Dale Earnhardt Sr. was dubbed The Intimidator for good reason. Yet, every so often, we're reminded of the kinder side of the Man in Black.

Recently, when legendary journalist Steve Waid passed away, one clip from his The Scene Vault Podcast that he hosted alongside Rick Houston was shared on X. Waid shared in the clip:

"When I moved to Concord in 1981, I'd covered Dale since the start three or four years ago, and at the time, his Rod Osterlund days and all that sort of thing. So I was moving to Concord, and I was staying with a friend of mine for three months until school was over and my family could come down."

Waid had started off his career in 1972 with the Martinsville Bulletin and established the gold standard of NASCAR coverage. A decade later, he chose to make a move to the Grand National Scene in Concord, which had a circulation of about 9,000 readers at the time.

The move itself was a massive change. As Waid himself had put it in an interview with Roanoke Times, he had left a newspaper that had company cars and expense accounts and moved to a place where he had a metal desk, a chicken-wire in-basket and a Royal typewriter.

However, Waid was determined about the decision, especially since Concord was in the heart of NASCAR heritage. And what really made his move easier was the Intimidator.

"Earnhardt found out about that, and he said, ' Wait a minute, he said, ' Come to my house right now. So I drove to his house, and I walked in, and he showed me the entire lower level of the house. He said, " You can live here. You've got your own private bathroom, your own bedroom, things of that nature, and your own private entrance. Now, imagine a champion of this sport asking a writer to do the same today," he further added.

It was the start of a monumental journey for Steve Waid.

That move was life-changing for Waid

From the 9000 readers in 1982, Waid was part of a massive transformation for the Grand National Scene. Waid was a part of the coverage that led the Scene to a six-figure subscriber count.

He stayed at the publication for nearly 30 years, until the Scene closed down back in 2010, when Waid retired.

It's interesting to think that Earnhardt's simple gesture allowed one journalist to tell the story of an entire generation. From the likes of Alan Kulwicki, the Pettys, the Earnhardts and more, Waid defined entire generations of NASCAR drivers.

His passing on June 15th left a massive hole in the hearts of NASCAR fans old and new.

Read more at the RFK Racing Digest!

Written by

Sabyasachi Biswas

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar