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Find out which program is right for you at HopeRestored.com. Our God is a jealous God. I mean the Bible says so. He is a jealous God. You will put no gods before me. Well, my racing career, Stevie and my marriage, I kind of threw God in there every now and then when I needed help.
The races I won, the things I did, it was things that I had done and I wasn't given God any glory. Former driving champ and NASCAR announcer, Darrell Waltrip, describing his spiritual condition at one point in his racing career. And today on Focus on the Family, you'll hear more about the Waltrip's faith journey as a couple. Your host is Focus President, Jim Daly.
I'm John Fuller and Jim, we're going back to a conversation recorded in Charlotte, North Carolina. Yeah, John, we visited with Darrell and Stevie at the Darrell Waltrip Museum in front of a live audience with friends of Focus. There were a bunch of Darrell's old race cars in the room and they're in good shape, don't get me wrong.
He fired up a couple of them, it was a lot of fun. But the racing banners, photos of his great victories, all of it. Darrell was one of the most successful drivers in the 1980s. He tied for fourth on the all-time win list for NASCAR and we really had a great time while getting to know this couple. They've been married for over 50 years and we heard about their ups and downs in their relationship and in the racing business. And Darrell and Stevie Waltrip have volunteered for a number of years with Motor Racing Outreach, which is a Christian organization holding chapel services for drivers and their families and crew.
MRO also distributes literature and other support in the NASCAR community and we really appreciate their work. Last time, Darrell talked about a crash at Daytona in 1983 that really changed his life and led him to rededicate his life to Christ. Today, on this Focus on the Family broadcast, we're going to pick up with the discussion as Jim is asking Darrell about his second big crash at Daytona that happened in 1990.
Darrell, again at Daytona you had the flipper crash, you had the big one. Describe that and what happened and again how that added momentum to knowing and thinking about eternity. Well, I always like to tell people that once you give your life to the Lord, it doesn't solve all your problems.
It's not a bed of roses. Being a Christian is the hardest thing I've ever done. And it's not something that you flip a switch and you go from not serving the Lord to all of a sudden you serve the Lord and that's all there is. It's progression.
It evolves over time and at least that's the way. I love it when there's probably some folks in this audience that have, when somebody tells me, yeah man, 1983, 5 o'clock Saturday afternoon I was here and I got down on my knees and I prayed that prayer and man I got a chill and I stood up and I'd never felt that way before in my life. And I said, well that's good to know but it didn't quite happen that way for me. And I remember what Max helped him.
My dear friend that was at MRO for years helped us start MRO. He said, don't matter about all that. Here's what matters. Where are you right now?
That's what Max would always say. You don't have to have one of those moments. What really is important is where are you right now when you're sitting here in this chair?
Is your relationship with the Lord where it should be? In 1990 I had another serious wreck at Daytona. Turn 4. Terrible turn. I hate that turn.
I've wrecked more there than I have all the other turns put together. And I was messed up. I broke my leg, shattered my femur, broke my arm, ribs, concussion.
I was pretty messed up. I got hit in the driver's door by another car. I was sitting still in another car hitting me around 180 miles an hour. So that should have probably been the end of my career.
Or it could have been the end of my career. But nonetheless, by the grace of God, and God felt like I think he had other work that I was supposed to do, I was able to overcome those injuries and get back in my car and race. But all those times that things like that happened, it really just drew me closer to God. It just knew my dependence on God. I depended on my car. I depended on my crew. I depended on me. None of those things could help me. The only thing that could really help me was our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And when I started to get that in perspective, I didn't worry about anything. I didn't worry about being hurt because I knew that the Lord would either heal me and I would be able to race again, or he would have something else that he wanted me to do. Darrell Bock You know, as you're describing it, Darrell, it sounds like that parable that Jesus talked about when the seed is cast, how it'll take root, hopefully. And it sounds like these experiences really deepen the roots of your faith every time. Darrell Bock Oh, yeah. Well, you know, when you do what we do, you need to have a good relationship with the Lord.
I mean, and I'd say that's kind of funny, I know, but it really and truly, you better have your priorities right. A year later, one year later to the day, I had another serious wreck at Daytona. Darrell Bock Turn 4? Darrell Bock That was where Flipper was. It was going down to turn.
