"He wanted somebody to hang out with" - Dale Jr. and Uncle Tony Eury Sr. reminisce about Dale Earnhardt's Monday picnic tradition
Dale Earnhardt Jr. took a trip down memory lane with Tony Eury Sr. in the latest episode of his Dale Jr. Download podcast. The two recalled Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s picnic tradition, where he would invite other NASCAR personalities to hang out with him at sundown on a Monday.
Earnhardt Jr. is a former NASCAR Cup Series driver who raced for the now-discontinued Dale Earnhardt, Inc. (DEI) and Hendrick Motorsports. During his time with DEI, his uncle Eury Sr. served as the crew chief for the No. 8 Chevrolet.
According to Dale Jr., drivers, and crew chiefs would hang out with Dale Sr. around a picnic table to bench race at five o‘clock on a Monday.
“Some of the best times for me back in those days was at 5:00. It’s like everybody gathered around a picnic table. Might drink some beer. Dad might make a Five Alive and an Absolut or something like that. And you’d just bench race.”
Tony Eury Sr. shared that the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champ would work on his farm on Monday. He would then invite people around a picnic table before the sunset to talk about the races.
“But the 5:00 deal was he was going to work on that farm all day on Monday because that was his Saturday. He called that his Saturday. So he worked on the farm all day on Monday, and he said, ‘Don’t y’all leave until I’ll get back up here.’ So if it was 6:00 or whatever, we had to be there […] because he wanted somebody to hang out with him.”
The former crew chief added that it had reached a point where the picnic table wasn’t big enough when the group grew. The table was joined by crew chiefs from other teams and drivers such as Rusty Wallace and Kenny Wallace.
Tony Eury Sr. recalled when Dale Earnhardt Sr. was disappointed with Dale Jr. after he wrecked his car
In the same podcast episode, Tony Eury Sr. shared that Dale Earnhardt Sr. once was disappointed with Dale Jr. for wrecking his racecar. The incident made Dale Sr. reconsider giving Junior a full-time Xfinity seat on his team, but Eury Sr. told him to take a chance on his son.
For a short recap, Dale Jr. was running in a practice session at Charlotte in 1997 when he crashed his only DEI car, preventing him from participating in the Xfinity race. Although his father was disappointed with him, Junior was eventually given the full-time seat in the following season.
Tony Eury Sr. recalled the incident, saying:
“I think the whole time his plan was he was going to put you in that car. When y’all went to Charlotte, and y’all wrecked that car, that killed that guy. I’m telling you. He was so disappointed. I mean he… that ripped that man’s heart out.”
The former crew chief told Dale Sr. to give Junior a chance considering he also gave a chance to other young drivers on his team.
“I mean I’m telling you, you was going in that car. He says, ‘What do you think about putting Dale Jr. in this car?’ And I said, ‘Dale, you spent money on Jeff Green, you spent money on Steve Park. Why don’t you spend your money on your own kid?’ He brings that Charlotte deal up […] I said, ‘Dale, they’re kids. Put him in it.”
He added:
“I said, ‘We’ll know in a year.’ I don’t think his mind was set to do it when he walked out there but he thought about it for a little while.”
Dale Jr. won the championship and the Rookie of the Year award in the 1998 Xfinity Series, formerly the Busch Grand National Series. He then secured his second championship the following year before graduating full-time to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2000.