Bobby Dale Earnhardt has a name that could be an anchor around the neck of a race-car driver, expectations hanging like a career-crushing weight.
That part of being an Earnhardt doesn’t bother him, though. Bobby Dale is proud of his famous name, wants to be the next to carry on the legacy his grandfather Dale started.
What he doesn’t like is the preferential treatment that comes with being an Earnhardt, the doors it opens, the opportunities other drivers miss out on because they don’t have a name like his. If Bobby Dale is going to make it as a driver, he wants it to be because of his ability behind the wheel, not his lineage.
So instead of getting help from his father, Kerry, uncle Dale Jr., or even his grandmother, Teresa, he’s going the do-it-yourself route, working as a cook at a fast-food restaurant while trying to work his way up to a NASCAR ride.
If it was good enough for his grandfather, Bobby Dale figures it’s not a bad path to take.
“I’ve heard stories of how he worked his way up,” Earnhardt said from his home in Rockingham, N.C. “He didn’t have stuff handed to him. He had to work for everything he had and made a name for himself. That’s what I want to do. I want to earn what I get because if I earn it, I’ll appreciate it a lot more than people who get stuff handed to them.”
The first grandson of NASCAR great Dale Earnhardt, Bobby Dale did race when he was younger. He is an Earnhardt, after all. He just didn’t keep after it, drifting away from the sport after those early years sharing a go-cart with his younger brother, Jeffrey.
Bobby Dale was a decent but not great driver when he was younger, having more of an interest in electronics, particularly computers. Someone in the family or neighborhood had a problem with the computer, he was there to fix it.
Bobby Dale stayed connected to racing, going to his father’s Nationwide (formerly Busch) races and working for his uncle. He started on Dale Jr.‘s farm, then moved into the shop, where was a tire specialist, mechanic and went over the wall as the catch can guy for his uncle’s Hooters Pro Cup team.
Bobby Dale also spent time helping Jeffrey, working on his cars at dirt tracks in Virginia. He was fine with working behind the scenes and under the hood for his brother, but started getting the itch to have a racing career of his own.
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