I was getting there. That crash you see on the wall up there, that was one year to the day later, after my serious wreck at Daytona, I got back going again. And that's the Fourth of July racing. I got clipped coming off turn two about halfway down the back straightaway and the car went into the infield grass there and just started flipping and tore it all apart, as you can see. Darrell Bock Yeah, it's barely a car.
It's just a shell. Let me ask you this. There was an experience there, Stevie, where you were providing Darrell a scripture card for every race and putting it on the dash and then you started doing it for someone else. Talk about your relationship with Dale Earnhardt, all three of you, and what that meant to him when he was at Daytona in turn four. I had started putting scriptures in Darrell's car on the dash just to give him words of encouragement. If we had a caution flag, the cars would slow down.
Darrell Bock The woman was relentless. I mean, she read to me going to the track. I'd get to the track. Then I'd get ready to get in the car. Now I'm going to get this scripture and put it on the dash.
She was relentless, but in a good way. Good for you. I started doing that in the early 80s. Then in the 90s, and I don't remember what year Neil died, Neil Bonnet was one of our co-competitors. He had a terrible wreck at Daytona and he died. Dale Earnhardt and Neil Bonnet were really good friends. It really affected the whole community.
It truly is. I always made it kind of my mission. I didn't want to have feuds with other wives or other race teams.
That's just not who I am. So I've made every effort to just leave whatever happened on the racetrack there and to be able to have good relationships with the other. Darrell Bock So that's kind of like be a friend to your enemies. Yes.
We were having some very strong feelings about a certain driver at the time, and it wasn't Dale. So I was reading Proverbs out loud to us. I think it's in Proverbs. But anyway, it's where be good to your enemies. It's like pouring whatever. Heaping hot coals on their head and whatever it was. I said, hey, Darrell, listen to this.
You're going to love this. This is going to motivate you to love this particular driver. So anyway, but back to Dale. We were at the racetrack at Daytona, and I was writing madly down this scripture because I was late getting out on Pitt Road. And Dale and Darrell had qualified relatively close. So they were on Pitt Road getting lined up for the race to start. And they're going to their cars to get in, and Dale saw me with the card, and he said, what are you doing? And I said, well, these are scriptures that I write for Darrell, and I put them in the car every week. And he puts out his hand, and he said, well, where's mine? And so, you know, the Lord just used Neil Bonnet's death to probably soften Dale or give him something to say I want this. And so I said, well, wait just a second.
I'll go get you one. So anyway, from that point forward, 94 until 2001, Darrell and Dale got scriptures. Darrell Bock And at every race? Nancy-Ann DeParle At every race. Darrell Bock Wow. Nancy-Ann DeParle Because I went to all the races that Darrell raced in. Darrell Bock I wasn't necessarily thrilled about this. Darrell Bock You wanted to be the only guy with the advantage of scripture. Nancy-Ann DeParle So Dale, sometimes I would write, depending on what the circumstances were in our lives and in Dale's, the scriptures sometimes would be the same, but sometimes they weren't. And Dale would grab both of them and read them both, and he'd say, and he'd pick one, and he'd say, I got the good one, didn't I? Darrell Bock Yeah, give this one to Darrell. Nancy-Ann DeParle Yeah, he did. Darrell Bock Competitive about everything. Nancy-Ann DeParle So Darrell says, honey, you're going to have to put my name on mine and Dale's name on his. Darrell Bock What did those scriptures mean to each of you guys?
Darrell Bock Well, you know, it was not a good luck charm. It was just a message. And Stevie didn't just, you know, throw something together Sunday morning, stick it on a car and put it in a car.
She gave it a lot of thought. And normally it would be some scripture that was related to maybe something that's going on that weekend. Maybe I'd had a problem with another driver and it would be, you know, forgive your enemy or, you know, whatever. And so the scriptures were real dedicated to what was going on at that time. And a lot of times during a caution flag, you'd always put them on the dash on a little note card. And a lot of times during a caution flag, maybe things weren't going so great.
And you'd look over and you'd read that scripture and you'd get some encouragement from it. Darrell Bock You had time during the competition of a race to look at the dash and read a scripture. Darrell Bock John, that's why he crashed and turned forth so much. Darrell Bock No, I'm just struck by how intense that situation is. Darrell Bock That was his version of texting. Darrell Bock And there's a scripture for you.
