What a childhood.
Today, Dale Earnhardt Jr. put out a new episode of his Dale Jr. Download podcast, where he had a fascinating conversation with Mike Curb. Mike is a legendary figure behind the scenes of motorsports, longtime car owner and sponsor, among many other things (he also owns Curb Records, the record label, and worked in the Reagan administration).
And he recalled how he would periodically go to Washington while he was a car owner to meet with the President, and in '84, when Reagan was running for reelection, he was looking for a special event to attend on the 4th of July.
That year, he had won his 199th race with Richard Petty at the helm, and Curb threw out the idea of having Reagan attend the 4th of July race at Daytona, which just so happened to be in the swing state (at the time) of Florida.
Reagan loved the idea, and after meetings between former NASCAR CEO Bill France Jr. and the secret service, they had it all planned out... though Curb was still worried it might fall through for some reason outside of their control:
"By the time we got to Dover, we won our 199th. I'm thinking, oh my goodness the 200 victory could happen in my car. So I’m in a meeting at the White House and we would meet periodically with the President. He was looking for something to do on the Fourth of July. It was '84, he was running for reelection, Daytona was [in] one of the swing states. I said, 'What about if you came to the race?'Everybody in the room turned around and looked at me like, 'Going to an auto race?' 20 minutes later, Ronald Reagan said, 'You know, I used to call Sprint car races before I was an actor.' He said, 'I like the idea.' I called Bill France Jr., I said, 'Will you sit down?' 'So he said, 'I'm sitting down.' I said, 'It's Ronald Reagan,' and he said, 'Are you serious?' I said, 'I’ve never been more nervous in my life. This doesn’t work out and you announce it, you’re never gonna speak to me again.' [He] came to Washington the next day, he met with the Secret Service. I opened it up, but Bill France put it together logistically. For about two months there, I was afraid... it doesn't happen. I'm sorry, we couldn’t bring Reagan, but here’s what we brought, you know? When his plane was coming in, it was right over the top of the 43."
Jr. remembered being there too, and he was only 10 years old at the time. He explained that they didn't pack up and leave like normal, and after his dad changed clothes, they went back out to the infield to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken with the President.
It's an incredible memory, one that I assume you only have if you're the child of a racing legend like Jr. is, and he said both him and his sister, K, understood just how big of a deal it was, even though they were very young kids at the time:
"That iconic picture... I was with y’all after the race, we all ate Kentucky Fried Chicken. Me and Kelli are there and I’m very young, we’re like, 'What are we doing?' We’re gonna eat with the President. And I sat down, and there's Ronald Reagan 10 feet away from me. I knew exactly how big of a deal that was."
Eating KFC with Ronald Reagan... you can't make it up, and it's a helluva story cool story. I think it embodies what makes NASCAR so special, and I love hearing Jr. get insights like this from people who made the sports what it is, and are so tied to its rich history.
One of NASCAR's most iconic moments: President Reagan watches The King win No. 200 at Daytona 🇺🇸🏆 pic.twitter.com/RGsfduesOw
