Dale Jarrett

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Dale Jarrett
Dale Jarrett.jpg
Jarrett at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2007
Born Dale Arnold Jarrett
(1956-11-26) November 26, 1956 (age 68)
Conover, North Carolina, U.S.
Achievements 1999 Winston Cup Series Champion
1993, 1996, 2000 Daytona 500 Winner
1996, 1999 Brickyard 400 Winner
1996 Coca-Cola 600 Winner
1998 Winston 500 Winner
1996, 2000, 2004 Budweiser Shootout Winner
Awards Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998)
2004 USG Person of the Year Award
NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee (2014)
NASCAR Cup Series career
668 races run over 24 years
Best finish 1st (1999)
First race 1984 Sovran Bank 500 (Martinsville)
Last race 2008 Food City 500 (Bristol)
First win 1991 Champion Spark Plug 400 (Michigan)
Last win 2005 UAW Ford 500 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles
32 260 16
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
329 races run over 20 years
Best finish 4th (1984, 1986)
First race 1982 Goody's 300 (Daytona)
Last race 2007 Food City 250 (Bristol)
First win 1986 L.D. Swain 150 (Rougemont)
Last win 1995 Jiffy Lube Miami 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top tens Poles
11 173 15
Statistics current as of December 20, 2012.

Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is a former American race car driver and current sports commentator known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship in 1999. He is the son of 2-time Grand National Champion Ned Jarrett, younger brother of Glenn Jarrett, father of former driver Jason Jarrett, and cousin of Todd Jarrett. In 2007, Jarrett joined the ESPN/ABC broadcasting team as an announcer in select Nationwide Series races.[1] In 2008, after retiring from driving following the 2008 Food City 500, he joined ESPN permanently as the lead racing analyst replacing Rusty Wallace. In 2015, Jarrett will be part of the NBC Sports Broadcasting Crew for NASCAR events.[2] He was inducted in the 2014 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

Early career

Jarrett was born in Conover, North Carolina. Upon graduation from Newton-Conover High School in 1975, Jarrett was offered a full golf scholarship from the University of South Carolina, which he declined.[3] Jarrett began racing in 1977 at Hickory Motor Speedway, a track his father owned and operated. In his first race, he started in last place but finished in the ninth position. He competed in the Limited Sportsman Division at Hickory, before moving up to the NASCAR Busch Series.

Busch Series

Jarrett began racing in 1982 in the #24 Ford for Horace Isenhower. His best finish was a third at Hickory and he finished sixth in points that season, finishing in the top-ten fourteen times over the course of the season. He did not win a race in 1983, but won four poles and had seventeen top-fives moving into fifth in the standings. In 1984, the team received sponsorship from Econo Lodge, Valvoline, and Budweiser and had six front row starts and nineteen top-10's, finishing a career-best fourth in the final standings.

That same year, Jarrett made his Cup debut. Driving the #02 Chevrolet for Emanuel Zervakis at Martinsville Speedway, he qualified 24th and finished fourteenth. He made two more Cup starts that season, at the Firecracker 400 for Jimmy Means, and the Warner W. Hodgdon American 500. In 1986, Jarrett won six poles and his first career Busch race at Orange County Speedway in the Nationwise Auto Parts Pontiac. He won his second career race at Hickory the next year, his final full-time season in Busch.

Jarrett enjoyed the majority of his success in the Busch Series during the 1990 and 1991 seasons.[4] Led by crew chief John Ervin[5] and engine builder Ron Hutter, Jarrett scored nearly half of his career wins during these two seasons. All of the wins occurred at Winston Cup tracks Bristol, Charlotte, Rockingham and twice at Darlington. However, Jarrett only ran a partial schedule and his sponsor Nestle Crunch moved the sponsorship in 1992 to Bill Davis Racing, which was a team running the full Busch Series schedule with driver Jeff Gordon.

