch stop, Mark Reno, crew chief, he said, what do you want us to do? I said, man, I'm sorry.

I have no idea. Just do something. And so he told the right rear tire guy, when he changed the right rear tire, to come around the back, you know, on a spoiler, you had little braces that held a spoiler up or down. He said, hit those braces, so he bent the spoiler down a little bit. That balanced the car out perfect. absolute I started like 18th it was just wide open get out of my way high low middle it didn't matter I was just passing cards and only a few laps left and I ended up third one this rec app I was going to win a race I mean I was it was so fast well when the wreck happened and they stopped it I said man I don't know

stern look at his fender I don't know I might have a flat or something I ran over something up when it happened I said, but I'm not getting out. So we took off on a restart. I said, well, I'm going up there and just push board and, you know, go too fast. He'll slide up. I couldn't even get to his bumper. I said, what the heck's wrong with this car?

And then I ended up through somebody past me. After race, it was just green like white checker. I came in and I told the guy, man, I'm sorry, man. I don't know why. I just went to go. He said, come here. I'd hit some debris. The left front fender was all.

smashed down and aerodynamically I was wounded. That's why it didn't run as fast as to do before. Third wasn't bad for an old guy. Third was amazing. In fact, so the only reason I remember that is that's my first weekend in the sport and I was working for James Finch on the Bush Series, Xfinity Series side. Okay. But I was there for that race and James Finch had left and they called him and said,

we might win this thing. He couldn't get back in the ring. He couldn't get back in. Oh, man. Yeah. It was funny. So that was a, you know, he had great equipment. And things went awry with that too, to shame.

Where were you emotionally about your, you know, have, you know, your career winding down? I thought I was going to go forever. So, yeah. That's why, you know, I saw Tara Labani and some other guys driving some lesser cars late in their career. and happened to me. You know, I was helping Larry Gunzeman. Great guy. I love Larry.

Still do. But he didn't have the money and equipment to compete. Todd drove for him, just starting parks a lot. Man, I drove for a couple of cars I shouldn't have drove for. Oh, man. Working at the shop digging through a pile of bolts for a nut and a bolt, that's how bad that was. But, you know, I couldn't get out of my system.

I just, you know, the need to be around the sport, around the people, go around the track, it was just, I did it all my life since I was five years old. Yeah. I just was having trouble getting rid of that need. And so, man, I started praying. I was like, God, I know if this isn't looking good. Everyone told me, you don't look good. I said, I don't care.

I'm helping my friends, which I was. I really was helping Larry. Sure. But I knew I shouldn't do it. So I kept praying and praying and praying and God, give me something, get me out of here, give me peace. I know I shouldn't be doing it, and he finally did it. So I'm good with it. I don't want a race now.

I help a guy with a car he runs at New Smyrna, I get to test it once in a while. I said, I don't want to do this. I want to work on it. I love building and working, making it better, but driving, I'm over it. Just like that. I hear you wanting to get back in. Don't do it. Don't do it.

You got too much going on. I got kids and wife. You're right. All this, don't do it. No, you're right. You're 100% right about that. Why's Jimmy racing indie cars? I don't know.

Why? I don't know. He just can't get it out of the system. He had a good run the other day at Texas, but don't do it, Jim. Get out of there. Come on. Anyway, how do we get on there? What are you doing now?

What are you doing that gives you enjoyment? Well, yesterday morning I mowled me. yard. Where's your yard at? Malibar, Florida. No, I pushed the front. I walk behind a pusher. Makes it look better. The back part, we have a zero turn. My wife usually does that, but I got a, she won't let me do it, but I got out of her before she did. But that keeps me in shape. It's hot. You sweat, pushing, walking. I have trouble with my legs, my lower back. Really need an operation but I'm not going there. I've heard too many horror stories about it so I'm getting some injection in my back next week that helps so I work and work on this race car and for my

friend and it's hot you know no air condition just a small shop and the sun beats in there I sweat and it's all good and I'm lifting so I stay in good shape yeah doing that do you watch racing do you watch NASCAR oh yeah all right that's my wife do you got to watch that NASCAR This weekend, come on, let's go somewhere. No, you know, I watched this last week, and of course, it's changed. You know, people ask me about it. You watch the race? I said, you call it, that was a race?

