Stevie Waltrip, the Earnhardt's and scripture in NASCAR

Via Amy Earnhardt's Twitter

Stevie Waltrip’s intention wasn’t to gain attention. In fact, she never even told anyone what she was doing.

Yet Waltrip knows the Lord can take a small thing and use it in a more significant way.

Over 20 years after she began giving her husband, NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip, scriptures from the Bible to keep inside his car, the practice lives on. It also has grown – from racing to marathoners who ask her for scriptures to tuck into their shoes – from Darrell to Dale Earnhardt Sr. and now Dale Earnhardt Jr.

And through the years the scriptures have become more well-known around the racing community.

“I marvel because it’s such a little thing on my part and I’m kind of a behind the scenes person anyway, so it’s just very humbling,” Stevie Waltrip told me. “I’m just very grateful that something like that the Lord can use and expand them to the point that he does.”

In 1981 Waltrip says her relationship with the Lord changed. Although she believed she was a Christian, Waltrip struggled to understand the significance of certain events. When an acquaintance gave Waltrip a tape on such topics like crucifixion, she was working in her garden listening one day when she realized, “I get it now.”

Waltrip began attending Bible study and took more time to dig into the Bible. At 31 years old, Waltrip said she wanted the world and racing community to know Jesus. However, Darrell wasn’t at that point yet, so Stevie started reading her notes to him on road trips or turning the radio up loud when Christian pastor Chuck Swindoll came on.

“Just believing in the power and word of the Lord, I wanted Darrell to just have that wisdom, the comfort, the strength, the guidance all of that, so that’s why I started putting those scriptures in the car,” Stevie said. “So that under caution or whatever, depending on how he was doing – if he was having a good day or a bad day – just having that word in your mind, it makes a difference.”

Darrell not only eventually found the same comfort in the Lord that Stevie did, but they also began holding a Bible study with fellow competitor Lake Speed and his wife, Rice (pronounced Reesa). Through this and Stevie Waltrip admitting she was praying for a pastor who would be perfect to start a chapel service at the track, the Motor Racing Outreach (MRO) ministry took shape in 1987. Today, Darrell is the chairman of the organization.

As for the scriptures, it took a new turn in the early 1990s. Waltrip isn’t sure what track it was, it might have been Charlotte, but Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s curiosity was suddenly piqued.

“I was on pit road with Darrell. I always walked out to the car with him, and so I had an index card with Darrell’s scripture on it, and Dale walked by on the way to his car,” Waltrip recalled. “I don’t know why he happened to (stop), maybe he saw me hand it to Darrell. But he grabbed it, and he said, ‘What is this?’

“I said, 'Well, I write Darrell scripture and put it in his car every race day,' and he stuck his hand out and said, ‘Where’s mine?’ I said just wait right here; I’ll get you one. Ran back to our pit and I think I had to write his on grey tape because I didn’t have but Darrell’s.”

It was an unexpected turn. However, the scriptures became something that meant so much to Earnhardt he would seek Waltrip out to make sure he got one. It didn’t matter if Earnhardt was already buckled in his car, he made sure to have a scripture every Sunday.

“There was a race I was a little late getting out to pit road, and I had gotten Darrell’s scripture to him but hadn’t gotten Dale’s,” Waltrip said. “Dale got out of his car and came looking - I mean we’re talking right before the race was supposed to start. Thankfully, I was very close, but he had gotten back out of his car to come find me because of how much it meant to him.”

The scriptures chosen for Darrell and Dale could have been different or the same. Whichever way Waltrip felt guided is the passages she used. On one occasion when they were different, Waltrip recalled how Dale grabbed both, read them and picked the one he wanted.

“He said, ‘I got the good one, didn’t I?’” Waltrip said. “Always making it a competition.”

From one Earnhardt to another

Dale Earnhardt had a scripture in his car the day he died at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 18, 2001. Waltrip remembers sitting in the motorhome searching for a passage and landing on Proverbs 18. For some reason, as she read through she felt like she was being brought back to 18:10:

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man rushes to it and finds refuge.”

