Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Probably not coincidentally, Wrangler was the initial sponsor of his father's #3 Chevrolet from 1980 until 1987. See List of people from Maryland. He was also featured in a commercial for Wrangler jeans that used the aforementioned song as its background music. For a more exhaustive list, see List of cities in Maryland. has appeared in print advertisements for Drakkar Noir Cologne, one of the sponsors of his race car, and in the video for Sheryl Crow's song "Steve McQueen", which pays tribute to the late film star famous for his car chase scenes. See also:Places in Maryland Ranked by Per Capita Income. Dale Jr. Notwithstanding numerical positions, the founding intent of Maryland has made the state prominent in US Catholic tradition. For example, Baltimore was the location of the first Catholic bishop in the USA ( 1789) and Emmitsburg, the home and burial place of the first American-born citizen to be canonized, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.

He has expressed interest in pursuing an acting career. The three largest Protestant denominations in Maryland are: Baptist (17% of the total state population), Methodist (14%), Lutheran (6%). Dale Jr.'s looks have helped his media presence. The present religious composition of the state is shown in the table below:. Fans have alleged that the change was approved, in the hopes of saving NAPA Auto Parts as a team sponsor. Therefore, despite the founding intent of the colony, Catholics have never been in a majority in Maryland since early Colonial times. Many of Earnhardt's fans have criticized the leadership at DEI, especially Teresa Earnhardt for her approval of the crew change. Nevertheless, the Crown later reversed that policy and discouraged the practice of Catholicism in Maryland.

Teammate Michael Waltrip took the pole position for the Pocono 500, further bolstering the argument that Waltrip may have gotten the better end of the crew change. Maryland was founded for the purpose of providing religious toleration of England's Catholic minority. A recovery seems unlikely, considering that Johnson and second place Greg Biffle have dominated most of the first 13 races of the season. The five largest ancestries in Maryland are: African American (27.9%), German (15.7%), Irish (11.7%), English (9%), American (5.8%). Earnhardt must be within 400 points of the leader by the 26th race to qualify for the Chase for the Championship. The racial makeup of the state is:. is 15th in the points standings, 414 behind leader Jimmie Johnson. The three counties of Western Maryland (Allegany, Garrett, and Washington) are mountainous and sparsely populated, resembling West Virginia more than they do the rest of Maryland.

As of June 11, 2005, Earnhardt Jr. The Eastern Shore is less populous and more rural, as are the counties of southern Maryland. finished fifteenth in the Aarons 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, suggesting that DEI may have lost its advantage at the restrictor plate tracks to rival Hendrick Motorsports. Most of the people live in the central region of Maryland, in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. At one point he was as far back as 29th. Subsequently, Earnhardt Jr. As of 2003, the state's population was 5,508,909. On February 20 2005, Dale fell short of winning back-to-back Daytona 500 races, placing third after struggling with an ill-handling car for much of the race. and Baltimore, and other towns.

Rondeau served as Earnhardt's crew chief until the Coca Cola 600 weekend when he was replaced with DEI chief engineer Steve Hmiel. MARC trains, operated by the State's Transit Authority, connect nearby Washington, D.C. Peter Rondeau, a Chance 2 employee who also helped Earnhardt win the Busch Series race at Bristol in August, became the crew chief for Earnhardt in 2005. In addition, train service is provided between Washington, D.C., Rockville, Maryland, and Cumberland, Maryland on the Amtrak Capitol Limited. became the crew chief for the DEI #15 driven by Michael Waltrip for the 2005 season. Amtrak Trains serve Baltimore along the Northeast Corridor. would be promoted to the team manager position for the DEI corporation, while Tony Eury, Jr. are also serviced by the other two airports in the region, Reagan National and Dulles International Airports, both in Virginia.