And normally we would do it under a, probably do it under a caution flag, you know, when you're going slow. But anyway, Darrell Bock About a hundred? Darrell Bock Yeah, we'd be not at racing speed.
But another thing that was kind of along with the scripture with Lake Speed, who's a good friend of ours and one of the board members MRO. So me and him and Bobby Hillen, you know, we're trying to be good examples to the other drivers. And you know, drivers have a lot of hand signals.
They do a lot of single digit waves and shaking their fist and all that kind of thing. Darrell Bock Rooting each other. Darrell Bock Go, guys, go.
Darrell Bock Brotherly love. So Lake, I think Lake saw me maybe do one of those single digit waves at somebody. And after the races, though, he said, you know, you shouldn't have done that because Lake's a psychic. He will confront you in a heartbeat. I said, What do you mean?
He said, Well, that didn't set no that's not a very good example. You know, you're a member of the motor racing outreach on the board. Darrell Bock You claim claim the name of Christ. Darrell Bock That's right.
You say you're a Christian and then and then look like it out there today. I said, So what would you do? Darrell Bock Okay, now you're going after every driver on the highway who claims Christ.
Darrell Bock That's right. I said, So what would you do, Lake? He said, Well, instead of throwing up your finger like you did, why don't you just hold up your cup?
I said, Do what? He said, Hold up your cup. He said, God cannot bless you if your cup is upside down. And apparently yours have been upside down quite a bit lately. He said, So my suggestion is when you get mad or you want to send a message to someone, make it a message of encouragement and hold up your cup.
Okay, God can fill it with blessings. Darrell Bock You don't need to be a NASCAR driver to do this, that's for sure. Nancy Kopp And just to be filled with the Spirit. Darrell Bock Yeah, the Spirit.
Darrell Bock Stevia, I want to Darrell Bock It's better than some of the other things we had. I do want to catch the end of that story, that last race for Dale Earnhardt that you gave him that scripture. Do you remember the scripture it was? Nancy Kopp Yes, it's Proverbs 18, 10. The name of the Lord is a watchtower.
The righteous run to it and are safe. Darrell Bock And he would have read that before that race and he put it on his dash. And then, Darrell, you were calling that race for Fox.
It was on television. I was actually watching that race as well, the 2001 Daytona race. Talk about the emotion of that because Michael, your brother, was involved with the end of that race.
What happened? Darrell Bock Yeah, this is an unusual weekend for us as a family. My girls and Stevie and I were all on the motor coach like we had been for years. But I don't have a race car. I'm not going to pit road.
We don't have a team. I'm not going to the garage. We're not going down and hanging out with a team before the race starts. I'm putting on a coat and a tie and I'm getting ready to go upstairs in the TV booth. And so the girls, Sarah and Jessica and Stevie, they're sitting there looking at me like, what are we supposed to do? I said, well, go out on pit road.
You know all the drivers. Just go out on the pit road like you always have. And she said, you think they always still want me to give him scriptures? I said, honey, I know he would. I said, you've got to do that for him even though you don't have to do it for me anymore. You've got to keep doing it for him.
He's still racing. Well, I don't know. I just don't feel real.
Tell me, I don't feel real good about that. I said, well, pray about it and think about it. Because I didn't have a husband to go out on pit road for. So it was just, it was a huge life change for both of us. It was really awkward.
It was for all of us. Anyway, I said, well, I had to go. I said, think about it, pray about it and you'll come up with something. Open up your Bible.
You'll find something that is appropriate. She came up with Proverbs 18, 10. She went on pit road that day and without me, her and Jessica, they saw Dale and Teresa and Dale saw Stevie. He had her to come over. She gave him his scripture and they hugged.
And I did get to tell him I loved him and he told me he loved me. So that's a wonderful comfort and memory to have. Yes. Describe the end of the race.
What happened? So Dale has this scripture and it's on the dash. You can see it on the dash of the car. You can see it on, she does that for Dale Jr. now as well at his request. It's not like she's out there promoting this. She's not that way. But Dale Jr. wanted those scriptures.
Only with my husband. Dale Jr. wanted those scriptures the same way. But yeah, the last few laps of that race were insane. We'd had a big wreck with about 25 laps to go I think. Huge wreck, 20 car piled up. We always talk about the big one at Daytona and Talladega.
