Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s affinity for NASCAR history is well-known, as he is a collector of classic memorabilia and even goes online to track down videotapes of races from the 1970s and early 1980s, his favorite era of the sport.
But even Earnhardt admits he didn’t know all he could about NASCAR’s roots, forged in the backwoods of Georgia and the Carolinas where bootleggers supped up their cars to outrun federal agents. It was that desire to learn more that prompted Earnhardt to become involved as executive producer of NASCAR: The Rise of American Speed, a new three-part miniseries debuting Sunday (9 p.m. ET) on CMT.
Each episode focuses on a specific NASCAR era using a combination of archival footage, reenactments and interviews. The second and third installments air May 15 and May 22.
“Not only did I get to tell the story of the sport I love, but I got to learn a lot myself,” Earnhardt told SB Nation. “There is so much in this series of so many little backstories that I didn’t know anything about that were incredible to learn about.
“It was like learning and watching about it for the first time. I know the names and their accomplishments, but I didn’t who they were as men and what their personalities were like. It was fun to be able to live out that part of the sport and the initial foundation.”
In the first episode, viewers will see a depiction of how Bill France convened a meeting at a Daytona Beach, Fla., hotel where he brought together a group of promoters and drivers from across the Southeast and persuaded them to unite under one collective sanctioning body that was to be called NASCAR.
Episode 2 details the sport’s rise and France’s struggles in maintaining an authoritative hold, including tempering a driver revolt led by Richard Petty during the inaugural race at Talladega Superspeedway in 1969. The closing episode begins with the 1979 Daytona 500, regarded as the race that launched NASCAR into the American consciousness. It was the first stock car race to be broadcast on national television flag-to-flag, before seguing to modern day.
Of the three, Earnhardt found the first episode most “intriguing,” as France’s conclave at the Streamline Hotel was something he had an understanding of, though not in great detail.
“All these years, there’s never been an accurate account of what happened day-to-day throughout that process,” Earnhardt said. “We’ve seen pictures and we hear interviews from people that were there, and everything that I’ve heard and been told painted it as a very easy, everyone on the same page deal that came together quickly.
“The truth is, is that a lot of these drivers and crew chiefs were not quite warmed up to the fact that Mr. France wanted to organize the sport. They pushed back against forming and organizing. So, it didn’t go as smoothly as a lot of people might have led you to believe.”
Earnhardt’s role as executive producer wasn’t just a figurehead role. Although he thought the story itself was told really well, especially the older scenes, he said he became more involved in that process as the narrative moved towards the present, including several segments devoted to his father, Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time Cup Series champion.
One aspect Earnhardt primarily focused on was ensuring the authenticity and small details of a scene were reflective of that particular time period. For example, Earnhardt said there was one scene where the cars didn’t properly reflect the era represented.
“There was a lot of inaccuracies that I was able to point out,” Earnhardt said. “I’m the kind of guy that wants everything in the background to be accurate and the environment should be what it was like in the real world. There was some outdated cars in one scene that didn’t belong there.”
NASCAR: The Rise of American Speed premieres at 9 p.m. ET Sunday on CMT.
