Terry Labonte vs. Dale Earnhardt Sr.

[Ironman63]

With the Bristol race coming up this weekend, two battles at the end of the 1995 and 1999 Bristol races came to mind.  I am still a huge Dale Earnhardt Sr. fan even though he's been gone for over 18 years.  Terry Labonte  was also a fave because he was a top-notch driver and it didn't hurt that he drove a Chevy(bowtie all the way, altho I have some other makes in the stash).   Here are links to a couple of videos of them racing each other at Bristol.  Enjoy!

https://m.nascar.com/video/franchise/this-moment-in-nascar-history/this-moment-in-nascar-history-earnhardt-rattles-labontes-cage/

https://m.nascar.com/video/franchise/all-access/labonte-i-wanted-to-t-bone-earnhardt-at-bristol-in-1999/

After what happened at the end of the 1999 race, the celebration was considerably muted for me because of the way Sr. had to win.  Not cool, although he was still my driver.

[Jim N]

I remember that race well.  The booing was so loud and I think Earnhardt was a little taken aback by it.  I think that is when he came up with the line about only trying to rattle his cage.  It always looked to me that Earnhardt was trying to do a bump and run, but it went sideways.

[Shambles]

I was never a big Earnhardt fan, but I was a Terry LaBonte fan. He was a good driver and a class act. I remember when, after that race, a reporter was interviewing LaBonte and said, "Dale said he didn't mean to wreck you." Labonte said, "Yeah, he never means to."

Edited August 22, 2019 by Shambles

[wrenchr]

Funny is Terry gave him a heckuva shot as well.