DALE EARNHARDT: 1951-2001: The Last Lap

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Sometimes too hard. In one early-career incident, he tapped and spun the car of dirt-track driver Stick Elliot. The word went out that Stick's mechanic had a gun and was looking for Ironhead. The grease monkey didn't find him, and the racer who would soon be known by a second sobriquet, the Intimidator, drove off to greater glory. Earnhardt was NASCAR's rookie of the year in 1979 and won the season-long title in 1980. Even critics of his aggressive tactics acknowledged that in Earnhardt, NASCAR had as talented a driver as it had ever seen.

He married a second time, and then a third; his family grew to include Kelley and Dale Jr., with second wife Brenda; and Taylor Nicole, with Teresa, his widow. He got into the business of racing, using the money from his on-track success, which would eventually burgeon to an all-time record $41.6 million, to start Dale Earnhardt Inc., an auto-racing company that would grow to employ 200 in Mooresville and field three cars on NASCAR's Winston Cup circuit.

But as Earnhardt thrived, two elements of his driving career--his readiness to mix it up and his regular place at the center of crashes--continued to make him controversial. His great rival of the 1980s, Darrell Waltrip, once spoke for the field when he said, "You ought to get 10 bonus points for taking Earnhardt out of a race." Neil Bonnett, Earnhardt's best friend at the time, said, "If I can ever catch him, I'm gonna knock the s___ out of him." Bonnett, it is eerie to note, died in 1994 after crashing his Chevrolet into the wall at Daytona's Turn 4.

As Earnhardt's legend grew, so did NASCAR's popularity, and in recent years both took on a nuanced appearance. Earnhardt settled down with Teresa, and by all accounts settled down a bit on the oval too. He came to be seen as a grand, grizzled gentleman of the game, the kind of athlete you take your kid to see, so that a decade from now the kid can say he once saw Dale Earnhardt drive. Another change: Dale Jr. joined him on the circuit. "These past two years, having Junior on the track, we've all seen a marked change in Dale," said David Allen, his longtime p.r. manager.

For all its immensity and newfound wealth, NASCAR is in some regards still a traveling Southern tent show, a caravan of families who just happen to go very fast. It is nothing if not dynastic: Bill France handing the reins of his empire to Bill France Jr. Lee Petty handing the wheel to his son Richard, who hands it to his boy Kyle, who hands it to his kid Adam--who, tragically, is killed in 2000 at Loudon. Dale Jarrett teaching his son Dale how to drive, as Darrell Waltrip encourages his brother Michael. Bobby Allison teaching Clifford and Davey, then losing both boys, Clifford to a crash and Davey to a helicopter accident. Ralph Earnhardt teaching Dale, who teaches Junior.