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Jarrett has no regrets

By Rea White - Associate Editor

Sunday, March 16, 2008

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David Griffin / NASCAR Scene

David Griffin / NASCAR Scene

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BRISTOL, Tenn. – Dale Jarrett made the field for his final race when NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying was rained out Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Immediately after, he took some time to reflect on his career - and his thoughts on what it will be like to race today.

Jarrett said it was odd to realize that this was his final points race.

“The sport has obviously done a lot for me and my family,” said Jarrett, who will start 37th in Sunday's Food City 500. “This week has been a lot more different than what I’ve thought all season. I’ve always been able to say, ‘I’ve got a few more weeks,’ or ‘I’ve got a couple of months before that comes.’ It was easy to say at that time, but we’re here.

“This is it this week.”

He's sifting through memories of his 24-year career, though it's difficult to say if he realizes just how much he has meant to NASCAR. He's too busy thinking about what it meant to him.

Things didn’t always come easy for Jarrett. He had to battle his way into the sport, fighting for a chance in a top car, then waited until 1991 to get his first points-race victory.

He says he sometimes wondered what would happen next.

“It was definitely hit and miss early on,” he said. “It was a struggle. This week, I’ve thought a lot about the times when I had my own Busch [Series] team trying to make ends meat having two other people working with me full-time. We were working literally day and night. It wasn’t uncommon for it to be 18-hour days. That is what it took."

He drove the pickup truck and trailer to the track. He built cars, owned the company, put bodies on them – and he says that was great.

“I think I was paying myself $115 a week. But I was making it and it all led to really good things," he said.

Those things included his 1987 opportunity to drive in the Cup series with Eric Freelander. That led to his driving for Cale Yarborough, then the Wood Brothers – which he defines as his largest career break.

Not only has Jarrett been thankful for all the help he’s had in his career, he’s also been there for his other competitors – as both a clean racer and a friend off the track.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. remembers how Jarrett was there for him when he won the July race at Daytona in 2001, the year his father had died in the Daytona 500.

“I am sad that he is going to stop because he is just such a great guy,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “He has always been a good friend to me. My favorite story, I am sure you have heard it, but we had just won the 2001 400 at Daytona and it was the race at Daytona right after my Dad had been killed there.

“I had won and we were standing down in the motor home lot, it was 1 or 2 in the morning. We had a circle of us all drinking beer, about 20 of us. I looked around and I knew everybody, it was mostly team members and some friends of mine in town and I looked to my right and standing next to me was Dale Jarrett. I asked him what he was still doing there, ‘Why aren't you on your way home?’

"He said, 'I wouldn't miss this. That was the coolest thing I have ever seen you do.' That was just, I don't know, it showed me a lot about his character right there. At that time in my life, it meant a lot to me for somebody to care and want to experience that with you. Obviously there was a void there for me and it meant a lot to me that he understood that and that was just a great moment for me. He has just been there for not only me, but other drivers, too, for a while.”
 
Throughout the garage, driver after driver can name a similar moment, a similar time when Jarrett was more than just a competitor.

He’s an integral part of the racing community, something that made it difficult for him when he started thinking about retiring. Jarrett knew he didn’t want to compete part time with a team. He also knew he didn’t want to completely walk away from racing.

The ESPN opening gave him the chance he wanted, that and his role at Michael Waltrip Racing. From the beginning, he planned to do more than just drive for that team – he always planned to remain as a consultant with the group.

"At the time that I made that deal, that is what I had in mind: to stay around the sport," he said. "I don’t want to leave the sport. I want to still be involved because I like the people around here and I like the things that go on."

Clearly, drivers that he’s competed against are also glad that Jarrett is staying around in some sort of role. Jarrett is popular among his competitors, saying he’s developed no feuds over the years.

"Obviously, Dale Jarrett has been a huge part of our sport,” Kevin Harvick said. “I think it is going to be kind of strange not having Dale Jarrett in a race. He is going to be great for us and the sport in the TV booth. He has meant a lot to our sport as a competitor. I think it is important that those guys are remembered and don't ever disappear.

"He is one of those guys on the track that just picks and chooses his marks. He is respectful to race with. You race him clean because he races you clean. When it comes time, he will get up on the wheel and make something happen. He is one of those guys that when you get to lap 450, it seems like it is usually his style to kind of wait until that point and all of a sudden he just appears and wins races. … He is one of the good figures of sport that everybody can look up to.”

He’s also a driver who has no regrets. It seems that there would be a lot of changes one would want to make as he looked back over 20 years of a career. Not Jarrett. As he prepares for Sunday’s race, he realizes that things worked out just right.

“If you gave me a chance to go back and do it all over again, I wouldn’t have changed a thing about it,” he said.

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Comments

16 responses to "Jarrett has no regrets"
  1. 1
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 17, 2008 at 2:44 AM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  2. 2
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 17, 2008 at 3:50 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  3. 3
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 17, 2008 at 4:40 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  4. 4
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 17, 2008 at 4:40 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  5. 5
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 17, 2008 at 7:18 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  6. 6
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 17, 2008 at 7:18 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  7. 7
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 17, 2008 at 7:18 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  8. 8
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 17, 2008 at 7:18 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  9. 9
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 20, 2008 at 12:52 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  10. 10
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 20, 2008 at 12:52 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  11. 11
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 20, 2008 at 12:52 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  12. 12
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 20, 2008 at 12:52 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  13. 13
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 20, 2008 at 12:52 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  14. 14
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 20, 2008 at 12:52 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  15. 15
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 20, 2008 at 12:52 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse
  16. 16
    Chad Manley said:
    Mar 20, 2008 at 12:52 PM

    Congratulations D.J., it's been one heck of a ride. You will be missed.

    Report as Abuse

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