Dale Jr. Keeps Old Cars in the Weeds

After reading about yet another one of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s personal quirks, my head is still spinning.

And it's spinning because frankly I just don't get it, despite the article talking about his way of collecting old race cars like its an entirely normal thing. From the NASCAR Scene:

So whatever happened to the car that slid along the Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway wall last year, leaving a trail of flames as driver Brad Keselowski held on?

It's not at JR Motorsports.

It's at Junior's home.

OK, it's not inside the home, but it's on team co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s property. [...]

"It's a good conversation piece," Keselowski said. "It's actually out back in the woods. It's on a hill and there's vines and stuff growing through it. It's cool because Dale left it completely intact. Every single piece other than the radio is in it. It's really cool to see."

So, in short form, Dale Earnhardt Jr. collects old race cars only to leave them to rust, rot, and generally just turn to nothing on the deepest parts of his property.

Is that not at all weird?
Is that really an entirely normal thing that people do? Am I missing out on this car collecting fad that involves absolutely zero maintenance -- much less a garage? Could I be having amazing conversations by parking my old 1989 Honda Accord in my backyard and not mowing around it?

Is that really what people do?

Keselowski seems completely OK with the fact that the car could have died in is sitting out in the weeds, and I can't really blame him. But that can't be the only car Earnhardt Jr. has ever just dropped off.

Is he waiting to build a garage? Or his is just trying to make a statement about getting rid of the demons that Keselowski had with that car and its horrible, horrible crash in 2007?

Whatever it is, it confuses me. Dale Earnhardt Jr., though, has never been just another guy when it comes to learning things about his personality.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

9-01-2008 @ 11:23PM

anna seitter said...

maybe instead of just weeds and bushes growing around junior keselewsky wreck in that field, there is something much more worthwile hiding under or in the car
Maybe he is conservating some colombian weed seeds under that car. we should ask him.

9-02-2008 @ 12:50AM

Mike Garrett said...

Mr. Miller,
Why is your head spinning? Keeping old cars back in the woods on your property and letting the weeds grow around it is not a personal quirt of Dale Earnhardt Jr. It's not weird and yes it's a normal thing people do.
As a boy growing up in North Carolina in the 50's, I saw a lot of people that kept old cars and pickup trucks on the back of their property.
Dale Jr. is not waiting to build a garage or trying to make a statement about getting rid of the demons that Keselowski had with that car. It's just something the good old boys do. I think it's cool.
When and where did you grow up? Let me guess. You grew up in the 1980's in New York City.
Thank Ya,
Mike Garrett

9-02-2008 @ 1:32AM

Don Emerson said...

Oh gawd....now all his fans will be dumping their old cars in the woods out back. Thanks a lot Jr. Works for me.....

9-02-2008 @ 6:36AM

Kim said...

Actually.....Dale Jr. is just your good old fashioned red neck boy. My hubby is from West Virginia and we live in OH, near Columbus. I noticed when we went to West Virginia a few years ago that a lot of people had a lot of junk cars just sitting around rusting on their property. I asked my husband if that was supposed to mean something. He said, not really, that people just don't have much where he is from and tend to hold onto what they do have, working or not.

The difference here is that Jr. is loaded! I fell on a show called "Cribs" with an episode on NASCAR drivers and saw Jr.'s property. It's very nice indeed. These cars must be hidden WAY back somewhere, because I am sure his rich neighbors wouldn't appreciate this little collecting habit.

And Geoffrey.....on a side note....you think the car collecting is wierd? Jr. has built an entire old fashioned western town on his property complete with a saloon, gambling hall, and jail. They all function and he holds parties there. No kidding.....now that's just wierd. :-)

Kim

9-02-2008 @ 10:51AM

Jack Hall said...

Appears Jr just likes to hold on to the long gone past as much as possible. You know, like way "back in the day"

9-02-2008 @ 10:52AM

Maveness said...

Actually, Junior keeps a lot of his cars that have significance for him - that's been documented years back. If he has tons of land and it's not an eyesore, why not? Yeah, he's not putting them in a showroom, but let's be honest, how many collectors years down the road are going to want a car that he lost in? The collectors want the winning cars, the ones that end up in race owner's shops, not in the driver's back lot.

9-02-2008 @ 11:35AM

Mike LeVan said...

I see no reason this is a suprise to anyone. One persons trash is another persons treasure. Perhaps Jr has a walking trail up in the woods where these cars are with a plaque telling a story about each one. No matter what the story is, it just goes to show Jr is a good ole boy that just happens to be loaded. I see old farms all the time where the owner decides to sell off the timber. The next thing you see is a 1949 Buick sitting out in the open where there were once trees.
As for his fans "starting to do it" Don. I expect it is already the norm. Hiding them in the woods would be an improvement actually.
MBL

9-02-2008 @ 12:11PM

Pete said...

Who in the hell cares It's a free country . You guy's write about crap laying in the middle of a street new hungry blood sucking nuts.

9-03-2008 @ 1:03AM

You tell them Pete.Their all just resentful of another's success.They should learn to live and let live.

9-02-2008 @ 1:56PM

Kaz said...

The Western town was built as a way to have his family and friends over. Junior can't go to normal places without being mobbed. He has the right to privacy. He copied the town from Willie Nelson.

