Kerry Earnhardt

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Kerry Earnhardt bigraphy, stories - American stock car racing driver

Kerry Earnhardt : biography

December 8, 1969 –

Kerry Dale Earnhardt (born December 8, 1969) is a former NASCAR driver and the eldest son of seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt. He is the half-brother of NASCAR Sprint Cup star Dale Earnhardt, Jr. He is also the older half-brother of Kelly Earnhardt and Taylor Nicole Earnhardt. He is also the oldest stepson of Teresa Earnhardt (Dale Earnhardt’s wife and Tommy Houston’s niece ). He is employed by Dale Earnhardt, Inc. as a consultant, specializing in driver development. His youngest son, Jeffrey Earnhardt, began racing for DEI in 2007. Kerry is known for his physical similarity to his father.

Kerry’s mother, Latane Brown, was Dale Earnhardt’s first wife; the couple divorced when Kerry was only one year of age. Brown eventually married Jack Key, who adopted Kerry. Until he was 16, Kerry saw little of his biological father.

Family life

He and wife René married in 1999, and have a daughter, Kayla.

From their previous marriages, Kerry has two sons, Bobby and Jeffrey, and René has a daughter, Blade.

Jeffrey Earnhardt currently races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and marks a fourth generation of Earnhardts in professional motor sports. Jeffrey also made several starts in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

He drove one of his dad’s old race cars, a 95 Chevy Monte Carlo, at the 2010 Goodwood Festival of Speed in England.

Racing career

Kerry had driven race cars in the early 1990s, he entered the racing world as a competitor in 1992 racing street stocks. That same season Kerry raced in the NASCAR Goody’s Dash Series Kerry raced various tracks in 1993 including the East Carolina Motor Speedway near Robersonville, North Carolina and Langley Speedway in Hampton, VA. He has scored 2 top 5s and 8 top 10s in 11 races, also was the 1992 Rookie of the Year.

He won a pole and recorded 8 top 5s and 40 top 10s as well as 1994 Rookie of the Year Honors at his local track, Hickory Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Dodge Weekly Racing Series.

Kerry’s First NASCAR start came in the Busch Series at Myrtle Beach in 1998.

After select Busch Racing in 1998 and 1999. Kerry Raced in The ARCA series in 2000, and 2001. During this stint he won 4 of his 11 starts, with 7 top 5s and 8 top 10s.

In 2001, the same year his father was killed at Daytona, Kerry Earnhardt was involved in a massive crash at Charlotte. On October 4th Kerry Earnhardt was racing a ARCA race at Charlotte Motor Speedway and with 3 laps to go his best friend Blaise Alexander tried to pass. Kerry Earnhardt tried to pull a sling-shot but Alexander had made contact that resulted in a massive crash. Earnhardt flipped over on his roof but managed to climb out by himself. However a red flag flew for Alexander and seconds later the race director called it official which gave Kerry Earnhardt the victory. When the next commercial break of the TV broadcasting of it ended, Blaise Alexander was already declared dead after just only 7 minutes which caused Kerry to not go to victory circle that night but to instead mourn for his deceased friend in the infield hospital.

In 2000 Kerry made his Winston Cup debut at Michigan, racing against his father Dale Earnhardt, and half-brother Dale Earnhardt, Jr. It was the first of his seven Cup series starts.

His 2002 run for FitzBradshaw Racing in the Busch Series was one of only two full season in any of NASCAR’s Big 3 series (Cup, Busch/Nationwide, and Truck), and he finished 22nd in the points. He scored 3 top 5s and 6 top 10s. In the 2003 Winston Cup season, Kerry Earnhardt drove the #83 Hot Tamales Chevrolet for FitzBradshaw, but failed to qualify for every race he attempted.

2004 Kerry made 8 starts in the West Series, scoring 2 Top-5’s, and 5 Top-10’s.

In 2004 and 2005, he raced in six NEXTEL Cup races, for Richard Childress Racing in the #33 car. All six starts were restrictor plate races (Daytona and Talladega). His highest finish was a 17th place run at Talladega in the 2005 Aaron’s 499.

In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, he won the pole for the Florida Dodge Dealers 250 in 2005, but he lost his ride after 2 races was released due to lack of sponsorship. For the 2006 season, Earnhardt signed with ThorSport Racing and drove the #13 Chevrolet the full season with occasional sponsorship from the National Pork Board. His best finish of the season was an 11th at Nashville and Las Vegas. At the conclusion of the season, Kerry and ThorSport Racing went their separate ways.

In December 2007, he announced, in a year-end letter to his fans on his website, kerryearnhardtonline.com, that he had retired as a competitive driver. He is still an active test driver for DEI, and occasionally drives in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS).

His last appearance in a national touring series was the Nationwide Series’ Subway Jalapeño 250 on July 3, 2009 at Daytona International Speedway driving, the #31 car for Rick Ware Racing.

In 2010, Richard Childress announced that Earnhardt will drive the #3 car originally driven by his father when he won the Brickyard 400 at a festival.