In 1995 Jarrett joined Robert Yates Racing to pilot their Ford Thunderbirds at the Winston Cup level. His Busch Series team also made the switch to Ford as well. With engines provided by Robert Yates and sponsorship from Mac Tools, Jarrett scored four wins during the season. However, only three of the wins counted. His win at Michigan was disqualified due to an unapproved engine part.[6]

1987–1991

1989 racecar

In 1987, Jarrett replaced Tommy Ellis in the #18 Chevrolet owned by Eric Freelander early in the season. Running a primarily-unsponsored car, he had two tenth-place finishes and ended the season 26th in points, second to Davey Allison for Rookie of the Year honors. He ran every race of the 1988 season, despite running with various teams. He made most of his starts in the #29 Hardee's Oldsmobile owned by Cale Yarborough, finishing eighth at Riverside International Raceway. He also ran races for Buddy Arrington and Hoss Ellington that season, finishing twenty-third in the final standings. He ran the entire season for Yarborough in 1989, posting five top-ten finishes, including two fifth-place runs.

Jarrett began 1990 without a ride before taking over the #21 Citgo Ford Thunderbird for Wood Brothers Racing at the Valleydale Meats 500, replacing the injured Neil Bonnett. He finished in the top-ten seven times during the season and finished 25th in the final standings despite missing the first five races of the season. The following season, Jarrett won his first career Winston Cup race at Michigan International Speedway, and finished a then career-best 17th in the final standings.

1992–1999

Despite the win, Jarrett left Wood Brothers to drive the #18 Interstate Batteries-sponsored Chevrolet for the fledgling Joe Gibbs Racing team. In their first year of competition, Jarrett had two top-fives but dropped to nineteenth in points.

In 1993, Jarrett won the Daytona 500 after battling Dale Earnhardt (commonly referred to as "The Dale and Dale Show"). While Jarrett did not win again that season, he had a total of thirteen Top 5's and finished fourth in the final standings. During the spring race at Bristol, Jarrett threw his helmet at the #90 car of Bobby Hillin Jr who crashed Jarrett while been lapped. The next season, Jarrett won the Mello Yello 500, but chose to step down from the Gibbs organization at the end of the season.

Jarrett signed to drive for Robert Yates in 1995, piloting the #28 Texaco-sponsored Ford in place of an injured Ernie Irvan. He won his first race for Yates at Pocono Raceway and finished 13th in the final standings. When it was announced Irvan (who had returned toward the end of the year in a Texaco Havoline-sponsored Yates car numbered 88) would return to the 28 after a year-long absence due to injuries, Yates had planned to help Jarrett compete in his own team with Hooters sponsorship. The deal fell through, however, and Yates promoted the 88 car to full-time in the Winston Cup Series with Ford assuming sponsorship through its Quality Care Service and Ford Credit divisions. In 1996, Jarrett won the Daytona 500 for a second time, and finished in the Top 2 in each of the first three races of the season. He also won the Coca-Cola 600 and the Brickyard 400 and finished third in the final point standings behind the Hendrick Motorsports teammates Terry Labonte and Jeff Gordon. Jarrett's kissing of the bricks at Indianapolis started a tradition that has been used by every NASCAR team at the race since then, and in the Indianapolis 500 since 2003.

The following season, he won a career-best seven races but lost the championship to Jeff Gordon by fourteen points, who by Jarrett's own admission on August 25, 2012, was "eleven hundred times the driver I ever dreamed of being".

In 1998, Jarrett won three races, and finished second in the last two races of the year, ending up third in the final point standings to Jeff Gordon, despite suffering gallbladder problems, which made him miss the exhibition race in Japan. After an offseason surgery, Jarrett returned in 1999 and took the points lead after his first win of the season at the Pontiac Excitement 400, and held it for the rest of the season, when he won his first career Winston Cup title by 201 points over Bobby Labonte with four wins - Richmond, Michigan, Daytona, and Indianapolis. He also retired from the Busch Series to become a part-time owner, partnering with National Football League quarterback Brett Favre to field the #11 Rayovac-sponsored Ford for his son Jason, Yates teammate Kenny Irwin, Jr., and Steve Grissom.[7] He had 11 wins in the Busch Series when he retired.

