Dale Earnhardt Jr. may be retired now, but the legendary NASCAR driver is still spinning laps when it comes to making fans smile.
Most recently, he surprised high school senior Jaicee Weaver with a college scholarship so she can pursue a career in the automotive industry.
The Tennessee teen applied for the first Dale Jr. Scholarship, an annual award the Bristol Motor Speedway created to honor Earnhardt when he retired in 2017, and to “help a student get a leg up.” The scholarship will be given to a high school student in Tennessee each year who would like to step into a position in the auto industry after college.
As for Weaver’s dream job?
“I really just want to restore older cars, and make them what they used to be, and make them just as beautiful as they were once they came off the showroom floor,” she said.
To do that, she plans on studying auto body fabrication and painting in college.
So, she was invited to Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports race shop, where she thought she was one of four finalists being interviewed for the scholarship.
“It would mean a lot to me to win the scholarship because it just proves that girls belong in (such) a workplace just like guys do,” Weaver said during an interview. “And it’s just something I’m really passionate about.”
However, behind the “curtains” was the man himself waiting to present her with the scholarship.
During Weaver’s interview, Earnhardt stepped in the room and plopped down in the seat next to her, where he proceeded to tell he about his life in college.
“Had racing not worked out, I was going to be a mechanic,” he said.
Then, he dished the news.
“I’m here to tell you that there are no other finalists for this, and the decision has been made that you’re going to get the scholarship,” he said.
Lucky for us, Earnhardt’s Dirty Mo Media production company filmed the whole thing:
Wishing you a successful career of Dale Earnhardt Jr. proportions, Jaicee Weaver.
