Dale Earnhardt Once Cleaned The Windshield Of His Car In The Middle Of A Race While Still Driving

They don’t make ’em like the Intimidator anymore.

Many NASCAR fans will tell you that the sport hasn’t been the same since Dale Earnhardt tragically passed away on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion was as well-known for being tough as nails, once even getting back in his car after a flip when he realized the tires were still up.

It’s impossible to tell all the stories that show just how much of a badass Earnhardt was. But this one clearly shows that Earnhardt was just a different breed of driver.

It happened back on September 7, 1986 during the Miller High Life 400 at Richmond Raceway (then known as Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway). Early in the race, a massive crash sent cars driving through the grass to avoid the wreck – and in the process, threw dirt all over the windshield of Earnhardt’s #3 Wrangler car.

As recalled by Chocolate Myers, one of Earnhardt’s crew members at the time, the driver wanted to bring the car to pit road to clean off the windshield (which, believe it or not, is actually a pretty important part of the car) so that he could see.

But with Earnhardt running inside the top 5, team owner Richard Childress didn’t want to lose track position and bring his driver to the pits to clean off the windshield. So Earnhardt took matters into his own hands – quite literally:

“He hollers on the radio, ‘Richard, I need to pit.’ And Richard says, ‘Dale, I hate to come in and pit and lose all that track position.’ And Dale comes on the radio and says, ‘I’m gonna be off the radio for a few minutes.’ And then you see Dale driving with his knee…and he’s cleaning the windshield off.”

Sure enough, Earnhardt took down his window net, climbed out of the car, and cleaned his own windshield off – while still driving the car under caution.

The broadcasters were amazed at what they were seeing (and what a good job Earnhardt managed to do getting the windshield cleaned up). And it turned out to be worth the effort for Earnhardt, who ended up leading the most laps that day and racing for the lead in the closing laps.

He would come up just short though, crashing while battling with Darrell Waltrip with four laps to go and ultimately finishing third.

Kyle Petty won his first career NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that day, but ultimately the race would become more known for Earnhardt’s mid-race window cleaning.