Four-time NASCAR Champion Jeff Gordon sits down with Joe Buck and recaps his legendary career as one of NASCAR's greatest of all time, and tells some stories from his time in the garage with Dale Earnhardt.
it killed Nascar. Everyone says the race formats and new cars etc killed nascar. Not so. Dale's death slowly bled out a generation of fans for the next 20 years. As that generation slowly left the track due to age and economic downturns, not one driver imparted to the sport the same mythical ethos Dale did. It is now on life support.
@@rickkelley4618You are spot on. The numbers of fans that were there to cheer Dale on or the ones that were Gordon fans. It was never the same without the Intimidating #3 on the track. Never will be either.
I’ve been a lifelong Gordon fan since his sprint car days, and the one thing I’ve always laughed at was the perceived “rivalry” between Jeff and Dale Sr. If you ever needed a picture to define “mutual respect”, it was those two. They couldn’t have been more different. Dale was the naturally quiet outdoorsman from North Carolina and Jeff was the outgoing flashy young kid from California/Indiana. Dale was black and silver and Jeff was bright neon. Dale knew from the time Jeff was driving in the Busch series that he was the next one in line. Greatness recognizes greatness. And the big brother/little brother relationship they had was just hilarious to watch. All the little elbows to the ribs Dale gave Jeff was his way of saying “Yeah, you’ll have the crown at some point, but you ain’t got it today son”.
The crazy part was that it didn't look like that hard of an impact to Wall. We all expected Dale to climb from the car and give a big thumbs up. When he didn't is when NASCAR started to slowly be less important to everyone that was a Dale Earnhardt fan. He was the Best for many reasons.
Look up one of Dale's last interviews where he's asked about retirement etc and if he were a team owner who would he get to drive. "I'd get the best driver out there, Jeff Gordon." That was *his* words.
I remember almost every word of Jeff’s eulogy during Dales funeral. They were the best of friends. I’m sure it was like Jeff’s heart was ripped out his chest. But it was even worse for one man, he was never the same driver after the wreck… Dale Jr.