It's interesting, and that's what the new race fan wants. Side by side, crashing once a while, that's what they want. It's not what we want. Drivers don't want it. Real racers don't want it. They want horsepower speed and sliding around and the best guy wins. But the new race man wants that closeness. And so that's where they're going.

It's fine. Yeah. Yeah. So what's next? Just going to keep on digging down there in Florida? You know, I'm only 49, so. I'll be 73 in April. You look great.

It's amazing. Yeah. Thank you. You hitting on me? No. I'm trying to be honest. You got that wig from the powder puff race. I think.

Yeah. No, that's the key. You know, I love my wife, Lori, and I love my two sons. They have two daughters each. I love their granddaughters and don't see them enough here lately. But they come down and visit us because Florida, you know? Yeah, because Florida is a way to go. Hey, I know something that should be next up for you.

You need to be in Hall of Fame conversations. I mean, and you think. You can be humble. You can be humble. That's fine. But there's conversations that must be had with Jeff Bodine's name in it in the Hall of Fame. And look, the resume speaks for itself. Do you allow yourself to think about that? I don't need it. I've told people at the meeting that I don't need it. I would like it because I have, because it wasn't me. I didn't do all this. The Lord gave me the talent. Gave me the opportunities, the people kept me from dying many times. So he deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.

Not me. I'm just the vessel he used. Why he used me? And one day we'll find out. But I'm just a racer, and I don't need a Hall of Fame. I'm not putting it down. That's great. But I don't need it personally.

I understand that. But also, the parts we kind of skipped over. which was a modified career, and Richie Evans is in the Hall of Fame, and your Hall of Fame stats, or your bona fide stats are right up there. And so there is a strong case to be made before we even get to your NASCAR career. But Richie Evans then tangled with Bill France Jr. at NASCAR, you know, I have. What did your, when did you tangle with Bill France Jr.?

You know, that started way back at Martinsville when he was. was just coming up through. Senior sent him out on the tour. And he and Bill Gazzaway were at Martinsville, they inspected the cars for the big weekend, Dogwood or one of them. Modified. Yeah.

And they came to look at my car and said, everyone's complaining about it. That fuel cell's too low. I'm getting ready to go qualify. I said, I had tubing under it, just like they have today. I had, it was protected. Yeah, it was low, but it was protected.

it. You got to raise it up. I said, I don't have time to raise it up. You got to raise it up. Well, you have to work out tonight. I didn't come here to run a heat race tomorrow. So, Clay Earle's got involved. He said, I'll straighten it up.

He came down with $100. He was gas money to go home. They won't change their mind. And plus he said my old tank was too low. It was behind a left front tire. This was the kicker. And he said, that left front tire goes flat.

The oil tank going to drag and mess up Mr. Earl's racetrack. I said, no, it won't. Shouldn't have said that. I said, well, I took the tire off, dropped it down, the frame hit before the oil tank. Man, that, mm-hmm, you could see his face get red. He didn't like that. He was in a fart jacket.

He got on his belly with the tape rule, measuring things. So yeah, we didn't start off too good right at the get-go, and it just got worse. And messing with Junior's dad, you know, Dale became his friend's friend. I didn't. So it just grew, and I had a little more controversial than Brett or Todd. Especially Brett. He was kind of, I don't want to be like Brett, Jeff.

I don't want trouble. Yeah, but you know, the irony is that the sport needs that rivalry. I mean, people will say it today. His dad and I put a lot of people in those grandstands. You better believe you did. Heck yeah. I mean, everyone else did too, but which one's going to, who's going to wreck who this week? I mean, who's going to run into who?

What's going to happen? So, yeah, of course it does. And that's what finally some of the guys are getting mad at even even brothers are getting, their teammates are getting mad at teammates. So that's good. It's getting a little interest going. So that all started way back, and it just grew and festered, and there was other things that will be in the book.

I got to get this book. It's all going to be in there. When does this book come out? We've been working about three years, but, you know, books are hard to finish. But it's doable. Well, books are to finish because I'm still living. There's still more things going on, so it's hard to finish the book. Finish this one and then write a second book.

No, this will be the one and only. But, yeah, it'll be soon. Good. I can't wait to hear that. Soon could be six months or a year, but I'm in no hurry. Yeah. I just want it good. I want it for actual.