At the close of the 2004 season it was revealed that Tony Eury, Sr. The Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. Truex went on a charge late in the 2004 Busch Series season, and clinched the championship at Darlington, with a strong finish, making Earnhardt the winner of both a driver's championship (1998 and 1999) and an owner's championship (2004). Maryland's main airport is Baltimore-Washington International Airport (formerly known as Friendship Airport and recently renamed for former Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall). Earnhardt as an owner was more proficient. I-695 is the Baltimore beltway. That incident, combined with two consecutive DNF's in the playoffs, eventually dropped him out of the running, and finished fifth in the 2004 Nextel Cup playoff. I-68 connects the western portions of the state to Frederick, and I-70 connects Frederick with Baltimore.

However, he was penalized 25 points for use of an obscenity during the television broadcast, in violation of a NASCAR rule prohibiting participants from using obscene language. Maryland's major Interstate Highways include I-95, which enters the northeast portion of the state, goes through Baltimore, and becomes the Capital Beltway to the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. He was able to qualify third for the NASCAR ten-race playoff, and won his fifth Nextel Cup win of the season (a career high) was also his fifth win at Talladega (another record). Historically, there used to be small gold mining operations in Maryland, some surprisingly near Washington, but these no longer exist. In the fall, Junior became the first driver to sweep the weekend meet at Bristol by winning both the Busch race and Cup race in the same weekend. Mining other than construction materials is virtually limited to coal, located in the mountainous western part of the state. In construction mention should be made of the brownstone quarries in the east, which gave Baltimore and Washington much of their characteristic architecture in the mid-1800's. The burns did not affect Junior in the long run. The once mighty primary metals sub-sector, which at one time included what was then the largest steel factory in the world at Sparrows Point, still exists, but is pressed with foreign competition, bankruptcies, and company mergers.

and his stepmother Teresa Earnhardt) and his DEI team mate (John Andretti) in the middle of the races. Manufacturing, while large in dollar value, is highly diversified with no sub-sector contributing over 20% of the total. Typical forms of manufacturing include electronics, computer equipment, and chemicals. The burns prevented him from finishing two races where he was replaced by Martin Truex, Jr. (driver for Chance 2 Motorsports, co-owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. The third component of the food producing sector are food processing plants, which are the most significant type of manufacturing by value in the state. He suffered second and third degree burns on his neck, chin, and legs. There is also a large chicken-farming sector in the state. The car burst into flames with Junior still inside. In addition, the southern counties of the western shoreline of Chesapeake Bay support a tobacco cash crop zone, which has been in existence since early Colonial times.

crashed the Corvette he was testing for an American LeMans Series race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Agriculture is oriented to dairying for nearby large city milksheads plus specialty perishable horticulture crops, such as cucumbers, watermelons, sweet corn, tomatoes, muskmelons, squash, and peas (Source:USDA Crop Profiles). won the Daytona 500, 6 years to the day after his father won his only title in the "Super Bowl Of Motorsports." In July, during on off-weekend from NASCAR, Dale Jr. Maryland has a large amount of fertile agricultural land in its coastal and Piedmont zones, although this land use is being encroached upon by urbanization. In 2004, Dale Earnhardt Jr. While not, strictly speaking, a commercial food resource, the waterfowl support a tourism sector of sportsmen. Still, Junior rallied to score two more wins at Talladega, a pair of Bud Pole Awards and an 11th-place finish in the final standings. The Bay also has uncounted millions of overwintering waterfowl in its many wildlife refuges.

finished no better than 30th. The largest catches by species are the blue crab, oysters, striped bass, and menhaden. In the three races following Fontana, Earnhardt Jr. One component is commercial fishing, centered in Chesapeake Bay, but also including activity off the short Atlantic seacoast. He struggled after enduring a concussion at Fontana in April -- an injury he did not admit to until mid-September. Maryland has a large food producing sector. In 2002, Junior had a roller-coaster season. A list of government agencies located in Maryland is summarized below:.

