The most legendary drivers of NASCAR are no secret. While there is a host of icons, Dale Earnhardt and Richard Petty are foremost among them. Earnhardt boasts seven Cup Series championships and 76 race trophies, while Petty has 7 titles and a whopping 200 trophies. However, their excellence was limited to the racing grid.

Their racing prowess didn’t always translate beyond the track. Evidence for this lies in a sports event they participated in 45 years ago. The legends swapped their helmets for jerseys, and they found their match at a basketball court.

When the Intimidator and King lost their luster

On July 1, 1981, five NASCAR drivers formed a basketball team. The match? a charity basketball game against Daytona businessmen that was played under the banner of the Daytona Beach Tipoff Club. The drivers, who were more accustomed to steering wheels than making baskets, lost 28-25 in the friendly event.

“On this date in 1981, a group of drivers played Daytona businessmen in a charity basketball game. Drivers lost 28-25. Starting five: Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Neil Bonnett, Tim Richmond, Glenn Jarrett. Coach: Benny Parsons. Dale Earnhardt and Neil Bonnett on the basketball court,” read a caption from a recent X post by nascarman.

And the picture attached to the above X post is quite eye-catching. Dale Earnhardt is enthusiastically about to catch a basketball, with a broad smile on his face. And the outfit he is wearing is not exactly conventional – those are a pair of ripped-out jeans shorts, because apparently he never owned a real pair of shorts. In the background is a blurred-out figure, but clearly recognizable as 18-time Cup race winner Neil Bonnett.

The starting five included the heavyweights Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty, Neil Bonnett, Tim Richmond, and Glenn Jarrett. It was an evening match at the Daytona Beach Community College Gym. The game was coached by Benny Parsons, the 1973 NASCAR Cup Series champion and a highly respected figure in the sport. The massive sensation surrounding the Grand National Champions, however, turned futile; they lost out against the white-collar group.

This fateful match happened all those years ago, and yet it thrills fans to the core to this day. Although Dale Earnhardt Sr. and his cohort of drivers lost the game, their basketball interest itself was an intriguing anomaly.

Usually, Earnhardt could be seen battling Terry Labonte in Bristol or trading blows with Rusty Wallace. Or Richard Petty was graciously receiving the thunderous fan praises on any race weekend. So a basketball retreat must have been relaxing for the group of legends.

While Dale Earnhardt Sr. did not win the game, his interest in basketball was passed down to his family.

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A passion that could not survive

Though Dale Earnhardt Sr. lost a basketball game to Daytona businessmen, it did not stop his son, Dale Jr., from falling in love with the sport. In 2014, he tweeted a photo of himself with the junior varsity team from Oak Ridge (N.C.) Military School.

In the picture dated from the 1980s, the young Junior would be seen standing in the extreme left corner, and the striking aspect was his height difference. Dale Jr. admitted that he was the weak link on the squad.

“I sat on the bench a lot, being the smallest guy,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. said before a 2014 Cup Series race in Texas. “It was rough back then, but a lot of good memories and a lot of fun practicing and being on a team. I hadn’t played much organized sports at that point in my life, so that was pretty fun. Plus, like I said, being able to get out of military school for a day was great, being able to see the outside world.”

Dale Earnhardt’s son continued his passion for the sport nonetheless. Junior used to play basketball with an internal circle and cheered for his favorite NBA teams. In 2017, he and his wife Amy traveled to Cleveland to watch the Golden State Warriors. Their favorite team put on a late-game charge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 118-113 and take a 3-0 lead in the NBA finals.

Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s racing legacy may capture people’s attention the most. Yet his dabbling in basketball on a certain day in 1981 also makes for a grand story.