Name: Dale Earnhardt, Sr. on Letterman, November 29, 1990
Uploaded: 2018-08-04T03:26:11.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Dale Earnhardt, Sr. on Letterman, November 29, 1990' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2018-08-04. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Dale Earnhardt, Sr. on Letterman, November 29, 1990' from Don Giller on Comedy Buff. Published 2018-08-04. Transcript available.

Our next guest here, take a look at this videotape on your home set, driving
automobile number three in black.
Last week became the 1990 Winston Cup NASCAR champion for the fourth time in
his career.
Ladies and gentlemen, here's Dale Earnhardt.
Oh, Dale!
Well, we'll get some of that for you a little bit later.
You and Gilbert can eat together.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Fourth time in your career.
Now, a lot of guys never get to be the champion once in their career, and you've
done it four times.
Is there a secret?
Are you that much better than everybody else?
Do you have better equipment?
How do you do this?
Got a heavier foot.
Good for you.
Yeah, Richard Petty's won seven.
We won four, so it's pretty good.
And so Richard is the all-time champion leader in your room?
He's the one.
Congratulations again.
We're trying to win seven like he did.
Now, how much when you win a championship, we're talking about in a season,
what, 24, 25 races or more than that?
29 races.
29 races.
We won nine out of them.
Wow.
Yeah.
And how much money do you win for the championship?
Well, this year we won over $3 million with the championship.
Man.
Well, that's pretty good.
Just this year.
And your career earnings are about how much?
Uh, $13 million.
Wow.
Well, you're doing pretty well, aren't you?
Ten years.
Ten years.
Um, and your nickname is, uh, Ironhead.
Well, that's Bobby Allison's nickname for him.
I hit the wall in Pocono and it put me out.
Now, let's go back a second.
You hit the wall.
You're in your car, I guess, to start with.
Yeah.
Sure.
And, uh, how fast were you going when you tagged the wall?
Probably around 160 mile an hour where we hit.
And then hit driver's side first and it knocked me out and, uh, they was
transporting me to
the hospital in a helicopter and it was a narrow helicopter.
My feet were out one side and my head out the other.
Uh, sort of came to a little bit.
Remember a lot of air and sky and I thought I was going to heaven.
Well, it's a pretty nice ceremony.
We're going to heaven.
I woke up the next day and seen Jake Elder and you hadn't went to heaven.
I was still on earth.
Yeah.
Uh, is that the worst you've ever been injured?
Yes.
Really?
You know, when I watch these races on Sunday afternoon in the spring and
through the summer
and, uh, they just finished up a couple of weeks ago, these automobiles are
capable,
I guess, of going over 200 miles an hour.
Oh, yeah.
We could run probably 226 miles an hour at Talladega or thereabouts.
The record's 212.
212.
212.
On a closed circuit.
Now, and the thing that I notice about NASCAR racing is it's, uh, very often,
you'll have
six, seven, maybe even as many as 10 cars on the lead lap even late in the race.
Right, drafting together.
Drafting together and they're literally like nose to tail.
Now, now, why are you able to compete like that?
How, how come so many people are, are, have that kind of equipment to main that
sort of
parity?
Well, on, on the speedways, it's, uh, drafting plays, plays a big part.
So, you're tucked in behind them.
Aerodynamics.
You're, you're in a little pocket.
Yeah.
And you're, they're sort of towing you along.
Yeah.
You're trusting the guy up front a lot to do, go to the right place.
If he hits the wall, probably six of us hit the wall.
Yeah.
You, you don't want to follow him all the time.
Yeah, but why, but why don't, why don't you see that in, in other forms of
automobile
racing?
You very rarely see that kind of, uh, close-knit pack racing to the last lap.
I think we've got more guts, I reckon.
Oh!
No, our cars are, you know, we're stock-bodied cars, and, uh, the aerodynamics
play a big
part on any type cars, and they can't get right close to each other because it
takes
the air off the car and they crash.
Turbots, yeah.
Turbots, yeah.
Now, you know, we've had a lot of guys on here.
In fact, we had, uh, uh, um...
Richard Petty.
Richard Petty has been here.
This guy at one of the Daytona 500.
Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, so, what, what is his name?
I can't...
I forgot.
Oh, no, no, no.
I forgot also.
Why did I forget?
Derek, Derek Cole.
There you go.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh, you were leading on the last lap.
You had, like, a quarter of a mile to go, and you ran over debris, and your
tire goes
out, and he...
Busted right rear tire.
Yeah.
Now, you've not won Daytona, right?
I've won Daytona, the Firecracker race in July, but I haven't won the Daytona
500.
That's like the Super Bowl race for us.
Yeah, yeah.
But that's, that's just another part of racing, the heartbreaks, the
frustration.
You want to win.
It's like winning Le Mans if you're a 24-hour racer, or winning the Indy 500 if
you're
Al Unser Jr.
Right.
Uh, you know, so anyway, I've had all of these guys on, and, and I've asked
them if I can't
get me one of these cars that we're talking about.
I've invited you to come down and test, and you haven't come down and test.
I'll come down and test.
Date on in January, you come out and test.
I'll be down there to test.
But see, I want one of these...
I got your helmet.
Got your name on it.
I got my own helmet.
I'll be down there.
I got your helmet.
All right.
But I want, I want one of these cars.
Now, they're stock cars.
They're stock cars.
Now, how big is the engine in them?
They're, uh, 355 cubic inch.
Right.
That's what I want.
650 horsepower.
That's what I want.
Radio?
Yeah, two-way radio.
I just, I want, in fact, let me buy, I'll pay for it.
I don't want somebody to donate this.
Let me buy, like, one of your old cars.
Old cars?
You go out there.
You want a whole one?
Sort it out.
Last year's model.
Okay.
And make it street legal.
I'll pay for all of this.
And I just want to have it at the house to scare the neighbors.
Well, I can do that.
Because people say, geez, looks like Dave's got him a new Lumina.
And then, boom, look out.
You got a hundred thousand?
Yeah.
Well, I would love to have one of those.
Now, could that be done?
Oh, yeah.
I could say one for a hundred thousand.
All right.
Well, let's talk right after the show.
Over dinner.
And what are you going to do in the off-season now?
Test and get ready to race.
Go deer hunting, fishing.
Yeah.
And you own a chicken ranch, chicken farm?
Cattle farm and chicken ranch.
I'm in cahoots with Purdue.
Yeah.
Oh, you got a contract with the Purdue farm?
Yeah.
Are you getting close to retiring or not?
Me?
Yeah, okay.
Are you retiring?
Yeah, well, I did earlier tonight.
Didn't you hear?
Yeah.
Happened about eight minutes into the show.
I hit the wall.
I hit the wall.
Crashed and burned.
That's right.
Dale Earnhardt, ladies and gentlemen.
We'll be right back.
Who's that guy?
Get that guy out of here.
Who is that guy?
Hey, Morty, who is this guy over here?
Chef.
Get him out.
Oh, that's the chef.
Oh, how do you do? Nice to see you.
Okay, we've got to go.
I like the floor mats, the tinted windshields, and the undercoating.
Tomorrow on the program, it's the same show.
We're going to do it again for you tomorrow night.
Good night, everybody.