Daytona 500 2000 - Intimidator isn't fading to black quietly

Intimidator isn't fading to black quietly
ESPN The Magazine

'99 EARNINGS: $2,712,089 | POINTS: 7th | WINS: 3 | TOP 5: 7 | TOP 10: 21

DALE EARNHARDT

What Makes Him Go: Crew chief Kevin Hamlin now has more than a season and a half under his belt as the top wrench turner on the No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet. Unlike his predecessor, Larry McReynolds, the soft-spoken Hamlin has found ways to work around his driver's idiosyncrasies, one of which is an aversion to testing. With Earnhardt's three victories last year, Hamlin has learned what it takes, and what it feels like, to win.
What Makes Him Slow: Earnhardt has had trouble of late at the old speedways -- places where he used to excel. He crashed in both Rockingham races in 1999, finishing 41st and 40th. At Darlington, where he has won nine times, he finished 25th and 22nd. His last victory on an intermediate track came almost four years ago when he won at the old Atlanta oval.
Key Stat: 48 That's Earnhardt's age, and his biggest barrier. Richard Petty won his final race two days after his 47th birthday. Darrell Waltrip was 45 when he last won. Harry Gant holds the record for oldest winner at 52 years, 219 days. But he didn't get started until he was 39.

Years from now, Dale Earnhardt's 1999 season will probably be regarded as the Indian summer of his long and glorious career.

Three victories last year helped him return to the lead pack of Winston Cup drivers. Although he may pick up a handful of victories at the superspeedways in the 2000s, the days are growing short for the Intimidator.

You can't blame Earnhardt himself. He would still pull off another championship if he were only competing against the same bunch he stomped in the early '90s -- Bill Elliott, Terry Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, even Dale Jarrett and Jeff Gordon. But it's the young, really hungry drivers who will leave him in the dust.

Guys like Tony Stewart and Bobby Labonte, the Burton brothers, Matt Kenseth and, yes, his own son, Dale Earnhardt Jr. No matter how good Senior still is, he won't be able to stem the relentless onslaught of the youth movement.

The 1999 season was rejuvenating for Earnhardt, who had gone winless in 1997 and won only once in 1998. Earnhardt has always thrived on multiple victories; the three wins in 1999 gave him his 15th multiple-victory season.

He won outright at Talladega in April and October. But the win at Bristol in August, when he wrecked leader Terry Labonte on the last lap, showed he still has a sharp bite behind his bark. It was a dirty victory to be sure, but NASCAR officials were shrewd enough to let it stand and bask in the onslaught of publicity generated by their bad call.

Fair or foul, Earnhardt made the Bristol night race the event of the season.

One look at Earnhardt's steely gaze, and you know he's not ready for retirement. Like so many of the greatest champions -- Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip, for instance -- Earnhardt won't stop until he's truly out of gas. After all, Waltrip is still slogging away, even though he missed four of the last eight races in 1999.

Earnhardt's ride into the sunset will be especially nerve-wracking because of his bullheaded fearlessness. His courage compels him to make moves no other driver would, such as running the untested and ultra-dangerous upper groove at Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1998. At 48, however, excess daring could get him in big trouble.

Earnhardt's legacy is secure as one of the greatest -- if not the greatest -- stock car drivers of all time. In his career, he has gotten and given as much joy as any driver in history.

And that's why it will be so hard for him to quit.

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