“(It) felt like that’s what I was supposed to be writing and I had asked the Lord for his leading and his guidance and that day that’s where he led me, and he wouldn’t let me go anywhere else,” Waltrip said. “As a result of that, you just think what that scripture says and what comfort it brought to everyone who read it and believed it. It gave us assurance, it gave us comfort, it gave us strength, so only the Lord can do that.”

After Earnhardt’s death, stories were written about him having scripture in his car, and Waltrip believes this is when many became aware of what she had been doing for Earnhardt and her husband. It was also after Earnhardt’s death that Dale Earnhardt Jr. began wanting scriptures for his car.

Today, Waltrip doesn’t attend as many races as she once did. The races she does attend, she continues the habit of writing out the scriptures before they are given to Earnhardt Jr. If she is not at a race, Waltrip either gives it to Darrell to bring to the track if he’s working or she’ll text MRO president Billy Mauldin who will write it out before MRO makes sure it gets to Earnhardt Jr.

“I’m not very superstitious, but there are a couple of things that I have to do before the race starts,” Earnhardt Jr. told me earlier this year. “I always really appreciate the MRO guys coming up to pray before we get in the car, and the scripture. Taking the scripture and putting it in my car. 

"There has only been one race where I think we didn’t have it and it’s just a weird feeling. She did that for dad. I was really pleased and happy that she continued to do it for me. It meant as much to her as I think it meant to me.

“I think she was kind of the glue in the relationship between dad and Darrell. Maybe she’s the glue with the relationship between me and Darrell. I don’t know what kind of relationship me and Darrell would have without Stevie in the middle. She’s an incredible person, and I appreciate her looking after me … She feels like she’s sort of keeping us safe and I can buy into that.”

In recent years, Waltrip’s verses have taken on a new life. Earnhardt Jr. has shared some of the scriptures he’s received and Amy Earnhardt has made it a habit of posting them on Twitter using #SteviesVerse. It’s led fans to share how much they enjoy reading them every Sunday.

“I don’t know how many people will read the word of God because of that - being a race fan or following Dale Jr.,” Stevie said. “That’s huge.”

Other drivers have also carried scriptures with them, such as Mark Martin and Michael Waltrip. But it has been Darrell and the Earnhardt’s who have done so on a regular basis. 

Now, with Earnhardt Jr. retiring at the end of this season, Stevie chuckles she’s going to be out of a job.

Maybe, after all this time, she will be. Or maybe the Lord will continue to use her.

“If somebody asked me,” Waltrip said of continuing the tradition, “I would do it.”

A Q&A with Kyle Benjamin

At 18, Kyle Benjamin’s stock car career is still relatively young, but he’s already made his presence known on short tracks around the country. A winner in many different racing areas, including the ARCA Racing Series and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, Benjamin has been dominant in 2016 with his No. 40 Chevrolet for Rainer Racing with MDM.

Racing role models

“Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson - it’s hard to beat those two for different reasons. Kyle, he’s phenomenal behind the wheel and makes so many good decisions, and so does Jimmie. He’s very methodical with what he does, and I like that, too.”

Outdoor adventures

“I like to snowboard. That’s my favorite thing to do away from the track, and that’s in the winter time. In the summertime, it’s mostly wakeboarding and mountain biking.”

Injury prone

“All the crazy stuff I do and the ways I get hurt, it doesn’t match up. I get hurt doing regular, everyday things like falling down the steps and things like that. I don’t really get hurt doing the crazy stuff that I do do.”

Forward focus

“It definitely does because you go back and you think what you should have done differently, and that will eat you up. Especially when you lose a race when you had a good car. But you got to shake it off; you can’t let it hang over your head, and you can’t go into the next week still feeling the effects of what happened the last weekend.”

Dealing with disappointment

“Usually, I’ll think about it that night and maybe the next day then I’m like, all right, I’m not going to think about it anymore. It’s in the past; it’s already happened, and we’re going to move on and do what we do best.”

If not for racing …

“I would be some sort of stunt or daredevil type. Like a Travis Pastrana because I’m always doing crazy stuff like that. Racing kind of keeps me tame because I can’t get hurt, so I can’t go as crazy as I want to do sometimes. Definitely, have to tone it down doing this stuff.”