2000–2005

Dale Jarrett's 2000 Daytona 500 winning car on display at Daytona USA, taken January 2001

Following his title in 1999, Jarrett won the Daytona 500 for the third time in 2000, but after only winning one other race and dropping to fourth in the standings, Ford elected to withdraw as a primary sponsor (although Ford Credit remained as a secondary sponsor). United Parcel Service was signed as the primary sponsor for Jarrett's car, and shortly thereafter UPS began a multi-year promotional campaign involving the company trying to convince him to drive their trademark "Big Brown Truck" in a race.

In 2001, he won three of the first eight races (Darlington, Texas, and Martinsville) of the season and resumed the points lead (trading it with Jeff Gordon, with the two of them having the same point totals for a few different weeks), but won only one more time over the course of the year and faded back to fifth in the standings. This was a good and bad year for Jarrett; the good thing was that he won four races (New Hampshire was the fourth win in July). The thing bad about it was that he suffered a hard crash and a minor concussion at the new Kansas Speedway. Jarrett said in an interview that he does not remember being in the Protection One 400, he only remembers getting on the plane to go to the racetrack. After that season, Jarrett's long-time crew chief Todd Parrott departed and was replaced by Jimmy Elledge. After seven races of the 2002 season, Parrott rejoined Jarrett, who clinched two victories (Pocono and Michigan) and rebounded to ninth in the final standings after the poor start to the year.

In 2003, Jarrett began the season by winning at North Carolina Speedway, but only posted five more Top 10 finishes, relegating him to 26th in the final standings. He rebounded in 2004 to finish 15th in points, despite not winning a race for the first time since 1992. In 2005, Jarrett had an up-and-down year. At Bristol in the Busch Series, he was involved in a crash with Shane Hmiel. When Jarrett confronted him under a red flag, Hmiel flipped him off drawing a fine from NASCAR. Jarrett was not penalized for any part he had in the wreck.

Later, Jarrett got his last career NASCAR Cup series win at Talladega Superspeedway, again finishing 15th in the standings.

2006–2008

2007 car
2008 racecar
Jarrett on a parade lap before his final points race as fans and crew applaud him

During the 2006 season, Jarrett had four Top 10 finishes, with a best finish of 4th at Kansas. His best starting position was 2nd and he finished 23rd in points. It was his last year racing for Yates, as he and his sponsor UPS left for Michael Waltrip Racing's new #44 Toyota team.

Jarrett started the 2007 Nextel Cup season on a high note as he drew pole position for the annual exhibition race, the Budweiser Shootout, at Daytona. He finished 18th out of 21 cars. Since Jarrett's team was a brand new team and had no owner points, and due to a rule change, he was eligible to use the Past Champion's Provisional five times as his 1999 championship was the most recent among past champions who were driving for teams not in the top 35 in owner points; prior to the rule change the use of a Past Champion's Provisional was not limited.

Jarrett was forced to use all five of his provisionals at the start of the season, starting at Daytona mainly because Michael Waltrip Racing was penalized by NASCAR for an illegal fuel additive during Speedweeks and the penalties knocked Jarrett, Waltrip and Reutimann out of the Top 35 in owner points-the safety net for qualifying regardless of rain and cancellations of qualifying.

Jarrett started 43rd in the Daytona 500 and finished 22nd. Jarrett used his last champion's provisional at the spring Talladega race, Aaron's 499. For the rest of 2007, Jarrett had to get into that weekend's race on time. Jarrett missed 11 races in 2007 as a result.

During an interview on Speed, Jarrett said after his contract is up with MWR (which was expected to be in the 2009 season), he would retire, but the timetable was pushed up in October 2007 prior to the 2007 Bank of America 500. Jarrett retired from points racing after the 2008 Food City 500, turning the #44 Toyota ride to David Reutimann. His final race was the All-Star race in May, 2008 after which he joined ESPN's NASCAR coverage full-time as a booth announcer.

