"It was done in a respectable way": When Kelley Earnhardt opened up about her relationship with her father Dale Earnhardt

Kelley Earnhardt Miller's relationship with her father, the late Dale Earnhardt, was far from a normal father-daughter relationship. Till the time Earnhardt was alive, both of them spent their life to repair their familial bonding, something Kelley Earnhardt highlighted through her book — Drive: 9 Lessons to Win in Business and in Life.

Although Earnhardt Miller and Dale Earnhardt were father and daughter, their relationship did not turn out to be a normal one, especially after Earnhardt's divorce from Brenda Lorraine Jackson. Initially, Kelley Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. lived with their mother after the divorce, but a fire that destroyed their home made them move out to live with Dale Earnhardt.

Even though they lived together, their relationship was far from fine, as according to Kelley Earnhardt Miller, Dale Earnhardt was a man who was invested more in racing than in the family. As a result, Earnhardt Miller would meet her father more at the meeting table than at the house.

"As much sadness that I have about my childhood and the things that I wished and hoped for from my dad in terms of just more of an emotional relationship with him, the interesting thing is that I do credit a lot of the way we were raised with our success with JR Motorsports and the way we run our businesses," Earnhardt Miller wrote in her book.

While studying at the University, Kelley Earnhardt Miller worked for a hospitality and events company that had worked with NASCAR at the time. Consequently, Earnhardt Miller would find her father at the opposite side of the table in the meeting for business, not as a daughter speaking to her father.

“I spent most of my life really yearning for a relationship with my dad, only to lose him when I was 27. I would be in meetings with him but not as his daughter. I was on the other side of the table working for a business. It was done in a respectable way, and I think people realize that we’re all human at the end of the day.”

Earnhardt Miller is an American businesswoman and the daughter of seven-time Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt. She was born to Earnhardt and his second wife, Brenda Lorraine Jackson (Gee). She has a younger brother, Dale Earnhardt Jr., a former NASCAR Cup Series driver.

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When Kelley Earnhardt Miller touched upon values Dale Earnhardt taught her

During an interview with Jacksonville.com in 2012, Kelley Earnhardt Miller opened up about the values her late father Dale Earnhardt taught her. Earnhardt Miller, who is the co-owner and Chief Executive Officer of the NASCAR team, JR Motorsports, said:

"That's not what my dad wanted. It's not about winning; it's about not compromising who you are. That's something we don't do. We are who we are and we don't compromise that. Our dad would be proud."

Dale Earnhardt breathed his last during the 2001 Daytona 500 after he suffered a fatal crash on February 18, 2001. He was killed in a three-car crash in the last lap of the race. Earnhardt was immediately taken to the Halifax Medical Center but he already passed away after sustaining a fatal basilar skull fracture.