Well, we had it. And actually it's odd because Tony Stewart was running up front and his teammate Bonnie was running in the back and they ended up on top of each other. That's how crazy the wreck was and how hard it is to avoid one of them. So the cars are stopped on the back straightaway and this is the first race for my brother to be driving for Dale. Michael.
Michael. He's in the Napa number 15 car and Michael's leading. Dale Jr.'s in the 8 Budweiser car and Senior is in the 3, the Good Ranch car.
And the cars are stopped on the back under the red flag because they had to clean up the track from the big wreck. And Dale, like he always liked to do, he had to direct everything. You know, if he was here he would have rearranged this whole room. And he'd say, why are you sitting there?
Well, you need to sit over here. And that's just how he was. I always thought he was a control freak but people just said he wanted to be sure, you know, he was trying to help you. He wanted to be sure you had it right. And so I had to think about that. Could be a control freak. I still think he was a control freak.
But anyway. So he's telling Michael and Dale Jr. how to run these last few laps of this race. Michael, if you're leading, Dale Jr. do not pass him. You stay behind him and you push him. And if anybody gets a run on us, I'll take care of that.
You don't have to worry about that. And so they go back to racing and the race is winding down. Dale was driving defensively.
He was blocking. Which for Dale, that's totally out of character. For Dale, he's used to people pushing him and helping him and getting him to the front. But he was really just kind of helping Michael and Dale Jr. win the race.
But in his wildest dreams, I'm sure he never thought about getting wrecked. And I'm sure that because my brother never won a race, people were saying, well, why'd you put him in that car? All the drivers you could find out there and you had to put him in that car.
But Dale loved to be one of those kind of guys that I told you so. And the last thing he saw as they came into the third turn and start off turn four, he saw his two cars headed for the checkered flag. But because of the way he was driving, he blocked Schrader and he blocked Sterling and he finally, he just made one move too many. And Sterling got into him a little bit going down into third turn there and the car got loose and went up the track and smacked a concrete wall. Not a safer barrier like we got now. A concrete wall at probably about 170 miles an hour.
Head on. Now the race was finishing. I remember watching that and everybody was excited for Michael because it was his first big race, Daytona. But everybody's eye kind of went back to that crash behind him. In fact, you were on Fox and you asked what happened to Dale.
Well, a couple things. When a car hits a concrete wall head on, it's just like if I walked over in front of you and went just like that. The force. The force. I mean, your head can't stop.
It's brutal. And that's what happened to Dale. And I was watching Michael and I'm so excited for my brother who's going to win not only his first race but the biggest race we have, the Daytona 500. It's his first time in the car.
It's my first time to do a race. We had talked about an off-season. Wouldn't it be cool if I was calling the race and you won it?
Wow, that'd be a cool moment. And that's what's happening. And he's coming down to get the checkered flag and Junior's going to run second.
And I saw the black car go up the hill, up the track, out the corner of my eye. But I'm focused on Michael. Come on, baby.
You can do it. Bring it home. Don't let him get by you. And Michael crossed his start-finish line and I'm euphoric. He won the race. God, this is perfect. We're going to celebrate, go to a victory circle.
It's going to be so much fun. And in our booth we have a lot of monitors and they showed a replay of Dale's wreck and I knew right then, I don't think we're going to go to a victory circle because I think this is pretty bad. And they came to me and I said I hope Dale was okay and I knew he wasn't.
I knew he wasn't for a couple of reasons. First of all, it was an incredible crash. It didn't look that bad on TV but I knew the effect. And then Kenny Schrader, a really dear friend. Kenny is a tough guy, raced all over the country. He walked around to Dale's car and he dropped that window net down and when he did, he jumped back like that and started waving for the safety crew and I knew right then that it was something very seriously wrong. So now my brother, who's headed for Victory Lane, Dale, who's being put in an ambulance, and one of the most eerie sights I think I've ever seen was that ambulance comes out of the track and starts up 92 there headed toward Halifax Hospital on about 20 miles an hour.
No urgency whatsoever. And that was just another indication to me that it was much serious and everybody had thought. You know, there's so many life applications to that. You guys have lived in the fast lane and won big races and you have a beautiful career and great memories. For that to happen all in that one day, it really sums up so much of life, doesn't it?
Yeah. A lot of ways it does. And I'll tell you something that people, I don't think, I don't know if you realize this or not, maybe not at the time, but you kind of feel guilty. You know, that I survived. I survived some tough wrecks and Dale had survived all the tough wrecks too, but that one got him. And you always wonder, you know, how come I survived and he didn't?
