“Good times”: Ex-NASCAR driver points to Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s overlooked personality aspect amid sharing old picture

Hermie Sadler, a former race car driver who competed in NASCAR from 1992 to 2019, recently came across a picture of himself sharing a lighthearted moment with the legendary Dale Earnhardt. Recalling the appearance from 1993, Sadler claimed that most people did not know what an amazing sense of humor the late intimidator’ had.

Earnhardt, to this day, is remembered as one of the greatest drivers to have ever competed in NASCAR’s top-tier racing series. He won 76 races and seven championships during his tenure in the NASCAR Cup Series.

On the track, Dale Earnhardt was a force that most of his contemporaries did not want to mess with. But away from the track, he was quite a fun guy to get along with. Reflecting on the same through his post, Sadler wrote,

“Was looking for something on my phone and ran across this pic of me and Big E together at an appearance in 1993. Most people don’t realize what a sense of humor he had. Good times.”

Dale Earnhardt met with a nerve-chilling accident during the concluding lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, which ultimately resulted in his untimely demise. In 2010, Earnhardt was posthumously inducted into the prestigious NASCAR Hall of Fame. His son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., also a former NASCAR driver, received the honor in 2021.

This year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will run select late-model races with the famous No. 8 Budweiser Chevy, once owned by Dale Earnhardt Inc., a now-defunct race team founded in 1980 by Earnhardt Sr. himself. Dale Jr. took the iconic No. 8 entry to the victory lane on 17 occasions from 1999 until 2007, after which, he moved to Hendrick Motorsports as the driver of the #88.

How Dale Earnhardt’s death brought about a major change to NASCAR’s safety regulations

Fans were shocked at the sight of Dale Earnhardt’s No. 3 car getting T-boned during the final laps of the 2001 Daytona 500. The fallen racer was rushed to Halifax Medical Center in Florida, while the entire community prayed for his speedy recovery.

But unfortunately, Dale Sr. did not make it and he was announced dead from a basilar skull fracture. And that’s exactly when NASCAR knew they had to up their safety standards.

“We lost many lives before him,” three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin said (via AP News). “But until it was ‘The Man’ himself, it wasn’t at the forefront.”

Following the tragedy, NASCAR made significant upgrades to its HANS device and SAFER barriers, while redesigning the NASCAR Cup Series prototype. The NextGen car debuted in 2022, despite its share of controversies.

Former Cup Series regulars like Kurt Busch and Ryan Newman have fallen prey to such life-threatening crashes since then. However, they did walk out of their cars afterward, and lived; thanks to NASCAR’s safety upgrades.