Book Review: Earnhardt Nation by Jay Busbee

Chances are, if you have even a passing interest in NASCAR racing, you know the name Earnhardt, and how important it is to the sport. Never before has the first family of American motorsport been given such a platform.

In Earnhardt Nation, Jay Busbee, a Yahoo journalist, does a wonderful job of illustrating just how much a part of the fabric of stock car racing the Earnhardt name is, following three generations of Earnhardt’s – Ralph, his son Dale and Dale’s son, Dale Jr., as well as touching on other family members who have not quite scaled the same heights in racing as their famous relatives have managed over the best part of four decades – from North Carolina short track racing, through various lower-tier NASCAR series to the sport's top level, the Cup Series.

Of course, seven-time Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt Sr. (AKA The Intimidator, driver of the black #3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, and the owner of seventy-six NASCAR Cup Series wins) is the most successful of the three, and the most revered. Even The King, Richard Petty, does not have the same level of following as Dale Sr. did and does.

Tragically, Earnhardt met his untimely end in turn three on the very last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, as he tried to hold off a charging field so that his two Dale Earnhardt Incorporated cars would go on to take first and second in the Great American Race, sent ripples through the sport, and changed everyone’s view on safety. 

DEI’s Michael Waltrip went on to win that day, his first career win, and a DEI car won a week later in Rockingham, as the sport recovered from the loss of it’s true leader. The chapters dealing with the fall-out of Earnhardt’s death are some of the best and most moving. Busbee has really outdone himself in the way he sensitively handles the story from all sides.

The nature of The Intimidator’s death is quite ironic, given Earnhardt was never one for seatbelts and the HANS device, preferring as much freedom to move around as possible. That was one of the countless dozens of factoids I learnt about the Earnhardt clan in Busbee’s brilliant book. You get to the end, and feel like you really know the family – and it’s hard not to admire their rise from the rugged short tracks of North Carolina to NASCAR immortality, and fan adulation that continues to this day - and will likely continue as long as stock car races happen across America.

I absolutely flew through this book – finishing it in about twenty-four hours. It was incredibly hard to put down, and I can’t recommend it enough for racing fans. Just tremendous stuff!