Motorsports

Dale Jr. is driven to help others

Charity work has long been a low-key but important part of the NASCAR star's life.

By BRANT JAMES
Published November 16, 2007

PHOENIX - Dale Earnhardt Jr. leaned against his motor coach, feet crossed, hands sunk in the pockets of his red fire suit.

"You ask me any question you want," he said. "I'll answer it if I know the answer."

He could very well have been discussing race cars with his crew chief from the attentive look on his face. But for these few precious minutes in the driver lot at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday, the whirlwind of scrutiny and fame that surrounds NASCAR's most popular driver quelled to a calm, sweet moment. Earnhardt doesn't publicize his work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation beyond lending his credibility to the cause of providing such memories to children with terminal illness. These meetings take place in private and on this day, a young boy in a wheelchair, his parents and siblings, had Earnhardt alone. Sensing the boy was overwhelmed by the moment, Earnhardt grinned. "Ya'll want to take some pictures? And I'll sign anything you got."

This philanthropic bent is no new mission for Earnhardt. Charity is the decent thing for anyone with the means, he said, be it Make-A-Wish or care packages for troops in Iraq. He deems it a necessity for someone who would have been happy working as a mechanic in a service center, the unknown son of a famous father, but who has become a millionaire, rock star of a race car driver, pop culture icon. In some ways it's a hedge against the guilty conscience that comes with having so much so fast and wondering if it's deserved.

Not long ago, he was 23 and thought it might be too late to be a race car driver.

"Jeff Gordon was already winning championships at (24). I wasn't even in the sport," Earnhardt recalled. "So I was thinking, 'Hey, Junior, you're going to be a mechanic. All right, your dad's a seven-time champion, and this is you.'

"We went to the Christmas parties. I took pride in keeping my bay clean, and that's where my focus was. I raced Late Models, but I wasn't winning those races. I wasn't doing good. I didn't think I was going to get a shot. I had settled on that fact, that I was going to be a mechanic, and I was okay with it."

So in times like these, after two Busch Series championships, 17 Nextel Cup wins and nine seasons at NASCAR's highest level, with one race remaining until he leaves Dale Earnhardt Inc. for a ride at Hendrick Motorsports - the thought of which sometimes makes him giggle - the 33-year-old's conscience is tested more than ever. Though his term with DEI had ended acrimoniously, his new path was beyond imagination, giving him everything he deemed lacking under owner/stepmother Teresa Earnhardt.

"I feel like ... I'm taking advantage of such a good situation, like I don't deserve all the bonuses that are coming along with this," he said. "Not so much taking advantage, but I don't deserve it all. Rick (Hendrick) can advise you on personal matters, family matters, girl matters. Rick can tell you everything. Rick builds great race cars. His guys are good people. ... We sit in here and we're like, 'Man, this is gonna be cool!' He cares about you and that makes you feel so good. That's something I missed for a long time, to have someone who is really concerned when you're in their presence."

Beyond a working relationship that pairs NASCAR's top celebrity with a team that will win its seventh Nextel Cup championship on Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway is a long-standing personal bond that has taken on a new dimension the past few years. Hendrick had long been like family to Earnhardt since he met him as a teen and signed him to a mock contract on a napkin.

"He looks after us pretty much like we're his own kids," said Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, Earnhardt Jr.'s sister and business manager.

But the death of Earnhardt's father and namesake on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, and the passing of Hendrick's only son, Ricky, in an October 2004 plane crash created voids in each that the other may eventually fill. Whether one becomes the son or father the other lost, Earnhardt said, is "really up to him and its up to me." For now, it's just about understanding.

"I think we both know what dealing with that is like," he said of mourning. "We both deal with it still today. There's things he does, has to do, that relate to his son and remind him of his son. Same with me. One way or another you're reminded of the loss or your feelings, or your emotions are brought back to that place.

"I know how sad some moments in the day must get for him and I think knowing that and having that in common, we share a respect for each other. I think when we're around each other, it comforts the other person to have someone that knows, man, five, 15 minutes ago ... I was sad as hell."

Earnhardt paused, then recited a conversation that felt like it had actually taken place.

"You know what that's like?"

"Yeah."

"I feel a little better."

Everything seems to be feeling a little better these days, if his conscience would just let him enjoy it.

[Last modified November 16, 2007, 01:19:42]