Dale Earnhardt
(Ralph) Dale Earnhardt, Sr. (April 29, 1951 – February 18, 2001) was a race car driver, best known for his involvement in stock car racing for NASCAR. Earnhardt began his career in 1975 when he drove in the 1975 as part of the Winston Cup Series (Now the Sprint Cup Series).
Dale Earnhardt won 76 races in the Nascar cup series in the years and his first in 1979 at Bristol and last win being at Talladega in 2000. The driver had won 7 championships (tied with Richard Petty for the most).
In 2001 Dale Earnhardt was killed on a crash on the last lap at the Daytona 500.
Dale Earnhardt provides examples of the following tropes:
- Anyone Can Die Dale Earnhardt was probably one of the last drivers any one would have expected.
- Badass Driver Dale got the nick name the intimidator for his agressive driving style. He was especially good on short tracks and super speedways. It was said on super speedways he could see the air of the draft.
- Fandom Rivalry Dale Earnhardt vs. Jeff Gordon
- This could also be considered an example of Hatedom with the fans against each other.
- Flipping the Bird
- Replacement Scrappy Kevin Harvick
- Some say Kyle Busch is like Dale for his attitude toward other drivers.
- Second Place Is for Losers Dale Earnhardt had a saying "Second place is just the first loser" which he lived by. How ever there are many other variations that were more popular (Go big or go home checkers or wreckers).
- Tear Jerker
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks: Some blame Dale Earnhardt for the downfall of Nascar.