Ralph Earnhardt had German ancestry and spent many years working in a cotton mill in North Carolina. He viewed racing as a means of improving his living conditions.
Earnhardt began racing in 1949, making it a full-time occupation by 1953. He started his career building an engine for a local driver, leading to his own opportunity behind the wheel. “A boy in Kannapolis wanted me to help him build a racing engine. When we finished it, I got in, revved it up and took off. The man who owned the car (a 1934 Ford coupe) offered me a chance to drive it. I ran third in the heat race the first time I got on a track then won the consolation and finished fourth in the main event.”
Early in his career, Red Vogt served as a mentor to Earnhardt, providing both an engine and advice. In 1955, Earnhardt finished second in the NASCAR Sportsman National Standings behind Billy Myers. The following year, 1956, he won the Sportsman National championship, securing 34 victories in 76 starts.
Earnhardt made his NASCAR Grand National debut at Hickory in November 1956, substituting for Fireball Roberts. He won the pole position in his debut race, but ultimately finished second to Speedy Thompson after a confusing final lap where the flagman prematurely waved the white flag. The crowd reacted with outrage, believing Earnhardt had been robbed of a win, and required Earnhardt to address them by microphone to explain the scoring.
Despite receiving an offer from the Holman-Moody Ford factory-backed team in 1957, Earnhardt turned it down, citing the travel requirements and the financial benefits of remaining a Sportsman driver. He later entered Grand National competition that same year driving for Lee Petty Engineering, replacing Tiny Lund. In eight starts for the team, his best finish was seventh at the Charlotte Fairgrounds.
In 1958, Earnhardt finished second in the National Sportsman Championship standings behind Ned Jarrett. The following year, 1959, he competed in NASCAR’s new Limited Sportsman Division, winning over 60 races and claiming the championship. He was the first car builder/driver to understand and utilize tire stagger. He also maintained a fleet of five race cars, and estimated a $9,000 profit for the year.
Earnhardt won the Hickory track championship for the fifth time in 1959, winning 22 of 24 races entered. However, track officials informed him he would no longer be allowed to compete there due to his dominance affecting attendance. “That was a period of my greatest success,” Earnhardt recalled in 1964. “They won't let me run there anymore. They said I monopolized once and I'd monopolize it again.”
He repeated as NASCAR’s Limited Sportsman champion in 1960, winning over 50 races that season. In 1961, Earnhardt served as a relief driver for Cotton Owens during the Daytona 500, finishing fifth. This led to additional races driving for Owens, where he believed a scoring error cost him the victory at the Atlanta 500. "I thought I won, Cotton said I won, even the scorers said I won. But I didn't get the money. According to the final tabulation, Bob Burdick finished first. I guess you just can't beat an educated pencil.” He also led 75 laps in the 1961 World 600, finishing 11th, and again believed a scoring error impacted his result. He finished 17th in the Grand National point standings in 1961, his highest career finish.
Between 1962 and 1964, Earnhardt made an additional 33 Grand National starts before returning to Sportsman racing full-time. By 1967, he was the reigning South Carolina state champion and track champion at Columbia Speedway and Greenville-Pickens Speedway.
In 1969, Earnhardt left NASCAR competition to race at unsanctioned tracks in Metrolina and Concord, having grown tired of traveling to South Carolina for races. He won four consecutive track championships at Metrolina and Concord between 1969 and 1972. In 1972, he raced against his son, Dale Earnhardt, at Metrolina Speedway.
Earnhardt was hospitalized in early 1973 with heart problems, and was taking medication. He died from a second heart attack on September 26, 1973, at the age of 45, in the kitchen of his house. Dale Earnhardt later explained, “He had just got the house paid for and he didn't have no bills on his racing equipment. He was gonna lay back and take it easy. And then he had a heart attack... and was gone. He had worked so hard. I think the racing, all the hard work and the worry, caused the strain and the heart attack.”
In 1989, Earnhardt was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association's Hall of Fame at Darlington, South Carolina. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame at Talladega, Alabama in 1997, and named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998. Further recognition came with inductions into the Oceanside Rotary Club of Daytona Beach Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame in 2004, the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in 2007, and as one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers in 2023. The long-form study of Earnhardt’s racing career and impact on the sport belongs to sources such as Stewart’s autobiography rather than this article’s corpus.
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