“No Harness With a Chainsaw”

Dale Earnhardt’s definition of having fun wasn’t limited to winning races in NASCAR. He loved to hunt and go on fishing trips. Stories about the Intimidator’s non-NASCAR adventures are rare, but NASCAR fans were treated to some interesting ones on the latest episode of The Dale Jr. Download.

The former HMS star recalled his childhood days when he witnessed Dale Sr. doing the mundane task of chopping down a tree. “He’s just up there, with no rope or nothing. No harness with a chainsaw. Spends about 30 minutes up there, knocking limbs out and gets to the bottom and finally takes the tree down.”

Earnhardt had volunteered to chop down a tree for a buddy in Lake Norman. Dale Jr. was about 10 years old at the time, and he was baffled by his father working with a chainsaw on a Wednesday. It’s vital for race car drivers to stay fit and healthy so they can compete on weekends. But the Intimidator wasn’t an average NASCAR driver.

Junior even added that his father was carefree about the risks involved in climbing the tree and hacking down the limbs. He even sustained a cut on his hand, but none of that seemed to bother him.

“His gloves tore up, and he pulled his glove off. Sometimes during that whole mess up there, that chainsaw laid on his hand and ripped the glove and ripped his hands. I’m like 10 or 8 years old, something like that, and I’m like, ‘Daddy, when’d you do that?’ And he goes, ‘Man, I just got up there,’” Dale Jr. added.

It’s hard to imagine a NASCAR driver taking on midweek adventures like Dale Sr. did during his time. Today, most teams are too wary of their drivers’ conditioning and want to make sure they are available to race on Sundays. On the flip side, Dale Earnhardt was casually hacking limbs off trees or planning his next hunting adventure.

MLB All-Star Jody Davis also chimed in with his own stories about the Intimidator and their hunting trips together. And his experiences were more or less similar to what Jr. described about his father.

“I can remember your dad in Alabama. He wanted to hang a stand, and it’s one of those great big Civil War white oak trees. It’s like this big around, and your dad fills his pocket full of pigs and starts up that thing. And he went way to the top of the tree, and now he wants to cut some of the other limbs out of the way so he can see out and shoot,” Davis recalled on the show.

Dale Earnhardt was truly a larger-than-life personality. Stories like these allow fans to learn about the more human side of Earnhardt, not just the legendary race car driver.

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