“This goes way deeper. This might take you as far as you’ve ever been into what it would be like to actually have been in the same room with the guy, lived with him, been his son.” These words by Dale Earnhardt Jr reflect the immense impact that a new production is about to make. His father, Dale Earnhardt, has been known for his on-track achievements. From his 1987 ‘Pass in the Grass’ maneuver to aggressively bumping Terry Labonte in a 1999 Bristol race, Dale Sr is usually known for his ‘Intimidator’ role.

However, beyond that seemingly invincible nature of the legendary racer on track was a normal human that people seldom think about. Dale Earnhardt Sr’s seven championships and 76 Cup Series race wins may make him a god of racing. Amazon Prime takes the lens deeper, and that is what Dale Jr lauds.

Well, the name of Dale Sr is etched in gold in racing circles. There is no shortage of media productions surrounding the NASCAR legend. One is the 2004 ESPN film “3: The Dale Earnhardt Story.” Then there is the 2007 “Dale – The Movie,” narrated by Paul Newman. These are only some examples. In fact, Dale Earnhardt Jr gave the highest praise to the latter: “There’s really only one great Dale Earnhardt documentary that in my mind that has ever been made, and that’s the Dale documentary.” However, Amazon Prime’s new documentary, ‘Earnhardt’, promises something different. Oscar-winning producers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are behind it. It features rare archival footage, thrilling races, and emotionally revealing interviews from his children, rivals, and closest friends.

At the ‘Black Carpet’ premiere of the ‘Earnhardt’ documentary, Dale Earnhardt Jr reflected on what makes it so special. Talking to Kickin’ The Tires, Junior drew a parallel: “The ones that we’ve all enjoyed in the past did a really, really good job of telling you about the Intimidator, the driver, the champion, the winner, and you know, the style of person he was. And all of that was real. But one thing we never really dove into was the human side of him – the father, the husband, and the friend. And a lot of people, myself included, weren’t really that comfortable opening up. The way we lost him was so tragic. I think all of us shut all that up in a private place.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr further shed light on how the personalized touch would unfold. That would involve listening to his father’s conversations off the track. Dale Jr continued, “You’ll hear from Hank Parker Sr, David Allen, and some other folks that were very, very close to Dad. And you’ll hear about some private conversations that they had with him that I didn’t even know existed. You’ll hear about dad’s own struggles with expressing his own feelings with his kids, that me and Kelley were surprised to hear. And just a lot of different things about Dad as a person that aren’t really exposed or well-represented in some of the other projects.”

And it’s not just this. The kind of research the team has done is incredible. Joshua Altman, the director, revealed, “We went to NASCAR, and they had 15 petabytes of material that they were like, ‘I don’t know. You’ve got to point us in the direction of what you want.’ We didn’t just want the typical clips. As the kind of filmmakers that we are, we want the handles on everything. We want to see the moment the camera turns on, the microphone being adjusted. All the little bits and pieces around it.”

Even Dale Jr. couldn’t believe it, as Altman added, “Dale Jr. has said to us that there have been clips of his father, specifically his grandfather, that he was like, ‘I’ve never seen that of Ralph before. That of itself is a win because Dale Jr. is such a historian and a fan himself.” 

Clearly, the new Amazon documentary is on a new level. It is especially close to both Dale Jr and his sister’s hearts, even though it covers some difficult aspects.

Boldly sharing the challenging side

Well, Amazon Prime expertly handles Dale Earnhardt’s personal side. It also takes a meticulous approach to his difficult side. Dale Jr and his sister faced that in their early years. While growing up, Dale Earnhardt Jr never took his father’s help. He undertook his regional racing pursuits all by himself, independently growing a racing resume. Kelley Earnhardt Miller also had a hot-and-cold relationship with her dad. That persisted right until the latter’s tragic death in the 2001 Daytona 500. So when they heard a conversation that Dale Sr had with his close friend, it was emotional for them.

Kelley Earnhardt Miller commented on the particular scene where Hank Parker Sr recollected a conversation with Dale Sr. She said, “(Parker) hangs up the phone with his son and says, ‘I love you, son’…And when he hangs up, my dad says, ‘that’s not something I can say to my kids.'” Dale Earnhardt Jr said that those words created a profound impact on him and Kelley. “For me and Kelley to hear that was incredible. There’s a couple of little nuggets of that in there with (Parker) and other people who contributed to the project that … I would’ve never believed that was what Dad said or how that went down.”

Hence, the hype cannot be understated for Amazon Prime’s new documentary. The emotional ripples are already aplenty with Dale Jr and his sister’s approval. Let us see how the NASCAR world welcomes this new piece of media from the one and only legend.