Very nice of him to donate to the hospice.
And, thankfully he is not coming to Nascar. For awhile there I thought all the open wheel guys were gonna jump ship.
While doing a little housekeeping on my computer, I found some interesting things I thought I would pass along on this thanksgiving morning. One thing to be thankful for are all the memories we have and this is a good one.......
And for those who aspired to greatness, Earnhardt showed his own form of admiration.
In 1999, a young Tony Stewart finished ninth in the Indianapolis 500, then hopped a jet to Charlotte to race in the Coca-Cola 600. After a chopper landed in the infield prior to the Cup race, Stewart jumped out and ran to use the infield bathroom.
On the way, a couple of drivers, most notably Jeff Gordon, shook his hand and high-fived him, congratulating Stewart for his Indy run. Not Earnhardt. The toughest man in NASCAR saw Stewart approach, wrapped one arm around him, lifted him off the ground and rubbed the top of his head with the other, like a father congratulating his son on a Little League home run. Stewart was shocked by the gesture.
In the Coca-Cola 600, Stewart drove a heroic race, finishing a remarkable fourth on a suffocatingly hot Southern night, an amazing effort considering he was sick in the car.
After the race, Stewart pulled into the pits and TV cameras and reporters instantly mobbed his car. The driver sat in his car, virtually unconscious, when all of a sudden out of nowhere Earnhardt simply appeared, parting the crowd like Moses parting the Red Sea.
He reached into the car and single-handedly pulled Stewart out. Then, as he set Stewart down, Earnhardt gave him a single light slap on the cheek, whispered something in his ear and vanished into the dark night like some ghostly apparition.
It was as iconic an American male moment as I have ever witnessed. Earnhardt was John Wayne in “The Searchers” or Clint Eastwood in “Pale Rider,” the quintessential desperado tough guy as a hero, coming to a rescue of a comrade-in-arms who needed him.
There will never be another driver quite like Earnhardt and every trip to Bristol is a poignant reminder of how much he’s missed. He loved to race here and did it better than anyone else.
I caught up with Stewart in his transporter Friday after qualifying and finally asked him if he remembered that night in Charlotte six years ago, when Earnhardt pulled him out of his car.
Stewart said he did, so I asked him what Earnhardt had whispered in his ear before vanishing into the distance.
Stewart just smiled.
“You had enough yet?”
And that was it.