I have been an Ernie Irvan fan ever since I first got into racing.  I remember that at my first race, in August 1989, I didn't have a clue, and so I picked the bright yellow car to cheer for, as my eyes are so bad that it was the only one I could recognize whizzing around the track.  At that time Rick Wilson was driving it, and the engine blew up during the second lap.  By the next race that I attended, Wilson had been dumped, and Ernie was the Morgan-McClure driver.  He came in second, and everyone around me was amazed that I, a rookie fan, had picked an unknown driver, who had nearly won.  The rest is history!

        This page isn't intended to be a fan page, or a detailed analysis of Ernie's career.  My aim is simply to share with other fans some of the photographs I have taken, and some of the memories.
 

In August 2000, after ten years of trying, we finally got to meet Ernie, and to shake his hand.  We went to a fund-raising lunch for Crumley House, a head injuries rehabilitation Centre, in Johnson City, Tennessee,  where Ernie was the guest speaker.   He signed Joanne's Brickyard t-shirt (listing the qualifying order, when he was on the pole) and had our picture taken with him.  Unfortunately, and most regrettably, the person whom I   asked to take the picture, was either a male chauvinist or a sadist, as he cut Joanne out of the frame completely. The following year (August 2001) we attended this event again, and this time I got to take a picture of Joanne with Ernie AND with Bill Elliott (see my NASCAR page).

Ernie's glory days, when he was still driving for Morgan-McClure and Kodak.  Taken on pit row, Michigan International Speedway, before qualifying, in conversation with engine-builder Runt Pittman, June 1991.

A great moment in racing history, when Ernie won the Daytona 500, in February 1991.  I got this poster from the Kodak trailer, for purchasing film.  It was the cause of a great deal of embarrassment to Joanne several years later, when I took it in to the Morgan-McClure shop in Abingdon, Virginia, to get it autographed by Ed McClure and Runt Pittman (it had already been autographed by Tony and Ernie).  By this time Ernie had left Morgan-McClure for Robert Yates, and I was wearing my Ernie Irvan Fan Club t-shirt.   Joanne thought it was in poor taste to walk into the shop wearing this shirt, after everything that had happened, but I was prepared to stand by my principles - I wasn't going to deny that I was a fan of Ernie's just because he was no longer with the team!

Shortly after the announcement had been made that Ernie was jumping shipto Robert Yates - Ernie amd Tony aren't talking to each other, while leaning on the pit wall at Watkins Glen.

Back to the beginning:  This is the #56 car that Ernie drove for Dale Earnhardt before arriving on the Winston Cup scene.  We got this model from the Fan Club.