"I ain't never going to be anybody": When Dale Earnhardt Sr. confided in Darrell Waltrip before his NASCAR superstardom

NASCAR legend Darrell Waltrip once revealed a story about Dale Earnhardt Sr. from their early racing days. During a recently uploaded podcast on Dirty Mo Media, Waltrip spoke about Earnhardt's phase during the time he was racing on dirt tracks.

It's worth mentioning that Waltrip and Earnhardt shared one of the most intense and infamous rivalries in NASCAR history. But apart from that, they shared mutual respect and admiration for each other. Interestingly, the two drivers knew of each other way before they became household names through NASCAR.

And it was during one of those pre-fame times when Waltrip offered Dale Earnhardt Sr. a task. He described:

"When I met Dale Earnhardt Sr., he was racing dirt tracks and we would sit and drink Jack Daniels and he would say, 'I gotta get off these dirt tracks. I ain't never going to be anybody if I don't get off these dirt tracks.' And of course, at that time, I was a little better than he was but not a lot. So time went by and I had this little car I needed to finish and it wasn't all together. I said, 'I tell you what Dale, if you finish this car, you can take it to Nashville and race it.' Because Dale, he was a good mechanic. He was good at working on cars."

Waltrip revealed that Earnhardt and his friends fixed the racecar and got it 'ready to go' for Nashville. However, after the race, on a Monday morning, Waltrip received several phone calls from drivers who were in the race on Sunday, instructing him to never let Earnhardt drive one of his cars again. The Hall of Famer claimed that the 7x Cup champion brought his car back in a basket.

Waltrip revealed the thing he loved and hated about Dale Earnhardt Sr.

"What I loved about Dale, what I love and what I hate, Dale could do anything with a car. He could get it out of shape. He had such great car control. He learned that from racing on dirt. All that dirt track racing he did. But he would do things sometimes, that ticked you off like," Waltrip said.

Dale Earnhardt Sr. asked Darrell Waltrip to stay away from Dale Jr.

During the same conversation with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Dirty Mo Media, Darrell Waltrip revealed the time he tried signing Junior from his father.

Waltrip said he went over to Dale Earnhardt Sr. and asked about his plan for Dale Jr. At that time, Junior was coming off his first Busch Series championship win and was a pretty hot driver in the garage.

Earnhardt Sr. asked Waltrip why he was curious about his son. Waltrip stated that he wanted to hire Junior for his team, to which the 7x Cup champion replied:

"'You stay away from him. You'll pay him too damn much money I won't be able to compete with you. You stay away from him. I got plans for him.'"

Eventually, Dale Earnhardt Jr. wasn't signed by Darrell Waltrip. He penned a deal with Dale Earnhardt Inc., driving the #8 car, which was sponsored by Budweiser for a reported record-breaking deal at that time of $10 million.