And I think sometimes you feel guilty about that to some degree. You know, but it's true for each of us. We're all kind of running the race, like Paul said. And something's going to get every one of us.
We can't outrun death. Stevie, knowing what you had done there for Dale, talk about the comfort in your heart that he thought about God before he passed away. He did. And we'd had talked about the Lord and I'm convinced he is in the arms of Jesus right now. And so just knowing that I had prayed and asked the Lord, and he specifically, he gave me that scripture, because I read it and, you know, I'm reading Proverbs, all of that chapter, and then I got to that one and I thought, this is it. And I'd never used that scripture before.
And so, but then I kept on reading because I kind of doubted, you know, I wasn't real sure. And then I went back to it and I asked Darrell about it, what do you think? And I said, I just really believe this is the scripture that I'm supposed to give Dale today. And so I wrote it out. So knowing those things, knowing that I went to the Lord, and that I think I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to pick that scripture, that that gave me tremendous comfort, it gave his family comfort, it gave his racing family comfort, it gave race fans comfort, just to read those words, know they were specifically chosen for Dale in that situation and for each one of us.
So it gave us all tremendous comfort. No, it's a beautiful thing to know about. From both of your perspectives, can I just ask you to speak to that person that's living that hard charge in life, Darrell, that business guy, the doctor, whoever it might be, the person that's just fully consumed with their environment and themselves, speak to that person.
Yeah. Well, I had the privilege of doing an I Am Second video. I was one of the first or second people that did an I Am Second.
And that's the hardest thing for someone successful to be able to do, is to say that I'm going to be second. It's not in your nature to feel that way. But when you realize that, when you do put God first, and when you are second, and when there are no other gods before him, then you can start to live the real life, a life of athletes. A lot of professional things are selfish people.
They just worry about themselves. And I was one of those kind of guys. I worried about myself and didn't really care what happened to anybody else. But when God got inside of me and got in my heart, that all changed. And that's what it's about, change. If you haven't experienced a change in your life because of your relationship with Jesus Christ, then you might want to go back and try it again, because something has to change. You've got to see a change.
You've got to see a change, yeah. And so that's what I say. And the other thing I think is important, when someone like your wife says, I'm praying for you, or your friends say, I'm praying for you, don't take that lightly. I love it when people say it's my privilege to pray for you. That's huge. They're thinking of you and taking you and your name and your situation to the Lord. And they're doing it for you.
And when you're in a position where you can finally say to someone, I'm praying for you, I'm not just praying for my selfish self, but I'm praying for you, I think that's a big turning point. Amen. Darryl Waltrip, known as D.W. and his wife Stevie, thanks for being with us. You're welcome. Good to be here.
Thanks to all you folks. Nice audience. As Darryl noted, it really was a nice audience. And what a great conversation we had featured today on Focus on the Family with Darryl and Stevie Waltrip, recorded at the Darryl Waltrip Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Now the Waltrips really had some fascinating stories about NASCAR and their faith and marriage of more than 50 years, and I hope our listeners will contact us and get a copy of the CD of this two-day broadcast and share it with others. When you call, please consider making a generous donation to the work of Focus on the Family to help us share Christ with others and encourage them in their marriages. And when you donate any amount today, we'll send you the CD of this conversation as our way of saying thank you.
And then, most importantly, if you don't know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, maybe you're not really sure even what that means. We'd be happy to tell you more, and we'll send you a free booklet called Coming Home, an Invitation to Join God's Family. And tens of thousands have requested this booklet or have viewed it online, and it's our privilege to send it to you. Just call 800-A-FAMILY or look for that online, and we'll have the link in the episode notes. On behalf of Jim Daly and the entire team, thanks for joining us today for Focus on the Family. I'm John Fuller inviting you back as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ. on Friday, July 16th at 7 p.m. Then each week we'll debut a new episode to equip you on the pro-life issues of our day. You'll hear from respected leaders and see amazing testimonies from women and men whose lives have been impacted. So join us for this life-changing six-week experience online, premiering on Friday, July 16th. Also, mark your calendar now for the culmination of See Life 2021 with a Celebrate Life Live experience in Dallas-Fort Worth on August 28th. For more details, visit FocusOnTheFamily.com slash SeeLife.
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