NASCAR Trivia..How Dale Earnhardt got his first ride to start his career

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Humpy Wheeler was a great promoter for the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Circa 1975 and Dale doesn't have a ride to race in the Charlotte World 600. Enter Willie T. Ribbs.  So Humpy said he could take the Pace Car and drive it. Ribbs takes it downtown Charlotte, and goes up a one way street the wrong way. Cops try and stop him , he jumps out and runs into a building where a basketball game is underway. They give chase, however it was a Womans basketball game. Ed Negre who is the owner for Ribbs to drive hires Dale Earnhardt to drive his Dodge Charger. Dale finishes 22 one position ahead of the man he would later work for Richard Childress.

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/02/15/african-american-drivers-in-nascars-cup-series/

Don McManus

Earnhardt was a scrapper.  Proof that if you beat your head against the wall long enough, you just may succeed.

varian

the biggest challenge Childress had with Earnhardt was to convince him that you didnt have to tear everything up you drove to win in NASCAR

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The call came from the track promoter Humpy Wheeler who had the idea of bringing Ribbs to Charlotte to attract more African-Americans to the sport. Ribbs never made it into the race.

In the 2020 documentary Uppity: The Willy T. Ribbs Story, Ribbs himself says he didn’t race at Charlotte because both he and Wheeler received death threats. However, the documentary makes no mention of the fact Ribbs missed two practice sessions and was arrested before the race for fleeing from police after driving the wrong way down a one-way street. The incident had many wondering if Ribbs’ arrest was a publicity stunt as he was driving a pace car from the speedway. Ribbs was replaced for the race by future NASCAR legend and Hall-of-Famer Dale Earnhardt.