Young Race Driver “Goes Hollywood”
Chad McCumbee isn’t preparing an acceptance speech for the Academy Awards. In fact, his only hope is that his performance in “The Dale Earnhardt Story” pleases the man he portrayed: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
McCumbee, a fresh-faced, 19-year-old race car driver, played the son of the seven-time NASCAR Nextel Cup champion in the upcoming, self-titled ESPN biography.
Don’t get him wrong. McCumbee has no intentions of packing up for Hollywood. In fact, he might not have landed on the big screen if not for his relationship with racer Andy Hillenburg.
Hillenburg, who owns the car McCumbee will pilot in the Flagstar 200, provided all the cars for the movie. Barry Pepper, who portrays Earnhardt in the film, had mentioned that the producers were having difficulty casting someone for the role of Dale Jr. when Hillenburg told them he had the perfect person.
McCumbee’s blond hair, blue eyes and racing background suited the role perfectly. But he doesn’t want to make a career out of it.
“I want to be a race car driver,” said McCumbee, who will start 30th in today’s race at Michigan International Speedway. “This was an opportunity I might never get again, so I wanted to capitalize on it and just see how it goes. It was cool, a neat experience.”
The upcoming film, to be released sometime in the fall, has come under some scrutiny from the Earnhardt family and those concerned that it doesn’t accurately portray Earnhardt. McCumbee isn’t worried.
“That’s for the producers to deal with,” McCumbee said. “I think they did a good job. My part was to play Dale Jr., and if he’s happy with what I did, then I’m happy.”
McCumbee said there was pressure to play the much- heralded driver of the No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet who leads the Nextel Cup Series points race, especially considering he’s a fan of Dale Jr.’s.
“He’s on the cover of everything, so there was obvious pressure” McCumbee said. “I was just concentrated on doing what I thought he would do since I didn’t have any acting experience.”
Besides his looks, McCumbee shares a late-model background with the younger Earnhardt, racing at Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina and winning the national championship in the Allison Legacy Series in 2001-02.
The movie did serve its purpose for McCumbee. Besides portraying a big-name driver in a production, McCumbee got a couple semesters of schooling at UNC-Charlotte paid for. He’ll be a junior in the fall.
