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LESSONS OF A LOSING STREAK
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August 2012
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by Claire B. Lang
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Category: Claire B. Lang
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On June 15, 2008, I stood in victory lane and watched Dale Earnhardt Jr. celebrate winning at Michigan International Speedway. This June 17, I stood there again, waiting to interview the driver I have covered as a reporter since he was a teenager as he and his team celebrated winning once again.
Four years had passed between the wins and as I watched a jubilant Dale Jr. climb from his car, embrace his team and soak in the accolades that will now begin for him en masse once again, those four long years flashed through my mind.
Four years of criticism and evaluation, and four years of growing up. Four years of hard work and perseverance to get back to winning. Four years of questioning everything about himself to get better but not letting that self-evaluation destroy him.
It struck me as I stood in victory lane under clear blue skies in Michigan after a rain-delayed start to the race that this was not about a race but about life.
Truck driver or salesman, racecar driver or team member - life is a cycle that tests us with hard times and rain, and then eventually comes back around to blue skies. Struggles are a gift to make us dig deep and become better human beings. If life was only winning, we'd all be shallow and selfish. Right?
Dale Jr. lost races over the four years when he needed a win, but he gained a great deal during that time. He seemed to be surrounded by fans but also alone a lot in the early years. During the losing years, he gained a girlfriend by his side that he now, with more confidence, has introduced to the public. He's become a better racer and he seems happier and able to more fully enjoy life and winning. He's closer to his team members now and I see him being part of the group on a more equal basis in the garage.
My first memory of Dale Jr. was as a radio station anchor in Charlotte, N.C. Dale Earnhardt Sr. was supposed to be an on-air guest outside Charlotte Motor Speedway. When he had to cancel, we were offered up his skinny young son. There wasn't much to the scrawny kid and the radio station folks were not even sure they wanted to have him on. When the interview was over, the boy, Dale Jr., got in the racing simulator nearby and beat every driver that he raced against that day. Today, getting a one-on-one interview with that kid whom no one paid attention to is a huge deal. There's that cycle again.
He's now 37, so that was more than 20 years ago. Twenty years from being nothing to being everything in victory lane, and all the times in between.
I interview Dale Jr. almost every weekend now. I've never seen him make a fool of himself or not be polite. He is kind, sometimes very shy, and extremely clever, and he's always appeared to me to be much smarter than some give him credit for.
The story of Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a story about losing, not winning. It's about losing his dad and races and getting criticized and of course of being the sport's most popular driver. Dale Jr.'s fans stick by him because they too have gone through hard times, because their lives are tough and they have struggled. Their hopes that things will come around for their driver are their hopes for themselves as well.
Dale Jr. winning again after four years was really the end result of the right way to handle the times in life when you are not on top of the world, sometimes even for long periods of time.
The entire garage shares Dale Jr.'s success. Why? Because he's a decent guy who handled a losing streak with class, character and dignity.
Then, he won again.
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