Dale Earnhardt wasn’t called “The Intimidator” for nothing. But as it turns out, the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion didn’t reserve all that intimidation for the racetrack.
Just ask the guy who decided to sneak onto his property and shoot one of his deer.
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During Wednesday’s episode of “The Dale Jr. Download,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. recalled the time his dad broke his hand punching a man who killed a deer on his North Carolina farm.
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Dale Earnhardt before the start of a NASCAR Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1992. (ISC Images & Archives via Getty Images)
And while Earnhardt Sr. certainly wasn’t afraid of a confrontation on the track, his son said he couldn’t recall his dad ever getting into an actual fight with another driver.
The deer incident, though… that was a different story.
Dale Earnhardt didn’t take kindly to trespassers
According to Dale Jr., the whole thing started back in 1993 when a man working on a tractor on Earnhardt’s property spotted some deer.
Later that afternoon, the man went to a bar with a buddy and started telling him about the animals he’d seen. And, as tends to happen when alcohol enters the equation, the two came up with a brilliant idea.
They’d sneak back onto Earnhardt’s property and shoot themselves a deer.
“The more they drank, the braver they got,” Earnhardt Jr. recalled.
So, around dark, the two men hopped the fence and made their way onto the property.
What they didn’t know was that Earnhardt and his farm manager happened to be walking along a power line nearby.
The two heard a gunshot and watched as a wounded deer ran down the clearing before collapsing. Rather than immediately confronting the trespassers, Earnhardt and his farm manager hid in the tree line and waited for the men to come retrieve the animal.
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And when they showed up, The Intimidator lived up to his nickname.
According to Dale Jr., his dad charged the man carrying the gun, tackled him and began punching him in the face.
He hit the guy so hard that he broke his own hand.
Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. pose for a photo on Oct. 5, 1999, in Mooresville, N.C. (Sporting News via Getty Images)
Earnhardt eventually recognized the man’s voice and realized he was the same guy who had been working on his tractor earlier that day. He then held the man until police arrived.
Talk about a bad day at work.
The Intimidator had a soft spot for his deer
Earnhardt wasn’t upset because someone had stolen a deer he was planning to hunt himself. He just liked having the animals around.
According to his son, Earnhardt had some impressive bucks roaming his property, but he wasn’t interested in shooting them. He enjoyed watching them and wanted to keep them around.
And he certainly didn’t want word getting out that his farm was home to some big deer.
So when Earnhardt showed up to the 1993 NASCAR awards banquet sporting a cast on his broken hand, he made up a different explanation for the injury.
“He didn’t want people to know about his deer,” Dale Jr. explained. “He didn’t want more people showin’ up, trying to sneak into his property.”
Earnhardt even had a black-and-white cast to match his tuxedo as he accepted his sixth Cup Series championship trophy.
Dale Earnhardt checks out the view from the newly completed Earnhardt Grandstand during winter testing at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., two weeks before the Daytona 500. (Getty Images)
But the broken hand created another problem when the 1994 racing season rolled around.
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According to Junior, his dad was told he wouldn’t be allowed to compete in the Daytona 500 while wearing the cast. So Earnhardt cut it off himself.
Problem solved.
Anyway, let that be a lesson to you. Don’t go hunting on private land without permission. It just doesn’t turn out well — not for you, not for the deer, and not even for the landowner who has to knock your lights out.
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