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The examination of ones life usually doesn't happen until that persons death, and well known celebrities have the same problem. But once the people know the story before that person became famous a new appreciation for that person grows. Dale Earnhardt definitely falls into this category, outside of the racing world there wasn't that much knowledge about the man and what his life was like. Yet once he died his name, and the number of his car became so well known that everyone knew who Dale was, how he lived and how he died.
Dale Earnhardt was born to race and through all of the hardships and trials of his life, he did what he loved to do up until the day he died. The mix of recreated races and real footage of the events keeps the movie at a pace that Earnhardt would have been proud of. Seeing him as a young man chasing his dream, capturing it and taking it for all it was worth is inspiring and is portrayed wonderfully by Barry Pepper. With a supporting cast that helps Pepper carry this story to the unfortunate conclusion of Earnhardt's tragic death.
Earnhardt had earned the nickname of The Intimidator and after watching this story you can see why people said it was well deserved. Even though this is a made for TV movie it still has teeth that will draw you into a life that is well worth learning about. I'm personally not real into NASCAR racing, but after seeing Earnhardt's story I've grown a new appreciation for the sport.