Jr and his fans seem to gnaw at you people. Is he too popular or too rich for you? What exactly is your bitch with Jr? There are 43 drivers on the track but you continue to cry like babies over Jr.

9-02-2008 @ 3:03PM

sabra said...

Geeez, if I had a property big enough to make a trail with crashed cars on it, I would do it in a heartbeat. It's just cool!! They are a part of JR's life and his scenery...me likey!!

9-02-2008 @ 11:42PM

Good point Mike, just follow the skoal cans and empty pigskins wrappers to find their cars (and trucks). Jr and his fans are a breed apart for sure. As for him not being able to go anywhere without being mobbed, I don't buy it. He just needs to avoid all the redneck hangouts to be left alone, Wow, now they're comparing him to Elvis in popularity. kind of a stretch don't you think. Make a note....jr's fans have big imaginations to go along with their ill-mannered behavior. Listen, any grown man who stashes junk cars out behind the house and builds his own private western town just so he can play cowboy is a little on the Michael Jackson side if you get my drift. Hmmm....closing in on 40...never been married....no kids......doesn't date much.....builds his own version of Never Land....is worshipped by hordes of rabid mindless fans.....isolates himself from reality and the public....interesting. Perhaps you should do the math and figure things out for yourself. Works for me.........

9-03-2008 @ 12:10AM

Works for You ! You sound like a moran.

9-03-2008 @ 8:50AM

Don,

That was pretty funny, even if not true.

And Mike...if you are going to call someone a "moron" it would probably behoove you to spell it correctly. It isn't "moran," it's "moron." Just a tip from me to you.

Kim

9-03-2008 @ 9:28AM

Don, do yourself a favor and think before you speak/type. Because I'm getting tired of the "fans of so and so are..." statements. Trying to incite a riot and start fights isn't funny, it's immature and classless.

And yeah, the Junior fan just called you immature and classless.

9-03-2008 @ 12:16AM

ladyes and gentlemans i sugggest ys all calm down because i heard the real story. Have you all heard or seen a western toytown that many kids get for christmas?.
Well, when junior was akid he never got a western toytown as a gift and not a whole lot of any gift for that matter. Back than DALE SENIOR was still a new comer struggling in the lower serieses and even when he got to nascar, the financial troubles in the family continued because dale #3 was not running in many races and nazcar did not pay as much as todays fat paychecks.OK, so junior was deprived of many luxuryes the other kids get when he was such.
Today, yesterday and tomorrow he has been swimming in to the green of richness and so he is recuperating his lost infancy
with the real solid R,E. DEVELOPED WESTERN TOWN.
What is wrong with that when he is spending his own $$$ and not mine or yours?. As a child junior was not playing much with toys but DALE SENIOR was teaching HIM HOW TO DRIVE and begun with go-karts to street cars to stock cars, in short THE REAL TOYS OF HIS FUTURE and so is his western town and the junk field sits there for his western town visitor friends as a
wreck museum to look at it besides cowboys, bars shops and cows. As that for a plausible explanation? what's your vote?

9-03-2008 @ 1:12AM

Anna, Where did you hear that story? Did a little bird tell you? What happened to your explanation that maybe he is conservating some colombian weed under that car? Sounds like you might be halucinating from smoking some of that stuff yourself.

9-03-2008 @ 6:35AM

DEBRA said...

AS A JR FAN I RESENT THE REFERENCE TO MICHAEL JACKSON.MAYBE WHEN YOU DO HALF OF WHAT JR AND THE OTHER DRIVERS DO FOR KIDS YOU CAN TALK YOUR TRASH.TILL THEN SHUT UP.AND AS FOR NEVER BEING MARRIED, NO WONDER! LOOK AT SOME OF THE TRASH YOU SEE HANGING AROUND. MAYBE WHEN HE FINDS A WOMAN WITH A LITTLE SELF RESPECT HE MIGHT CONSIDER MARRYING HER.WOULD YOU MARRY A WOMAN WHO SLEPT WITH YOU FIVE MINUTES AFTER MEETING YOU?STOP TALKING TRASH ABOUT JR JUST BECAUSE HE DOESN'T WANT TO MARRY A TRAMP. TRUE , HE'S NOT LOOKING IN THE RIGHT PLACES, BUT HE HAS ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD. HE HAS A RIGHT TO BE SINGLE. A LOT OF PEOPLE WAIT TILL LATER TO MARRY.WHO ARE YOU TO JUDGE HIM.TAKE CARE OF YOUR OWN BUSINESS AND STAY OUT OF JRS. I'M SURE YOU HAVE PLENTY OF PROBLEMS IN YOUR OWN LIFE.

9-03-2008 @ 7:26AM

Pretty good Don. Jr will probably finally come out of the closet when he retires. He and his sister/enabler know for him to do it now would take a huge slice out of his fan base. The same demographic of a Jr fan would probably match up well with the demographic of the average homophobe. It is unfortunate but many people would suddenly see him as just being GAY and not just another driver.
MBL

9-03-2008 @ 8:28AM

BOB said...

have you seen some of the hot chicks with some of these guys? nobody said dale jr had to get married, but at least he could be seen with a female every once and a while. while we are at it, why dont we ask all the other drivers what they think about the new bud shoot-out format ? why do we care what jr thinks?

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