Sometimes when Dale had the microphone and camera stuffed in his face, he came out with some pretty memorable remarks, sometimes funny and sometimes not. The media was not always respectful of Dale, giving him the privacy he sometimes desired after a misfortune or mishap. Below are some of the more memorable remarks Dale's said in the past.
"He tried to wreck me twice. I wasn't gonna take it from him no more." - Dale describing his famous "Pass in the Grass" of Bill Elliott in the 1987 "The Winston".
"It's something you don't want to think about happening, and I try not to." - Dale Earnhardt talking about the death of Winston Cup driver Terry Schoonover at Atlanta during the race on 11/12/84.
"You've got to go to where the big bucks are to get one. It's very seldom they'll come to you. And if that's in an area that's aggravating to reach, well, tough." - Dale giving pointers on landing the trophy sized deer that fill his walls.
"I've tried to capitalize on what he told me, all the advice he gave me. I wish I paid more attention." - Dale talking about the influence of his dad Ralph on his life and career.
"That 'Bama bunch has won enough. It's time for us Tar Heels to take back over." - Dale on how the Allisons have dominated the tracks in the early 80's
"I never thought I had it in the bag. I was counting them corners all day." - Dale on his devestating loss in the 1990 Daytona 500 when a cut tire cost him a sure victory
"I'll run as long as my ol' head will stay on my neck and I can turn a steering wheel." - 10/3/90 When Dale was asked how long he was going to stay in a racecar
"I've never thought about being the best or greatest. Not even when I started running what amounted to be jalopies back in the mid -70's. I just wanted to drive a race car like my daddy." - Dale on 11/15/92
"We've lost this race about every way you can lose it. We've been out-gased, out-tired, out-run, out-everythinged." - 2/15/93 Dale on his chances at winning the 1993 Daytona 500
"This is the Daytona 500. I don't reckon I'm supposed to win the damned thing." - Dale's comment after losing the 500 again in 1995
"Gordon is so young they're going to serve him milk at the banquet in New York instead of champagne." - Dale on Jeff grodon's first of 4 Winston Cup Championships
"I knew I was going to hit the wall and I knew it was gonna hurt." - Dale on his 1996 Talladeag crash
"It was my time I have been passed on the last lap, I have run out of gas and I have cut a tire. I knew we were coming back to the checkered." - Dale on his long awaited 1998 Daytona 500 victory
"I cried a little bit in the race car on the way to the checkered flag. Well, maybe not cried, but at least my eyes watered up." - Dale on his emotions taking the checkered flag in the 1998 Daytona 500
"I didn't mean to do it intentionally. I meant to get in there and race with him, but I know he's not going to see it that way. I know he's upset. He has a right to be." - Dale on Terry Labonte's last lap crash in the 99 night race at Bristol in which Earnhardt went on to win
"To think anybody could come from as far back in the field as we were and win this race is beyond me. You saw it, I couldn't believe it." - Dale on his final Winston Cup victory at the 2000 Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway
"It was good, hard racing, but I still don't like restrictor-plate racing. I'm not that good at it." - Dale on the ongoing controversy of restrictor-plate racing after his final victory at Talladega.
"If I was to die driving this pickup truck on the highway, that would be a tragedy. But if I were to die in a racecar on the racetrack, that wouldn't be a tragedy. That would be the way I would want to go." - Dale during an interview with Benny Phillips for his biography
"I've heard people say that we're going too fast. Maybe we do, maybe we don't. But do you want to race or don't you?" - Dale during an interview with ESPN's Jerry Punch when asked about restrictor plate racing and it's future
"You can spend your life looking at the "what could have beens", or you can look at your life as the "what will I make it?". I don't know about you Kid, but I'd rather spend my time looking ahead in life and not in the rearview mirror. I never won no race looking behind me, only toward the checkered flag. I reckon my daddy taught me that." - The last conversation Dale and I had on the morning of the Daytona 500 outside his motorhome
There were so many more funny quips and prophetic statements Dale made throughout his career. But I found these to be some of the most memorable taht stick in my mind.
