1982 Winston 500 at Talladega
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In the mid 70's, Earnhardt was an established racer. He can't remember how many races a year he entered, but he was always on the go. He'd travel from Savannah, Ga., to Coeburn, Va., to Hickory. He did most of the work on his cars himself, but he did receive assistance from friends.

"I did race in a Winston Cup event, the World 600 in Charlotte, in Ed Negre's car in 1975." Earnhardt said.

"Then I drove a car for Johnny Ray at Atlanta in 1976 and tore it all to hell.

And later, I ran in four races for Will Cronkrite. But late in 1978, I was buying used parts from Rod Osterlund (who fielded a Winston Cup Team with driver Dave Marcis) and DiGard and just about anyone else who would sell them to me. "Some people began saying nice things about me to Roland Wlodyka, who was Osterlund's racing boss."

Earnhardt and Osterlund starting talking about fielding a second team in 1979. Osterlund wanted Earnhardt to drive in the Winston Cup race in November of 1978, but if he did that, he would have six starts for the year and thus be ineligible for the rookie of the year title in 1979. "I was going to run Will's car in Charlotte in October, a car that broke a spindle during practice and I crashed. It was real bad. We worked like hell to fix it, but it wasn't in good shape to run competitively in the race," Earnhardt said. To solve the Charlotte-Atlanta dilemma, Earnhardt solicited the services of journeyman Baxter Price to start the Cronkrite car at Charlotte. Earnhardt drove some and then Price got back into the car, which eventually retired with a blown engine.

That finished, Dale was able to drive Osterlund's car at Atlanta, and still retain rookie status for 1979. He finished fourth. "We would have done better if we hadn't had an air line bust in the pits," he said. The idea of a two-car Osterlund operation vanished when Marcis quit the team. Earnhardt was selected to be his replacement. After only a handful of races on the Winston Cup circuit, Earnhardt was going to be a full-time competitor with a top notch team. Nascar would never be the same.