The strange case of Dale Earnhardt Junior’s race car graveyard
I’ve tried to imagine if this story would have garnered any interest at all if it had been a different driver keeping these cars. Were it Jimmy Johnson or Michael Waltrip keeping a graveyard of junked cars on their property would I (or anyone) have found this factoid remotely interesting or unusual?
In my opinion, I doubt it.
The fact that the driver who has this ‘graveyard’ just happens to also be the son of a driver who was killed on the track, I believe, makes this story strangely fascinating.
Most notably, the way that the cars here have their own resting places and aren’t bunched up together like a typical junkyard feels sort of eerie. Each car is almost like its own unique tomb or shrine. I imagine Jr. riding around his property on an ATV and as he drives past these wrecks everyday being constantly reminded of the ghost of his father.
Yet these wrecks all had drivers who walked away. In a way, it’s touchingly sad.
There is also something oddly satisfying about Jr. being the final caretaker of these cars; Jr. just feels like the one driver who could give these cars a degree solemn dignity. Yet being constantly reminded of wrecks that other drivers walked away from (most of which a lot worse than his father’s wreck) makes me sad for him too.
Granted I’m just speculating and have no way of knowing what Jr. is actually thinking or what his true intentions are, but the whole idea of him having these cars just feels like he’s hanging onto some sort of ghost or demon.
Like I said, if this were any other driver I just don’t think this ‘graveyard’ thing would even be a story, but since it’s Jr. perhaps there is something to read into a little here.
