“That was the one father-son talk that we had that sunk in.” It is no secret that preparing for his big breakthrough under ‘The Intimidator’ wasn’t easy for Dale Earnhardt Jr. His father, Dale Earnhardt, was sometimes a bit too tough, and it was quite understandable why Dale Jr. was left shaking after an incident at Charlotte back in ’97, especially after his father kicked down his trailer door.

“The door flies open on this double-wide trailer I lived in. I know immediately those are Dad’s footsteps. He looks over at my buddies that are sitting over there, and he goes, ‘Get the f*** off my property,’” Earnhardt Jr. revealed in the 4-part Earnhardt documentary that dropped on Amazon Prime in May last year. Sports on Prime shared a short snippet from the same on their X account. This incident happened when Dale Jr. was gulping down a few drinks with his friends in his trailer. But he was shaken because of what had happened just a few hours earlier.

It was 1997, Jr. had already spent some time running the Late Models and was eager to find his NASCAR breakthrough, and it finally came with the #31 car that season. After Dale Earnhardt found his son a strong backing through Wrangler, he took to the track at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. But considering his lack of experience, Dale Jr. couldn’t handle the car’s power on such a huge track and ended up crashing during practice. He failed to qualify for the race.

Considering that his father made the deal for him to race, Earnhardt Jr. was intimidated by the thought that his NASCAR career might already be over. However, the Intimidator was only there to give him a life lesson.

“He goes, ‘Man, what are you doing?’ I was like, ‘I thought my racing career was over.’ He’s like, ‘No, they’re going to fix that car. That’s where you should be. You should be wanting to fix your car. Where is that? Where is that inside of you? What’s missing in you that you thought to come over here and sit on your ass and feel sorry for yourself?’” Dale Jr. further revealed in the documentary.

Legends like Dale Earnhardt never stepped away from racing. Even after an incident, they would spend time with their team and the engineers to work on a fix. It is quite apparent that he wanted his son to follow the same routine. But to find him with his friends after a crash? It was only natural for him to be upset.

It would be an understatement to say that those words worked like magic for him. Dale Jr. returned to the track in 1998 as a full-time driver, and following in his father’s success, he won seven races and, with it, the Busch Series Championship. He went on to win the title again the next year in 1999, earning his Cup Series promotion quite early.

This incident was probably one that Dale Earnhardt Jr’s friends would remember because of just how his father asked them to step away. However, considering Earnhardt’s style, it was still very peaceful, because the one other time he had trespassers, it did not end well.

When Dale Earnhardt’s property was trespassed, it revealed the real Intimidator

Dale Jr. has a treasure chest full of stories about his father, and him asking his friends to “get the f- off” his property was just one of them. In fact, there was another similar incident when he faced trespassing from someone who was working on his property previously.

On his large land, Dale Earnhardt had quite a few deer, and one of the workers happened to notice that and returned later, without authorization, with a partner. Perhaps it wouldn’t have turned so violent if this were the case, but the trouble started when they shot a deer, and Dale Earnhardt just so happened to be out on the land.

“Daddy hears a shotgun. He’s standing in this power line, a deer comes running by ‘em, and falls over. So daddy and this guy (the property foreman), they get over there by where the deer is and wait. And here come them dudes, and as soon as they get to it, daddy takes off running and tackled the one with the gun and started punching him.”

Sure, Dale Jr.’s friends must have been scared that day in 1997 when his father asked them to get off his property. However, it is quite apparent that he still let them go easily, even politely in his own way, perhaps. But this incident with the actual trespassers revealed that he wasn’t just the Intimidator on the track, but off the track as well.

But at the same time, it was this rough and intimidating attitude that helped Dale Jr. become the competitive driver he was.