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Monday, February 26
Park: 'Dale was with me today'
By Wayne Drehs
ESPN.com
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Steve Park played the answering machine message, but was in complete disbelief.
On the other end was the voice of Dale Earnhardt, or at least someone imitating Earnhardt, asking Park to call him about joining the Dale Earnhardt racing team.
|  | | Park unfurls an Earnhardt flag in Victory Lane at the Rock. |
Park blew off the call, figuring it was a prank by his friends. But four days later, there was another message, with the voice on the other end not quite as jovial as before.
"I figured what the heck, I'll play along with the joke and call the number my friends left," Park recalls. "Next thing I know, Dale Earnhardt's secretary answers and I'm worried about having a heart attack when he gets on the phone."
Six years later, Park returned the favor, all but giving Earnhardt fans a heart attack with his narrow victory over Bobby Labonte in the Dura Lube 400. It was the second career victory for Park and the second straight victory for DEI following Michael Waltrip's win in the Daytona 500.
With Dale Earnhardt Jr. crashing in the race's first lap Sunday, Park's victory was the feel-good ending many had hoped for considering the treacherous wave of emotions the Earnhardt racing family had weathered in the past week.
In victory lane, Park took a phone call from Dale Earnhardt's widow, Theresa, who was back at the team shop in Mooresville, N.C., offering her congratulations.
"It was an emotion of happiness that I could detect in her voice," Park said. "She wasn't broken down in tears like I was, but instead was emotionally supportive and happy that we could do that for Dale."
Park, who had to fight back tears in the race's final laps, drove his victory lap backward in honor of his team owner, while waving his black No. 3 hat out the window. As he came back around toward the finish line, a teary-eyed Park nearly drove head-on into the car of teammate Michael Waltrip, who was waiting for a congratulatory high-five.
Emotions were spilling everywhere, as some fans cried, waving Earnhardt hats and T-shirts Park's way.
"Dale was with me today. We couldn't see him, but we could feel him. He was there," Park said. "As much as it's hard to smile and enjoy the victory as if he were here physically, we know he was with us spiritually."
Especially in the race's final laps, when Park's 10-car lead over Bobby Labonte quickly evaporated into a half-car advantage. Both drivers were running dangerously low on gas, both were driving on hot, melting tires and both were dealing with the emotions of Earnhardt's death.
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I'm glad it's over, I can tell you that. To fight back those emotions and do what Dale taught me to do, to stand up on that seat and drive the hell out of that car, it was hard to do. I just tried to hang on there at the end.” |
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—Park |
But Park, who found himself crying with 10 laps to go, blocked a late charge by Labonte, holding on for the narrow victory. It was exactly how his former boss would have drawn it up.
"I'm glad it's over, I can tell you that," said Park, who ran out of gas during his victory lap and needed to be pushed to the winner's circle. "To fight back those emotions and do what Dale taught me to do, to stand up on that seat and drive the hell out of that car, it was hard to do. I just tried to hang on there at the end."
After the race, Park credited the professionalism of Labonte, who backed off to avoid a potentially serious accident, with the win.
"I wasn't going to give it to him, I was going to make him work for it," Park said. "But I'm real thankful that he didn't run me into the wall. He showed why he's a true champion."
And if Earnhardt would have been behind him?
"It would have been one hell of a wreck," Park said.
Labonte denied after the race that he laid off the gas in an effort to avoid a wreck.
"We did some hard racing," Labonte said. "He was driving his fanny off just like I was driving mine off and that's what makes it worthwhile. Both of us were slipping and sliding a bit and it was hard to get a good bite up off the corner."
The win was the second straight for Dale Earnhardt Inc., a first for the racing company in its seven-year existence.
Park called the win the beginning of a healing process that he will probably never end.
For Dale Earnhardt Inc., Park's win was its second in as many 2001 races. Ty Norris, Director of Motorsports for DEI, said the team is finally starting to see the fruits of all the hard work that Earnhardt put in.
At one point during last week's Daytona 500, DEI cars ran 1-2-3, with Earnhardt in fourth.
"We're fulfilling the vision that he had," Norris said. "We didn't believe we could do it at first. We just wanted to make the race. But he told us that wasn't acceptable. 'You race for me you have to win,' he would tell us. And every person that drives through the gate (at their Mooresville office) remembers that. Not so much for yourself, but for him."
Park, who led 167 of the 393 laps here Monday, with his main challenges coming from Labonte and Jeff Gordon, agreed, classifying Earnhardt's management style as a form of "tough love."
"You don't get a pat on the back from him for second," Park said. "And maybe you will get one for first. That's the way he was. Do something wrong and you were out baling hay in the sun with him. But I wouldn't have it any other way."
Park got a firsthand lesson of Earnhardt's bull-headed ways on one of his first trips to Earnhardt's farm. There, heading straight for the gated entrance to the farm at 65 mph, Park panicked.
"He hit this clicker, but it wasn't opening fast enough," Park said. "So I said, 'Dale, I don't think we're going to make it.' And he goes, 'Boy, don't you dare tell me we're not going to make it. I'm a seven-time Winston Cup champion.'"
Seconds later, the pickup carrying Earnhardt and Park shot through the gate and Whack!, both of the mirrors got knocked off.
"I didn't say a word," Park said. "He had that look in his eyes -- that look of disbelief."
Just like Park did when he heard that voice on the answering machine and just like the fans did Monday, when one of Earnhardt's own honored the fallen legend in the best way possible. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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