I want everything right. That's the thing about writing a book is you keep thinking of stuff to put in it. Yeah. And you're afraid once you close the book, once you close the process of writing it, that you're going to come, just like doing this podcast, well, you'll walk out, we'll walk out this door and go, damn, why didn't we ask about that. Why don't we ask him about this? I'll come back. Well, when you do the book, that'll be a good reason to, right?

Yeah. I want to come back before then. I'm trying to motivate you to finish the book. You keep talking about it so much that we want to read it now. Dominic and I are going to work on it this week. All we have right now is to listen to your country music song here. I grew up in the country on all American farm boy.

There you go. Keep going. This is karaoke. That's about all I can. Uncle Earl was a driver. He taught me all the ropes. Doesn't sound like a ballad. It doesn't sound like a slow one. Well, at the end, it's all I want to be known as a man called Jeff Bodine. The tears start rolling.

I feel a little emotional right now. Dale's song is, I'm a heart charger. Terry Labani, I'm the Iceman's Hot. Phil Elliott's is the funniest one. What does he say? Well, not intentionally funny. Oh, because of a singing performance? He doesn't sing.

No, he talks. I'm wild Bill Ellie, the crazy racing man. He just talks to, he talks through his song. It's pretty funny. The funniest one, Cal Yarbo, he had to be there to appreciate it. He was serious. He had friends that were singers. He were coaching him and all this.

He was serious. He was serious. But he's serious like beer. So waiting around out in the studio, we all went out there at different times, but a group. Yeah. I mean, 21 of us, so well, they can go at once. but he was sucking on some beers, and by the time he was singing,

he was, oh, yeah. He wasn't so good. Kail was all. Kells beer buzzed. Yeah. That's amazing that you funded this thing, and you're saying that if they, you can still get this album by emailing you?

Did he hear this right? Yeah, just email any of this stuff. New World Racing at AOL.com, and we have a few left. They're really cool. It's really entertaining. Jeannie Seeley wrote my song. She's a famous Nashville songwriter.

Jeannie Sealy, she's still alive. So it wasn't just... The guys did one earlier than that. It was just a hack, funny. So it's not like that at all. I was in the late 70s, I think. Ned Jarrett, Comitatte's the Front. Kyle Petty, he sings.

He's good. He did good. Dick Brooks. Rusty. Yep. You name of it. They're all there. They're all there.

Putman, Parsons, Richard Chilvers, these things. Probably why I don't like me. I don't know. Phil Parsons, Bill Elliott, Ron Bouchard, Hilton, Cary Arbor, Bobby Ellison, Kyle Petty, yeah. You'll enjoy it. But the book is really great. I know you haven't read yours because you don't even remember we gave you one.

Read it because it really, it's an easy read, big print so you can see it. but it goes through quick so did you bring these for Dale you brought these as gifts yeah wow that's nice 100 bucks apiece yeah there you go get the checkbook out

well well Jeff man it's been a lot of fun talking to you and we worked hard to try to get you here people have been asking us for a long long time to get you on the show I appreciate that thank you fans

yeah well they're gonna be happy to hear I hope they enjoy it. They will. They will enjoy it. Hope you did. I did. I learned live from you. Stuff that I didn't remember.

Didn't know. Well, this guy didn't learn anything. No, I like his hat. B for Bodine. Thank you. That's what it is. That's what it is. It's a minor league baseball team called the Bodines.

Well, we love it, man. We feel fortunate to be able to have you here. Thanks for coming all this way. I know you had to. leave Florida, which is leaving home, which is tough when you don't have to. Well, COVID and all that, it was tough to get here, but now it's easier. Teased up a little bit. Go home, go to work.

Well, go home, have fun. Until next time, when you get that book done, we're going to have to bring you back up here to ask you all about that. Yes, sir. Appreciate you. Thank you, Jeff. Yeah, thank you. Jeff O'Dine on the Dale Jr. Download.

I'd still like to be a champion in my dreams. time. But I want to be remembered most and just a man called Jeff Goldine. All righty. So time for another Ask Junior segment.

The first question here for the week for you, Dale, comes from Herbie. Ask Junior, have you considered talking to Steve to put the Nova in eye racing? And if so, would you put the V6 on the irasing world?

Oh, man. I mean, I would love. I would love to have the Nova. I'd love to have the Nova and I racing. I am for any oval additions, whether it's cars, tracks, I'm for all of it. And I was on there last night a little bit too late and racing the 1987 cars.

