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Intimidator still inspires

The memory of Dale Earnhardt drives Richard Childress Racing teams.

By JOANNE KORTH

© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 31, 2001

DARLINGTON, S.C. -- Sometimes, he forgets.

Sometimes, from his perch atop the team hauler, Richard Childress scans the track for his race car, forgetting it is white, not black. Sometimes, he still looks for the No. 3.

The pang reminds him.

It has been more than six months since Dale Earnhardt died in a crash on the last lap of the Daytona 500, long enough for many in the racing community to feel a sense of closure. But it will be a while before racing feels the same to Childress.

"It was tough not seeing the black No. 3 on the track or in the garage at the first several races we went to," said Childress, Earnhardt's car owner since 1984. "You'd walk in the garage area and you'd look for the truck, you'd look for the car. ... It's just something that doesn't go away."

Sort of like responsibility. Within hours of Earnhardt's death on Feb. 18, decisions had to be made, choices critical to the future of Richard Childress Racing, the people who made their livings inside its doors and the fans who gathered outside them to weep. Decisions that could not wait until the grieving was done.

Childress made them.

"Leaving Daytona, I didn't know if I wanted to even see another race," said Childress, 55. "I'd just lost my best friend and didn't know what I wanted to do.

"But after talking with the guys at the shop, we knew we had to go forward. That's what Dale would have wanted us to do. If anything, it's given every one of us more drive to do it for him."

First, Childress promoted driver Kevin Harvick from the Busch series to the No. 3 team, but with two key changes. Believing fans would not be receptive to someone else driving Earnhardt's cars, Childress switched to No. 29, Earnhardt's birth date, and stripped the car of its trademark black paint scheme.

"It's hard for me sometimes to look out there and pick out the No. 29 car," Childress said. "But we're beginning to make that transition and make it work."

Harvick came through in just his third Winston Cup event with a cathartic win for RCR, edging ahead of Jeff Gordon in a photo finish in March at Atlanta. Harvick, who also won at Chicagoland in July, is ninth in the standings, despite competing in one less race than the rest of the top 10. He leads the rookie of the year competition.

An aggressive driver, Harvick is drawing comparisons with Earnhardt for his dogged approach to every lap. Humble in front of a microphone and stubborn behind the wheel, the 25-year-old has won over some of racing's crustiest fans.

Childress had a feeling he might.

"The very first thing I had to do was to take care of our foundation," Childress said. "The company was built on that race team. We had to get it back and get it going. And then we had to build everything as one whole corporation like we've been doing."

Together, Childress and Earnhardt won 62 races, six championships and more than $30-million in 17 full seasons of Winston Cup competition. During that time -- and countless hunting trips -- they made plans for the future that Childress is committed to seeing through.

It was Earnhardt who urged Childress to hire Harvick, threatening that if Childress didn't, Earnhardt would put him in one of the cars he owned. And it was Earnhardt who urged Childress to form a third Winston Cup team for 2002 to keep pace with the sport's power teams: Hendrick, Roush and Penske.

"RCR has a good future, a good plan, good drivers, great sponsors," Childress said. "We're very happy and we want to win races."

Next season, RCR's lineup will look nothing like it did in February, when stock car racing lost its Intimidator. For Childress, the decisions kept coming:

Former Busch series champion Jeff Green will drive RCR's third Winston Cup team next season, the No. 30 that was intended to be an expansion team for Harvick.

Both Busch teams will have two drivers next season, Harvick and Johnny Sauter in the No. 2 and Green and Jay Sauter in the No. 21, with the Sauter brothers filling in when the Busch race is at a different location than Winston Cup.

Mike Skinner and primary sponsor Lowes will not return to the No. 31 Winston Cup team next season despite one year remaining on each party's contract. Cingular Wireless is the new sponsor and Childress will name a driver soon.

Also, Childress will make known his intentions concerning future use of the No. 3. NASCAR does not retire numbers, leaving Childress three options: continue to lease the number from NASCAR but not use it, put it back on Harvick's cars, or release it to Dale Earnhardt Inc. for possible use by Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"We're planning on making any announcements regarding the No. 3 sometime in the near future," he said. "We can't go there right now, but that will be an issue that we'll handle before the year is over, or by the end of the year."

Childress was 17 when he purchased his first race car, a 1947 Plymouth, for $20. Back then, a sled was "something you rode down a hill," not a device used for crash-testing cars. Embroiled now in a controversy over the mounting of Earnhardt's left lap belt, which broke during impact with the wall, Childress recalls his first seat belts were made from a pair of used helicopter belts purchased at the army surplus store.

"I've been in this sport a long time -- 36 years now -- and throughout that time, I've seen an evolution of safety through a lot of different situations," said Childress, who used to drive wearing a T-shirt and with the gas tank sitting behind him. "We're all smarter today than we were in those days. We're smarter than we were two years ago. We're smarter than we were February 18th."

Last weekend, RCR celebrated its 100th NASCAR victory when Harvick, who has not missed a qualifying session in the Busch and Winston Cup circuits this season, came from four laps down Friday night to win the Busch race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Like everything else, it was bittersweet -- a sentimental mix of longing and satisfaction.

"There's been a lot of tears and it's been a lot of fun doing it," Childress said. "Those 100 wins came from a lot of people, a lot of dedication, a lot of great sponsors. That's why RCR has got those wins. It's not Richard Childress, but I'm pleased to be a part of it."

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