Mark Martin Pays Tribute to Dale Earnhardt After Nostalgic Photo Surfaces Online Courtesy of Dale Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s maiden visit to the Daytona International Speedway as a NASCAR driver was in 1978. But his first-ever trip to the track came in 1976. Dale Earnhardt Jr. recently shared a picture of his father driving the iconic No. 8 in Daytona that year and drew an interesting comment from Mark Martin.

Dale Jr. wrote that his father was driving a car that he had prepared by himself and was racing with no gloves on. He also noted that he had only recently come across the picture. Martin responded, “I was there in the grandstands. I had no idea I was witnessing a future GOAT of @NASCAR.”

Martin was just a 17-year-old dreaming of a professional racing career in the big leagues at the time. It’s no wonder that he drew inspiration from the Intimidator from that moment on through his entire career. Unfortunately, he did not share the outcome of the race. In a little over a decade from that day, he was battling hard against Earnhardt for championships.

That was a twist that he might not have expected to happen back then. In 1990 and 1994, Earnhardt won his fourth and seventh Cup Series titles. Martin finished runner-up to him in both these years. Their rivalries on the track were intense and filled with wrath. But neither of them ever crossed a line they couldn’t come back from.

When Dale Sr. made Martin incredibly mad to see how much he could take

Even at age 65, Martin would utter Earnhardt’s name if asked which driver made him the maddest on the track. He said in an episode of his podcast back in 2018 that the Intimidator initially had a lot of respect for him and even knew of his pursuits before entering NASCAR. However, things changed in the 1990s.

He narrated, “He wakes up and he just thinks, ‘Boy, I’ll just mess with Mark, see how much he will take.’ He started pushing my buttons just for the fun of it.” And so, Earnhardt began troubling Martin during practice sessions by getting on his outside and making his car lose its aero balance.

Things reached a boiling point during a session in Michigan and both drivers ended up crashing. Martin, understandably frustrated, did not resort to complaining or fighting. He knew that Earnhardt hated drivers who did that. What he chose to do instead when they got to Loudon the next weekend finally got him some breathing space.

He said, “First thing we rolled out at New Hampshire, I go out and here he is. He does the same thing, and I put the wheel on him in practice. He comes in after practice and he looks at his p.r. guy and he said ‘I think Mark has had enough.'” The entire show was just Earnhardt trying to assess the limits of his younger rival.