THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 12, 1995 TAG: 9501120512
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
To be the kid of a stock-car driver is to give up much, but to gain much as well.
That's what Kelly Earnhardt will tell you, and Matt Bodine, and Kyle Petty - and even Kyle's 9-year-old daughter, Montgomery Lee.
It's rough, they say, because their dads are often not home, especially on the weekends.
On the other hand, they get to share in the excitement of their father's career, as well as some of the privileges that come his way.
These four NASCAR kids talked about life with their famous fathers Wednesday during the Charlotte Motor Speedway media tour. After two days of talk about engines, tires, drivers, shops, tracks and racing, it was a refreshing change to hear of a more human side of NASCAR life.
Is there something they've never done with their fathers that they'd like to do someday?
Just spend some extended time with Dale, said Kelly Earnhardt, 22, a Late-Model Stock driver and a senior at UNC-Charlotte. ``I can't think of too many times I've spent more than an hour with him,'' she said.
``I'd like to go on a cross-country motorcycle trip,'' said 23-year-old Matt Bodine, who works on Geoff's team and also shares with him a love of motorcycles.
But leave it to little Montgomery Lee Petty to touch the hearts of all the crusty media hounds in the room.
``I'd like him to be home for Valentine's Day,'' she said.
Sorry, Montgomery Lee. That's not likely. Valentine's Day is during Speedweek at Daytona - the busiest week of the year.
Kyle Petty has lived the life from both sides, as Richard's son and now as a father.
``You miss little things,'' he said.
That's why he was willing to ride his motorcycle home from Bristol after the night race last August. He didn't get home until 4:30 a.m., but he had Sunday with his kids.
``I know myself you'd rather have that day than have six trips to Disney World,'' Kyle said.
But the uncertainties and pitfalls of the racing life cuts both ways, as he has learned.
``After watching (son) Adam run in one go-kart race, I had a totally different outlook on what my father saw and, more importantly, what my mother saw when they turned me loose at Daytona for the first time,'' he said. ``It had to be a horrendous experience for her. She must have been standing there thinking, `I not only married an idiot, but I raised one, too.' ''
Matt Bodine said it's tough to listen when his father gets kicked around in the oh-so-public forum of the racing media.
``I believe the hardest thing about that is I can't do anything about it,'' he said. ``You have to stand back and watch.''
It's been especially tough in the past year because his parents are divorcing.
``It's hurt the whole family,'' he said. ``But it's brought me and my brother (17-year-old Barry) closer together, and it's brought us closer together with our father. Everybody's trying to keep busy to keep it from getting so tense.''
Kelly Earnhardt said although her father lives an uncommon life, he's often like any other father.
``Everybody thinks he's really hard-nosed, but he's not with the people he knows,'' she said. ``And he takes time. The other day I called and I had to stay on the phone while he read (his 6-year-old daughter) Taylor a book.''
And when Kelly started dating, ``He said I couldn't date until he met the person. But you usually date on Friday night and Saturday night, so . . . I got in trouble a lot for going out. He's been kind of hard on guys I've dated, but I think he found one he likes, and I like.''
Kelly said that she will graduate from college this May, and that she had planned to skip the ``long, boring'' graduation ceremony - until she talked to her father.
``Oh, no,'' she recalled Dale saying. ``We're going to graduation.''
``He doesn't say a lot,'' Kelly said, ``but from that conversation, I knew it was something he was proud of and he wanted me to do. I'll be the first person in my family to graduate from college.''
And best of all, it will happen on one of daddy's off weekends.
DAYTONA TESTING: Ken Schrader had the top speed in General Motors tests Wednesday at Daytona International Speedway as Winston Cup teams prepare for the Feb. 19 Daytona 500.
Schrader reached 190.355 mph, followed by Robert Pressley at 190.235, Terry and Bobby Labonte at 189.474 each, and Darrell Waltrip at 189.394. Today is the third and final day of the GM test.
The fastest speed thus far at Daytona has been Dale Jarrett's 191.897 mph during Ford tests last week. Robert Pressley, in a Chevrolet, had the fastest time for a GM car, 191.083, on Tuesday. by CNB