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Dale Earnhardt Jr Left Joe Rogan Shocked After Revealing his Father Taught Him “Nothing” About Racing

Published 09/20/2022, 9:30 AM EDT

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Joe Rogan’s podcasts have been one of the most entertaining shows to listen to thanks to the sheer numbers of iconic celebrities participating in it and their interesting conversations. A few years ago, NASCAR’s very own Dale Earnhardt Jr was invited on to the podcast where he revealed how was the relationship he shared with his father and if Junior ever learned the intricacies of racing from his father.

Junior stated, “Hardly, nothing man, I mean we, I would get asked all the time what your dad taught you about X, Y, and Z and we never talked about racing.

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“He was so worried that I and Kelley wouldn’t finish school, and that we would give up on school. He gave up on school as an 8th grader at 16 years old. He was 16 in 8th grade and quit, and never finished any high school, never got any GED, anything, and people would come to him and say or people would talk about him even when he was alive and ever since and say look what this guy made of himself having quit the eight grade, that’s awesome. And he always hated that. That was embarrassing for people, he was embarrassed that he quit.”

“He knows how it disappointed my father, so he was always worried about where I was, with who I was hanging around with, and whether I was doing my homework. And then even when I started racing it was who I was hanging out with, what I was doing with my free time, what I was focusing on, whether I was on time for sponsor appearances and never this is how you drive this corner, this is how you get around this race track.”

“He never talked about that stuff, it was always the person I, being a man, being right, being good to people, being on time, being ready to work, looking your best. General you know morals and values. We never sat down and talked about racing, like I’ma teach you how to get around this corner, this is how you shift and shit like that.”

Dale Earnhardt Sr’s final race at Daytona

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The 18th of February, 2001, marked the tragic day that saw the passing of one of the sport’s absolute legends. Dale Earnhardt Sr, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion lost his life in a horrific wreck at the Daytona International Speedway.

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Earnhardt’s tragedy came at the final lap of the iconic race when he tried to defend his position in one of his iconic mannerisms. However, that move would cost him everything, as his rear clipped that of Sterling Marlin’s front and sent Earnhardt veering towards the outside wall. His car then went up and hit the wall at such an angle that the impact was highly reflected on the occupant of the vehicle.

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Following the wreck, thoughts that it looked like any other NASCAR crash, were soon to be proven wrong. As the medical crew arrived they soon realized the extent of the situation at hand and decided to transport him straight to the Halifax Medical Center. Where it was announced, that he breathed his last. Thus ending the legacy of the intimidator in one stroke of bad luck and right on the final lap. The cause of the accident was revealed to be a basilar skull ring fracture. A serious head injury that had been witnessed in commonality with several other racing drivers such as Adam Petty in NASCAR and Roland Ratzenberger in Formula One.

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Written by:

Srijan Mandal

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Srijan Mandal is a NASCAR author at EssentiallySports. He is currently pursuing his Master’s in Journalism and has been writing for his own blog as well, covering NASCAR, F1, F2, W Series, MotoGP, DTM, IndyCar, WRC, and WEC. Following motorsports for more than a decade, he has become a devout supporter of McLaren Racing, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Bubba Wallace, Sir Lewis Hamilton, and Ayrton Senna.
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Edited by:

Nizamul Haque Bhuyan