The retro Osterlund Racing hat worn by Dale Earnhardt Jr. isn’t available anywhere because it was custom manufactured.
“Can’t get it,” Earnhardt said. “The Osterlund hat that I wore, that was intentional. I was waiting for somebody in our camp, maybe Kelly (Earnhardt Miller, sister and JR Motorsports co-owner) or somebody to go, ‘Alright, you’ve worn it, let’s put something else on.’ Osterlund was Dad’s team that he raced with in ’79 for his first Daytona 500. Rod Osterlund gave Dad a chance in the full-time cup series. I think without that, none of this is possible.”
He says the hat is a ‘one-of-one.’
His dad, the legendary Dale Earnhardt, made his debut for that team at Daytona with an eighth-place finish en route to rookie of the year honors. Earnhardt would later that season win at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Earnhardt made several starts prior to that but Oserlund is where the Earnhardt journey really began. His son is saying there are some spiritual parallels to JR Motorsports making its Cup Series debut at Daytona. Justin Allgaier also delivered the team a top-10 in the Great American Race.
“I wanted to wear that hat just as a reminder to me really every time I put it on or saw it to enjoy this week,” Earnhardt said. “Remember how Dad must have felt when he came down here and how that whole experience must have been for him and just try to make sure you don’t get too wrapped up in the machine, the industry and all the things happening.
“If you’re in the muck of that Daytona 500 weekend in the garage, in the grind, you kind of lose focus of where you are, what’s going on, what you’re trying to do and how cool this is. …You get down in that garage, you get competitive and you get to racing in your mind. That hat was just kind of a help for myself to keep the priorities or perspective.”
