Pre-Daytona 500 testing in January 1988 was the first time on the racetrack for the iconic black #3 Dale Earnhardt Sr Goodwrench Chevrolets. Here two of the black monsters, the cars that brought the Intimidator legend to full maturity, await tuning in the Daytona garage. Seeing the cars in the basic paint scheme without all the contingency decals is a visual treat, a still life composition featuring Goodwrench and Goodyear. This photograph appeared in the book "Unseen Earnhardt - The Man Behind the Mask."
A place where old race cars were sent to die. These rusting hulks lay as relics in the founding of a dynasty. In December of 1982 I attended a press conference that was called at Petty Enterprises with Randy Hallman and Al Pearce. There was some speculation that Richard Petty might announce his retirement. It turned out that was a bit of a tease to get a big press turnout which it did. The announcement was that 7-Eleven would become Kyle Petty's new sponsor. We had arrived early so I had some time to poke around the compound. Out behind the shops in the woods I noticed some reflections deeper there, and when I checked it out this is what I found. Two of these cars are from NASCAR's old Convertible Series. One has Lee Petty's #42 on it and the one to the left appears to have had Its number altered from 42 to 43. Richard Petty's first NASCAR win came in a #43 Plymouth convertible at Columbia, South Carolina on July 18, 1959. He won $900. This photo appeared in the book, "Richard Petty: Images of the King," by Ben Blake and Dick Conway.
Dale Earnhardt Sr and Geoff Bodine went after each other hard, and at times recklessly pushed it to the limit during the late 1980s. Finally, Bill France Jr brokered a truce. Things were so fierce that they inspired the bitter rivalry in the movie Days of Thunder. Daytona 1986 would be another chapter in the rivalry. Earnhardt Sr had won everything at Daytona in 1986 leading up to the 500. He won the Busch Clash, his Twin 125 Thursday qualifying race and the Busch Series 300 on Saturday. Here Bodine drafts Earnhardt in the Daytona 500. At the end of the race, they were looking to settle it among themselves. Bodine led the last 34 laps with Earnhardt on his back bumper for many of them. With three laps to go Earnhardt ran out of gas and had to pit leaving Bodine to claim the victory by 11.26 seconds over Terry Labonte. After the race Earnhardt told Bodine if he hadn't run out of gas, he would have passed him for the win. Bodine replied, "Dale you wouldn't have passed me. It would've been just a hell of a wreck." The Daytona 500 win had eluded Earnhardt again and would continue to do so until 1998. In the background is Morgan Shepherd in the Jack Bebbe #47. Shepherd would go on to win in that car at Atlanta a month later.
