Dale Earnhardt Jr. has spent his life around racetracks, carrying the weight of his family name and carving out a Hall of Fame career. But even one of NASCAR’s most beloved figures can still get tripped up by something as simple as a saying that has been said to exist since the 16th century.
On the latest episode of Bless Your Heart, the podcast Dale Jr. co-hosts with his wife Amy, a nonchalant fishing story spun into a full life’s worth of embarrassing acknowledgments that left the two of them laughing. While fans joined in on the laughter, they also recognized that despite the couple getting so much love on their anniversary, even legends can fall victim to near-extinct terms that would only be used these days on an episode of Jeopardy.
Dale Jr. recalled a memory from his childhood: fishing alongside Captain Malcolm, a family friend who was also a state patrol officer in North Carolina, where he grew up. He described trying to wrangle a tough garfish in a way only a determined kid would attempt.
“I ended up putting this big hook on the end of the line,” he said. “I dropped the hook beside him and quickly took the pole, went underneath him, and wrapped the line around.”
His efforts received notable attention in a local publication, which featured the headline: “Dale Jr. lassoed gar fish.” After laughing, he told Amy that for years he thought of it as one of those “old wise tales,” a saying that only exists in the WWE if the Wise Man Paul Heyman is telling a story.
That was when Amy stepped in to correct him. “For 50 years, I thought it was a ‘wise’ tale,” Earnhardt admitted. “I was today years old when I figured out it was a ‘wives’ tale.”
The term “old wives’ tale” has been around for centuries and is assumed to have first appeared in English translations of the Bible as early as 1382. Since then, the saying has evolved into modern use by the 16th and 17th centuries to describe almost unreal beliefs passed down through generations, usually dismissed as superstition.
In Earnhardt’s case, the decades-long mistake was a mindblowing revelation discovered live on air. A racing legend who has spent his life knowing split-second strategies and technical details on cars realized he had misheard one of the most common expressions in the language.
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Earnhardt can thank his wife’s telling and quick correction off the track, but when it comes to NASCAR’s evolution, Dale Jr. has opinions of his own.
As NASCAR continues to attempt to tweak its playoff system, car speeds, and more, the latest rumblings suggest the Cup Series could add a fourth stage to superspeedway races. In Earnhardt’s opinion, this would result in much more action-packed races.