A lot of fun. But, yeah, I mean, I don't have that much influence. Steve Myers and I, you know, Steve works with me a little bit to get a few things here and there each year. and he's very generous with allowing me to try to have some influence on what happens with the service and what goes there. But there's so many moving parts to ir racing and so many things happening at once that they got rain coming and all kinds of cool advances in the service. So looking forward to all of it. I always get a giggle out of all the people that tweet at you trying to get you to add certain cars and tracks.

I know. I'm like, hey, you and me both. I love to add all of it. would have, yeah, I would have all the things. All right. Next one here. From Joe D. It says, Dale, since Amy came into your life, do you feel like the world opened up to you? Your willingness to try and experience things, I feel like prior to her, you may have never

pursued broadcasting, et cetera. Like me, I feel your wife opened your eyes. Just an observation. No, yeah, that's a great observation. I, you know, yeah, I've said that over and over. where I feel like that. Before I met Amy, I had a very strict, I like this, I don't like that, I want this to eat every day. You know, I had, you know, I was eating this, literally.

I'd eat the same thing every day. I had a regiment, right, where, and I had four or five things that I involved in my life in terms of hobbies or, you know, where there's video games. I hung out with a strict circle of friends, and we hung out specifically on certain, nights. It was very, you know, scripted, if you will. And, um, and I didn't venture far outside of that. And I would, you know, when, when I would get steered away from my comfort zone, man, I would freak out, you know, Mike's seen it a bunch. But, um, you know, I got kind of bottled up. I was sort of, my whole life was kind of this big giant funnel that I didn't even, you know, I was kind of going, I was kind of ending up in this sort of very limited space in the bottom of this funnel

and not very happy, to be honest with you. And when I met Amy, she pulled me out of that funnel or I finally, you know, spit out the bottom of it, whatever. But when we met, she was funny. I was like, all right, you know, we're going to hang out in this bus all weekend. We go to the racetrack. And she's like, well, what kind of restaurants in town do we go? you know, wherever we were, poking over somewhere. I was like, what are you talking about?

We ain't leaving the racetrack. She's like, we're not going anywhere. I'm like, no, we've got all the food we need. We got a George Foreman grill. Uncrustibles in the fridge. Everything's here that we need. We don't need to leave. She goes, I ain't sitting in this bus for three days.

And she's like, we're going. We're going somewhere. Somewhere, pick it. And so I was like, okay. So, you know, I, and it was good. It was good. She pushed me. That's just an example of,

you know, her sort of getting me out of my habits that weren't very good habits, you know. I just was, I thought I was happy, but I was missing out on a lot of things. And, you know, it's been really good. So that's a great observation. And every day continues to be that way. Like we continue to, she continues to challenge me, you know, to do things. We love a strong-willed woman. next one comes from Ryan Johnson

finally have gotten myself caught up on season two of lost speedways are there any international lost speedways outside of the United States that you have on your list to visit well I'm sure there you know the the Thunderdome in Australia oval track that they built there and raced stock cars for a while I think it'd be cool to go see that I've always wanted to go back to Australia I went in 06 for a couple weeks and it was a best time, beautiful place, great people, and I would love to go back.

Just, and if I do, hopefully get a chance to see that track. But it has a very unique history. You know, outside of that, I think, what is, there's, there's two tracks in Matthew. There's two tracks in Europe that have these giant high banks. I just saw one on social media yesterday. Yeah, there's the one in, there's Monza. Monza has the, yeah, that Monza term. in the original turn.

Yeah, the original oval. And then there's the one in... Is it the Nürber ring? No. Nerberger ring has a section that's... Super crazy, but there's one in... Darn it. It was just on social media yesterday.

Great Britain. Yeah. Big kidney shape kind of... Kidney shape. Yeah, and it's got a giant... That's the one where the guy died in his final attempt racing there. He told his wife... Well, I'm sure...

He was not going to race again. Probably not the only one. Bobby Marcos is texting me right now. Brooklyn's. Thank you. Thank you. The Brooklyn. Yeah. So I would love to see those places, Brooklyn's, because, I mean, at the time, it must have been the craziest idea. You know, they're building this giant progressive banking that's like, it looks five, eight, ten stories tall. And at the time when they're building this,

this must have been shocking, you know, visually just incredible to see something like that made in that time frame as far as where we were as you know in in in motorsports and technology and so forth i mean building a track like that must have sounded like the craziest idea ever i think it would be also cool to go to where there might have where the where is the best place to go to see an original board track obviously there is no there's not a board track physically out there but i know there was one in charlotte and if you look on google maps you can still see the outline in the earth, whether it's an arc of a tree line or something where that board track existed.

