Race Fan's Reflections ~ Son Of A Gentleman: Dale Jarrett, Part I
3/25/2013
Jim Fitzgerald
NASCAR Hall Of Fame member Ned Jarrett’s driving career lasted
only thirteen years, in none of which he competed in a full schedule, coming
the closest in 1962 and 1965 when he was one race short of running the
gauntlet. In those thirteen years,
Jarrett amassed 50 victories, 185 top-five finishes, 239 top-ten finishes, won
35 poles, and was the 1961 and 1965 Series Champion. Before he had won a single race, scored a
pole, or even led a single lap, Ned and his wife, Martha, had their second son
on November 26th, 1956. Born in Conover, North Carolina, Dale Arnold Jarrett, the
second son of “Gentleman Ned” was to be set into the auto racing industry by
blood, as his older brother, Glenn gave driving a solid effort as well. The elder Jarrett sibling would find minimal
success behind the wheel of a race car over a shortened career, but found much
more behind the microphone after his career was over. Dale Jarrett, however, found his success on
the track, but the public was very close to possibly knowing Dale Jarrett from
a different form of driving. More on
that in a bit. Jarrett spent his younger days excelling in any high school sport
in which he participated. Football,
baseball, and basketball were of little challenge to Jarrett in his teen
years. In fact, he was even offered a
scholarship from the University of South Carolina to play golf, but turned it
down because he was not focused on school at the time. Instead, when he graduated high school, he
took a job helping his father keep Hickory Speedway, a track Ned owned, ready
for the race fans. Dale’s duties
included litter pick up, selling tickets and snacks, and mowing the grass at
the track. Opting instead to hang out
with his friends in one instance, Dale, in lieu of mowing the grass himself,
brought a goat over to eat the grass.
The goat, however, had other ideas for food, and choose to eat the seats
and dashboards out of a few junked cars on the property. It wasn’t until a few years later that Dale would decide to
follow in the footsteps of his father and brother, and give racing a try. Jarrett built a race car with high school
friends Jimmy Newsome and Andy Petree, who would go onto become a Championship
crew chief, as well as a car owner and broadcast personality. Since Dale was supplying the engine,
purchased with money he borrowed from Ned, he was awarded the steering
wheel. Jarrett’s first race took place
in 1977, appropriately at Hickory.
Jarrett started the race in 25th position, but finished
ninth. It was then that Jarrett knew
that sport in which he wanted to excel the most was auto racing. He began racing in the Limited Sportsman
Division, and then in 1982, Jarrett began racing in the Busch Grand National
Series. In the season opening Goody’s 300 at Daytona, Jarrett would
start his No. 24 Ford in the 20th position, but finish 10th
in his first event which was won by Dale Earnhardt. When the season ended, Jarrett’s win column
was bare, but he did manage a top-five finish.
To no one’s surprise, it was a third place run at Hickory. Along with it came 14 top-ten finishes,
including six consecutive. In 1983,
however, Jarrett began to perform even better.
He scored, along with four poles, 17 top-fives
and 21 top-tens, and finished fifth in the final
series standings. He continued in the Busch Series for the next few years, but
also made his first Cup Series start during that time, driving for Emanuel Zervakis at Martinsville and Rockingham, and Jimmy Means at
Daytona in the summer. His best finish
was a 14th at Martinsville after starting 24th. It was not until 1986 that Jarrett won a
Busch Series race, and it was not at Hickory.
This one came at Rougemont in North Carolina,
and then the year after, he graduated into the Cup Series on an almost full
schedule, running 24 of 29 races for in the No. 18 for Eric Freedlander. His best finish was a pair of tenths, one at
Bristol early in the season, the other late at Martinsville. He finished second to Davey Allison in the
battle for Rookie of the Year. In the
Busch Series that season, he DID win at Hickory, and went on to win nine more
times in his career in that series. The Cup campaign continued in 1988 for Jarrett, when he
would take a seat wherever he could find one.
After opening the season with a 16th place finish at Daytona
in Hoss Ellington’s No. 1 car, he went on to split time with Ellington and Cale
Yarborough in his No. 29 Hardee’s Oldsmobile, while running a single race each
for Ralph Ball and Buddy Arrington. The
season was a disappointment with 14 races Jarrett was unable to finish, and a
lone top-ten, an eighth place at Riverside, was the highlight. In 1989, Jarrett ran the entire season for
Yarborough, and had decidedly better results.
The Daytona 500 was substandard, but they followed it with an 11th
at The Rock and a 9th place at Atlanta. It would not be until Pocono in June,
however, that the team would score another top-ten finish. Another followed at Bristol in August. Jarrett and the team then score their first
top-five together at Martinsville, and then followed it up with another fifth
place finish at the inaugural race at Phoenix.
Jarrett finished 24th in the 1989 final standings. In 1990, Yarborough put 49 year-old 1989 Rookie of the Year
Dick Trickle into his car, and Jarrett was left without a ride. However, the wheels were soon put into motion
on the vehicle which would carry Dale Jarrett from relative mediocrity to
eventual Hall of Fame status. In the fifth race of the year, at Darlington, a multi-car
caution on lap 210 involved the No. 21 Citgo Ford of Neil Bonnett. Bonnett’s car was
destroyed in the crash, and Bonnett himself was injured to the point where he
would not return to the driver’s seat of a race car for more than two
years. The Wood Brothers, owners of Bonnett’s car, now needed a replacement driver, and they
signed Dale Jarrett to fill the void. In
his first outing with his new team, Jarrett finished 11th at
Bristol, seven laps off the pace to winner Davey Allison. Jarrett would score his first top-ten finish
with the Wood Brothers at the Daytona race in July, coming home eighth. More followed at Michigan, Bristol, and then
two consecutive at Dover and Martinsville.
In the final race of the season at Atlanta, they scored their only
top-five of the year, a fourth place run.
Despite missing five races during the season, Jarrett and the No. 21
crew finished 25th in points. 1991. Now 34 years
old, Jarrett was at the age where many drivers, if they were going to make it,
already had. In today’s NASCAR, that age
number could probably drop by seven to ten years. As Ernie Irvan scored his second career win
in the Daytona 500 that year where Jarrett finished 6th, Jarrett was still
trying to take his first win. They had a
few good runs throughout the season, including a seventh at Bristol and a fifth
at Charlotte. Then at Pocono in July,
things began to come together with top ten runs at Pocono and Talladega, and
then a 5th place showing at Watkins Glen, of all places. The following week, the series headed to
Michigan. Davey Allison had been strong
all year, won the first race of the season at Michigan, and again had a car
capable of winning, leading 61 laps on the day. During a late caution, however,
Jarrett and the Wood Brothers would choose a different pit strategy, taking
fuel only, and lead the field coming to the restart. Davey was mired back in
traffic but with only a few laps to go had worked his way back into second breaking
into the win column as he defeated Allison by a mere ten inches. As promising as the win was, there was disappointment
ahead as the team was able to score only one more top-ten finish in the
remaining races, and they finished 17th in the final points. Jarrett would leave the Wood Brothers’ team
at the end of the season. (Check back tomorrow for Part II)
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