LANDIS— A smile stretching from ear to ear, Heather Manes bounded over to her teacher and proudly displayed her arm.
“He touched my hand!” the third-grader breathlessly told Elizabeth Cranford.
Ernie Irvan’s hands haven’t held a steering wheel in a NASCARrace for two years, but the high-fives he passed out after Career Day at Landis Elementary still sent the school’s third-graders into overdrive.
Irvan joined a lineup including a firefighter, paramedic, truck driver and even Landis Mayor Fred Steen Monday to talk about his career, which boasts 15 victories on the Winston Cup circuit and more than $11-million in earnings. More professionals came to the school this morning.
When Cranford and the rest of the third-grade teachers began recruiting speakers for the event, student Kenny Caspers piped up with a great idea: How about inviting my buddy Ernie?
Caspers’ dad, Spook, has worked for Irvan for years, first on his racing team and now at Irvan’s ranch.
“With race week we figured we wouldn’t be able to have anybody,”Cranford said. “This was a last-minute treat for us.”
Irvan, who lives just outside of Mooresville in Rowan County, happily agreed.
“It’s a lot of fun,” he said after spending 30 minutes each with two different groups, telling stories and signing autographs.
The students spent the first part of the morning climbing inside the cab of a tractor-trailer and exploring an ambulance before venturing outside the “traditional” workforce. Minor league baseball players Joe Valentine and Jim Sweeney from the Kannapolis Intimidators and local pro wrestler Jeff Justice set the stage for Irvan and the kinds of careers young kids dream of.
“You never know what the future holds,”Irvan said. “I never knew I’d be able to drive a Winston Cup race car. One thing just led to another. The stars are the limit.”
Irvan asked the class how many people wanted to be race car drivers when they grew up. At least half the hands in the room —including Cranford’s — reached for the ceiling.
He cautioned the students that, even though he began racing Go-Karts when he was about their age, very few people are lucky enough to race for a living.
Growing up in California, Irvan followed in his father’s footsteps to the racing world but made sure he graduated from high school before pursuing racing full time.
“Things you do on the playground, shooting baskets, running races,”Irvan said. “That’s all about competition. That helped me learn how to succeed at other things. The most important thing I did was stay in school.”
Irvan left sunny California for North Carolina after graduation. If he wanted a racing career, his dad said, he needed to be around Charlotte.
“You guys are in the right spot,”he remarked to the class.
Over the course of his 13-year career, Irvan enjoyed plenty of highlights. One of the students asked about his ring, commemorating a win in the Daytona 500 in 1991.
After that victory, Irvan said he received an invitation to a state dinner at theWhite House with then-President George Bush. He ate with actress Teri Garr, and the two joked that as nice as the silverware was, the Secret Service probably made guests go back through the metal detectors on their way out, too.
Undaunted, Garr left with some souvenirs, while Irvan played it safe.
“She took a knife and a fork, but I was worried about going through the metal detector on the way out,” he said with a laugh.
Irvan raced to the top of the NASCAR scene in 1994 before disaster struck in a practice run at Michigan International Speedway. Irvan crashed, and doctors didn’t expect him to survive the night. When he awoke, doctors told him he’d be lucky to drive his daughter to school again, let alone drive a race car.
Irvan told the students he had to learn how to read, write, walk and talk again. He made it all the way back to the Winston Cup circuit after a year off and won three more races, including the Miller 400 at Michigan in 1997.
Another accident in Michigan in 1999 made Irvan think about retiring, though. He said he enjoyed driving daughter Jordan, 7, to Cannon School in Concord too much to keep racing. Now he has more time to spend with her; 3-year-old son, Jared; and his wife, Kim.
Since retiring, the 42-year-old Irvan maintains close ties with the racing community, especially Ricky Rudd and the No. 28 car he used to drive. Irvan will be pulling for Rudd this week in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway but thinks Winston winner Jeff Gordon is the favorite.
“It would be hard to vote against Jeff. He’s on a roll right now,”Irvan said. “If Tony Stewart wasn’t doing the (Indianapolis) 500 and the 600, I think he’d be tough.”
Irvan doesn’t have too many plans for the rest of Speedweek. He’ll make an appearance for CTCommunications on Pole Night before taking in the 600 on Sunday.
Then, just like everybody else, he’ll get in his car — a Volkswagen, he told one inquisitive student — and head home to his career as a retired race car driver.
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