The Dale Jr. Download - 488 - Hank Parker Sr. - A Friendship Larger Than Life

Episode Date: September 13, 2023

In a conversation that gave us some intensely emotional moments along with plenty of laughs, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is joined by a great friend of his dad’s - bass fishing legend Hank Parker Sr. Hank Parker and Dale Earnhardt were close friends who met even before they rose to the top of their respective fields. As they both experienced early career triumphs, with Hank winning the BassMaster Classic in 1979 and Dale winning the NASCAR Cup Championship in 1980, they began fishing and hunting together, forging a close bond that would carry through Dale’s passing in 2001.This interview covers everything from why Hank Sr. traded his fishing pole in for a stock car, his journey from working at a marina to becoming one of the most recognized outdoorsmen in history, and the time he spent in the wild with the Earnhardts, with the hilarious and poignant stories to prove it. You may remember the racing endeavors of Hank’s son Hank Jr., who spent time in the All-Pro Series before moving up to the NASCAR Busch Series and eventually winning two races. But the racing bug and need for speed first resonated in Hank, and the story of how he bought a Busch Series car from Dale and attempted to qualify at Rockingham is one you won’t want to miss. Hank also fills Dale Jr. in on why Hank may be responsible for convincing Dale Earnhardt to buy Dale Jr.’s first late model, and then relays some deeply intimate conversations he had with Dale during their hunting trips over the years, showing a side of the Intimidator you’ve never seen before.DraftKings State-Specific Problem Gambling Information:In Massachusetts, call [phone] or visit gamblinghelplinema.org, In New York, call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369). In Tennessee and Kansas, Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). In West Virginia, Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit www.1800gambler.net. All games regulated by the West Virginia Lottery. Please play responsibly. In partnership with Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races. In Connecticut, Help is available for problem gambling call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. Licensee partner Golden Nugget Lake Charles (LA). 21+, age varies by jurisdiction. Void in Ontario. See DKNG.co/autoracing for eligibility, terms and responsible gaming resources. Bonus bets expire seven days after issuance. Eligibility and deposit restrictions apply.  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.

Calling is a production of Dirty Mo Media. There he is. Come on in here, buddy. Have a seat. Hey, everybody. Glad you tuned in. It's time for another episode of the Dale Jr. Download. Mike Davis, Delenhardt Jr., the Bojangl Studio.

We've got a great guest today. Well, how you doing, Rhett? I'm doing fine right now. This is every week, okay, boy? Huckle it. You died on that hill. Your career died on that hill and you were hardheaded. You were the bigger idiot.

I didn't even think about it. You thought about it and didn't ask it. That makes me the bigger idiot. I think so. Hey, everybody, it's Dale Jr. Welcome back to another episode of the Dell Jr. Download here in the Bo Jangle Studio with my co-host Mike Davis. Mike, how you doing?

I'm doing well, buddy. Well, we talked about it yesterday for our Tuesday show. great guest today. This is absolutely the perfect guest for our sponsor, Ally. That's right. Ally will be bringing us our guest segment today and want to thank

Ally for everything they do in NASCAR and everything to do for us here at Dirty Mo Media, Ally, they do it right. And we have an ally coming in. Hank Parker Sr. will be our guest today. Hank Parker Sr. made his fortune

and his celebrity as a a professional bass fisherman. And even more so probably as the host of his own television show. That's right. You know, all through the 80s and the 90s, his show was quite popular. And he had a great friendship with my dad. And we've had Hank Jr. on this show, who I'm very close to. and that really has sparked the interest in getting senior here and talking to him.

He's a busy guy, hard to really nail down, but we're lucky that he's going to come in here today and talk to us about his friendship with dad, but also I'm curious about how you become a champion, professional bass fisherman. Right, and then carry that to television, which is where I was introduced to him at a young age, and that is his television persona. He has this amazing personality. that's just, you know, you gravitate towards. And then pivot, one of the most incredible pivots in life to become a professional

race car driver. Exactly. Like, how does one do that? We need to figure that out. He's going to be coming in here. Let's go ahead and welcome Hank Parker, Sr. on the Dale Jr. Download. I'm Mike.

Hey, Mike. Hank Parker. Such a pleasure. This is your chair? All right. I'm throwing headphones on. All right. So Hank Parker, Senior.

Hank Parker. How long has it been since I've seen you? Man, it's been forever. Probably 20 years. Has it been that long? Probably has. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it is crazy.

It doesn't seem like it should have been that long. Yeah. So, thanks for making some time for us. Oh, I'm excited. You guys roasted me pretty good. That's my chance to get back. When? When Hank Jr. was here.

You said, your dad was racing. What was he? thinking well i know it yeah he's still wondering just to go ahead and i'm still wondering what are you doing why are you doing yeah i'm going to tell you what i was so all right i um always kind of been fascinated with your with your life and your career and this is a great opportunity for us to to talk about it um when did you start fishing professionally well i started really i tried uh in 1975 i I fish my first BASS tournament in 1975. And I realized I was out of my league.

I wasn't ready. And it was at Santy Cooper, which is a lake that I was real familiar with. And I went down and conditions changed and I wasn't able to adapt to the conditions. What do you mean? Well, the water got muddy in the area that I was fishing in the river. And so I had to come back down in the lake. and I really didn't know how to transition from what I had planned on doing and the weather through the curve, and I wasn't able to adapt.

And I watched these guys, old Glenn Wells from Greenbrier, Tennessee, was about 55 years old at the time, and I was 20 years old. And I watched how he handled the situation. I drew him as a partner, and I realized I was not in his league. I didn't know how to fish the lures that he fished. I didn't understand a lot. I went home and the tail between my legs and started practicing. I worked on Lake Wiley.

I ran a marina on Lake Wiley. You did? Yeah. I worked for a guy named Mike Hovis who owns Seven Oaks Marina. And so I worked for him. And I would fish in the mornings, the days that I worked from noon until clothing time, and then the time that I worked from morning to noon, then I fished in the afternoon. I fished every day.

And I fish baits that I never fished. fish before and I learned how to adapt and I learned how certain baits worked that I didn't know before. Yeah. Then when I went back in 1976, I started that's so that's when my career really started. So why were you going to make, was it reasonable to think about making a living fishing competitively? I thought so. At the time, it was a few guys doing it, but not a whole lot. But Bill Dance was doing. really well Roland Martin was doing well and I just felt like that the the door was open I was going to go for it. Yeah and so where where you grew up on a lake you grew up fishing your family what was your connection? You know my dad really he liked to fish with a fly rod but I didn't I just

got fascinated the very first time I ever went to the lake and I just fascinated me I just fell in love and it was just watching a bobber go under. I mean, it was a thrill like driving in turn two in Atlanta. I mean, it was just crazy. So you grew up around this and you worked at the marina. What was the commitment like to go fishing? Are you in a relationship? Are you married yet?

I did. I got married in 1973, started fishing in 1976. So I had kids. Already. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay, yeah, because Hank June is born 74. Yep. So what is, are you taking, is this a financial risk?

Are you, because what if you don't? I borrowed $10,000 on a 90-day note at the Northwestern Bank and made in North Carolina and started fishing. And how'd that go? Well, there's no people, you know, we'd be fishing a tournament and we'd be down there around bottom money. They'd pay like 40 places, so it'd be in like 38th place, and we'd be fishing in New York

and you have to cross Lake Ontario and five foot waves and risk your life and the guy sitting around the campfire and the afternoon and said, I'm not going, I'm not going to go across that lake for a 40th place check. What are you going to do? I said, I'm going.

I got a bank note to pay. I'm going. So you already had a boat, I'm assuming, right? I did. So that $10,000 loan, it was basically to enter into tournaments? Is that the gist of what you're spending is? Yeah, that's right.

And you're trying to make a back. Yeah, paying entry fees and all the expenses, you know. Yeah. Yeah, you got to be able to make that money back then. Oh, yeah. You got to make that note payment. Did you make it? Oh, yeah.

There's no motivator like poverty. I mean, it will get you on your toes. Fair enough. Yeah. So it was really good for me. I was in a good position. You know, Schrader said one time, Kenny Schrader said one time,

and your dad was in that same league. You didn't really set down and plan out a financial plan on what I'm going to achieve. You would have paid the race. Bill Senior, yeah, if NASCAR say, okay, I'm going to let you boys come race, but you're going to have to come up $15,000. They'd have figured out a way to come up with it. Yeah. So it wasn't some master plan.

Dale Earnhardt never sat down and thought one day I'm going to be a multimillionaire as a race car driver. And Bill Earnhardt thought, how am I get that next? set of tires. That's right. You know, that was the whole deal. And so you're doing, are you basically doing this out of pure love for the, you know, you were thinking, man, I'm going to be able to make a living doing the one thing that makes me the happiest. Yeah, that's exactly. That was my whole goal in life. I love to fish. I'm going to make it happen and we'll see where it goes, you know. Financially, I never dreamt the sport would grow like it grew and that the money would be available that's available.

And it just was way better than I ever dreamt. So talk about that. How big was the bass organization and the tournaments? How big were they when you started? How much did it change? You know, it's really crazy. And I'm thinking the first year your dad won the championship, I won the Bass Master Classic, I think 79 maybe.

And I had more notoriety than he did. Yeah. I mean, really and truly, I had him as a lot. guest on the show to promote the fact that he's a NASCAR champion. And so it's amazing when you put the two sports together. Fishing has grown immensely, but not in the league with what NASCAR did. Between 79 and 99, NASCAR just exploded. So how good were you out of the gate?

Like you're saying 76 was your first full effort at? I won the championship in National Bath my first year. Really? And so like, all right, so you talk about, you know, not being good enough at 20 years old, not knowing what you need to know. You go back home and you study and you learn everything you need to learn. And then how do you come in and just rock, how do you come in and just beat all those other guys so quickly? A year later, right? It's a mindset.

And I just prepared and I had a lot of confidence. Yeah. And I never worried everybody talks about when you walk in a room and you look around and there's Bill Dance and there's Billy Westmoreland. and there's all these legends of the sport, and you're going to draw, and there you are from North Carolina and these people from all over the country, and they've had all this success.

