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him down at that point Kids would open up his heart till it got bigger than the moon. The rest with his victory, is history. Dale Jarrett, NextelCup driver for the No. 44 Toyota UPS team car Everything you’ve heard about him was true. He was the ultimate competitor. And it didn’t matter if you were both racing for first or for 15th place if you were in front of him, he’d try to move you out of the way. Yes, you’d have words with him. It could get heated. But, ultimately, you looked forward to racing against him because you knew you would be racing against the very best, every week. Off the track, he could be very generous. He’d al ways come up with a new business venture, like Chase Authentics apparel, and he’d invite me, Rusty Wal lace, the Labonte brothers and even Jeff Gordon into the deal. In 1999, when I was contending for the Cup championship, I’d spend time with him after practice or qualifying and take the opportunity to pick his brain. I wanted to know more about how to win this thing. He’d tell me enough to make it worthwhile to ask. But then he’d put on that sly grin of his, and I knew I wasn’t going to get anything else out of him. He wasn’t going to give everything away. Then, I won that year. We wanted to bring my fam ily and friends to New York for the awards banquet to show them how much I appreciated their support over the years. But we had to figure out how to get all of them there. Dale ended up loaning me his plane, and we had a great time. A few weeks later, it’s late December, and I called him so I could settle up the bill before the end of the year. He said, “I’ll send you something in the mail.” A few days later, I get an offi cial letter from Dale Earnhardt Inc. It looks like an invoice, with all the details about how many people flew on the plane and the miles flown and all. Then, at the bottom, he wrote: “Congratulations on the cham pionship. Merry Christmas. No charge.” Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News anchor We were close in the 19905. I’ll always remember his smile more than any glare. He had a warm, crinkly, wry smile. He loved to tease people. I don’t think he really bought into the “Intimidator.” But he knew the value of that reputation, how to market it He clearly WITH McREYNOLDS: MOTORSPORTS IMAGES ARCHIVES/GETTY IMAGES; WITH JARRETT: GARRY ELLER/CIA STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY; WITH BRADSHAW: COURTESY TERRY BRADSHAW; WITH WILLIAMS: COURTESY BRIAN WILLIAMS IBH jK. - an * / 'fjH . L W. nnr WITH DALE JARRETT "I was very moved that someone like him would make such a fuss over my children." Terry Bradshaw ... ' * WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS relished being a successful, self-made businessman. By the end, he was very happy with where he was. He’d tell us, “If I die racing, please understand that I died doing what made me happy.” I was on vacation in 2001 when I saw the accident in Daytona. I immediately left to get back to my office in New York. When I checked my voice mail, I saw he had left a message on the day he died. He just checked in to say hello. He wanted to know if I was coming to Daytona. I’ll always keep that message. Terry Bradshaw, Hall of Fame quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers He nearly gave me a heart attack when he drove me around a track. At one point, he takes his hands off the wheel, turns to me and says, “See? You don’t re ally need to hold the steering wheel. The gravita tional forces hold the car down.” Now, we’re going more than 100 mph! I’m absolutely petrified. He WITH TERRY BRADSHAW Humpy Wheeler, president of Lowe's Motor Speedway I’d tease him about building his Dale Earnhardt Inc. headquarters. It was some monstrosity in the middle of a pasture. I’d tell him, “You have no idea how much money you’ve spent on that thing, do you?” He’d say, “No. I’ve got hundreds of people working on it, and it’s a real pain.” But I could tell, secretly, that he loved putting it together. I think it just made him feel good to be building something. And those fans of his the contractors, the brick masons, the carpenters and ma chine operators they all felt a connection there. I don’t think too many people know how easily it all could have ended for him long before it did. In Talla dega in 1996, he had a terrible wreck. For the next couple of years, people thought he was washed up. I asked him once if he was OK. He told me, “I think I still got it in me, Humpy. But it’s just been tough lately.” Then, Dale Jr. started winning on the track. This recharged him. Then, he got an operation, and that made him feel stronger again. The night that Dale Jr. won the Winston in 2000 at my track was the night it all came back together for him. That’s the hardest race to win because there’s a lot of money at stake. So you either drive hard to win, or you don’t show up, Continued on next page knew he was scaring me out of my wits, and he was hav ing a great time. Later that week, he made up for it. He saw me with my kids. So he went up to them, grabbed them and gave them a big hug. He told them, “Your daddy is the coolest guy on Earth!” I was very moved that someone like him—who was bigger than I’ll ever be would make such a fuss over my children. He could be very kind that way. USA WEEKEND • Aug. 31 -Sept 2,2007 7