Ht: 6-0 Wt: 175
DOB: Oct. 10, 1974 In: Kannapolis, N.C.
Childhood heroes: "My dad. He was 'The Intimidator.'"
|
|
| Last Halloween costume: Former President Bill Clinton, with his friends as Secret Service agents. (Getty Images) |
Nicknames: "A lot of 'em. Little E, Junior, Junebug, whatever you wanna call me."
Favorite movies: "Cast Away, Almost Famous."
Musical tastes: "I like almost everything. Elvis, 3 Doors Down, Korn, Pink Floyd, Ludacris, Fleetwood Mac."
Favorite TV shows: "Seinfeld, Jackass, History Channel."
Favorite meal: "Grilled chicken with rice on the George Foreman grill."
Favorite breakfast cereal: "Cheerios or Frosted Flakes."
Favorite ice cream flavor: "Icees or popsicles -- do those count as ice cream?"
Childhood dream(s): "I never was sure if I'd be a race driver, but I knew I could change oil as fast as anyone [smiles]."
First car: "Red 1978 Chevy Monte Carlo. My brother Kerry and I sold a go-kart and bought it to race as a street stock at Concord Speedway. We eventually sold it to Hank Parker Jr."
First job: "Working in the service department at Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet."
Pre-race feeling: "Depends on my mood. If I want to get really aggressive and pumped up, I listen to Korn. If I want to mellow out, it may be something like Otis Redding. Usually, once I leave the driver's meeting, I'm not in any mood to talk to people or mess around with anything. That's my time. A lot of people don't understand that."
Early racing memory: "I was about 12, and I was still kind of a little guy. I fell out of a go-kart so much, my daddy made me stop. I was foot-to-the-floor, haul-ass until I'd crash. And those didn't have seatbelts."
Funny racing memory: "It's all fun. It was awesome and fun racing against my dad for the first time at Motegi, Japan (2000). I beat him, and he threw his shoe at me. Plus, my crew had gone down and borrowed all of his good tires, so he didn't like that too much [smiles]."
Greatest sports moment: "Winning the Daytona 500 (in 2004). It's the biggest win of my career. Best day of my life."
Most painful moment: "Breaking my collarbone at Milwaukee in the Busch car. But I came back the next day and finished third driving with one arm."
Worst injury from racing: "Getting burned in a big fiery sports-car crash in Sonoma in 2004. I still have pretty big scars on my neck and legs from that crash."
Favorite vacation spot: "Hawaii or Jamaica. But me and my buddies have been talking about doing a mountain vacation next. We've never done that."
Last Halloween costume: "Bill Clinton, and all my buddies were my Secret Service men. We went to a big college party, and I wore a suit and a Bill Clinton mask. It was cool."
Closest racing friend(s): "Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr., Hank Parker Jr., Elliott Sadler."
Funniest racer(s): "Bobby Labonte -- because no one really knows he's really funny. He's just a damn cool guy."
Favorite racetrack(s): "Daytona. It's the most prominent track we go to, and it's a lot of fun to race on. But it also has a great city life. It's right there on the beach. It has great restaurants, great clubs, great bars. Lot of fun."
Embarrassing racing memory: "Definitely Martinsville my rookie year. I hit everything but the pace car ... wrecked like three or four times. The final crash bent the steering wheel six inches in my hands. I was pretty proud of that [smiles]."
Toughest competitors: "Rusty Wallace. I hate that he's retiring. No matter when or where, he always raced me as hard as anyone. I know it's because we had competing sponsors, but the man never cut me a break."
People qualities most admired: "Honesty."
| Scoop Malinowski is a CBS SportsLine contributor. He created The Biofile interview feature in 1992. You can read more Biofiles at www.thebiofile.com. |  |