How intimidating is that? That never intimidated me. Really? Never intimidated me at all. I've got to catch the most fish. And I'm not worried. And people, the difference between NASCAR and pro football, football, you've gotten an opponent.

it. And I know a lot of organizations, ESPN, they want to make it like it's a battle between Ernie Irwin and Dale Earnhardt or the intimidator against Rusty Wallace or whomever. You really race the racetrack. And if you beat the racetrack and you turn the best times, you win the race. And it really doesn't have anything to do. Now, you do get into some scuffles. In fishing, none of that happened. And fishing, it strictly beat the lake. You go out there and catch the most fish. And you're win. I never beat Roland Martin. I never beat Bill D'Anse. I never beat anyone. I just caught the most fish, so I won the tournament. And that was my mindset from the beginning. I never worried about this guy or that guy, because it didn't matter. It's whoever had the most fish, and somebody's going to win, it might as well be me. How many tournaments does one have to enter just to be competitive?

Yeah, to be contending for a championship. Yeah, that's a great question. In the old days, they had six tournaments. You fish six tournaments and then the Bassmaster Classic and then it evolved into eight tournaments and eventually 12 tournaments and it got bigger and bigger and more and more but when I first started you only had six tournaments.

Wow. You only had to, there were six and those six you had to be at. You had to, oh yeah, you could not miss one. And so how do you, so the Bass Master champion What makes you eligible to, is that like, you know, certain members, certain winners from each tournament get elected to this? Right, it's a point system.

It's a point system. Okay. So who all gets to go to the Bass Master Championship? Okay. You had 250 competitors. Yep. And for each place you fished, if you won, you got so many points. And then it was prorated all the way down to the bottom 250th guy.

And so you accumulated points. And so 25 out of the top 250, 25 got to go to the championship. Damn. How many times did you go every year? Every year. I never missed. You never missed. And so how many Bass Championships did you win?

I won two world titles. I was the first guy to ever win everything, which is a qualifying tournament, bass angle of the year, a super bass tournament, which was their big money tournament. and the Bass Master Classic. I was the first guy to ever do that. When did you decide that you wanted to, like, so I want to tell you, your personality is second to none. Like, you are a fun guy to talk to, be around.

I remember when I was much younger, how entertaining it was to be in the same room with you. And so, especially with you and Hank Jr., and how you used to razz him and give him a hard time. But when did it don't, when did it sort of click that you could turn this into, you could become a television personality in your show, right? A lot of people remember you from that show, and still today talk about it. You still create content around that.

So when did that start and how much sense did that make to you at the beginning, right? Where you like, oh, man, this is a natural. This makes, you know, where other people doing this? Well, you know, the fishing world was completely different than anything, any other sports world because you really didn't have, you didn't have enough prize money to make it, much like racing. You know, you've got to have sponsors. And or you're not going to make it on prize money.

So in 1979, I won the Bassmaster Classic. I had no earthly idea what that meant. It was $25,000 first place. $25,000 was a lot of money in 1979, especially to me. But I had no earthly idea what the opportunities were going to be with that title. And as I started getting opportunities and realized how much money you could literally make through endorsements and promotions and opportunities, then I saw the light. And I said, man, this thing can be pretty lucrative.

And so as time went on, I just basically realized that the more publicity I get, the more influence I got on a consumer about buying my product. If I say, hey, I'm Hank Parker. Well, they got to know who Hank Parker is. And I recommend you by this lure. And the more notoriety I have, the more opportunity I have to make money off of that endorsement. Well, as time went on, I kind of exhausted all my relationships with people with magazines and newspapers. I'd come up with all these ideas for articles.

Well, you can only do that for so long. So then I thought, well, if I'm going to make more money and I'm going to grow, then I'm going to have to be in control of my own destiny as far as publicity. So I gravitated to television, not having a clue what I was doing. Yeah. How'd you do it then? Because, I mean, like, everybody thinks they're going to, they could be on TV, whether it's hunting or fishing, but you ended up on a,

getting a TV deal. How do you do it? Well, you know, it really took money and it took a big risk on my part. Everything that I'd ever earned or made in my whole life, I put at risk because, You had to personally buy the airtime. Then you had to produce your own show. And so it was a big step. And at that time, you know, we look at these little cameras today that has high resolution that can do 4K and you can buy one for $4,000.

Well, the broadcast networks required you to have an ecogamy 79 camera, which cost 100 grand. And then you had to have a recorder. There was no, there were no mics. everything was hard wire. There wasn't any... Of course. Yeah, everything was hardwired. Yeah.

And so you had wires running up your britches legs and a guy with a mixer in the back of your boat. You know, it was a bit. And so you had to buy all of that stuff. And so it was about a $400,000 investment to get the equipment to edit and to video. And then you had to buy your airtime. So we bartered our airtime.

We bought mostly from NBC. and CBS and network stations. And we bought different markets around the country. So we did it different from everybody else. And we made it work. I know it. Because that right there's an investment now at what point then you talked about the endorsements. I would have to assume then you are now attractive to other endorsers.

You've got your own television show. Who cares how you had to get it? You got it. And so did that open up to where it started paying for itself? And then people started rather than you have. having to buy air time? Well, they started, you started selling? I had no idea how any of that worked, you know, and so it's all based on cost per thousand,

CPM. To this day. Yeah, and I'm trying to think, what in the world is all of this, you know, and I've got boat sponsors, I've got Ranger boats, I've got Mercury Outboards, and I've got all these indeminent companies, but then we are having people like Chevrolet and other companies start to inquire about, hey, we'd like to sponsor your show, and we'll pay you this based on your delivery. And I said, well, how do you determine that? Well, your, our CPM cost is 2750 per thousandths. And here are our demographics. And that's what the value is. And so I got a lot of

lessons. It was a learning process. I jumped in and had no earthly idea. And somehow it just all worked out. Holy moly. That blows my mind, right? Yeah. So this is, so Hank Parker's Outdoor magazine on TNN in 1985. You had Michael Runnels. Who is Michael? Michael was a guy that was a technical guy for Hummingbird who had a degree in marketing, and he understood how it all came together. And so I got hooked up with him. And he did all the administrative stuff. See, I was still competing.

Yeah. And so I've never, you know this more than anybody else. There's so much business behind the scenes in NASCAR. But that don't matter when you put that helmet on. You can forget all of that. It's about that racetrack and that. moment. Well, I've got all this business to run. I've got all these sponsors. I've got all this airtime. I've got all these demands on getting shows ready and delivered to certain networks at

certain times. And all that stuff is just a big distraction because I got to go fish Lake Toho next week. And so I need to have my mind cleared where I don't worry about anything. And I did. I separated my business totally. So I had to have a person that could handle all that. So your show was famous for having a lot of celebrities that were not in the fishing world, right? Yeah. So who were some of the, I guess, you know, Dad was probably a blast, but who were some of the celebrities that you would have on there that was, that maybe had no idea what they were doing?

Well, I won't say they had no idea, but my biggest celebrity ever is when Bo Jackson played two sports, he was the first guy to ever get that notoriety and pull that off. And so Nike was running commercials all over television, Bo Nose, Bo Nose, and it was a huge deal. So I'm sitting in my office one day, and everybody's gone. It's probably 5.30 afternoon. The phone rings in this boat. And he asked for Hank Parker. And I thought it was a joke.

I didn't know who in the world was calling me, pretending to be Bo Jackson. But he said, hey, man, I'm going to go fishing with you. And it worked out. It was just so awesome. And he was playing at that time for the Kansas City Royals. And he had a week off, played a doubleheader like on a Tuesday. So the next Wednesday he was off. I was going to Oklahoma to fish on the verdigree river.

So I invited him to come. He did. And we did a show. Beau was the coolest guy. I mean, it was just amazing. Were those type of people calling you all the time? Hey, I want to go fishing with you. We had quite a few, but, you know, I fish with a lot of football coaches.

I fish with Tony Dungey. I fished with Randy Wyatt of the Cowboys. I fished with Larry Bird. Bird was a cool guy. Yeah, I bet that was awesome. He was cool. How many times did you have Dad on? We probably fished together about 10 times, and we did about four shows together.

Really? That's so cool. One of my favorites, I have to tell this on him. You know, today, If you were still racing or Jimmy Johnson, let's just pick on Jimmy. If Jimmy was racing and he fell out of the race and all the media was there sticking microphones in his face, hey, Jimmy, what happened? He said, well, you know, we broke a valve spring.

And so we were limping around and we were just trying to get those points. They're so important. And we finally broke a crank and it took us out of the race. He'd give you that explanation. You stick that microphone in Dale's face and he'd say, blow, up. And he'd look at you like he had two heads. Look, what do you mean what happened?

We were just talking about that. You could tell what he was pissed and he just said few words. Oh, yeah. He's going to tell you right quick. So I'm doing a show out at his, at the farm. And Taylor and my daughter, Lucy, they were fishing for catfish. And Dale and I was sitting up and watching. And Taylor hung a catfish and she had a little Mickey Mouse rod and reel.

And it was more than Mickey could be. bear. Their little ears laying all over the pond down. And Earnhardt looks over at her and says, Taylor, what happened? She poached that little lip out and she looked at him from them little beady eyes and said, it blowed up. End of story.

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So you and dad had a really good friendship. Oh, it's awesome. How did y'all meet? Do you know that you would have never had your late model car had it not been for me? Really? You would have never had it. Never had it. We were sitting on the porch at my farm.

He and I had been hunting. And he said, these kids, man, these kids want everything. He said, you know, when I was growing up, Ralph Earnhardt and say, if you want a race, get out there in the junkyard and get your stuff and put it together. And he said, I'm telling my kids the same thing. If they want to race, I said, but Dale, let me tell you something. When Ralph Earnhardt told you to get out in the junkyard and get your stuff and put it together and go racing, that's what he was doing. He was doing that.

He was winning races. He wasn't driving for Richard Childers flying on the King Air and had a whole stable full of race cars. And I said, it reminds me of a guy that grew up poor. He's a farmer, and he brings his little boy in the store, and he buys himself a Pepsi. He don't buy one for that little boy. He sits over and drinks that Pepsi, and that little boy just looks. at him and lusting after that Pepsi, but he don't buy him one. I said, that's what you're doing to your kids.

