Jordan Taylor To Pay Tribute to Dale Earnhardt at Le Mans with an Intimidator-Themed Helmet

Corvette Racing’s Jordan Taylor will be paying special tribute to NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. during this month’s 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Taylor will be wearing a custom black replica helmet created in memory of Earnhardt, whose son Dale Jr. is “absolutely 100 percent” certain that his dad planned to compete in the 2001 Le Mans himself before his untimely death in a last-lap crash at the Daytona 500 that year.

“He’s ‘The Intimidator,’ and I honestly feel a little bit intimidated to wear it,” Taylor said in an interview with NBC Sports. “Because it is his look. It’s who he is. It’s what everyone knew when they looked at the TV. He had an open-faced helmet, so you could see who he was, but I think even if you saw the back quarter of the helmet with just these logos, you knew it was Dale Sr. and ‘The Intimidator.'”

The custom helmet – created by Savage Designs’ Mike Savage of Melbourne, Florida – features logos of GM Racing, Chevrolet, Goodwrench Service Plus, and Snap-on branding as well as a stylized No. 3 on the front and back.

Earnhardt Jt. even gave the helmet his blessing, Taylor says.

“He was obviously the first guy I asked to make sure he was OK with me doing the helmet, and he was super excited,” Taylor said of Earnhardt Jr. “Which was really cool. He’s a busy guy and has a lot more important things to do. So it was nice he spent all the time. I texted (an image) during one of the broadcasts, and he texted me back during a commercial break to say, ‘Yeah, this looks accurate. It looks good!’ I really appreciated that.”

Taylor also believes the crowd at Le Mans will appreciate the tribute helmet, much the way they appreciated his own debut there in 2012.

“I was a 21-year old American driver who hadn’t done much in his career, and tons of people knew who I was and had pictures printed out of me from go-karts,” said Taylor, who will be making his seventh 24 Hours of Le Mans start in the Aug. 21-22 race. “Things I’d never see at an American racetrack. Their heritage and lineage to American motorsport is really special and deep. Not just sports car racing and Formula One, they follow NASCAR and motorsport as a whole.

“An icon like a Dale Sr. that really changed the sport as a whole, everyone is going to know about. When they see the helmet, they’ll understand, especially when they associate it with the No. 3 and a Corvette. They’ll know the whole package.”

Former Corvette Racing program manager Doug Fehan, in a 2019 interview with NBC Sports, said that it was “the dream” of Earnhardt Sr. himself to compete in Le Mans, saying it would have been “the pinnacle” of his career.

“It’s kind of scary to think of that way,” Taylor said. “At the same time, I’m very honored to take a piece of his helmet and design, and hopefully we can do him proud and do Dale Jr. proud as well. His dad wasn’t able to go there in person, but I’m sure he was going to at some point in his career. I’m proud to be able to carry on that legacy to the finish line at Le Mans.”

Source:
sports.yahoo.com

Related:
Corvette Racing at Le Mans: Finally…the Return Trip
[VIDEO] NCM to Commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the 2001 24 Hours of Daytona
[PIC] Throwback Thursday: Winning Times for the Corvette C5-R Chassis No. 004