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The Dale Earnhardt Rivalry That Dale Jr Feels Deserves to Be On “The Mount Rushmore of Rivalries”

Published 07/23/2022, 11:45 AM EDT

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During a Dirty Mo Media podcast, Dale Earnhardt Jr spoke about what would be at the top of the Mount Rushmore of NASCAR rivalries. He spoke about the rivalry shared by his legendary father, Dale Earnhardt Sr, and his biggest rival, Geoff Bodine.

“Dad and Geoff Bodine to me has to be on the Mount Rushmore rivalries in NASCAR. There was true hatred on both sides. The owners were sparring in the media going back and forth at their respective drivers. The teams did not like each other,” Dale Jr said.

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“Dad would lose his mind. Dad would go out on the track and no longer was he worrying or thinking about the checkered flag or winning the race. It was I’m gonna wreck that car in front of me, I’m gonna wreck Geoff Bodine as fast, as quickly as I possibly can knowing that it’s gonna result in five lap penalties,” he added.

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Dale Earnhardt was known as the intimidator at one point. But Bodine was nothing clean either, he was known to be overly aggressive. In fact, the 1990 film “Days of Thunder”, featuring Tom Cruise, was inspired by the epic rivalries of Geoff Bodine.

Geoff Bodine’s horror crash at the 2000s Daytona 500

22 years ago, Geoff Bodine was involved in a crash at the Daytona 500 so bad none could believe that he survived it. His truck flipped over a total of nine times, then tore apart, and finally burst into flames.

During an interview, Bodine recalled, “I heard noise, never opened my eyes, never spoke, but I heard noise, I remember thinking, ‘Where am I? Daytona. OK, truck race. And I passed out.”

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“It’s amazing I’m still here, who is now retired. It’s not amazing, God blessed me and saved me, so I’m very fortunate to be here. Of course, then, everybody thought I was dead, but I reached up,” he continued.

“When I did that, everyone knew I was alive, so that of course was a good thing.”

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Let us know who you thought had the biggest rivalry in NASCAR history.

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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, 'Noobs Onboard', for a while now, covering NASCAR, F1, W Series, MotoGP, WRC and the WEC. Following motorsports for more than a decade now, he has become a devout supporter of McLaren Racing, Sir Lewis Hamilton, and Ayrton Senna.
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