View Four of a Kind
“Four of a Kind:
Earnhardt Cars Run 1-4 in the 2001 Daytona 500”
By Michael M. Shay
Category:NASCAR -> Sprint Cup
This story is for those who believe things happen for a reason…
I grew up watching NASCAR on a black and white Philco television in the sixties. Back then, few in the Northeast except Dick Berggren, my dad and me even considered stock car racing a sport. We’d get to see little snippets of races on “Road and Track” or “Wide World of Sports.”
In 1979 it was time for the first live “flag to flag” coverage of the Daytona 500. My dad was a Plymouth mechanic, so he always went with “The King,” Richard Petty. I liked the “Alabama Gang” mostly because Dad didn’t. Petty won the race and the Allison brothers were fighting with Cale Yarborough in the infield after a last lap crash. What a race!
Sadly, that was the only Daytona 500 I got to watch with my dad. He died of a heart attack at the shop later that year, much like Dale Earnhardt’s dad, Ralph did a few years earlier. I was 18 then. I had to quit college and get a job in construction to help take care of my mom and my handicapped brother. I know all too well about that chip they say Dale Earnhardt carried on his shoulder and that ache in his heart he felt for his father.
I miss my dad every day. He said something that day that I will never forget.
“Keep your eyes on that kid in the #2 car. He’s gonna be good, someday.” I did that for 22 years, lap after lap. I saw thousands of laps and most of Dale’s milestones…the “Pass in the Grass,” the ’97 “Flip and Go,” and the hand slapping drive down pit road after finally winning the 1998 Daytona 500 on his twentieth try…snippets of time that I remember like they happened yesterday.
Another of those snippets was from 1994 when David Hobbs asked Dale how he could go ahead and race in the Daytona 500 after his good friend, Neil Bonnett was killed in practice. Dale said something like, “The best we can do is hold him in our hearts and remember him well.” It’s not often that we get words to live by from a race car driver, but they were personal to me because I had just lost a friend. We were doing well in the “Thunder” Class at Hudson Speedway. He passed away of a diabetic coma, ironically after deciding to quit racing because of the toll it was taking on his body. I was left feeling that life wasn’t fair. Call it what you will, commiserating or whatever, but I found solace in what Dale said at a time that it really counted for something. Thanks, Ironheart, those words of wisdom have helped me through some pretty tough times.
On February 18, 2001 with 30 laps to go in the race, the prophetic words of my dad combined with the amazing talent of “the kid” in the #3 and the team he owned, came together and provided me with the opportunity to capture a moment that everyone else missed.
I was located in the Oldfield Tower, Section “N,” Row 31, Seat 7 with my trusty Nikon. Several rubber bands were holding the film door closed. I was cheering for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated driver, Steve Park in the #1. Our section had a race pool and Park was one of my picks. Dale Junior gave Park a bump and ducked to the inside in front of his dad going into Turn Three. When they were coming out of Turn Four, I snapped a picture.
The last few laps of the race I spent standing on my seat with a video camera in my left hand and my Nikon in my right. When the crash happened I got it on video from my perspective in Turn Four. They came to rest directly in front of me. I was expecting Dale to jump right out and look over his car. I watched through the telephoto lens on my Nikon as Kenny Schrader took down Dale’s window net. I was looking him right in the eyes. I saw the panic and I knew what it meant.
We heard the tragic news as we were exiting the track. I got all choked up and started to cry. I went home and spent the next week feeling terrible. I watched most of the coverage of the tragedy that week. I still get choked up when I hear, “Carolina on my Mind.” That Friday I saw a special press conference from Rockingham. Dale Junior had to tell some misguided fans to stop threatening Sterling Marlin for his supposed role in the accident.
Then Michael Waltrip talked about an amazing moment that he would always cherish. He said that he and his two DEI teammates were running 1,2,3 with Dale holding down the fourth position. Michael said that all you need to do is find a picture of it to show what a grasp Dale had on the sport and the direction he was heading with his DEI teams. Then Ty Norris made a public appeal for anyone who may have a picture that documented that amazing achievement. I carefully looked through the 200 or so images I took that fateful day…and there it was!
I was determined to show my “time capsule” photograph to the 14 surviving drivers captured in that historic moment. After I had autographs of all the other drivers, I hoped to show it to Dale Earnhardt Junior and give him a copy.
It took me six years and five months to accomplish my mission. The picture survived 16 race weekends. I waited countless hours in front of souvenir trailers, wandered the pits and “camped out” in front of driver transporters. I got moral support from Dick Berggren who said, “You have something really special there.”
Bob Bahre, after seeing my photograph and realizing its significance, supplied me with credentials to my home track, New Hampshire International Speedway. One by one I got the autographs of those drivers in the photograph:
Michael Waltrip
Steve Park
Jeremy Mayfield
Jeff Burton
Ward Burton
Jason Leffler
Ken Schrader
Robbie Gordon
Kenny Wallace
Tony Stewart
Jeff Gordon
John Andretti
Ricky Rudd
Finally, I had all the signatures I needed, except one. I was really apprehensive about what Dale Earnhardt Junior would think of the image. Would he see the wonder of his dad’s cars running 1,2,3 and 4 in the biggest race in stock car racing? Or would it bring back painful memories of that tragic day? I showed Tony Eury Senior the photograph and asked if I could ask Dale Junior to sign it. He said I did the right thing by coming to him first.
He introduced me to Dale Junior. Junior said I had a really cool shot and that he would be happy to sign it. He shook my hand and gave me a pat on the back. I knew then that I had done the right thing.
My eight year odyssey has brought me to places I never could have expected…far from the humdrum realities of everyday life. I even got to shake the hand of Richard Petty, my dad’s favorite driver! I got to meet many of the greats of the sport. If they think it’s worthy, I would consider offering to loan an enlargement of “Four of a Kind” to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, so thousands of race fans from around the world can appreciate its significance. I feel Dale Earnhardt and my dad would like that.