What a guy.
This week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had his longtime crew chief Tony Eury Sr. on his Dale Jr. Download podcast, and of course, they talked about his legendary father and NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt.
Tony was friends with Sr. from childhood, and Dale eventually married Brenda Gee, mother of Dale Jr. and the sister of Tony's wife. Eury ended up working for him at Dale Earnhardt, Inc. in the mid-80's, working on Dale's cars in the then-Busch Series. And he ultimately became Junior's crew chief when he started racing for DEI, so it was really interesting to hear his perspective on his close friend and boss, The Intimidator.
Of course, Dale Jr. knew both men from the time he was a little boy, and he remembered seeing them at the race shop out by his mawmaw's house, before Dale built the bigger one and had his race team going as a huge business and competitor in the sport.
He also knows that both of them had strong personalities and were very opinionated, which led him to naturally ask if they ever had disagreements or trouble working together, especially considering they were friends and not afraid to hold back with their thoughts.
Tony said they never had any issues, though there was always one way to do something, and then "Dale's way to do it."
"I don't know that we ever had a problem, you know? We worked pretty good together. I mean, there was one way to do something, and then there was Dale's way to do it. You know that."
When asked if Dale usually won out, Tony said yes (duh), though he was really a "hell of a nice guy to work for" and had a heart of gold.
Tony started working for DEI in the mid-80's, and he also hilariously recalled asking his boss for a raise one time, then Dale telling him he couldn't afford that. But Tony needed a truck, so he'd give him a truck instead:
"He would win most of the time... he might wiggle it a little bit. You know, he would respect our opinions and stuff, but I don't think he ever really wanted to admit that he used something that was our idea or whatever. We never had a problem. We worked good together. He was a hell of a nice guy to work for, I mean, really. He had a heart of gold. I asked him for a raise one day, he gave me a pickup truck. He said, 'I can't afford to give you a raise, but I'll give you a pickup truck.' He said, 'You need a truck, you ain't got a truck.' So he gave me a truck."
Dale Jr. obviously thought it was extremely funny, but he also said exactly what I was thinking listening to the story:
"That seems backwards."
It does, but like Tony said, Dale had his own way of doing things and that's pretty much all there is to it...
And God bless him for it, because was a true one-of-a-kind and that's how he became the icon he is. You can watch that part of the podcast here, it's awesome:
https://youtu.be/eQ87DWa6SLQ?t=1293
