During the mid-1980’s Dale Earnhardt and Darryl Waltrip were in a heated feud and neither one was going to get the better of the other. No matter what. Even at the cost of sacrificing themselves so the other wouldn’t win.
‘The Hook’ is nothing new in NASCAR, just ask Darryl Waltrip
This bitter feud culminated in a race at Richmond in 1986 where Earnhardt hooked Waltrip after he did a bump n’ run on The Intimindator (see video below). It wasn’t just an average hook either, it was a deliberate attempt to take Waltrip out of contention for the victory. Waltrip slammed the wall head on, bounced off of it, spun, and then backed his mangled machine back into the wall.
Earnhardt didn’t escape damage either. After he hooked Waltrip he then lost the the rear on his car as he braked a little too hard to avoid the spinning Budweiser car and backed his own Wrangler sponsored Monte Carlo into the same wall Waltrip was waltzing with. But for Earnhardt, Waltrip wasn’t going to win and the message was sent; “don’t mess with me or this is what you’ll get.”
Like this past week with the Harvick vs. Busch clash, there was a similar fan outcry about the Earnhardt ‘hook’ too. Some people said that Earnhardt tried to kill Waltrip, and Waltrip being the showman that he is played on that in the media afterwords.
Then NASCAR stepped in. You know the scene in Days of Thunder where Cole and Rowdy were to meet with NASCAR and have dinner and they were supposed to ride to the restaurant together but they get separate rental cars and race each other to the restaurant? Well to my knowledge that scene was inspired by the meeting that took place after this incident at Richmond.
The 'hook' is nothing new in racing, and it happens more than we care to acknowledge. Like it or not, the 'hook' has been and always will be part of NASCAR.
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