Taylor Earnhardt takes dad's No. 3 for spin at Goodwood

Friday, Jul. 03, 2009

Taylor Earnhardt says it was an honor to be at England's Goodwood Festival of Speed on Saturday and to drive the car her late father made famous.

The daughter of Dale and Teresa Earnhardt completed two runs in the first day of the 17th annual festival in the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Goodwrench Chevrolet, the one in which Earnhardt won his 76th and final Cup race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in October 2000.

The festival is held at Goodwood House in West Sussex, hallowed ground in British motorsports history, where grands prix and major sports car events have been run. This year, the event includes several stock cars and some of NASCAR's stars - among many world motorsports displays and heroes - including former Cup champion Rusty Wallace.

"It was a great experience driving my dad’s race car today,” said the younger Earnhardt. “There are so many great race cars and race drivers here and I was honored to be able to run with them."

The car was prepared by former Earnhardt team members Danny Lawrence and Rich Burgess. Lawrence now works as a top engine builder and track manager for Earnhardt-Childress Racing Engines and Burgess is shop manager for the No. 31 Caterpillar team at RCR.

“Taylor did a really good job,” said Lawrence. “She doesn’t have a lot of experience in a race car, but she learned pretty quick and held her own out there.

"I was told there were about 125,000 fans here today so it had to be a little intimidating. But, she knows a thing or two about intimidating, so it didn’t seem to bother her any."

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