I said, you got to, boy, he looked at me, and for 10 solid minutes, he never said a word. It seemed like two hours. Yeah. But for 10 minutes, he never said a word. Next thing I know, he bought him all cars, fell out-halla, and you were the beneficiary of a little talk we had on the porch at the farm in South Carolina. That's hilarious. Holy crap, man.

That is so good. What a great analogy, by the way. True. Just dangling in front of the kids, right? Well, he balling the cars and from what he told me, he said, now you on you, you tear him up, you got to fix him. Yeah, that was true. He did that right.

So when did you and him become friends? He was racing dirt at Metrolina. Agum, way back then. Yep. And Donnie Reeves. Yep. And everybody said, you know, he likes to hunt. You need to hook up with him and take him hunting.

Well, he was hunting at a place in Chester, South Carolina. and I hunted with an old guy named Franco Hill, who was a nut, made the movie Stroker Ace. He was dad's secret. Yes. And Franco was just a comedian. Made jewelry out of quail drop in January. Yes, I remember that. Oh, we got that story when Hank Jr. was here.

Yes. So, Dale, I got him to go down to Franco's. That's where you killed your first deer, by the way, on Franco's property. And so he started hunting with me. And I'm going to tell you something about Dale. Earnhardt Sr. that a lot of people didn't know. He was as good an outdoorsman as there was in the world. He was as good a deer hunter, the best tracker I've ever seen. I'm 70 years old now. I've hunted with thousands of people. I've tracked deer with hundreds of people and no one could track a deer

like Dale Earnhardt. No one. What do you mean by that? He could see this little bitty speck of blood. He had an instinct for where that deer went and he could just stay in one position, never go. out in front and get ahead of himself and rustle up the leaves he would stay back and he'd get really aggravated if anybody knows anything about Dale Earnhardt he ran everything yeah he was in charge he was in charge so you follow him don't you get out in front of him but he was patient and you'd think he wouldn't be of anybody the first time I ever took him hunting he stayed in a tree all day long I know I could not believe that yeah it just like didn't get out at lunch time not get out and I went in that tree before daylight and got down in the dark.

And it was amazing. And that blew my mind. That's before these penthouse tree stands and everything. Oh, yeah, no. This is on a little ladder stand and it's hardly big enough to get you hind in on. And he sits there all day long. Yeah, that amazed me. But he had that same patience in tracking.

And he just had this tremendous instinct. It was, he was really, really advanced in hunting. Yeah. Hank Jr. is the, or not Hank Jr., but Martin Truex Jr. Jr. will do that. he'll get in the stand in the morning and not come out. And I'm like, all right. I mean, I don't know.

I got to get a sandwich. But he would, you know, and I'm not telling you anything. You know with the time commitment it takes to be great at anything. But, man, when season started, he was gone. And, you know, Teresa was pretty stern and tough. And she had things she expected. depended on out of the relationship and the marriage. But dad, when that season started to the end of deer season,

if he wanted to be in a stand, he was going to go be in a stand. She didn't like me at all. I was not one of Teresa Earnhardt's fans. Yeah, I can tell you that. Because you were the one taking hunting. We were gone all the time. We got a deer lease in Texas together. And we have that deer lease.

What was, Insignio Ranch? It was a Piloncia. It was right out of Cotula, Texas. And he and I had that ranch from 1980s until he passed away. And two months before he died, he and I sat by a campfire. And we did a handshake deal. We had not been going together. He would always like to go right after the Cup banquet.

it. And I would always like to go. So that's around December 10th or somewhere in that neighborhood. And I'd always like to go in January, go right after Christmas. And he didn't like that. So we ended up not hunting together as much. And so he had invited me that same year to go to Silver City, New Mexico, and Elkhunt with him. So we spent the time up there. So he said, hey, we're going to the Pilon Sea together this year. So he went when I went in January. So two months before he died, I did a handshake deal, that I would never go back to the ranch without him, and he would never go back without me.

So I left a truck. I left deer stands. As far as I know, he left an old suburban at the Ketula airport, and 15 years after his death, Gene Naquin asked me one day, he said, is anybody ever going to come get that old suburban? Probably not. Wow.

You left it. It's all there. You kept your word. Yeah, I never went back. That's an amazing story Oh, my gosh Wow If we could go back for a second

You were talking about You met him when he was running dirt at Metrolina So this would have been about mid-70s Yeah, late 70s Right? Is it late 70s? The second half of the 70s probably Yeah, probably in the middle

Probably 75 Probably 74 He is a punk Like he's just a kid You're a new dad And he is a new dad Oh yeah No I wasn't a dad then

Well, 74? Yeah, yeah. It's probably maybe before that. Before that? Dang. He was young. Yeah. So you were just...

His dad was amazing. I mean, your grandpa was quite the driver. And so everybody followed him. You knew him? I didn't remember him well. I did not know him. I just knew him on the track. You know, I watched him.

I saw him race at Greenville and Pickens. So you're going to races back? Oh, yeah. I love racing. Oh, yeah. I was a big Kelly Arbor fan. Really? Oh, yeah.

My dad loved. loved racing. We listen to it on the radio all the time. And I was just a big basically I was a junior Johnson fan first. You know, he ran number three. Originally. Yeah, originally.

Holly Farm chickens. That was my driver, man. And then Kelly Arbor came along and then Biggie. I guess the reason I ask is it's pretty fascinating. They met and became friends before either of them were famous

or successful. and then how cool would it have been for you to watch him become a NASCAR champion and then vice versa, you become a Bassmaster champion, right? You become a world champion and that had to be like amazing for each of you to watch each other's progression. We never even thought about it. Really? That's amazing.

You know, that was never discussed. When he won his first championship, he bought Neil Bond at a 742 Remington shotgun with a, I mean, rifle with a Weaver scope on it. And he thought that was a big deal, man. That was a big deal. Yeah. Like, I've hit the big time. I've bought a brand new rifle with a skirt.

Wow. Go ahead, though. Well, so one of the things I wanted to ask you about is you won the World Championship in 1989 and then retire. You're 37 years old. You know, I don't know what it's, I don't know about the fishing world, but I do know about the racing world. and driver retirement is a, you know, it's a really particular moment, right? And a driver doesn't want to retire when he feels like he's got a little left in the tank, right? You want to get it all out.

Rusty Wallace talks about it today. So, man, I might have just done it a little too soon. I wished I'd have done it a different way. And I wonder, like, you know, that competitive atmosphere, I know that you had lucrative things going on. I know you talk about it. Your calendar day was slam full of responsibilities, but you did have to walk away from that competition and that draw of trying to be the best, right?

You did that at 37 years old, on top of the world. Why? Hank Jr. and Billy and Ben had started racing go-carts, and I got them into that. And we had a little track at the house, and we absolutely loved it. And so every weekend, Hank Jr. said, Dad, can we go racing this weekend?

Can we go to the go-kart track? No, son, I'm not going to be here. I'm not going to be here. Dad, I, you know, on and on and on. And it was the hardest thing that I ever did is walk out of my house and get in my car and drive to the airport or drive, hook up to my boat and go to a lake, knowing that I had little boys that couldn't do what they wanted to do because their dad wasn't home. Yeah.

And I cared a lot more about being a day. dad than I did a professional fisherman. And I told myself, and I told my wife at the time, if I ever get to the point financially that I can be free, I'll retire. And I knew what that meant because I'd won it 10 years earlier, and I knew what kind of revenue, and I was more positioned to capitalize now than I was then, you know, so I knew financially I could do it. And I never hesitated.

I said, I'm done. I'm going home and raised my kids. Did you miss the competition? Oh, how about died? I had to go to every single Bassmaster Classic after I won, after I retired, because I had sponsor obligation. It was the hardest thing I've ever done is set in that crowd. And I was at the peak.

Man, I was better a year after I retired than I was, and I had won two tournaments the year that I retired, you know. And I'm sitting there thinking, yeah. That was hard. Yeah. So after you retired, you still fished competitively somewhat? No. Minimally?

No, not at all. You were done. I quit. You continued the show, the television show. Put it all into the show. All into the show. All right. So why did your boys not want to go into professional fishing?

You know, I don't know. I was pretty hard on them. I thought when you went fishing, you got one pack of cheese crackers and one Coke, and you started at daylight and you quit it dark and you saw how many cast you could make every hour. And so when I took them with kids, I probably burned them out really bad.

Starved them to death. They didn't die of dehydration. Dad, I'm hungry. I didn't really know how to separate that. You know, I'm a better grandpa. I can promise you that. I wasn't real good then.

So they didn't want any part of it, that's what you're saying. And why, so is that maybe why racing seemed to be more interesting to them is because you all would be gaining the experience together, right? You weren't an expert in racing, right? So was that maybe why that was a better experience for them to be racing and you helping them get involved? I think anybody that is aggressive in nature that gets in a race car of any kind is going to get hooked on it. It is an adrenaline rush like nothing. else that I've ever done. I've done a lot of things and I've had some exciting moment.

But there is nothing like driving a race car. It is the most adrenaline fix that there is. And so it's extremely addictive. And my kids are just like, I think you take any kid in a world. And if they've got a competitive nature and they're aggressive and you put them in a race car and that's going to be their ambition for life. I'm a real race car drive. When did you drive a race car for the first time? Oh, man. Well, we started in go-carts, and that was probably... And you ran?

Yeah, I ran. You race go-carts? Yeah, I race go-carts? Where? How old were you? I was probably 33, 34. Yeah. Driving in the master's class.

Yeah, yeah. Where does 33 get to run go-carts? We race Millbridge, and there was a place right there in Denver, and... It's amazing. Carraway. There were a lot of... a little dirt racetracks that we went to a lot of them.

So you ran a lot of dirt go-karts and then what? I want to bridge that to this NASCAR Bush deal. Well, the way all this whole racing is back on that front porch where I told Del Earnhardt that he was depriving

you guys of having an opportunity and he decided he's going to get you all some towns and cars. Yes, it was. And back on that same front porch and you were there and I got to tell a story you and you you and Hank Jr. were pretty rough on me so I'm going to get rough on you. I imagine what this is about.

