Dale Earnhardt Jr. Can’t Shake the Embarrassment of This Childhood Road Trip: ”Even Today, I Feel the Shame”

On the latest episode of Bless Your Heart, hosted by Amy Earnhardt, she and Dale Jr. gave fans a glimpse into life at home with their two daughters. Their eldest, Isla, is the rule follower, polite, disciplined, and mindful of boundaries. But their younger daughter, Nicole, is cut from a different cloth.

She’s the firecracker of the family, determined to march to her own beat, whether that means defying her parents or doing the exact opposite of what she’s told, like peeing on the carpet instead of the bathroom floor just to make a point. And as it turns out, Dale Jr. admitted she might have gotten that streak straight from him.

Despite his reputation as one of NASCAR’s most disciplined competitors, Junior confessed he was anything but obedient as a kid. Recalling one of his more mischievous moments, he said that when he was 14, he was riding in a conversion van with his friend Mike Whitam, whose father, Bob, owned the Purolator car driven by Derek Cope, on their way to Bristol.

Bored and restless, the two teenagers decided to get creative.

“Those back windows, they flipped open like they had these two little clamps. You unclamped them and would open the window this way. And so the bottom would have a big… You could stick your arm out, right? I think, man, what it’d be cool if it’s aerodynamic if I clamp the front side of the window and open the back side, and then it’s like it’s a wing.”

“I start to make that thing do that, and it’s twisting that glass. I’m bending the glass window, the big glass window. I’m clamping the front, and opening the back, and flexing it, and it’s shattered. The window exploded… And his brother or mom and dad or what somebody’s up front… they’re like, ‘What in the hell just happened?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know what just happened.’ Oh, I was so embarrassed.”

Amy couldn’t help but laugh, finally connecting the dots between Nicole’s rebellious streak and her father’s teenage antics. Dale Jr. admitted, “I was so embarrassed… It was embarrassing… I just got out and ran off. But I didn’t get in real trouble. I didn’t get my ass whooped or anything like that. But man, even today I still feel the shame about it, embarrassed of it.”

Now, as a father, Junior can’t help but wonder what’s in store when Nicole hits her teen years. If she’s anything like her dad once was, the Earnhardt household might have its hands full, but maybe, like him, she’ll mellow out in her own time.

About the author

Neha Dwivedi

Neha Dwivedi is an experienced NASCAR Journalist at The SportsRush, having penned over 5500 articles on the sport to date. She was a seasoned writer long before she got into the world of NASCAR. Although she loves to see Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch win the races, she equally supports the emerging talents in the CARS Late Model and ARCA Menards Series.. For her work in NASCAR she has earned accolades from journalists like Susan Wade of The Athletic, as well as NASCAR drivers including Thad Moffit and Corey Lajoie. Her favorite moment from NASCAR was witnessing Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. win the championship trophies. Outside the racetrack world, Neha immerses herself in the literary world, exploring both fiction and non-fiction.

Read More