I hate change.

I’ve been like that for as long as I can remember. My normal agenda is to get as comfortable as possible doing things a certain way and then settle in. Become content, so to speak. I’m a stickler for routine, and it results in keeping with the same, small group of friends.

Change? Trying something new? Meeting different people and seeing new places? No, no, no.

I’ll be honest – it scares me and makes me extremely uncomfortable. But a lot in my life, personally and professionally, has changed in the last few weeks.

When I made the move to North Carolina a few years ago with absolutely no money to survive on my own and no full-time job, I told myself it was all about taking chances. Living the dream. Paying my dues. Plenty of people have done it, I was told. In order to succeed, sometimes you have to take a risk.

For me, that was like being told to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.

Leaving New Jersey was the hardest thing I had ever done. Having always been a quiet, shy homebody, going out into the big, bad world was sure to kill me. I left behind everything and everyone I had ever known. My comfort zone and security were gone.

It shook me, but I knew deep down this was what I wanted and what I needed to do to get where I wanted to be. I moved in with a friend who I didn’t have to pay, instead making up with it in other ways. My full focus went to Popular Speed and I began trying to live to the life and forge the career I longed for.

Success happened quicker than I thought when I began traveling to more races than I probably should have. More than I certainly had the money for. But I made connections, developed friendships and was continually blown away the more people would greet and recognize me. Whether that was inside or outside the media center.

Over time, I took on more responsibility with Popular Speed while writing more and more and more. I got comfortable. I made a home, and I LOVED what I was doing. The stories I got to share, be it race coverage or features (my favorite), were always so well received I knew I wanted more. More recognition, more time at the track, more respect, more hit stories. Everything you think of, I was aiming for.

But all things must come to an end and recently, my living situation and then my time with Popular Speed did. Granted, this was something I had been working for, the next step in the NASCAR journalism ladder, but it was still hard to accept I was essentially starting over. It’s so much easier just to keep on keeping on, only to realize that three, four, five years have passed and you’re still in the same place.

But again, that change thing is scary. I had a great time at Popular Speed, and I appreciated having an outlet where I feel like I wrote great stories. Now it’s time for something different.

As I announced yesterday, my next job is part-time with NBC Sports for the next couple of months. It’s an unbelievable honor to join a great team of online and on-air talent, and I know it’ll be both a great experience and learning opportunity.

But it’s a change in many ways.

I most likely won’t be traveling as much, and my assignments will be different than what I had been doing the last couple of years. It’s OK, though, it’s NBC Sports! As you can tell, I’m very excited about it and I’m thrilled by the possibilities of what it could turn into and what I could get to contribute.

Thrilled and scared and nervous.

As I prepare for this next chapter, which will begin after Daytona, I wanted to let everyone know where my head has been at. Many of you have asked. Some of you said you were praying for me. I have truly been humbled and overwhelmed by all the messages, tweets, Facebook posts, emails, texts, and calls since announcing my departure from Popular Speed. The fact that so many of you cared blew me away.

With yesterday’s news, I saw it again. It left me speechless. You all know I’m just a girl from a small, small town in NJ who isn’t qualified to do anything but talk about race cars, right?

Honestly, though, thank you. Thank you to every single person who cares about what I do, what I write, and how I feel. Thank you to all those who said they couldn’t wait to see what was next.

Well, NBC Sports is next, in addition to my continued contributions to NASCAR Illustrated, which I hope you’ve all subscribed to.

Right now, though, I’m going to continue to regroup, refocus and try to get used to this change thing. 

The Month of May Means One Thing for Danica Patrick and Millions of Fans: Indy

You can see them line up rows deep at souvenir haulers around the country or talking about her on racing message boards. Danica. Danica. Danica.

It’s not a popular name or one that is heard often like those of Michelle, Kimberly, or Tiffany, but it’s a name that specifies a woman that is extraordinary. Even if it’s one name, one word, many know whom it refers to without any more information. If the question were posed though, “You know who Danica is right?” the answer nine out of 10 times would be “yes.”