Well, I got to tell it. But anyway, it was on that front porch that somehow your dad and my son came up with your old orange late model car, your old street stock car. And that's where... Dad, y'all bought that car. Undenough it's to me. He called me on Monday. He said, if you got a car hauler, I said, a what?

He said, a trailer. If you got a trailer, it'll put a car on. I said, well, I got a farm trailer. All my tractors on. He said, you bring it over here and bring me a check for, I don't know how much money it was. I said, for what? He said, you'll see this come on. So that's what I ended up with.

That was the beginning of... of Hank's racing career. Of Hank's and mine as well. And yours. I'm not going to live my truck. Oh yeah, I got me a streetstock car. Yeah. I remember now.

Hank Jr. So I took that. I had built this car. That car I loved it. It was a great little car. I raced it a lot. And the last race I run in it, 200 lap her on New Year's Eve. And I'm leading with like 30 to go and I busted the spider gears.

He used to weld them. I welded them up, obviously, and they busted out. But the damn car was a good car. He takes it. I Hank, Hank Jr. won a handful of races with it. He did. He did a great job.

He did. He ended up rolling it on the back straight away. Concord. Yes. That's right. What a great racetrack that was, how awesome it was. What happened to that car? What happened to that car?

Yeah. I ended it when he rolled it. You put it behind a shop, or is it over in the junkyard somewhere? Yeah. I think somebody, Jim Cook or somebody wanted it to strip it for some parts that was on it. So I think that's where it went. We can find that thing. That'd be cool.

So when you said you were going to tell a story on me on that front porch, what was it? Yeah, we've gone hunting. And so Dale Sr. says, he said, where's Junior going to hunt? I said, he's going to hunt with you. He said, they're going to hunt with me. He's going on with you. I said, okay, I'll take it. So I foot Dale Jr. over here in a tree.

And I said, now, if you have any problems, I'm going to just go climb a tree over here and just wave. and I'll come to you if you have any problems. Well, I didn't even get to my tree stand. He's walking about across the field. He's got his gun. I remember this. He's beating on that boat. And I'm saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait a minute.

He's beating on the boat. He won't stop. And so I finally get to him. And I said, hold on. He said, I can't get the bullet in this gun. I said, well, hold on. Let me see it. And I said, Dale, he's already one in there.

So what did he blow himself up? Yeah. Got that. going all over the house. So now he said when I was racing, what was I thinking? What was you doing? I would say too. We were, we were, we were out on the front porch of that hunting property.

And I don't know. Y'all were inside and me and Hank Jr. sitting out there. And somehow or another, I'd got a hold of a box of matches. or a booklet of matches. And we, I was sitting there lighting these matches just because they smell good or whatever, right? I'm just piddling.

We'd been kicking around Aunt Hills and all kinds of stuff, right? And we had, it was like 10 minutes later. Dad comes outside on the porch, opens the door, and he goes, hell y'all been burning. Me and Hank, we're like,

well, you know, just scared to death, like freaking out scared. And I can't lie, right? You get caught in a lie. You're in big trouble. So I'm like, I was, I just playing with these matches here. He's like, like, and he goes, you know, he went off angry about like, you're going to burn the whole dang club down.

What are you playing with fire for? That's a good question, actually. And me, he goes, he finally goes back inside and me and Hank sat there and we're like, how in the heck did he know we did that? Because we couldn't smell it. Right. But, boy, he could smell. He's tracking you.

He could smell that match from 10 minutes ago. Right, right. And me and Hank are sitting there going, how in the world did he know we were doing that? Yeah. Or that I was doing that. And I thought, man, we're in big trouble. But so you all race, did you race the street stock? And what was your, Hank Jr. obviously had some good success.

What was your experience? Well, we race street stock. Then we gravitated. He went to late model, and I went to super late model. And super late, I got to race against Jack Spragues and Fred Aquarius and Rich Bickle and some really cool guys. And, you know, they had open cooperators. He didn't have to be restricted.

Yeah, run whatever he wants. So I ran a big 800 dominator. And that thing was bad to the bone. Yeah. On new tires, you could come out of, you know, Concord didn't have a turn two. Yeah. Come out of one, you had that dog leg. Yeah, and then you went into three.

A man, you could light it up. It was a dream and rush like nothing. And I could out-qualify them. I remember I out-qualified them all one time. Sprague was on the outside. I started on the pole. And it was probably, Hank Jr. was way back. He was probably eighth or something.

And Toby Porter was there. Bickle, Freddie, Freddie, Jack, the whole nine yards. Freddie Quarry. Yeah. Freddie Query helped y'all a bit, especially. Especially Hank Jr. Yeah, he did. Yeah, he went to work for us.

And I think I led 10 feet, maybe 12, as Sprague passed me going into one and did Freddy and then Bickle and Toby. But two laps later, Hank Jr. passed me. When he passed me, he passed me. Oh, he waved at you. Yeah, yeah. He waved at you. About 15 laps later, he passed me again.

He waved at you again. Yeah. man, he waved at him about six times. Oh, wow. That's good. It wasn't good. It wasn't good at all. That's hilarious.

All right, so, I mean, I think we're all curious on how this ended up with the Rockingham car, right? Yeah. Oh, yeah, that was cool. All right. So you end up buying, did you buy a bushel from dad? You know, I did. I did. We built a couple of bush cars, and I bought a couple.

your dad had bought a car off of Kenny Wallace. Yep. The only race that Dale Earnhardt did not make in the Bush series was at Richmond. And his stuff, his stuff was heavy. Yeah. And Kenny Wallace had built this Bush car, and Dale knew if he was in that car, he had won the race easy. So he bought it.

And I wanted it really bad. So I don't know what I paid for it. It was way too much, but I ended up with it. And it was really a cool car, and it was like a three-quarter drop. You know, everybody's running a drop snout or straight. And it was like a three-quarter drop. And so I wanted to race Rockingham. Rockingham is going to be your first bush race.

That's going to be my first bush race. So I'm going to go race Rockingham. So Buddy Baker was a great friend of mine. And I got Buddy to go. with me and I had driven at Rockingham with his dad Buck Baker's driving school. That's right. And I had and they kept wooing me back, you know, they said, man, you, you, you can't do that. You got to slow down. So I, I wanted to go, man. I really, it was an adrenaline rush. So I got buddy and buddy got all the stats who qualified on the pole and what the speeds were on the race the

year before and I went out there and made probably 400 laps. Went through about five sets of tires. Spend about 20 grand out there that day. Foole around. But I was fast enough to make the race. Buddy said, hey, you're going to make the race easy. All you got to do is be cool. Don't drive in the three too hard.

That's what's hurting you. If you just slow down, getting into three, you're going to come off four. You're going to make this race good. I mean, you're going to be in the middle of the past. And that's back when 50 and 60 cars were trying to make a 34 car field. Yeah. So I felt pretty good about it. And when I got out there in practice, I was decent.

And that was back in the days that you could run Goodyear or Hoosier. And you made your choice. Well, Hoosier had a better tire. Faster, yeah. Yeah, they had a faster tire. So I was up there, you know, in the top 15 or 16 cars. And I did not understand. how much you lose from new tires to three-lap old tires at Rockingham.

I did not understand that at all. And so I tried to carry the same speed on three-lap tires into the corner that I carried one-lap or two-lap tires. And it is amazing. You know that way better than I do, how much those tires fall off at Rockingham. And I had no idea. And Steve Grissom was taped up, making a mock qualifying run. I didn't want to mess him up, so I tried to pinch that thing down in two and keep from hitting Grissom, buddy.

And when it let go, I mean it let go. I hit the outside wall and then back on the inside wall, and I tore my little car up. So I didn't get to race. What did you do? And we packed her up. Your dad came to mouth into infield keros. And he said, boy, you better get your butt back to Concord before you get skinned up.

is that the that's the one where Hank Jr. when he tells the story he looked at you because he had I remember him not necessarily roasting you. I thought he was saying that you know no fear and you don't really feel pain but when he looked at you, you were pretty mad you banged up a little bit in that wreck. Well, really I was way more banged up in a wreck at Concord and I was there. I didn't get my feelings were hurt more than anything but I did get a little blow there but it was so disappointing. What happened in the wreck at Concord? Oh man, that was a big 10 race And I had my late model car

And we'd be going in carrying a lot of speed into three And a guy named Dan Furr got under me And push me head on into the turn three wall And Hank Jr. was leading the race This was on lap probably 75 And Hank Jr. was leading the race And when he came by, the whole body was gone off my car It wasn't nothing but a cage

You know, we ran those fiberglass bodies and the whole body came off, and the whole top roll cages is mashed down to the steering wheel. Dagum. And Hank Jr. came by, and he told his spotter. He said, Bo, I don't know who that is, but I bet they're not all right. And when he got halfway back around, they said, that's your dad. Well, he's trying to stop on the racetrack in my radio. You know, I can't get to my helmet.

All that stuff's torn off. So I finally, I motioned him to go on because he was going to stop on the racetrack. Yeah. go get out but he was leading the race I didn't want to mess him out. Yeah, he knew you were all right when you motioned on. Man, that would have been terrifying. Yeah, it was a terrible wreck. I mean, it was a

bad looking wreck. Well, you try, yeah, you try to make the race at Rockingham, Martinsville, Hickory, Hickory's tough. Yeah, grief. Yeah. I missed the race there in 97. I had run a late model car a little bit at

Hickory. Yeah. And man, that Bush car was like an army tank. Yeah. And I hit my same lines that I did in a late model car and oh my goodness, that thing went to the wall so fast. I mean, it was like pushing like a freight train. I did the same thing at Myrtle Beach.

I'd never ran a bush car, right? So we're going to go test at Myrtle Beach in 1996 to get ready to run that race and that year, that same year, my very first bush race. And I go, I mean, you could carry that Lake Model motor down into the corner on the throttle right. I'm all the way down into one. And I first lap in this bush car. I'm like, I know the track, grips there.

