LOUISVILLE, Ky. — If you look in Dale Earnhardt’s employee file at Great Dane Trailers you’ll see that, “he left the company to pursue other interests” and went on to become a racing legend.

“In the mid-’70s Dale was one of our mechanics,” says Rob Forntey, director of national accounts. “Unfortunately he spent a little more time working on his car than on our customers’ trailers.”

In 1976, Earnhardt left the company to make a more serious attempt to further his dirt track career. The rest, as they say, is history.

Fortney explains that Earnhardt has always been adored by most of Great Dane’s workers and management alike. To honor this memory, the company had a 53-foot P-101 high-cube freight van bedecked as a rolling tribute to the memory of the former Nascar champion.

“This trailer will only exist for the Mid-America Trucking Show,” insists Fortney. He explains that out of respect for the Earnhardt family, the 3M Scotchlite graphics will be removed from the unit and the company will not make a profit from the endeavor. “We just wanted to say good-bye.”