“Is that the racecar driver?” others might turn around and ask.

Yes, that Danica, NASCAR Nationwide Series and IZOD IndyCar Series driver. With just one word, Danica has joined the ranks of other superstar athletes’ also recognizable by one word: Kobe, MJ, and Tiger, to name a few. She captured the hearts of millions from the beginning and “Danica-Mania” has been in full effect.

“Danica is everywhere: media, online, makes everyone very familiar with her,” says Jeff Smelser of Olympia, WA. Smelser is an avid NASCAR fan with a casual eye for IndyCar events.

The cause of her appeal could be any number of things. Maybe the fact that she does not have a normal nine-to-five job, more like zero to 100 in less than three seconds. Who would not want to be her for a day? Hard to do so might as well jump aboard her fan wagon and go to the top with her. Add in that she learned the art of marketing/branding and there isnowhere you will not see her. Well, except in victory lane.

In 89 races to date – pre-Indianapolis – she had one career win, which was ripped apart for coming on fuel mileage. She has also never won a championship, but did finish fifth in the
final championship point standings in 2009. Still, many contend Danica is not a consistent driver and is an all around failure. Nothing more than a sex symbol that thinks she can drive is a common sentiment; having a sponsor like GoDaddy.com will do that.

Numerous photo shoots, magazine spreads, and commercials have made Danica a household name. Even those that are not racing fans have seen them and know her. To some it’s no big deal. If you have it, then use it Rebecca Kivak, 28, of Wilkes-Barre, PA said. To others it’s simply unacceptable and not where her energy should be.

“I wish she would concentrate more on her abilities as a racer and less on her physical attributes. They speak for themselves,” said Sue Simpson, 54, of Daytona Beach, FL. Simpson said over the years she watched Danica closely, has met her and will be watching Indy. Unfortunately, even if Danica were to win, it would not change one thing.

“I feel she is cheapening her brand [with all the advertisements]. I have a hard time taking her seriously, though I really want to,” Simpson said.

Ignore the fact that Danica is just like any citizen when she is not driving a racecar and can live her life the way she pleases. There seems to be an unwritten rule that not winning means she is not to grace TV.

“Winning is everything,” simply states Matt Kacar of Gallatin, TN.

He is one of many that say Danica is overhyped and overanalyzed. Something that could change by the end of May when IndyCar’s biggest race takes the stage: the Indianapolis 500. Since her debut at the track known as the Brickyard in 2005, talk has been how Danica is destined to win it. By far it’s her best track, but with statistics not reminiscent of how well she
runs. Pretty decent in themselves though: average start of 7.4, average finish is 11.25, in five races.

As a rookie she led, becoming the first female to ever accomplish the feat, and finished fourth. That was the moment that Danica Patrick arrived. The moment everything changed in the racing world. If you did not think she knew what she was doing, you now did. If you had no driver to root for, you now did. Or if you were waiting for a competitive female, the search was complete. Last season Danica kicked it up a notch, finishing third and leaving fans anxious for the 2010 edition. Teams began their preparations for the big race and fans began to clear their schedule for Noon on May 30.

Every driver who qualifies has his or her enthusiasm matched by millions of fans around the world. Racing die-hards, causal watchers of just the Indy 500, and those that tune in to see how Danica does. Do not fear; there are plenty of them out there, whether they choose to admit it. Some curiously wonder if the female can beat the men at their own game. A few, like those mentioned above that criticize her still want to see a victory. It’s what makes her an asset to motorsports, Californian Rex Emerson said.

For fans of Danica’s, to those that feel she gets too much attention, the broadcast of the Indy 500 is bound to have plenty of Danica time. It will come over defending race winners, such as Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon, plus the possible four other females in the field. Only one, however, will have the hopes and dreams of men and women, boys and girls, around the world on her 5-foot-2 inch, 100-pound shoulders.

The pressure and expectations that have been set upon Danica by both her and others will
never be stronger than when it comes to Indy. Heading to a place where many know she is one of the best in the field brings more anticipation for a spectacular run. Of course, that is before the whispers begin of her doing the unimaginable.

“Can you imagine if she wins that race?”

