‘Earnhardt’ Breaks Hearts, Recalls NASCAR’s Golden Age

Moustaches, masculinity, and bleachers filled with stock car racing fans are staples throughout the four-part Prime Video documentary Earnhardt, which is a worthy story even for those who haven’t followed racing. Earnhardt is as much about the rise of NASCAR as it is an emotional, gritty study of the complicated influence a man has on his family, whether he is present or, like famed racecar driver Dale Earnhardt, too often absent in body and spirit.

From the first frames, Earnhardt’s classic background music, wrecked cars, iconic interviews, and fresh racetracks take viewers back to NASCAR’s best days, before today’s storied race families knew how many laps their legacies would run. Iconic racing names like Richard Petty, Richard Childress, Neil Bonnett, and Darrell and Michael Waltrip play prominently in the story and help today’s NASCAR fan understand the stock car era from the early 1970s to the early 2000s.

As a kid, Dale Earnhardt wanted to be a race car driver just like his dad, stock car racer Ralph Earnhardt. Although his dad was established in early motorsports, he did not help his son get started. Dale financed his own cars, learned the business independently, and all the while hungered for approval from his father, who died of a heart attack at 45.

The pattern repeated with his own four children, Kerry, Dale Jr., Kelley, and Taylor. Dale was so focused on his own career that much of his time was spent away from the kids. He sent Dale Jr. and Kelley to military school. Sometimes they had nannies. At times it felt like their dad didn’t know them, and they hungered for his attention, even when he was around. When Kerry, Dale Jr., and Kelley wanted to get into racing, their father made them build their own careers with little involvement, not even attending their races.

This family dynamic, the regret it causes, and the fleeting triumph over it is told by his children with the forgiving clarity that comes with maturity. They admired him and wanted a deeper relationship.  

Dale Earnhardt, “The Intimidator,” and his black No. 3 car were unpredictable. Sometimes he used the car to tap competitors’ cars on the side or corner, sending them into a spin while he sailed to the finish line. For fans of that era, it is bittersweet to see video of Earnhardt’s No. 3 car in action.

The storytelling in Earnhardt helps fans remember that racing is more than machines on a track. There are dramas playing out. Father versus son; teammates trying to run together; the rookie who spent his last dime on this race and needs a sponsor to keep running; and spectacular crashes. Fans used to look forward to the crashes, with flying debris, smoke, spin-outs, and the caution flag. It was part of the excitement.

But that changed when Dale Earnhardt died in a crash on the final lap of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18, 2001. Drivers — and even a few spectators — had died before. No driver has died in a crash since, as NASCAR changed safety rules.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., who by then was in the same races as his dad, got back in his own car the next week to race and, in an emotional scene, crashed in the first lap.

The family was stunned at the national attention Dale Earnhardt’s funeral received. His death changed the culture of NASCAR in some ways, but even now The Intimidator’s black No. 3 can be seen on t-shirts and flags fixed to campers parked in track infields.

Earnhardt might not recognize the sport today. Many of the names have changed. And NASCAR went woke, banning the Confederate flag from races in 2020. And in 2023 the sport that wastes so much fuel vowed to get to net-zero carbon emissions by 2035. To add to the sport’s turmoil, last year NASCAR fined and suspended nine people on three teams over race manipulation.

NASCAR television viewership has been down in recent years. Most tracks keep the attendance number private, but it is easy to spot open bleachers when the cameras catch the grandstands.

Amazon Prime Video is broadcasting NASCAR races for the first time this year, and Earnhardt is likely to send nostalgic fans who stopped watching back to the races. How will NASCAR keep them?

Beth Brelje is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.