View Dale and Ned Jarrett
The Jarretts
From Gregg Leary
Category:NASCAR -> Sprint Cup
Ned and Dale
Only the second Father/Son Cup Champions
Ned Champion 1961, 1965 (50 Wins) “Gentleman Ned”
Dale Champion 1999 (32 Wins)
Ned retired at Age 34 at the top of his game
Dale will retire at age 51…in the twilight of his career
Ned took a Dale Carnegie course so he wouldn’t be shy around the media, fans and sponsors…it led to a broadcasting career
He did not encourage Dale to race...DJ was an excellent athlete…especially golf, Ned would have preferred Dale try for the PGA instead of racing
Ned felt Dale had the talent and determination to succeed but “He might never have the right opportunity, with the right team at the right time.” (Brother Glenn had tried a racing career but never got the right break…got into broadcasting.)
Dale started racing at Hickory…the track that Ned managed
Ned started racing Cup in 1953…in his first 12 races he drove 6 different brands…Ford, Olds, Studebaker, Pontiac, Buick and Chevy
He won Cup titles in 1961 driving Fords and Chevys
1965 driving a Ford (Chrysler boycott year…no Richard Petty)
Ned was National Sportsman Champion in 1958 and 1959
In ’59 he wanted to get serious about Cup racing and bought his first “real race car” a 1957 Ford for $2000. He wrote a bad check for the car…picked it up Friday afternoon after the banks closed…and had to win a race at Myrtle Beach and Charlotte to cover the check. He won Myrtle Beach but the tape on the steering wheel ripped the meat from his hands. He started the Charlotte race in great pain but was relieved by Joe Weatherly and Junior Johnson…who won the race and the prize money covered the check! (These were Ned’s first two Cup wins in his career.)
Ned won the 1965 Southern 500 at Darlington by 14 LAPS! (17.5 Miles)…the largest margin of victory in Cup History
Ned called Dale’s 1993 Daytona 500 victory over Dale Earnhardt from the booth.
DJ was a very good high school athlete. He received scholarship offers from South Carolina to play golf and Lenoir-Rhyne to play football….instead he married his high school sweetheart and went to work maintenance for his dad at Hickory Speedway. He mowed a patch of grass where he could practice his golf game.
DJ and Andy Petree built a Nova to race at Hickory…in a shp with a dirt floor. DJ raised most of the money for Bosco Lowe to build an engine for $2,100. Since DJ raised the bucks he got to drive. So in 1977 he started 24th...and finished ninth on 6 cylinders. He was hooked and told his dad that was what he wanted to do with his life. Shortly after, he split with his first wife, Kim. Son Jason was not quite two.
Dale drove his first Cup race in 1984 at Martinsville for Emanuel Zervakis.
Dale drove for Zervakis, Jimmy Means, Mike Curb, Eric Freedlander, Hoss Ellington, Cale Yarborough, Buddy Arrington, Wood Brothers, Joe Gibbs, Robert Yates, Michael Waltrip
Dale got his first Cup win with the Wood Brothers at Michigan in 1991. (Over Davey Allison’s #28 by less than a foot)
Dale got Joe Gibbs Racing its first win…the 1993 Daytona 500…over Dale Earnhardt. Ned called it from the booth.
DJ: 3 Daytona 500 Wins: 93, 96, 2000
2 Brickyard 400 Wins: 96, 99
Cup Champion 1999
30 second short answers from Ned and Dale…tell us the first thing that pops into your mind when we mention…
NED:
Fireball Roberts
Junior Johnson
Curtis Turner
Darlington
Hickory Motor Speedway
Broadcasting
“Gentleman Ned”
Dale Jarrett
Cup Champion
50 Wins
Safety in NASCAR
NASCAR’s growth
Dirt versus asphalt
“It’s the Dale and Dale show.”
Retirement
DALE:
Wood Brothers
Joe Gibbs
Robert Yates
Daytona 500
Brickyard 400
Ned Jarrett
Davey Allison
Alan Kulwicki
Ernie Irvan
Michael Waltrip
Jeff Gordon
Jimmie Johnson
Hickory Motor Speedway
Broadcasting
The Busch/Nationwide Series
Retirement