Dale Earnhardt began making the trek to Nashville Speedway in the mid 1970s. His first race at the Fairgrounds was the June 1976 Union 76 200, and he finished second to fellow North Carolinian Harry Gant.
Source: The Tennessean / TMC Archives
A little over a year later, Earnhardt and his crew towed to middle Tennessee again for the August 1977 World Service Life 200. He finished fourth in the race won by Butch Lindley.
Earnhardt headed to Winston Cup full-time as a rookie in 1979; however, he still returned to the short tracks as he advanced in Cup. Sure, track promoters had to cough up some show money and frequently provide a car. The trade-off, however, was generally a boon with increased sales of tickets and concessions.
During his Wrangler era with Richard Childress Racing, Earnhardt returned to Nashville in July 1987 and raced a car provided by Tony Formosa Jr. From the 1960s through the 1990s, Formosa and his family raced at the Fairgrounds. Today, Tony Jr. is the leaseholder and promoter of the track now known as Fairgrounds Speedway.
NASCAR pulled its two Winston Cup dates from Nashville following the 1984 season. Earnhardt hadn't raced at the Fairgrounds since until his return for the one-off event in 1987. He started and finished sixth in the 250-lap race.
The Nashville track went through all sorts of operational and managerial turnover through the 1980s...and arguably beyond. But two truths remained:
Nashville racing fans remained loyal. They loved their Fairgrounds racing and traveled in large numbers to Cup races in most southern states.
Drivers dug racing Nashville's .596-mile track - and still do.
Earnhardt returned to Nashville yet again - and for the final time as a driver - in May 1990 for the Motorcraft 200. Former Nashville track champions, Sterling Marlin and Bobby Hamilton, were also recruited to participate in the race. Marlin was in his third Cup season with owner Billy Hagan, and Hamilton was in his rookie Busch Series season with FILMAR Racing.
The race was strategically scheduled for Saturday, May 12 - an open weekend for the Cup Series between Talladega's Winston 500 on May 6th and The Winston at Charlotte on May 20th.
A car was arranged for Earnhardt, and Hamilton agreed to shake it down and set it up for him. He apparently did so with the assistance of a pooch named Elwood.
Source: Joe Ryman / Nashville Fairgrounds Racing History
Source: The Tennessean
Hamilton crammed a good bit of racing - and travel - into a single day. After finishing eighth in a Busch race at Pennsylvania's Nazareth Speedway, he hopped a plane and buzzed home to Nashville to race in the 200-lapper at the Fairgrounds.
He also offered somewhat of a prescient quote noting the race was
...a chance for a local driver to attract a little attention. In this sport timing is everything, and a good showing against a big-name driver might give a local driver his big break.
Source: The Tennessean
With Earnhardt and Marlin in town, Hamilton on his way home, and plenty of local racers ready to rub fenders with the big dawgs, all looked set. Lo and behold though, one of the worst things that could befall a race promoter and a fired-up set of fans happened. Rain.
Nashville racing historian Russ Thompson passed along this memory from driver Dan Ford:
They had to postpone the race. They got all the drivers together to tell them. Everyone was disappointed because Dale was here, and they all really wanted to run the race with him here. Dale spoke up and said, "Would y'all want to run the race Wednesday night? I've got commitments Monday and Tuesday, but I can come back and run on Wednesday." It was a unanimous vote. That's how they came to run it on Wednesday.
Weeknight racing was a regular thing in the late 1960s at the Fairgrounds, and track management experimented with a few Tuesday night shows in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Motorcraft 200 was the first Wednesday race, however, since Red Farmer won a modified feature during the Tennessee State Fair in September 1961.
Russ Thompson recalled:
[The Motorcraft 200] was scheduled for Saturday night and got rained out. They ran it on a Wednesday night and to everyone's surprise Earnhardt came back. Earnhardt was driving a black Goodwrench #3 that looked just like his Cup car. Gray Bickley was the owner.
The similarly prepared Olds of Hamilton and Chevy of Earnhardt were parked side by side as crews made final adjustments before qualifying.
Source: Sparky Harrington / Nashville Fairgrounds Racing History
Source: Sparky Harrington / Nashville Fairgrounds Racing History
The black #3 won the pole, and Jeff Green from Owensboro, KY qualified alongside him. When the green flag fell, Green buried his foot and got the jump into the first turn. Earnhardt may have been the star attraction - but he was hardly the only big dawg that night in Nashville.
Courtesy of Mark Gregory
Fans witnessed high attrition throughout the 40-car field. Only sixteen of 40 cars remained at the finish. Hamilton was one of the drivers who loaded his car early. He and P.B. Crowell III tangled going into turn 1, and both were done for the night.
Green led frequently and in large chunks as others fell by the wayside. Marlin stayed in the hunt and was able to see clean air in the second half of the race - especially after Green made a pit stop. With fresh shoes, however, Green tracked down Marlin and went back to the point with about 30 laps to go.
Though Green dominated much the race, Earnhardt kept him honest. As he pursued Green for the lead late in the race, however, Earnhardt cut a tire, spun, gathered it back up, but didn't lose a lap. Fans got to see his experience and car control that was frequently on display during Sunday Cup races. During the yellow, Earnhardt changed tires and returned to the top five. He then battled with Dan Ford the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, Green pulled away and captured his fourth win in five starts of the season.
Source: Joey Kincaid / Nashville Fairgrounds Racing History
Local racer Ford wasn't intimidated by The Intimidator and held on for second. Earnhardt sandwiched his P3 at Nashville between his Cup wins at Talladega and in The Winston. Marlin and Jason Kennedy rounded out the top five.
Source: The Tennessean
Green's win was more than just another notch in a dominating season at Nashville. Back to Hamilton's pre-race quote, Earnhardt took note of Green's performance. Five years later, Green was hired to race DEI's #3 Goodwrench Chevy in NASCAR's Busch Series.
Russ Thompson also noted:
Two months later, that same car was green with a #33 and Skoal on it. Harry Gant finished 4th to Jeff, Dan Ford, and Michael Waltrip [in July 14 Ford Dealers 200]. Ten days later, in another rained out race [July 24], Bobby Hamilton drove the same car in the same scheme and won. It was one of very few races that year Jeff didn't win.
Source: Bob Ray / Nashville Fairgrounds Racing History
Hamilton set up the top-shelf late model for Earnhardt to race at Nashville in 1990. I'm sure he was glad to see Earnhardt remembered that arrangement six years later when the two of them battled in the late stages of the Cup race at Rockingham. Oh. Wait. OK, never mind.
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