I go around three and four. Feels good. Down the front straight away. I lifted maybe a car link before I lift on that lake model just to be sure. And I was way too far down in there. Right up to the turn one wall, almost not the wall down. I was like, okay, these things don't. I'm going faster than I thought I was.

It's heavier. It don't stop. There's nothing like when you're in the middle then you realize, well, I'm drover in too deep. Yeah, I'm a fan price. Yeah, I bet. So, was dad supportive and convincing you to continue to try this? No, he said you're an idiot.

What are you doing? Really? You'd get that fishing rod, get back out of the lake. What are you doing? Really? When I bought the bushcar from him, I have to tell this. We went to Martinville, and Richard and Leo Jackson had the track rented. And Harry Gant was there, and your dad was there, and it was,

car that he had bought from Kenny Wallace and he had it painted up and it was all three. And so they ran for a good little bit and then your dad kind of showed me the line. And so I went out there and I ran. In whose car? In the three. Oh, wow. And you wouldn't ever know. Right.

I'm in the three car, you know. So Harry Gant was impressed. I was running some pretty good laps. And Harry Gant told Leo Jackson, he said, come out here, look at this fisherman, run this call. And so I made a lap. Oh, Leo said, that ain't that fisherman. That's Earnhardt.

And so the next lap I spun out, Leo said, yep, that's that fisherman. There we had some outdoor riders that were there, and they wanted to interview me. And they said, now, are you going to run? Well, I'd already ran 15, 20 laps and spun out three times. I said, I don't know if I am or not. They said, yeah, we've never seen Earnhardt have so much trouble. That's hilarious. He don't know if this.

He never knew. I threw him under the bus. I said, yeah, that's kind of making me nervous. Oh, my God. Oh, wow. You bought some cars from Darrell Waltrip. You bought ASA cars from him and All-Pro team, engines from Dad.

He had Earnhard, I mean, Darrell had Western Auto response from him for whatever reason they wanted to cut back. He had a Bush team, ASA and All-Pro. I bought everything but his cup team. So I bought his push team, his ASA, and he's all pro. Yeah. And so you were going to run some.

Junior was going to run some of this stuff? Neil Bonnet. Neil Bonnet was going to drive some of your car. Really? Yep. He was our guy. You were going to own a car and field it for Neil. Neil was going to drive it, yeah.

And so what happens? We got everything ready and go down to Daytona, and he's driving James Finch's car. You had all your stuff there that weekend to go and run an Xfinity race. Damn, I did not know that. So Neil lost his life. And so the very next year, we set the rest of that year out. We didn't do anything. And next year I put David Bonnet because that was Neil's dream.

Yeah. And so that was my obligation to Neil if he would run our car, help us get some sponsors, that he could share he and David. Yes. And then I was going to groom Hank Jr. I wanted to run a few races, but I was going to groom Hank Jr. and you had Neil as a mentor, how awesome that was going to be. And we had a great plan, and it all went away.

I had no idea. It all went away. And the assumption here is just that Neil Bonnet, you become friends with Neil Bonnet through Dale, and y'all have been on hunting trips probably together at that point. So you and Neil, when do you think you met Neil? Because this is something also I did not know. You said it out because that's a family that you just lost, right? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. That was devastating. That was, you know, you think of Neil Bonnet bigger than life. What a fun, loving guy, you know. And he had been through, he had had a wreck three years before and had some reservations about getting back in a car. Biggie helped him regain confidence. and it was just devastating. It was the saddest devastating moment other than Big East Reck at Daytona that I've ever experienced.

It was just a really sickening, sad situation. Of course, it changed the whole direction of what we were doing and how we were doing it and what was going to happen. I mean, everything went away. And we set that year out in that particular. particular year, the budget to run Bush was about a million dollars. And so we go back the next year and it's like three million. And now the car count's gone from from 45 to 75. It's just crazy what happened. And so everything in our whole life changed and it all centered around losing

a deal. I mean, when I bought that team, that was a big part of what we were going to do. Yeah. You were going to have a mentor. Yeah. Yeah. And you were making, had everything went the way you wanted it to go, you would be an owner and an ASCAR, right? Oh, yeah. Roaning a full team and, and, and, I had no idea that you had that, you know, you had mapped this plan out that that was what was going to happen. It's all trying to get ready for Hank Jr. Yeah. It was all trying to get ready for Hank Jr. and then Billy, you know, and so I was just trying to be as far.

prepared as I could be. And, you know, you look back and the way things work now, if you would have taken your money and gone to Rick Hendrick or somebody and said, hey, you know, I'll sponsor my own kid's car. And it would have been a much better plan, but I didn't even know that was available. Right, right, right. You know, we're just trying to build what we had. Yeah.

You would eventually do that, though, and you'd build a full team for Hank Jr., and y'all would manage it and run it. And I'll say this. So Hank Jr. was really talented. He was. You know, he took that street stock car that I couldn't win with and him won races with it. He took his own, you know, all pro cars and won massive races. Knew everything about him, worked on them.

I'd go in and talk to him about bleeders or you could run bleeders on his cars. and the things that he would tell me, I mean, you knew immediately, like this guy's on, he's touching every part of this car. He knows everything about it. I know you had, you had some help from some very smart people in the business, but they tutored and taught Hank. He was there working, which was pretty fascinating. He gets into the Xfinity series driving that Yellow 53.

I know he had a couple other opportunities, but that, you know. is y'all's deal y'all's cars and y'all would go almost one homestead almost one south boston run third to me and jeff green that was incredible um i had so much fun racing and him leading and us bringing us running together in 98 and 99 a little bit um you know i think uh did you do you You know, when did you first, I guess, see true potential in Hank Jr.? I think it was Louisville, Kentucky. I think it was Louisville. And we walked the racetrack.

And Lesterfield, the... Yeah, he runs a NASCAR weekly series. He runs a weekly series now. Okay. He's head over, like, all the weekly NASCAR touring stuff. Okay. At that time, he was the director of the... Pro Series and NASCAR.

And so he insisted that all the rookies get out and let's walk this racetrack. And he said, guys, there's been three drivers here lost their life. This is a treacherous racetrack. When you come into turn four, you're coming downhill off of three. And this thing will put you in the wall at high speeds and you will lose your life. So rookies, listen to me. We're here to learn. We're not here to win.

Get that out of your mind and follow and learn. This is going to be a learning experience for you. Don't, absolutely don't think you're going to come up here and master this racetrack. This is a tough one. So we walk the track and walking downhill. And it's intimidating to me. And I told Hank Jr., I said, boy, this is crazy. Now, I hope you listen to Mr. Lesterfield.

And he said, I'm here to win, Dad. Oh, wow. I didn't like that. Wow. I was spotting for him. and man, he burned that place up. And we led to race. And when he came into the pits with about 80 laps to go, he ran over the air hose.

So that put him in the back of the field. Actually put him a lap down. Put him a lap down. So under Green, he made his lap up. And then the caution came out. Everybody else pitted except four cars, and he didn't pit. he's running forth with about 20 laps to go. So I'm watching, I'm spotting for him, and I'm watching the times, and I'm telling

him, I said, if you don't mess with these lap cars, you can win this race. And he came around and passed. I'm trying to think of the guy. He had slim gems for a sponsor, but he was. Mike Cope. Mike Cope was leading a race. And on the backstretch coming down to take the checker, he passed Cope on the outside and brought it through that downhill turn.

and won the race. Wow. And it was the most exciting thing I've ever seen in my life. I thought, oh, my goodness, this is crazy. But it was exciting. And then I realized, you know, this kid's actually a pretty good race car driver. Yeah, that would be a good indicator. That right there, that would be the moment.

Yeah. Yeah, that was a good one. Yeah. And that was fun. That was fun. He went to Salem, Indiana, a very intimidating racetrack set on the pole, ended up winning the race. And we just had some great races in the All Pro.

series. Yeah. Everything changed when we got in the Bush series. I mean, because of the car count and because of all the pressure of all the money. Yeah. But I'll say when Hank Jr. did get into the Xfinity series, you know, he overachieved. You know what I mean? I mean, he really did.

I mean, it presented him opportunities. He would go on and land rides in the Xfinity series and the truck series and have a pretty solid career. When you think back over Hank Jr.'s career as a father, but also as solid. someone who is heavily involved in his path. What is your leading emotion? It was good times. I don't regret any of it.

I remember we were at crunch time and I'm doing the books. I'm sitting at my desk and we're trying to get a sponsor. And I just got the phone call that they were not going to get on board. And so Hank Jr. sitting there looking at that spreadsheet and he said, Dad, if we didn't get this sponsor, that means you've lost everything you've ever worked for your whole life. And I said, oh, no, no, no, no, no.

he said you got more money i said no no it doesn't mean i've lost everything i've worked for it means i've spent everything i've worked for there's a big difference there's a big difference i didn't feel like i lost it i invested it for the right reasons for him yeah and for my other boys and it just worked out that we didn't make it and so we had to move on but so billy uh race so i talked to him one day he's racing over at hickory winning a lot of races in a late mile stock car and he was uh telling me about his barrel springs and so back in the day mike we were putting coal overs running coalovers and a barrel spring could do a little bit more traveling and it was just a little smarter of a spring and i was i guess my point is is that between hank junior and

Billy and their racing experience and they were more hands-on than you would think more into how the car is set up doing a lot of this work themselves not afraid to get their hands dirty and to like to not have this legacy of racing in in in generations through the family they understood why a component worked the way it worked. They knew race cars, it sounds like. They really did. And Billy ends up getting a opportunity to race for Rusty Wallace. One of the best-looking race cars, I think, I've seen in a long time, had flames on number 66.

Dura flame. That's right. Good-looking race cars, painted side skirts. One of the first cars is out there was painted side skirts on it. It's really good-looking. And run good. I remember a race at Vegas. Billy had more talent.

Billy was super, super talented. Rusty was a great driver. Rusty was not a good owner. If you start up a team and you got a rookie driver, you don't really need a rookie crew chief. And he brought a crew chief up who had no experience at all with Infinity-type cars. He was a late model crew chief.

