1 THE RACE OF A LIFETIME it was the morning of February 15 1998 in Daytona Beach Florida The Daytona 500 NASCAR's signature race would start in just a few hours The season opening event is a 500 mile 805 km race for professional stock car drivers That day Richard Childress arrived at the track He was the owner of the Richard Childress Racing team and he was worried about his No. 3 Chevrolet race car which would be driven by Dale Earnhardt Sr. Too many things had gone wrong with the car in previous races DALE EARNHARDT SR WAS ONE OF THE MOST WELL KNOWN NASCAR DRIVERS 6
DALE EARNHARDT SR 7
LIVES CUT SHORT a a Childress was hoping for a win but every time Earnhardt had competed in the Daytona 500 something had happened to keep him from the top position Various mishaps always seemed to hold Earnhardt back such as hitting a seagull on the track running out of gas and cutting a tire on a piece of metal He had finished second in 1984 1993 1995 and 1996. He finished third in 1989. Now in a streak that began in March 1996 Earnhardt hadn't won in 59 straight races Earnhardt spent a long time checking his race car NASCAR's Beginnings that morning He wanted The National Association to make sure everything was for Stock Car Auto Racing NASCAR is the perfect and that the newly organization that governs installed engine was running and operates stock car racing It was founded in correctly Then he got ready 1948 and remains a popular to run the race Childress racing organization today Bill France Sr. an auto later commented that he had mechanic who dabbled never seen Earnhardt acting in racing helped found NASCAR France was so upbeat and optimistic known for organizing races before a race When driver and wanted to establish a string of events that Jeff Gordon who was the would lead to one national defending Daytona 500 stock car champion He worked with race car champion asked Earnhardt drivers and owners to Are you going to win your build the racing series that would become NASCAR first Daytona 500 today 8
DALE EARNHARDT SR CARS CAN REACH SPEEDS OF ABOUT 200 MILES PER HOUR 320 KMH ON THE DAYTONA TRACK Earnhardt just lowered his sunglasses and stared at Gordon in a way that seemed to say that if Gordon got in his way he'd better watch out VYING FOR POSITION Starting positions for the Daytona 500 are based on the fastest times in an earlier series of qualifying races When the race began Earnhardt was fourth out of a total of 43 cars 9