However, Jarrett was not guaranteed to start the first five races using the champion's provisional as he had the year before as Kurt Busch, the 2004 champion, had his team's owner points transferred to his teammate Sam Hornish, Jr. and would be first to receive it. Jarrett started off 2008 with a 16th place finish at Daytona. He retired from points racing after the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. At the weekend's pre-race driver's meeting, he spoke to the other drivers, saying

"Enjoy this. We all have our time in this, and mine has been fantastic. To me, it has been an honor and a privilege to be able to race in this series and say I raced with and against and sometimes beat the best in the world. Thanks for allowing me to do that. Enjoy it. It's a great sport, and you guys make it what it is."[8]

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Sprint Cup Series

Daytona 500 Results
Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish
1988 Ellington Racing Buick 36 16
1989 Cale Yarborough Motorsports Pontiac 20 32
1991 Wood Brothers Racing Ford 17 6
1992 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet 35 36
1993 2 1
1994 41 35
1995 Robert Yates Racing Ford 1 5
1996 7 1
1997 3 23
1998 5 34
1999 8 37
2000 1 1
2001 31 22
2002 21 14
2003 11 10
2004 31 10
2005 1 15
2006 25 10
2007 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota 43 22
2008 20 16

Busch Series

ARCA Talladega SuperCar Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

International Race of Champions

(key) (Bold – Pole position. * – Most laps led.)

Personal life

  • Jarrett's brother-in-law is Jimmy Makar who was his crew chief when he drove the 18 car for Joe Gibbs Racing, he is married to Dale's sister Patty.
  • Jarrett is an avid golfer and has a 2 handicap in golf and in 2003 was once featured in a commercial with Phil Mickelson, Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky where they were golfing at Doral Golf Resort & Spa.
  • Jarrett is featured in commercials where he is persuaded to race the UPS Truck, in recent commercials he is featured with father Ned, in one commercial and in others he is trying out the features of the truck.
  • In NASCAR 06: Total Team Control, the Big Brown Truck is unlockable as a paintjob for Jarrett.
  • Jarrett was a member of the Coca-Cola Racing Family of Drivers when he raced.
  • Jarrett and Hall-of-Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw were co-owners of the now defunct fantasy sports site http://www.PayTheFan.com
  • Jarrett was featured in a commercial with Jackie Stewart as Jarrett's "mentor".
  • Jarrett is the first cousin of USPSA/IPSC Champion Handgun Shooter, Todd Jarrett.
  • Jarrett and former American football quarterback Brett Favre are co-owners of the Dale Jarrett Racing Adventure and Favre was a part owner of Dale Jarrett's Busch Series team.
  • Jarrett used to own and operate a Ford dealership in Indian Trail, North Carolina, southeast of Charlotte. He sold it to Crossroads Church and it became Crossroads Ford.
  • Jarrett now lives in Hickory, North Carolina
  • Jarrett participated in the Olympic Torch Relay in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.dalejarrett.com/news.asp?mode=ShowOne&newsid=397&category=Racing_News
  2. ↑ http://motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com/2015/01/26/nascar-hall-of-famer-dale-jarrett-to-join-nascar-coverage-on-nbc-nbcsn/
  3. ↑ http://www.dailygamecock.com/article/2015/04/dale-jarrett-reflects-on-career-golf-scholarship-from-sc
  4. ↑ http://www.racing-reference.info/driver/jarreda01
  5. ↑ http://racing-reference.info/crewchiefs/John_Ervin
  6. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1995-08-20/sports/sp-37232_1_dale-jarrett
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Champion
1999		 Succeeded by
Bobby Labonte
Achievements
Preceded by Daytona 500 Winner
1993
1996
2000		 Succeeded by
Sterling Marlin
Jeff Gordon
Michael Waltrip
Preceded by Brickyard 400 Winner
1996
1999		 Succeeded by
Ricky Rudd
Jeff Gordon
Preceded by Coca Cola 600 Winner
1996		 Succeeded by
Jeff Gordon

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