And there, Billy comes out of a late model car and puts some on it was just. I remember them having some good moments. Las Vegas was awesome. This was awesome. If they had had a good pitch stop, he could have won Vegas. I agree. I mean, it was really, really a good race for him. Yeah.

After that, it went downhill. So I'm just, it's fascinating to me looking back that they had, they got the opportunities they had and they were, they were, again, like, they were moments where you could see, like, really, this could be pretty good. Did Hank Jr. and Billy ever share a racetrack together in this? the Xfinity series because I always remembered I thought Catfish is I remember that Rusty Wallace announcement

and I couldn't remember if it was on the tail in or after Hank Jr.'s deal. But it was Hank Jr. were still racing. They raced together in Memphis. Both had the Marines for sponsors. Hank ran the 53 car and Billy ran number seven car. Okay. And it was pretty cool.

That is cool. Right. And Hank Jr. ran really well. Could have won the race. He got tangled up with your brother. Oh, Carrie? And he was actually leading the race and with about 12 to go and got tangled up with Kerry

and he didn't fare real well. Yeah. It was a good, he ran awesome. Billy ran decent, not great, but decent. Yeah. So when the racing program ends, right,

how does that come to a stop? Well, Hank Jr., Billy, when he wrecked Chicago, Dr. Petty, said that he'll never race again. He said, make it clear. Billy. I'll never clear him to race again. And then Hank was going to run the one car, and Pinslowell was a sponsor. What was Billy's, was Billy dealing with concussions? He had trauma.

Yep. Head trauma. And Hank had had some of the same experiences. He did. Yeah, he did. But not nearly as severe. Really? I did not know that. Yeah, Billy was...

I didn't know Billy's was that bad. Billy's got a very, very quick wit. Yeah. And for probably six months after the Chicago wreck, you'd see his wheels were turning, but he never would come up with anything. It was just like a roller decks going round and round and round. It was scary.

Yeah. But then Hank Jr., when that whole one car went away, he ended up signing with Roush. and he was going to run the 99 car. Jeff Burton was going over to run for Childress, and Hank was going to run the 99 car. Well, Carl Edwards came out of the truck series, and he was going to run the Bush car,

and I'm trying to think who his sponsor was, one of the auto parts company, they wanted Carl to run the 99. And so that put Hank on the sidelines because of the sponsor demand. And so he was testing cars and was making a lot of money. money for what he was doing and he was testing cars for Matt Kenseth and for Mark Martin for a while and for Bill Elliott. Yeah.

And he enjoyed it, but it was very demanding. And then they raced Dover. No, not Dover. They raced Pocono and then fly to Nashville. to run a bush race. And so Carl Edwards was going to do flying back, and something happened weather-wise, and they couldn't get back,

and then Hank wasn't at the racetrack. And so Jack mandated, or I don't say Jack, somebody at Rouse Racing mandated that they have to be there for both the infinity race and the cup race. And so now he's testing cars Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and he's got to go Friday to the infinity race and then leave there and go to the he's never home. Yeah. So he said, uh-uh, I'm not doing it.

That was it. That's it. That's why he quit. And I'm assuming he had kids by this time, right? He had kids. He said, and not to offend me. He said, Dad, I'm not going to do what you did. I'm going to be home for my kids.

And if I have to live under a bridge and we all have to be in a sleeping bag, I'd rather do that than to live in the Taj Mahal and never be home. Yeah. So after your, when you walk away from motorsports and this plan to become an owner and all of that, where do you go? I continue to do what I've been doing. I'm fishing. And then Hank Jr. and Billy, they want to start a hunting show. They don't want to fish.

They want to hunt. So we started a hunting show and we did that for 16 years. Yeah. It was a great hunting show, by the way. It was. This is where I remember catfish being, you know, as the race car driver. But I didn't know, I didn't get to know Billy until. the hunting show.

Yeah. Like, and the dynamics between the three y'all are fantastic. He's a nut, man. He is a nut. And you guys

produced that all yourself. We did, yeah. Yeah. So I had plenty experience by that time. I'd already been in television for 15 years. Right.

I know. That was pretty easy. We're driving, we're driving through Denver, North Carolina, and Denver's got like this one street, a big long street. But we're driving by this building.

And Hank Jr. goes, you see that? little strip mall right there and he's like yeah i was like yeah i see it he goes that's where we do all of it in that building right there is that right oh yeah i mean it's really non-discreet sort of building on the side of the street and you know along with all the strip malls in Denver north carolina i don't know how many squared footage it is but you and they still y'all still work out there today well we uh we moved i moved my operation down i live in the big city of union south Oh, yeah.

So we're... You're down there. Yeah, we sold all that out in the big city of Denver. So Denver's gone. Denver's gone. So the... So you and y'all get into the hunting show. So deer hunting.

You know, that's kind of where I feel like I connected with Hank Jr. The most in the outdoorsy world. And y'all did take me hunting for my first couple of successful hunts. Saved your life. Saved my life several times, I'm sure. And by the way, not to interrupt you, but probably the funniest thing that's ever been said on this show was when you and Hank Jr. were talking about the, were you all either, you're hunting quail or something, where you, God, yes.

Oh, my God. I laughed so hard at that story. That is one of the classic moments when you shot that thing and just rained feathers all over your dad. I heard that story from both Hank Jr. and Biggie. So Hank, so I was a little bit. love to hear dad's side of it. I was annoyed because we're going hunting. Dad's like, dad's like, hey, you know, it's a Remington deal.

I had to go. He had to go. It wasn't like it was a son. I'm going to take you hunting. It was a sponsor deal. But when we get there and we're splitting up, they're going to break us into two halves. There's about eight of us, I guess. We're going to go for a field.

He's like, you're going to go with the sponsors. You're going to go with this guy in a suit. and I'm going to go with Hank and I'm like what the hell is this? I wasn't too happy, right? And so we were all hunting two different spots and then eventually kind of came together to go, okay, how'd y'all do, how'd y'all do?

And it's right when in the middle were having that sort of conversation, one of them took off. And I was like, and dad's like, I thought you're supposed to shoot it. I was trying to beat dad to it. I thought you're supposed to shoot it.

Yeah. And I'm like, I'm going to be the one that kills this one. I was going to shoot it for anybody else. But none of them ever lifted their guns up. And I was like, you know there's safety courses that have been inspired by a bunch of stories. I mean, whether it's loading a gun or where you aim a gun with people, you're hunting in groups. You know that there's been inspirations done just from these hunts, right? Oh, man.

Big E's all about safety and he's all about being following his instruction. He is the leader in his thing. His gun didn't go up. Your gun should have never went up. That should have been enough right there. That's where me and him budded heads. Oh, man. I imagine.

You know, let me tell you something about your dad. He was hard. He grew up hard. He didn't have an education, and he was embarrassed by that, and he never would talk about that, but he was the smartest individual I've ever known, smartest businessman I've ever known. He and Hank Jones pioneered the souvenir business that NASCAR has today.

They built the foundation. Earnhardt was a brilliant, brilliant. Your dad was a brilliant man. Smartest man I've ever known. It's crazy. He was very private, very, very private. It was a rare occasion that he would open up and you really see who he is. He got the intimidator because he was an introvert.

He was never comfortable carrying on a conversation for a long period of time. And so he got some bad raps about being short with his temper and his demeanor, but it was undeserving that people didn't know him. He opened up to me at my farm one day, just he and I, we'd been hunting all day long, and I'd talked to Hank Jr. on the phone. That's back in the hardline days. We had no cell phone. and I talked to Hank Jr. on the phone.

And when I got off the phone, your dad looked at me and he said, I don't know how to love my kid like you love your kid. And I said, well, we're different, Dale. We're different. You love him just as much as I love Hank Jr. You just don't know how to express it. And he said, well, you know, I'm in broken marriages and I'm not married to the mom. and it's hard.

I said, you just have to let go. You are who you are. And I know how much you love your kids. You just have a hard time expressing it. And he never was able to express to you how much he loved you. He never was able. And you always felt like he loved you when you won and he didn't when you didn't win. Right.

And I could tell that. And I've always wanted somehow to get you and just grab. grab a hold of your shoulders and tell you how hurt he was that he did not know how to express his love to you. And he teared up. And for Big E, the intimidator, just he and I sitting in the living room, to share that with me showed me how much, how tight we were at heart as friends. But it also showed me a side of him that was sad because he really wanted to have the

same relationship that I'm outgoing, I'm free to talk, and I'm not intimidated to say I love you. All that didn't fit his demeanor, but it was in his heart. And he expressed me that day, said, I don't know how to love my kids like you love your kids. I said, oh, you love them just as much. You just don't know how to express it. Dang. And that was heartfelt. felt.

I'd love to have heard that story a long time ago. Hey, he loved you. Let me tell you, we were in a tent in New Mexico, in Silver City, New Mexico. And we're talking racing, talking about Hank Jr.'s opportunities. You were running the Bud car. And he looked at me and he said, that's the dumbest thing I ever did in my life, is getting that boy that Bud sponsor. He said, I should have went with Burger King.

He said, that has not been good for him. Oh, man. That's not been good for him. I said, well, it looks me like he's doing pretty good. He said, I ain't what I'm talking about. I mean, what I'm talking about it. He said, I don't have him in the environment I'd like to have him in. Dang.

That's your dad. Yeah. And he had a heart. He loved his kids. He just didn't know how to express it. Wow. I, you know, I've watched a couple of your videos, something you did, I guess, in the last couple of years where you genuinely have a, you know, thought about dad.

And, I mean, I knew y'all were close. I knew y'all were so similar, you know. I mean, even just your looks when you stood next to each other, it was interesting how comparable y'all were. Your son's born two days apart and both juniors. And I felt a real instant connection to hang. junior that we were just be buddies no matter what right

but I saw this video a couple years ago or I saw it just recently but I think you made it in the last two years where you got really you know you're standing at this tree stand that was dad's favorite stand and you're talking about how that the that you had no one ever had hunted that sense right and that's then Stan's been there. And there was, I knew y'all were close.