So I think it would be cool to actually at least go to a place where there was an old board track where you could say, okay, you know, I'm looking here and I can see that clearing right there as where a turn was or whatever. I'd love to be able to do that and just try to visualize that giant board track that they used to have. I can't, I still, I send, every time I get a board track or see one on social media, I sent it to Jimmy Johnson. Me and him have this board track.

They're fascinating. They are so fascinating. This Brooklyn's track looks crazy. Yes. And the shape of it. Like he said it looks like a kidney being. That's wild looking. Hey, isn't there a track in Canada that's on our list also?

Yeah, there's a bunch of tracks in Canada. But there was one on our list like in the top 10 that Earnhardt raced at. Yeah, that short track. Yep. With the street stock. Yep. All right, we got two more from Jake. After switching to Hendrick, you started using a small.

steering wheel watching in car from your final cup season of 2017 it seems you switched back to a larger wheel what was the reason for the switch the um so when we were i think because when we were going to smaller steering wheels we weren't changing the steering box and then there was this sort of shift to smaller steering boxes and then bringing the wheel size back so i never loved the very small wheel at an oval and I kind of like the larger steering wheels going around a short track or a mile and a half and but they the steering and everything was getting quicker steering boxes were getting quicker all the geometry and everything up front for Ackerman and everything was making the steering faster and it was you know all the teams were going from we went we were running 12 to 1 boxes with the 10 to 1 boxes

then everybody started running 8 to 1 boxes so the boxes are getting faster and faster the geo Geometry in the front of the car is also mounted to speed the steering up. And so the wheels actually started going back the other direction because things were getting so fast you were overcorrecting and the thing was getting a little dardy. But I generally never really love the small wheel except for road courses because we have so much wheel movement at a Sonoma or something. It was great to have that tiny wheel. I tried to make it work at the ovals, but I think it was, it was. It was against my style, you know. Those eight to ones feel like go-karts.

Yeah. You don't need that tiny wheel anymore. The tiny wheel was kind of doing the same thing. Before we went smaller on the boxes, you were getting smaller and smaller to the wheel, and that was sort of making the wheel, the steering quicker, feeling more like a go-kart. Then once we started trying to get smaller boxes on there,

I mean, there was a time when somebody would never have thought to run an eight-to-one. What? That's, no. I'm not running eight-to-one. Like in the 80s, they had 16 to 1, 20 to 1, 18 to 1 steering boxes, big giant slow, big, big old school bus steering wheels. And progressively, you know, we've, over the years, decades, the wheels got smaller, the boxes got smaller. And we got to a point where the boxes were so quick, I needed to kind of go the other direction on the wheel. Great observation.

Man, paying attention. All right. Last one here from Carson Biggerstaff. What is your favorite item on the Bojangles menu? One just opened up near me, and I'm loving it so far, especially the biscuits. The fries, season fries are so good. I don't know what it. So I got some of that Bojangles seasoning.

I got several cans of it. But I like that fry cut that they have, that big wide flat fry. I don't know. I just like that style pretty good. So that's my favorite thing. When I get to order, that's the first thing getting ate out of the bag. It's a prize. And they're in the passenger seat and you're eating them as you're driving home.

Oh, yeah. Well, that is it for Ask Junior this week. Don't forget, guys, you guys can tune in via social media and live every week and tweet us. Hashtag Ask Junior. Maybe we will read your question on the air. Well, man, that was one for the ages. One of the best. That's a great interview.

Jeff was awesome. He was good. He was. Really appreciate it. him coming all this way. Absolutely. Yeah, that's no small thing. And I think that

there was a lot of answers that we had questions to that he answered. He did. And he answered them honestly. I appreciate that. People are going to love this one. We finally got it on the books. Yeah. The Dale Jr. down low with Jepp O'Dine

as came and win. Everybody have a great week and can't wait to talk to you next week. We'll see you. Check out Dirty Mo Media. Twitter, Facebook, TikTok. and Instagram.