***********************************************************************

The Indianapolis 500 is the biggest auto race in America with a steep tradition like no others in sports. Drivers put their lives on the line for over three hours, at 220 plus mph for the victory of a lifetime: A glass of milk and to kiss dirty, greasy bricks that make up the start/finish line. Repulsive to some, but once a year 33 drivers reach into their heart and soul more than anywhere else for the chance to be able to do it.

When the garages opened for the 94th running, the feeling was already different. The attitude of Danica’s No. 7 GoDaddy.com car and team were not what they should have been. Qualifying 23rd, her first non-top 10 ever at Indy, did little to ease the minds of fans even with another week left to get it right.

“Indy is one of Danica’s best tracks, if not her best,” said Kivak. “I normally would have expected a top five, but knowing of her struggles with her car during qualifying, I was hoping for a top 10 finish.”

Down and out for the win wrote the media while fans said it was no shock she was complaining and making excuses. For 15-year-old Camille Jones of Clayton, NC no matter what happens she stands firm that Danica would never let down the fans. She can drive a racecar like the best of them, even a car that was ill behaving. Somehow she would get it to the front.
Jones is not just another fan of IndyCar’s fastest female; she might be one of the biggest.

Her time is spent on the social networking site Twitter where she fights with those that
speak ill of her favorite driver. Other times she is updating the page, which is decked out in a Danica Patrick background, profile picture and colors, with words of praise and encouragement. Any article about the driver she finds is linked for her followers to read.

When it came time for Indy, Jones once again stood out. She made cupcakes on qualifying day that featured number sevens with lime green and orange sprinkles. From there she followed all the news online, driver “tweets,” and anything else associated with Indy. Jones was ready for the Danica show.

“I knew her car had been really acting up the past few weeks and I was really anxious to see how well she pulled it towards the front of the pack,” she said.

Ratings for the race will show over 252 million people in the United States and abroad had their television stations tuned in. At 1:04 p.m. ET “Back Home in Indiana” was sung by Jim Nabors, by 1:07 the cars were fired and rolling off the grid for the 1:13 green flag. The time for speculating and predicting was over, nothing but pedal to the medal mattered now. Early on contenders fell by the wayside; others asserted themselves as the ones to beat.

With the sun setting on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the early evening, Danica was at the front like Jones predicted, just not the preferred place. Dario Franchitti chugged the milk for the second time in his career, Danica settling for fifth spot after a month happily forgotten. Hearing boos after qualifying, frustration during the week, and ending with members of the team digging deep, Danica’s 2010 Indy 500 was hard fought.

“Overall, I thought her day was pretty darn successful compared to the past few weeks,” Jones said. “Seeing her with a top five sent Danica fans roaring with excitement, she was finally back where she belonged. Until of course the camera shot over to her teammate, Marco Andretti, sitting on the pit wall, visibly frustrated and already whining.”

Andretti’s post race interview was not filled with compliments or congratulations. The young driver insisted three competitors passed him under caution and took his third place spot. For the next few hours as league officials reviewed the tapes, opinions on Danica’s finish continued.

She backed into it, she got lucky because of the wrecks, and it was a matter of strategy by her team played perfectly. Fans will be fans, with their own opinions and theories on every little detail. In the end though the officials get the last word and late that night the announcement was made: Danica made an illegal move and finished sixth, not fifth.

Jones was one of the many that did not agree, but dwelling was no use, Indy was finished. Weeks of working out every detail, car kinks, and aerodynamic numbers were all in the rearview mirror. When asked, relieved and thankful was what Danica told viewers as she took a deep breath. Around the world others did the same.

“Other than that [changing her position], I believe Danica showed us that she can rally to the front and give her car a good finish,” Jones said. “Danica Patrick never disappoints.”

No argument there. Everything she does is broken down, analyzed, and put out for all to see. It’s hard to blame any of them though; these are the fans that live for racing. They do not apologize for it or pretend not to understand. They are the ones that buckle up and experience the thrills and spills with their idols.

A year from now Danica Patrick will give it another shot, leaving Camille Jones and other fans ready to do it all over again too.