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Rivalries. No matter the sport, rivalries incite passion. In baseball, its the Yankees and the Red Sox and the Dodgers and Giants. The players may come and go, but the fight among fan bases live on and they won’t let you forget. The Celtics and Lakers make for a great rivalry, as do the Raiders and Broncos in the NFL.

In NASCAR, rivalries were a part of the Earnhardt legend, and he had a lot of them. During his 20-some-odd years of Cup racing he traded paint with a veritable line-up of all-stars. Some go on.

“The Killer Vs. The Kid”- Jeff Gordon- When Gordon arrived on the scene late in 1992, old school fans didn’t know what to make of “The Rainbow Warrior.” Jeff Gordon was polished, practically raised to be a racer from the crib by step-father John Bickford. Articulate and image-conscious, the Pittsboro, Indiana native by way of Vallejo, California represented a polar opposite to the gritty, rough-hewn Earnhardt.

“The Intimidator” would mess with young Gordon’s head. Earnhardt called Gordon the “Wonder Boy” and made sure the “24″ had a rear view mirror full of the black #3. In the book Angel In Black, author Tom Gillispie shares the story of how Earnhardt said he was the first man to win at the Brickyard, though a year earlier Gordon won NASCAR’s first race there. There was little doubt Earnhardt knew what he was dealing with in Gordon and like so many old timers do on the job with the rookie, they’ll mess with the new guy to initiate him in a sense and make sure he’s got the right stuff to stick. Gordon never backed down, winning his first championship in 1995, a year after Earnhardt won his last. At an awards banquet- Gordon messed with Dale by toasting him with milk. He got a smile out of “The Intimidator’ on that one.

The truth is, Gordon turned to Earnhardt for advice and the affection Dale had for Jeff seemed genuine. They were often business partners, and it got to a place where the rivalry only really existed among their fan bases. That rivalry is still alive in some ways. In 2007, Gordon was pelted with beer cans after a win at Talladega, a place where Earnhardt was virtually a king. To some of Dale’s fans, it seemed a heresy that his son Dale Jr. would bolt DEI for the organization Gordon raced for. Some were upset enough to say they were through with Junior.

As for Gordon, one action said it all last year. When Gordon tied Earnhardt’s mark of 76 career victories at Phoenix, he took a #3 flag and flew out his window on the victory lap. Gordon said, “I really miss him out there.” “To do something he did in this sport is pretty overwhelming.”

Pass In The Grass- Bill Elliott- Oddly enough, if any contemporary of Earnhardt’s had a similar story to his own, it was Bill Elliott. “Million Dollar Bill” wasn’t always showered in money, coming from a humble start in Dawsonville, Georgia. While Elliott was in his prime in the mid-80’s, Earnhardt was gaining his footing.

The North Carolinian always seemed to run like Hell, because he was afraid Hell was catching up with him. Earnhardt wanted to make sure he took advantage of very possible opportunity and he even make a few that weren’t there- the 1987 All-Star race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

The race simply known as “The Winston” had a 10-lap trophy dash. As per usual, Earnhardt, a la Junior Johnson got the front as soon as he could, holding off Elliott, known for having fast cars in those days. Elliott tapped Earnhardt in retaliation for a collision the #9 had with Geoff Bodine he thought Earnhardt instigated. The tag got him loose,driving Dale into the infield. Earnhardt held on and shot past Elliott and maintained the lead- getting the win. Why did he make the move? The Man In Black, who actually drove the gold and blue Wranglers Chevy then said in classic stlye, “There’s more money in winning.” Elliott was none too pleased and took a shot at Earnhardt during the cool down lap.

In true Intimidator style, Earnhardt said he wasn’t going to take that from Elliott. For his part, Elliott says that was no real pass.

The Not- So- Civil War- Geoff Bodine- Along with Elliott, Darrell Waltrip and Rusty Wallace, Geoff Bodine- an upstate New York native provided Earnhardt some of his greatest challenges in the 1980s. Like Gordon, the eldest racing Bodine brother had a little more polish and savor faire than the Wrangler poster boy.

You remember the movie Days Of Thunder where the NASCAR head played by future Senator Fred Thompson made Cole Trickle and Rowdy Yates go out to dinner? This rivalry inspired the scene. This feud got so nasty, NASCAR created a “penalty box” to park a driver for being rough behind the wheel.

Though Bodine enjoyed a successful career with 18 wins, he never could quite match Earnhardt. Geoff did present a considerable amount of frustration though. Earnhardt once furiously told Bodine car owner Rick Hendrick “Your boy has (screwed) with me 4 times, and 4 times he’s lost. When do you reckon  he’s gonna get the message?”

Cain And Abel- Rusty Wallace- Looking back, the problems these two had stemmed from the fact they were too darned much alike. Outspoken and no stranger to the use of the “chrome horn”, Rusty Wallace angered his fair share of drivers and fans.

With 55 wins and a championship to his credit, Wallace could compete with Earnhardt in terms of accomplishment. They formed an off-track bond as well. In ESPN’s Ultimate NASCAR series, a reflective Rusty tells of how his family visited Earnhardt in North Carolina and  how Dale taught Wallace’s son Stephen about hunting.

