On a racetrack, no one is tougher than Dale Earnhardt, "the Man in Black." No one is better, either. In 1994 he won his seventh National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) season points championship, tying him for the all-time record with the legendary Richard Petty. Earnhardt has also won more money than any other stock car racer and is a big reason the sport is growing in popularity. Not bad for someone who started racing at 15 on the dirt tracks of North Carolina made famous by his race car-driving father. In 1998 Earnhardt finally captured NASCAR's biggest prize: the Daytona 500.

Growing up

Born to race

Ralph Dale Earnhardt was born on April 29, 1951. He grew up in Kannapolis, North Carolina, in an area called "Car Town" because the city named the streets after automobiles and engines. His father, Ralph Earnhardt, was a race car driver who won the 1958 Late...