Richard Childress Says Dale Earnhardt Refused To Leave RCR When They Were At Their Worst: “If He Gave You His Word, He Was Going To Stand Up To It”

True character.

Hard to come by these days…

This week, NASCAR team owner Richard Childress appeared on an episode of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Dale Jr. Download, where he of course talked about his relationship with Dale Earnhardt Sr., who raced for him for mostly in the 90’s.

But apparently, there was a time when Childress wanted Dale Sr. to walk away from the team, after a particularly rough season in ’85, when their #3 Chevy had blown 11 times and the season just wasn’t going well at all.

It got so bad, in fact, that Childress eventually sat down with Earnhardt face-to-face and told him he needed to “find another ride.” He clearly knew the talent of Earnhardt and didn’t want to waste it, feeling like he was letting him down and really being a friend to him, rather than a boss.

I don’t think many owners would willingly let their best driver walk and take that sort of responsibility, but Childress recalled:

“We went to Pocono and we blew up at that long straightaway. It was a long story how we fixed it and everything but we got back at evening. Was pretty quiet on the airplane coming back…

I remember the house and the wall we sat on and I sat down and Dale sat down I said, ‘Dale you need to get you another ride next year. You’ve got to, you’re better than this. We’ve blown up 11 times, we can’t keep right. You don’t need to be here’ I said.”

He told Dale Jr. he will “never forget” the look on Dale Sr.’s face, as he told him he wasn’t leaving, and they were going to “finish it together” after they started it together:

“I never will forget the look on his face. He turned and looked at me, he was sitting on my left and he turned and looked and he said, ‘We started this together, we’re going to finish it together.’

That’s the kind of man he was. He had all kind of offers to go other places and he might have won a lot more championships if he had, but you know we had such a great relationship.”

It’s impressive, to say the least, and I think gives some great insight into who Sr. was deep down… a loyal friend who stuck by the people he believed in and kept his word. Childress added:

“That’s the kind of man your dad was. If he gave you his word, he was going to stand up to it, and I was the same way.”

It would be amazing to get to hear Dale Sr.’s side of the story, but I’m sure he had a feeling they would figure it out, and they certainly did. He won six NASCAR Cup Series championships with Richard Childress Racing, and obviously became the most recognizable and iconic driver of all time.

So it all worked out in the end, and Dale Sr. was rewarded for being a man of his word, which makes it so much cooler.

You can watch them discuss that story below.