04/07/2024
A great story...
"Over the last 10 years, how many guys shoot their mouth off, point their fingers, try to reach at another guy over a crew member? Dale didn’t do that. Dale would grab you by the epaulet of your uniform, pull you right up to his ear. And this happened to him and Rusty Wallace at Bristol (in the Aug. 26, 1995 race), the night where Rusty threw the water bottle. And Dale walked over, grabs Rusty by the epaulet of his uniform, pulls Rusty next to his head and said, “You know what, we can fight here and make a scene. Or you can come to the farm on Monday, and we’ll either fight it out or talk it out like two men. But see me at my property or shut up.”
And guess what happened? I opened the electric gate on Monday morning for Rusty Wallace to come in our property. They got in Dale’s truck. I didn’t see them for at least three and a half hours. They came back in, they ate lunch, they disappeared again. They came in, and Dale said, “You’re not going to believe this, I actually have Miller beer for you.” And they drank a beer in the shop over a picnic table, Tony Eury Sr. was like, “You’ve got to be kidding me. Earnhardt is having a beer with Rusty Wallace.” None of us know what happened in the pickup truck or beyond the gate, but I’m sure they yelled at each other a little bit, talked at each other a little bit, but they came out of there with a respect."
-Don Hawk, Dale Earnhardt Inc. president 1993-2001.