I knew y'all were, I knew y'all had had conversations. I knew that you knew dad and had moments with him that not many people would be able to experience. He would open up to you and literally count on one hand the other people he would ever have those type of conversations with. And so it's really fun to hear some of those conversations. You know, there's a million things I'd ask me if I could. But this is as good as it gets for me these days

is to hear from people like you. But listening to you talk about that tree stand and how much you loved Dad and how important he was to you. Even all these years later, you still remember the value in that relationship y'all had. It's as valuable to you today. it was when it was here you know we tend to forget when you get older you realize how important

people are in your life and all the trophies they tarnish the money's gone and what you have is way more valuable than the trophies of the money is the memories of the people that you encountered and your dad impacted my life in such a big way he was bigger than life uh as a personality, but as a real person that a lot of people never knew. I knew a lot about him that a lot of people never, ever knew. And he was a cool guy. He was a cool, cool guy. And he was different than what people perceive him to be,

because his reputation was so powerful and so big that you tend to overlook who the guy was within that uniform. And he was a different guy than what a lot of people. And to me, the most important thing, in life is Jesus Christ. That is by far the most important thing. Your dad was an intimidator in a lot of ways, and I've talked to him and shared my testimony

and my relationship with Jesus, but I never really buttoned hold him. I'd ask him from time to time, and the last trip we made together, Donnie Reeves was with us, and his diabetes, he's a diabetic, his medicine was on the wing of your dad's air, plane and his Bible.

And so I was getting into plane. He said, watch out. Don't kick that. That's precious. I said, what's precious? The Bible or the medicine? And he looked at me and he said, both. And I got on the airplane.

And so Dennis Fisher, who he brought over from California built our engines, and I'm not long after your dad died, I'm sitting in a chair at dinner, Dennis Fisher. And he said, boy, we miss our buddy, don't we? I said, Dennis, I can't tell you how much I'm missing. I cannot tell you. I had no idea the emotions down inside of me on how much I loved Dale Earnhardt. And I said, I'm missing. I said, but I don't know about Dale.

I never buttoned hold him. I never had him. Dale, tell me when you got saved. Tell me if you were saved. I never did that. And Dennis Fisher said, well, I only put your mind to these. He said, he was sitting in the chair you're sitting in. I'm sitting right here where I'm sitting.

And I said, Dale, what's going to happen to you if they scrape you up off the wall? Where are you going to spend eternity? And he said, Dennis, I'm going to heaven. And he said, Dale, why in the world would you go to heaven? And he said, because I asked Jesus Christ to be my Savior. And I believe that's true. And I believe Dale Earnhardt's in heaven. And I believe I'm going to sit around with him, but now in the big campfire.

And we're going to have stories for the rest of our lives. Yeah. Yeah. No, I believe that too. You know, I've never, I never really, obviously didn't have these kind of conversations with dad that you did or that Dennis did. But I always felt like dad had, you know, that was important to dad, you know, his relationship with Lord and our, and our, dedication to that. I mean, those things, he incorporated that into his kids' lives.

That was important for him, that they understood that relationship. But I feel pretty good about that myself that I'll see him again. You know, I always, people deal with loss differently. People deal with that. However they got to deal with it, I really don't send, you know, give people advice on that. but you pick what you want to pick, right? What you want to believe. But I think, you know, that I'll see him.

I never really, I spent a little bit of time missing him. Certainly there are days when, even yesterday, we were sitting here talking about something. I was like, man, I'd love to ask him about this. But I just know that I don't sit, I don't have this, I don't have this feeling in the back of my heart that there's, I don't have this sort of, constant missing.

Man, I miss him. I miss him. Because I know I'll see him. I doesn't know it. I know that I'll see him. I know he knows where I'm at. I know he knows where I'm at. I know he knows we're sitting right here doing this.

And I'll see him again, you know. And I hope that I remember all the things that I need to ask him. Oh, you will. You will be good time. Yeah. Yeah. But you won't ask if you'll listen. I'll be listening.

He'll be in charge. Oh, he's going to be in charge. Oh, he's going to be in charge. I'm there. There's no doubt. He'll tell everybody where you go. Sleke, Mike Collier was his pilot, and we go on that Elkhonts or where we're going.

He said, put Parker in that tent, put him right there, put so and so on and so right here. Put the campfire right there. No, don't put the campfire there. Smoke will get in the tent. Put it right there. He's going. Every detail.

You know, I remember what it was you were thinking about, and this would be fun to actually ask Hank about. And that is, we were always, you were curious about, like his business sense of buying the boats, the boats, his, you know, Sunday money. Yeah. And, I mean, you can go ahead and ask it. Yeah. Well, I always wondered, he was, as you say, he was very smart with his money and smart

with business. But owning a yacht doesn't seem like a very smart business move, right? And it's, I've done some research on the cost of running and maintaining a yacht yearly annually. It's ridiculous. Like it makes no sense. It's one of the one things that I would, that dad did that didn't fit everything else he did in a, in a financial way. And I would love to ask him like, why was that, was that just one of them things where you're like, okay, I'm just going to, this isn't going to make sense financially, but this is what I want to do. I'm assuming that's probably the answer because, you know, like you say, everything else he did made really good sense.

and he never made real bad decisions and financial money decisions and investments. But with the got, there's no way you can make sense of that. He didn't have enough time. Had he had the time, somehow, that was going to tie into a profitable business. I don't know how.

You think about an airplane. You don't use this throwing money away. You buy an airplane. Well, he built Champion Air and made a fortune on food. Champion Air turned out to be a heck of a deal. So champion yachts, Sunday money would have somehow, he just ran out of time. Yeah, you might be right.

Oh, yeah. It would have been a profitable deal. I don't know. You're 100% right. Of course. Why I'm even doubting? Of course there was an answer somewhere. It would have been an awesome deal.

You'd think, God, how did Dad see that? Man, who would ever thought the yacht would be a big investment that paid dividends? But it would have. Did you ever go on those fishing trips with Dale and Bill France and any of those? Like, because we hear about those stories. Yeah, I hated the saltwater. The best story I ever heard is when they put the five-gallon bucket on Hank Jones. Have you all heard that story?

No. Oh, it's crazy. They had all caught a Marlin, but Hank, and it was Hank's turn. You know, they drew straws for who fights to Marlin. So Hank had drank some coronas with some lime, and I think he had a lot more corona than he did lime. He was pretty ripe. And so they put a bucket on the, and, they've got the captain in on it.

So when you sped up the boat, man, that bucket just about pulled you out to fight and share. It's so hard. And so they would get that and they'd tell Hank, he said, he's coming up, he's coming up. And Hank would be really, really tired and he'd close his eyes. And of course, the bucket was in there. And they'd say, oh, I saw him. I saw him. Do you see him?

I saw him, boo. I saw him, boo. And it's a bucket. It was a five-down of bucket. Oh, my God. But they would say they saw him, so Hank was too proud and say, no, I didn't see him, you know.

He didn't have his eyes close. Yeah, I saw him, I saw him. Keep fighting him. Keep right. He fought that bucket, but I don't know. He was just drunk. And he was so tired when they got it up on the boat, and he realized it in the bucket.

He said, I get you, bow. I get you bow. Someday I'll get you, he was so war out. He couldn't even argue with him. That's hilarious. That is funny. That's funny.

That reminds you that trick that, the real tree guys, Bill Jordan did on Carrier and Hart when they, he crept up with that bug. Bubba butt. And it was a, it was a decoy. Yeah, bum a buck. Oh, yeah. And he put that error, boy, placed that error right at the kill shot.

And then he's like, didn't he move. That's funny. Oh, that is. That's hilarious. I put saran wrap over the soil at one time. We stayed together. Who's we? Your dad and I.

Oh. We stayed in the lower. house. When we had the P. Lancia, there was an upper house and Richard and Tommy Teague and Mike and maybe two or three other guys would stay in the upper house and your dad and I

would stay in the lower house. It was kind of by ourselves and the bathroom light was a red light. And so you could just see the outline of the toilet. So I went in there when he went to sleep and I stretched some round around over it. He peed all over his stuff. anybody else would have quit he just sat there and danced though he didn't know what was going on that's hilarious it turned out to be a mistake he got me back how did he get you back oh i can't tell that

can't tell that i can't tell that he got me he got me good must have not have been just the fight in a bucket you must have done something it was worse it was worse damn that is one thing that i would not want on my conscience is Dale Earnhardt's going to get me back and i don't know how to do that you're going to Oh, man. Like I would, like pulling the prank on him and then having to wait and see what he's going to come up with. Holy smoke. Terrified. We had a, I had a old high rack truck at the Deerleys.

And so I was coming into camp one night and I had no idea your dad was anywhere around. And he came up behind me. I mean, he hit me like a ton of bricks. And I had to steer left and drive through a barbed wire fence. keep him turning over because that old truck was top-heavy. He thought that's hilarious. So I've spent the next day fixing fences while they all went hunting. So the next year we're back, and I bought an old van out of Mexico that had a high rack on it,

and I was going to scrap the van. All I wanted was the high rack. So Donnie Reeves and I, we were going to go hunt close together, and your dad went further down into the ranch. And so Donnie killed a deer that night. So I got down early and drove over and helped him load that deer in the old van. Well, that old van didn't have any lights. It was just a piece of junk.

It wouldn't hardly run. And so we're coming back. And right in that same corner where your dad had hit me the year before, I see the dust coming. And I said, Donnie, you got your seatbelt on? He said, no, why? I said, because here comes Earnhardt. He's, oh, my gosh. He's buckles up.

We get up there and I'm watching. I can see because the sun, I'm traveling east and the sun's behind me. And I can see about the time he's going to get me. And Tommy Teague had a brand new suburban and Dale borrowed it. So when he got real close to where he's going to put the bumper on me, I locked that thing down on the dime. I mean, he hit me like a ton of bricks. Boy, it bent that bumper.

