Preamble: The title comes from Robert Sheffield’s 2010 novel “Talking to Girls About Duran Duran.” In the novel, he takes 25 pop songs from the 1980s and uses each song as a jumping off point to talk about his love of music and growing up in the 1980s. (If you’re more into hair metal than pop, you should also check out Chuck Klosterman’s 2001 book “Fargo Rock City.”) In “Talking to People Who Don’t Know NASCAR About Daytona, I’m going to devote each entry in the series to one of my Top 10 favourite Daytona 500s. Instead of discussing who led what laps, etc. I’m going to describe to an audience (and probably a non-existence one) why I chose this particular race.
#5 – “The 1993 Daytona 500 – “Call your boy home!”
After 199 laps of the 1993 Daytona 500 had been logged, CBS Sports’s Bob Steiner told commentators Ken Squier and Neil Bonnett to step back and let Ned Jarrett call the last lap on his own.
It wasn’t out of respect for the 50 Cup wins that Jarrett had, or a nod to the two Grand National Championships (1961, 1965) that he won. In fact, Steiner making the call had nothing to do with Jarrett’s racing career, which would earn him a spot among the 2011 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Ned Jarrett was the father of three children including son Glenn and daughter Patti. The third child, a son named Dale, had started second in the 1993 Daytona 500, driving the #18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing.
But there was another Dale in that race, the black #3 Goodwrench Chevrolet, driving by Richard Childress Racing driver Dale Earnhardt. As he had so many times in the past, Earnhardt had led much of the race but his car was getting loose. As he had in 1990, Earnhardt came to the white flag with the lead, but was passed by the younger Jarrett, who was getting drafting help, first from future three-time winner Jeff Gordon and then from 1986 Daytona 500 winner, Geoffrey Bodine.
In the booth, Ned Jarrett was becoming more and more excited by the scene playing out in front of his eyes.
“Come on, Dale!” Go, baby, go!”
Earlier that morning, father and son had discussed strategy for maintaining a lead. Dale Jarrett would later say that he was carrying out that strategy, even as Ned was urging him “don’t let him get on the inside” as Jarrett and Earnhardt went into the final turns.
“It’s the Dale and Dale Show as they come through turn four. You know who I’m pulling for – it’s Dale Jarrett!”
Forever more, the 1993 Daytona 500 would be known by Jarrett’s tag of “the Dale and Dale Show.” While some might have criticized Jarrett for openly cheering for his son, no one who really sat down and thought about it could have really expected anything different. Ned Jarrett could have calmly called the race down the middle, but it would have robbed NASCAR of another Daytona 500 moment for the ages.
It was a father watching his son achieve a crowning moment, and Ned’s enthusiasm didn’t take away from that moment but, rather, made it all the more special.
“He’s gonna make it! He’s gonna win the Daytona 500!”
The Daytona 500 win was emotional for the entire family. CBS also had a camera on Dale’s mother (and Ned’s wife) Martha, unable to watch the final moments of the race and then becoming overwhelmed with emotion as she realized her son had just won NASCAR’s greatest race.
Indeed, as father Ned and mother, Martha, looked on, Dale Jarrett came to the checkered flag just ahead of Dale Earnhardt to win his first of three Daytona 500s (the others came in 1996 and 2000). It was the second win of Jarrett’s career and the first win for Joe Gibbs Racing.
In speaking with his father from Victory Lane, Dale Jarrett said that he had done “just what you told me,” thanking his father for everything.
But the story of the 1993 Daytona 500 doesn’t end there.
Throughout his career, Ned Jarrett had earned the nickname “Gentleman”. While no one should fault him for the enthusiasm he had shown during his calling of the race, Jarrett himself was embarrassed.
The next week, when the NASCAR circuit moved to Rockingham, Jarrett found Earnhardt before the pre-race drivers meeting. Earnhardt congratulated Ned on his son’s victory but Ned was really there to apologize for opening cheering for his son on national television.
But the man known as the Intimidator would have none of it. There was no apology necessary in Dale Earnhardt’s mind. After all, as he said to Jarrett, “Don’t you forget that I’m a daddy, too!”
johnmilner.ca 