NASCAR Fans Outraged as Popular TV Show Displays Wrong Information on Dale Earnhardt Sr

Dale Earnhardt is regarded as one of the greatest NASCAR racers of all time. So it is not at all surprising that a number of Dale Sr memorabilia will be very highly valued. In light of this, the reality TV show Pawn Stars aired an episode where one of his racing suits was up for sale. As is the norm, the show often displays background information of the item or the person who owned the item.

That was when things went wrong and brought the ire of the NASCAR fans on the show. The fact box read, “Born in 1951, Earnhardt was killed instantly in a collision during the final lap of the 2001 Indy 500“. What outraged the eagle-eyed fans was that Dale Sr lost his life during the Daytona 500, not the Indy 500. Both are two completely different races, at different locations in two different racing series.

Did the Dale Earnhardt suit actually sell?

Controversy aside, the owner of the suit confirmed that it was a 1993 suit from the Coca-Cola 600. Apparently, the owner got it from a friend of his, who got it that year itself at an invitation-only event. He even confessed that when ‘The Intimidator’ died, he never really watched racing since then. Coming back to the suit itself, it had signatures of blues singer Delbert McClinton, Dale Sr, Neil Bonnett, and Teresa Earnhardt.

The owner of the suit wanted to sell it for $100,000. However, resident expert Steve Grad, the Principal Authenticator at Becket Authentication Services, had a different estimate. He acknowledged that Dale Sr’s signature was real, so it was the genuine article. However, he declared that the suit was valued at $20,000, which was far below the owner’s expectations. Unfortunately, $85,000 was his best offer, so there was pretty much no deal. Now, the item would probably go back and up on the wall.