FORT WORTH – Texas Motor Speedway will receive a little “magic” from an unusual source.
Lil’ Dale, a Nubian goat from Interlachen, Fla., received national media attention beginning in 2002 for a white “3” marking born into its brown coat that served as a tribute among race fans to the number of the late seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Lil’ Dale attracted the attention of race fans across the country during her time on the goat farm of Laura Pierson. Just a year after the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. following an accident in the 2001 Daytona 500, Laura and her late husband Jerry delivered a goat that forever changed their lives. With a unique marking that resembled the “3” made famous by Earnhardt Sr., the couple appropriately named her Lil’ Dale.
Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage had followed this story and the goat ever since and when Lil’ Dale passed away late last year he asked Ms. Pierson if he could preserve the legacy of the goat for the NASCAR masses. On Friday during the Duck Commander 500 NASCAR doubleheader weekend, Gossage did exactly that as a preserved Lil’ Dale rolled into the media center via remote control.
“We plan to permanently display Lil’ Dale here and adopt here as part mascot, part good luck charm and to enjoy this magical creature,” Gossage said during his unveiling.
And “magical” is a term that Ms. Pierson with forever associate with Lil’ Dale, especially when fans came to the farm to check the goat out.
“I always think of her as ‘magical,'” Ms. Pierson said. “Most people, when they came to see or photograph her, were very, very skeptical. They thought that we had painted or branded her some way or another. But once they saw her, their eyes lit up. It was sort of like the first time you go to Disney World. They smiled, pointed and left here in happier moods than when they arrived.”
Lil’ Dale captured the attention of the country, appearing in countless stories in publications that included Sports Illustrated, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribuneand The Orlando Sentinel. As word spread of Lil’ Dale’s unique marking, the Pierson’s farm became an attraction for fans to catch a glimpse of the one-of-a-kind goat, especially during Speed Weeks for the season-opening Daytona 500 each February. In December of last year, the 13-year-old goat passed away.
Gossage reached out to Pierson and struck an undisclosed deal to preserve the goat and bring it back to Texas Motor Speedway to display in The Speedway Club. Lil’ Dale was sent to Tony’s Artistic Taxidermy in nearby Hawthorne, Fla., which coincidentally had the world-renowned taxidermy specialist for rams and goats in Jay Wood.
Wood was honored to have the task of preserving Lil’ Dale and became consumed with the project to have it ready for this weekend’s Duck Commander 500 race weekend. This project, including a base, would normally take seven to nine months given Wood’s precision and expertise that he is known for but he finished it in half that time to appease Gossage’s wish.
“It was an honor and a privilege to mount Lil’ Dale,” Wood said. “She was absolutely a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.”
Lil’ Dale will be introduced to the race fans via a specially animated video on “Big Hoss” that will be featured throughout race weekend. The 30-second animated video, which was shown to the media during the unveiling, depicts the legend of Lil’ Dale and her new role at Texas Motor Speedway.
(Click here to view video.)
Fans will be able to catch a glimpse of Lil’ Dale as she will reside in The Speedway Club where she will have a permanent display for fans to visit year round.
Tickets for the NASCAR doubleheader weekend featuring the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 and Duck Commander 500, the third-highest paying race, are still available by calling the Texas Motor Speedway ticket office at (817) 215-8500 or by visiting www.texasmotorspeedway.com.
– Courtesy of Texas Motor Speedway