Such affection was not on display in the Goody’s 500 race in Bristol. That was Rusty’s track- a place where Wallace won 9 times. The legendary short track is also known for producing a lot of contact and conflict. While duking it out with Wallace for a top 10 spot, Ironhead made contact with Wallace- spinning Rusty into the wall. Later that night, Earnhardt spun out Terry Labonte and he also traded paint with Lake Speed. After the race, the pair threw water bottles at each other- just like a couple of young boys. You can’t help but think Earnhardt would have turned a water hose on Rusty had he had one handy.

Beatdowns At Bristol- Terry Labonte- Most Texans are known for being loud and brash. But descended from a  Diana, Texas family, I can tell you the steady and quiet Terry Labonte represents a different kind of Texan- the kind like Nolan Ryan, who let their work or craftsmanship do the talking.

Things tended to get unusually racy between Labonte and Earnhardt at Bristol. At the same race listed above, Earnhardt put his bumper on Labonte on the final lap. In an interview with Dave Rodman of NASCAR.com, “Texas Terry” said he stayed in the gas figuring that he had enough to beat Earnhardt if he stayed off the break. It was an ugly win as Labonte crossed the line sideways, but thankfully,  there are no style points in NASCAR.

A few years later, the two would go bumper to bumper again. Already frustrated over contact with Darrell Waltrip  just laps earlier, Labonte proceeded to rub with Earnhardt. #3 returned fire by making contact with Labonte, and this time the tactic got Earnhardt a win. He was lustily booed by the sell-out crowd, and Labonte speculates that even some of Earnhardt’s own fans turned on him.

It was after this race, The Intimidator uttered the famous line, “I didn’t mean to wreck him, I just wanted to rattle his cage a little.” Labonte says he almost felt sorry for Earnhardt after the treatment he got.

Labonte and Earnhardt were quite familiar with each other. Both were in the same rookie class of 1979, and Terry was still racing when the “Man In Black” died. Labonte was the anti- Earnhardt with his composed nature. While Labonte’s 22 career wins pale in comparison to Earnhardt’s- Terry’s steady hand won him titles in 1984 and 1996.

Duking It Out With Ol’ D.W.- Darrell Waltrip- This was perhaps the most famous of all the old Dale Earnhardt rivalries. Four years older than Dale, Darrell was coming into his own when Earnhardt came along. Waltrip’s style also contrasted Earnhardt, but in a much different way. “Jaws” was NASCAR’s original smack-talker- the Kentucky native borrowing a page from another famous athlete from the bluegrass state, Muhammad Ali. D.W.s mouth for the most part ran faster than his cars- his funky “Icky Shuffle” impersonation after his Daytona win in 1989 one example of his slightly hokey humor.

Understanding this rivalry helps you understand these two better. For both of them, their aggressiveness had everything to do with survival. After his driving cost another man a win, Earnhardt remarked “(Screw) him, I need the money.” If you’ve been there, you know why Dale did what he did. In those early years, not winning meant not getting paid, and with his responsibilities back home, The Intimidator felt he had no room for margin of error.

For D.W., it wasn’t much different. He understood Earnhardt represented a genuine threat to his own success. No question, the driver who did so much to get in other racer’s heads had someone on his own.

The most notable incident between these two came in 1986 at Richmond. Waltrip seemed to have things under control when the gold and blue Wrangler’s Chevy came up on Waltrip. Earnhardt got into D.W. and took them both out. Waltrip swore up and down that Dale was trying to kill him. Of Earnhardt Waltrip once said, “Fot the first time in racing, they’ve found a way to put the hood behind the wheel.”

The fast-talking Waltrip loved needling Earnhardt, saying he didn’t worry about the papers writing what he said about Earnhardt because Earnhardt couldn’t read- a dig at the fact that Earnhardt never finished high school.

The two actually started out as friends when Dale was coming up, Earnhardt was begging for a chance to get into the race and Waltrip let the hardscrabble youngster borrow one of his cars- a move he must have regretted because “Big E’ brought back a car that looked a crushed beer can. It was only when Earnhardt got the Cup level, the turf war began.

A major twist, a catalyst for healing came in 1998. Dale Earnhardt was launching DEI and one of his drivers was young Steve Park. A bad wreck shelved Park, and Earnhardt turned to Waltrip, by then an aging shell of his former racing self, for help. Waltrip piloted the #1 car for 13 races. While he was already 6 years removed from the last of his 84 wins, Waltrip ran well for DEI, and in an interview for the movie Dale, D.W. says appreciated the time with Earnhardt to renew their friendship and heal old wounds.

In Conclusion- Dale Earnhardt was a good man, but sometimes a complicated creature. He wasn’t by any means a mean spirited soul, but he often felt like he had to race rough to survive. While that approach meant a love-hate with drivers, fans and NASCAR officials, there can be no doubt these rivalries Dale Earnhardt was a part of provided fans with one of the more colorful periods NASCAR enjoyed.

(Photo of Earnhardt and Waltrip courtesy of Ted Van Pelt. You can find more of his photos at flickr.com)

(Thanks also to Tom Gillispie for sharing his collection of stories in the book Angel In Black)

(Thanks to CMT, Richard Childress and Teresa Earnhardt for their part in bringing fans the movie Dale)