Had a winch on the front of it. Bent a bumper in the ground so he couldn't back up and get away from me. So it blew the tires out on that old van. The whole back end was pushed. Godly. So I'm going to turn him over. That's my objective. And the tires were spinning with inside the rim,

and I couldn't get enough leverage to turn him over, but I caught the ladder on the side of that new suburban and it just peeled a sheet metal off of it. And the only way he could get back to camp is he had to back up because the bumper was sticking in the ground. That's hilarious. And I'm eating dinner. And he said,

Parker, you ain't got a bit of respect for sheet metal. I said, Earnhardt. I'm sitting here in Victory Lane, buddy. I never seen you looking at sheet metal in Victory Lane. Oh, he got me back. So good. So good. Hey, I've got random questions I need to ask, but it has nothing to do with your dad.

Go ahead. All right. Number one, the house needs painting, the grass needs mowing. Where's he at? My dad would kill me if he didn't. if I did not ask the origins of the song that carried your show and has been so, even you made a hunting version of it for the hunting show. Where did the song come from?

I had a producer named Bill Landers, Bill's awesome guy, he's passed on, but Bill and I were great friends, and we just starting, he said, hey, we need the theme song. I said, okay. He said, I can write the music, but we need to get somebody to write the lyrics. So we're walking the bathroom at the Charlotte Airport, and I'm standing at the urinal, and I said, you ready? He said, ready for what? I said, the lyrics.

I said, the house needs painting and the grass needs mowing. Where's he at? Gone fishing. And I wrote it standing in. That's all my God. You got to be kidding. That song right there carried me through childhood and everything. No idea it was written at the urinal.

I thought, what a genius piece of writing this is. Put this right up there with Tim McGrath. and everybody else. They came right off the cup. It took me about three seconds to prepare for it. Okay. So, thank you, Francis. Second, we, I just would love, we never get to talk to somebody that is, you know,

a bass master champion, know these tournaments, but, you know, in the last year or so, even people that didn't follow fishing or don't just follow it religiously get introduced to the fact that there's cheating in fishing because of these two cats up in Ohio. The thing that was really profound about it is we didn't have to follow it to realize for that moment when hearing the reaction of the other fishermen how personal it was,

you could feel it. It was their soul. And so I just have to wonder, like, what was your reaction? And is cheating? We love talking about it in NASCAR. We think you've got to talk about it. I mean, what makes you good. But like, is cheating part of fishing?

Not at all. That was a wall. event, walleye for whatever reason, they're not very hearty fish and they're not very durable. And so when you catch them, put them in the live well, 90% of them are going to die. So when you have a weigh in, 90% of the time, they're deceased. In bass fishing, you get tremendous penalties for having a dead fish. So you rarely ever see a dead fish. If there's 1,500 fish wait in a tournament, there may be two dead fish.

And it's vice versa in a walleye event. So it's a whole lot easier to stuff lead down a dead fish than it is a live fish. And if you've stuffed lead down a live fish, he's probably going to die. So you're really under scrutiny when you bring in a dead fish. I mean, they're going to feel that fish. They're going to examine that fish. They may even x-ray that fish. It's going to be a lot of scrutiny, especially if it's a big fish or has a lot of weight to it.

And the rules were with Ray Scott, the founder of Bass. One violation and you're out forever. You are gone. No grace. No grace. You're gone. Good, right? One rule violation.

Now, running a no wake sign, that would be a little bit different. You know, a minor infraction that could occur that wasn't a thought that I'm going to cheat. Yeah. But if you put together a plan, okay, I'm going to manipulate this thing and I'm going to intentionally cheat. you're out forever. Okay, interesting. All right. Last question I have for you is that I remember back again when Hank Jr.

was here and when he was talking about how he knows, like, I don't know if you know my dad, but he just, he ain't afraid of anything. And so he would talk about how you would have a rag that, like when you guys were, when the, when the bell sounded on it to start a fishing tournament, that, however fast that boat can go, you will run it that fast and more and that you would bite on a rag to keep from biting your tongue. I guess or whatever. Is that true? The rag story where we were, we fished in the St. Lawrence Seaway and we took off out of Clayton, New York, and I went into Lake Ontario, and you cross Lake Ontario, and you get in six foot waves.

I mean, and we're in an 18-foot bass boat, and you can't see anything but water. And sometimes when they fall off of those waves, I mean, it is like falling off of a building. Pa! So I fished in the Black River on the other side of Lake Ontario. And now I got to come back for the way in. And I had a partner. And so I pulled to the mouth of the Black River to go out in Lake Ontario. And a few of the other competitors were just there.

If you don't go by boat, you don't get to weigh in. So you're disqualified. Okay. You've got to go back. So I had a couple of the competitors come up to me and pull up in their boat. And they said, what are you doing? I said, I'm going to the way in. They said, you won't make it.

We've already been out there. It is horrible. You will not make it. I'm telling them, shut up. I got a partner sitting over here. It's petrified, you know. And so I said, we're okay. I said, okay, guys, that's all right.

I said, I'm going to the way in. And finally, Ken Cook, one of my buddies who's passed on, Ken said, if you go across that lake, you're going to die. And I looked at him. I said, Ken, I'd rather die trying than I had forfeit. and so I handed my partner a washcloth and I said stick us in your mouth and he's what's that for I said it'll keep knocking your teeth out when we fall off these waves yeah so that's why the washcloth you put it in your mouth and when you fall down off those waves you won't knock

your teeth out that's amazing we made it wasn't it close it was scary man there were the times I would have probably bailed out I mean it was really really scary so when we got back to the river I was soaking wet I tore my depth finders off the boat from all the pound and troll motor was ripped off. And we got back into the river where we were safe. And I said, that's about as scared as I've ever been in my life. He said, oh, it's the scariest moment of my life. I said, when we crossed that point there at Reed Bay,

that's when it was the scariest. He said, no, the scariest was the look on your face when you told that man you'd rather die. He said, because I didn't feel that way. I wasn't ready to know. What a great story. Oh, wow. What a pleasure.

So, Hank, what are you up to these days? We're still doing fishing television. We've got a YouTube show. Yep. And we're trying to branch out more into social media. The whole television world right now is a moving target, where it's going to land, how it's all going to work out, you know. I'm looking at NASCAR over there on 105 on USA.

I'm looking at streaming this, streaming that, and cable network. are dying and it is just an amazing time that has me scrambling so I don't really know what the future holds you know people say well won't you just retire well I'm kind of like Roger Miller you know the old country music singer Roger Miller retired and they asked him I said Roger why'd you retire and he said well I made enough money to laugh me the rest of my life providing I buy nothing big and die by Friday. So I need to keep working and I got to figure out how to do that because it is crazy times.

We've committed for one more year of linear television. So where we go after that? Not sure. Yeah. Not sure. What are the big outdoor channels? What do you think that their move is? You know, they're avail.

So let's take the outdoor channel, for example, which was the least. their availability to homes was about 44 million, and they're down to about 18 million. They're half. And so who knows where that's going to land up? And I tell people a lot of the budget that I've drawn off of for the last 40 years, guys with Mohawk haircuts that are painted green, it turn a double back flip,

and oversensationalize everything about the outdoors, they're getting four million followers. And every time they put, post something, they get 80,000 likes. And I don't know where that's going to go. I just don't see that last. And, you know, they don't have any knowledge on why this fishing rod performs the way it does. And they don't know any of that stuff.

And yet, they're the influencers on all this product. So where is that going to land? I don't know. Yeah. It's crazy. Well, do you still enjoy it? Do you still enjoy it, Craig? And I like a challenge.

I do. I like a challenge, so I got one. We'll see how it works out. How often do you still get to work with Hank Jr., Billy and them? I talk to Hank Jr. and Billy probably two or three times a week. His two boys, Boone and Cade, are hooked on fishing, so they think I'll walk on water. I go up and fish with them as often. They got a new boat two weeks ago.

Really? all fired up, so I've been up there. How old are they now? Cade is 12 and Boone is 17. That's amazing. That's why I ask, because I still look at, I know Hank Jr. when he started having kids, I mean, I still just look at him as like two, three, four years old, just getting started.

But no, they're teenagers now. Yeah. Yeah. And they got a boat. That's awesome. And Billy, I was looking at land and stuff down in South Carolina, and I think he's in reality, isn't he? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. He's doing commercial real estate. And he just got his own friend. franchise for national land and realty. And he's got the state's full area all the way up into Virginia. Just got his broker's license in Virginia. That's awesome. And so he's doing really well.

He likes that. And Ben and Lucy? Ben is selling building material. He sells these high-end summer porches and doing good. And Lucy is doing weddings, photography, and all kinds of photography. And she enjoys that. Awesome. And then my youngest son, Timmy, he just got a little boy, and just turned an ear old.

Yeah. Mildered kid I had, and he ended up fighting M.MA. Right. How long did that happen? Oh, I don't know how it happened. How long did he do it? For about three years, four years. Wow.

Jeffrey got in one of them matches one time, and I'm like, what? Are you thinking? Yeah. It is the craziest. I went to one. Well, his dad did go racing the Bush series at Rockingham. So after being a Bassmasters champion, decided to go racing. Oh, that would have been a good race.

I think you said a pretty good example for them. Anything goes, right? Whatever you want to do in life. That's right. I wish I could deny it, but I guess I can't. No. These stories of that. If you can dream it.

Right. You know, Forrestwood used to say, and Forrestwood's the founder of Ranger boats and Forestwood, was my hero. Forrest used to say, and he and your dad were great friends. Forrest used to say it's no use to dream if you're not going to work. It's no use to work if you're not going to dream. And you put those together.

So, hey, go for it, man. If you want to work at it, dream on. That's right. That's good advice. Well, Hank, thanks for coming today. Good to see you, my brother. This has been a heck of a conversation, everything I hoped it would be. Your dad would be so proud of you.

Well, I appreciate you saying that, and I believe I could take that to the bank coming from you, All right. Hank Parker, Senior, on the Dale Jr. Download. Man, I'm really excited to have Ally help us bring the guest segment every week. It's one of my favorite parts of the download. We get to talk to so many different people in racing, outside of racing. But everybody that comes in here, I want them to have had a good time. I want them to want to come back. I want them to feel like an ally to Dirty Mo Media.

Thank you, Ally, for your continued support of the download and the entire Dirty Mo Media team. Check out Dirtymo Media on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.