“Dale Earnhardt was too strong for NASCAR.” Xfinity Series veteran Kenny Wallace said these words recently, hailing The Intimidator’s past legacy. Indeed, from tackling nerve-racking situations on racetracks to having an army of fans worshipping the No. 3 car, Earnhardt’s power was wide-reaching. His iconic track battles with rivals like Terry Labonte or Bill Elliott. However, Earnhardt had a match in terms of his tough personality – Neil Bonnett – as Dale Jr. shared recently.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won 28 Cup Series race trophies and now spends his time either shooting podcast episodes or managing his Xfinity Series team. Yet the veteran’s mind lingers in his childhood, a major part of which he spent with his father in the country. And he recently shared a wild story from that time.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was left dumbfounded

The Earnhardt family has a mixed history of conflict and happiness. Dale Jr. continued to enthrall fans with tales of both sides. And a major part of Dale Jr.’s happy childhood was spent with his father. Outside of the racetrack, Dale Earnhardt used to take his son on hunting trips. On those trips, the Intimidator only used chain-up deer stands where he would hunt, while Dale Jr. lay down on the foot platform at 5 or 6 years of age. Although these memories are exciting, one unexpected hunting incident left Dale Jr. totally off guard. And that involved Dale Sr.’s friend, Neil Bonnett, who was an 18-time Cup Series race winner.

In a recent Dale Jr. Download episode, Dale Jr. recalled one of his pet deer – Pistol. “He’d come right around you like a dog,” he said. However, the animal grew rougher with age. “He’d get rougher, harder, pushing on you and hitting on you and stuff. And eventually, dad kind of shooed him away from the house, and was like, Get out there in the property.” And one day, Neil Bonnett was out fishing at a pond on that 390-acre property.

That is when Bonnett encountered Dale Earnhardt‘s deer, who was initially playing around. Yet the nudges soon turned into a violent attack. Dale Jr. said, “Neil’s casting, that deer ran at him wide a– open and hit him at the knee and took him out, took him out. And then jumped on top of him. The deer punctured his chest, the deer is attacking him…Neil was able to grab the rack and get out from under the deer and get in between the deer and a tree. And he grabbed a log and swung and hit the deer in the head and stunned it, and was able to get out of there.”

But that was not the end of it. Neil Bonnett, a keen hunter like Dale Earnhardt himself, wanted to finish things. Bonnett took his rifle and made Dale Jr. drive to the pond. Dale Jr. continued, “We drive through there, and it ain’t far to get to the pond, but we’re coming toward the pond, and out in front of us on this sort of big grassy hill is Pistol, and he said, ‘Stop the truck.’ And he got out and laid the gun across the hood of the truck and shot the deer, and I don’t know why. I have no clue. And he gets back in the truck, ‘Drive me over there.’ We drive over there, and we pull up on this deer, and he gets out and he beat the s— out of that deer with that damn gun, cussing at it.”

Later, Dale Jr. and Dale Sr. got to know about Pistol’s aggression. Despite being an extremely wild story, this still makes for one of Dale Jr.’s fascinating stories from the past. And the veteran wants to reconcile with a part of that past.

Getting a glimmer of hope

Dale Earnhardt passed away in a tragic wreck at the 2001 Daytona 500. But Dale Jr. had to deal with so much more than the grief of losing his father – including a conflict with his stepmother. Teresa Earnhardt took complete control of Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI) and its assets, sparking legal turmoil. She made key decisions, including refusing to sell land and denying the transfer of the No. 8 car. Teresa ultimately oversaw DEI’s decline after Dale Jr. left the team in 2007 for Hendrick Motorsports. By 2014, the family operation merged, rebranded, and shut down, completely removing the Earnhardt name from NASCAR.

But recently, Dale Jr. saw a few pictures of DEI’s property. The images showed Dale Jr.’s No. 8 car still on display after he assumed that it would be removed. And that left him in high spirits. “I was just glad to know that stuff’s still well taken care of. It made me feel good that some of my cars are still there, like in the front. When you go, and you’re looking back, they still celebrate all of the history.” He continued, “Gives me some hope that there’s a chance of reconciliation somewhere down the road. Even though maybe it’s unlikely, yeah.”

Clearly, Dale Jr.’s sentimental bonds with his past have never really dissolved. We, as fans, cannot wait to get more from his treasure trove of stories.