Dale Earnhardt

Dale Earnhardt, Sr. (April 29, 1951 – February 18, 2001) was an American race car driver and team owner, best known for his involvement in stock car racing for NASCAR. Dale Earnhardt mean, nasty, and the man in front. Jeff Gordon's mentor.

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Paul Taylor

And second is #3 1981 Childress livery car

a man standing next to a yellow and blue race car with the number 22 on it

First is #2 1981 Osterlund livery car.

The two cars above are the same car as you see with the two men in front of the #15 Wrangler car, except with the Pontiac skin.

two men standing next to a race car in front of a yellow and white tent

The fellow on the left is my late father and the man on the right is "Mr. Wrangler" from the television commercials. He was a Hollywood actor named Ray who also did Buick commercials in a suit sans the mustache. Those are the facts, mam.

Shown in the Dozier Mobley photo below is the very car I have been telling you about, on display at Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway on September 12, 1982 at the Wrangler SanforSet 400. There is a 1981 Bob Burham built Osterlund Pontiac racing engine under the hood of that 1982 Bud Moore Ford Thunderbird.

an older man wearing sunglasses and a hat on top of a blue card with autographs

Jeff Gordon

The History

Baseball Cards

Bud Moore racing | Well, we laughed our butts off - me - Bud - Dale - everybody who knew anything about the history of our Wrangler show car. The fact that I was spending goodly sums of advertising dollars with Hank in his paper and on his radio broadcasts may have accounted for his answer. I was too sheepish to ever ask.

an older man sitting in his office chair

In an amazing display of pomposity that only Hank Schoolfield could have summoned, he explained in print to the race fan that the NASCAR Winston Cup racing mechanics often took liberties with race engines and made modifications so they would fit in the space allotted. This, he explained, was why the distributor appeared to be on the wrong side. It was a special modification made for racing.

Ford Racing Engines

Ford Racing

Auto Racing

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Southern Modified Auto Racing | In addition to those duties, Hank founded and owned Universal Racing Network, broadcasting events prior to ISC owned MRN. Hank never met a subject on which he did not consider himself to be an expert. Such was the case with Hank's response letter to the fan who obviously knew the difference between a Pontiac racing engine and a Ford racing engine.

an older man with glasses is shown in this black and white photo, which has the words hank schoolfield on it

Hank Schoolfield

Hank Schoolfield | I have to hand it to Hank Schoolfield. He really bailed me out. If you never knew Hank, let me explain that modesty was not one of his virtues. Ole bald headed Hank had been sports editor of the Winston-Salem Journal and was the public relations guru for both North Wilkesboro and Bowman-Gray Stadium.

the front page of an old newspaper with two men and a woman in racing gear

Hank Schoolfield

Hank Schoolfield | For three-quarters of the 1982 racing season, I thought I'd gotten by without anyone discovering what I'd done. Then a letter to the editor from a fan appeared in the Southern MotoRacing paper of the late Hank Schoolfield. The letter asked why the engine they'd seen in the 1982 Wrangler T-bird on display in August at a department store in Bristol had the distributor on the wrong side of the engine?

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Robert Gee | I paid the ever reliable former father-in-law of Dale Earnhardt, Robert Gee to hang 1982 Ford Thunderbird sheet metal on our 1981 Pontiac race car, keeping the Pontiac race engine in the vehicle.

a yellow race car with blue stripes parked on gravel

1966 Ford Thunderbird

1963 Ford Thunderbird

1960 Ford Thunderbird

1965 Ford Thunderbird

Dirt Late Model Racing

Dale Earnhardt’s 1982 Ford Thunderbird - a photo on Flickriver

1982 Ford Thunderbird | When Wrangler signed with Bud Moore to field Ford Thunderbirds for Dale in 1982, I had no money in my budget to build a Ford Thunderbird show car. So, I did the next best thing.

a man kneeling down next to a yellow and blue race car with the number 2 on it

Wrangler Pontiac show car #2 | At the same time, we had to re-decal the Osterlund / Wrangler Pontiac show car #2 to a Childress / Wrangler Pontiac show car #3. That wasn't a big problem, except for my show car budget over run.

an old photo of a man smiling at the camera with other people in the background

Day For Night

In Summer

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Richard Childress | As has been well documented, Osterlund sold the Dale Earnhardt team to JD Stacy in summer of 1981 and Wrangler brokered a deal with Richard Childress to field Pontiacs for Dale in the final 11 races of 1981. A lot of folks forget that Childress ever fielded a Pontiac, but Wrangler had a deal with Pontiac for 1981. I paid the salary for the late Robert Gee to go to Richard Childress' little shop and skin some sleek #3 Wrangler Pontiacs.

three men standing next to each other holding a plaque

Drivers Roland Wlodyka, Dale Earnhardt and Earnhardt's crew chief Doug Richert | The 1981 NASCAR Winston Cup season began with Dale Earnhardt driving a 1981 Rod Osterlund #2 Pontiac sponsored by Wrangler. Osterlund had a former Pontiac speedway car Wrangler bought to use in the 1981 Daytona 500 pre-race parade and it overheated. Roland Wlodyka took the car back to the Old Statesville Road shop in Charlotte and put a different fan in it to keep it from overheating at slow parade lap speeds.