»RELATED: Dale Earnhardt Jr. to retire following 2017 season
“When I met him at the airport I didn’t know what he looked like,” Stapleton said. “I saw two guys getting off the plane with ball caps and black jeans and I figured they were racers.”
Stapleton offered to take Earnhardt Jr. and his associate to dinner. They wanted a good burger so Stapleton took them to K’s Hamburger Shop in Troy. The waitress knew Stapleton, but didn’t recognize his dining companions.
“She said I can’t make it to the race but I’d sure like to meet (Earnhardt Jr.),” Stapleton said. “I told her, ‘Well, you just served him.’ ”
That night at Shady Bowl, Earnhardt Jr. was the sixth-fastest qualifier in a 28-car field and finished fifth in the 50-lap super late model feature Oct. 6, driving the No. 4 owned by Germantown’s Keith Boothe.
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“It was exciting, but it’s like every other track — there’s a hot dog (driver) and a few others who can keep up,” Earnhardt Jr. told Dayton Daily News reporter Leal Beattie that night. “Keith and his guys know how to get a car around here. I got lucky and fell in with a good crowd.”
Earnhardt Jr. gave Shady Bowl its largest pit gate. The track, which averaged 1,400 fans for weekly shows, swelled to about 2,200.
“He was a first-class gentleman,” Stapleton said. “He was very cordial to the fans and after the race he kept his uniform on, sat behind the shower and signed autographs until everyone was gone.
“The neatest thing about him, about eight years later I was at Daytona and he saw me. He said, ‘You’re Charlie. I had a lot of fun up at Shady Bowl. How are you doing?’ He’s not your typical star. He’s a very down-to-earth guy. … I wish him the best.”
Kentucky Speedway general manager Mark Simendinger expects Earnhardt Jr. to help bring in another big crowd for the Monster Energy Series’ Quaker State 400 on July 8.
“In the short run we’ll probably benefit from this,” Simendinger said. “It’s people’s last chance to see Junior so I imagine that will help us this year. In the long run, we’re certainly in a transition. When you lose (Jeff) Gordon, (Tony) Stewart, (Carl) Edwards and Earnhardt Jr. in the span of 24 months I think that’s called a transition. I think it’s more important than ever to develop our stars.”
Simendinger said his interactions with Earnhardt Jr. were on the professional level and the popular driver was always willing to help promote the sport. That said, he’s not surprised Earnhardt Jr. is stepping away from NASCAR and, as he said, going out on his terms.
“I think it’s probably fair to say, I think Dale would just as soon be at home with his friends kicking back,” Simendinger said. “He has been the face of our sport — and certainly the most popular driver for 14 years in a row — and everywhere he goes he’s the No. 1 story. He does it because the sport needs it. I think he’d just as soon go fishing or hunting. Some guys really love the spotlight. I’m not sure he does. He can handle it and he’s good at it. But he doesn’t seek it out.”
Earnhardt’s retirement does present a problem for Simendinger — what gift to present him in July?
“My only thought about that is we already got the man a wife. What more is there?” Simendinger said, referring to University of Kentucky graduate Amy (Reimann) Earnhardt. “I don’t know. We have to have guys stop retiring because I’m running out of stuff to give them. We did bourbon for Gordon and (UK) Coach (John Calipari) came through with a jersey for Stewart. I can’t afford a derby horse.”
Credit: Ron Alvey
Credit: Ron Alvey
In addition to Shady Bowl, Earnhardt Jr. made other notable appearances in the Miami Valley. In 2004 he dropped the puck for the Dayton Bombers hockey team to help benefit the Children’s Medical Center and Make-A-Wish. A crowd of 10,057 gave the Bombers their first sellout at the Nutter Center.
“Dale means a lot to a lot of people. It’s kind of like the Beatles or something,” said Janet Simpson, 47, of Xenia, said that night. “There were a lot of screams from a lot of people who would’ve given so much just to see him.”
Earnhardt Jr. also made appearances at the Prelude to the Dream dirt late model charity event at Eldora Speedway, the track owned by Stewart.
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