The season of emotion produced nine top-fives and 15 top-10 finishes, as well as two Bud Poles. Altogether, white collar technical and administrative workers comprise 25% of Maryland's labor force, one of the highest state percentages in the country. That Talladega victory earned Junior a Winston No Bull 5 $1 million bonus. In fact, the various components of Johns Hopkins University and its medical research facilities are now the largest single employer in the Baltimore area. The second victory came at Dover, Delaware, in the first race after 9/11 and the third was in the EA Sports 500 at Talladega--the site of his father's final victory. In addition to these are many educational and medical research institutions. The first win came when the series returned to Daytona, the same track where Junior's father had died a few months earlier, for the Pepsi 400. and emphasizes technical and administrative tasks for the defense/aerospace industry and bio-research laboratories, as well as staffing of satellite government headquarters in the suburban or exurban Baltimore/Washington area.

He didn't stay down for long, though. Junior scored three emotional victories and came back to finish eighth in points. A second service activity takes advantage of the close location of the center of government in Washington, D.C. Just as his father would have done, Junior raced at Rockingham the following weekend, but crashed on the first lap and finished in 43rd-place. Although the port handles a wide variety of products, the most typical imports are raw materials and bulk commodities, such as iron ore, petroleum, sugar, and fertilizers, often distributed to the relatively close manufacturing centers of the inland Midwest via good overland transportation. As Junior finished second, his father died on impact with the wall. The port ranked 10th in the USA by tonnage in 2002 (Source: US Corps of Engineers, "Waterborn Commerce Statistics"). The first major event of the season occurred in the final corner of the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500--Junior's father crashed. One major service activity is transportation, centered around the Port of Baltimore and its related rail and trucking access.

came into the season assuming that the biggest obstacle he would face would be a sophomore slump, instead the year proved to be one of the most tumultuous and memorable seasons the young driver has experienced. Maryland's economic activity is strongly concentrated in the tertiary service sector, and this sector, in turn, is strongly influenced by location. In 2001 Earnhardt Jr. The Bureau of Economic Analysis (http://www.bea.gov/) estimates that Maryland's total state product in 2003 was $212 billion. Per capita personal income in 2003 was $37,446, 5^th in the nation. Lee, Richard and Maurice Petty had previously accomplished the feat. Growing climate varies from USDA Zone 8 on the Eastern Shore and in the cities of Baltimore and Washington DC to Zones 7 and 6 is the Piedmont, to Zone 5 in the mountainous west. That occasion was only the second time that a father had raced against two sons. Extreme western Maryland has a mountain climate with mild summers and cold winters.

Junior did have a part in recreating one Winston Cup milestone in 2000 when he competed with his father and brother Kerry in the Pepsi 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Beyond the plain rise the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, and the Piedmont region has warm summers and colder winters, where snow often falls. Kenseth ultimately scored a 42-point victory in the rookie race. Mary's City) are a part of the Atlantic Coastal Plain, which has a humid subtropical climate of hot summers and mild winters. It didn't pan out that way, as frequent challenger Matt Kenseth outran Junior in the Daytona 500, and never let up in his run to the title. The Eastern Shore region, as well as a small part of the western shore (including Baltimore, Annapolis, and St. Before his Winston Cup rookie season in 2000, many thought Earnhardt Jr. was the front-runner for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Award. Climate varies greatly across the state, depending on factors like elevation, rainfall, and proximity to water.

With his father's guidance and his own experience on the short tracks throughout the Carolinas, he was ready to take a bold step forward. One of the most noted features of Delmarva is Maryland's Assateague Island, on the Atlantic, with its herd of wild ponies accustomed to the seashore. won consecutive NASCAR Busch Series Championships in 1998 & 1999. The Delmarva Peninsula is a geographic term for the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland, the state of Delaware, and two counties of Virginia, which all together form a long extension down the Atlantic seaboard. Earnhardt Jr. This geographical curiosity, the " Maryland wasp-waist" is located near the small town of Hancock. There, he developed an in-depth knowledge of chassis setup and car preparation, while racing against Kerry and their sister Kelley. Also in Western Maryland, about two-thirds of the way across the state line, is a point at which the state of Maryland is only two miles wide.

Within two seasons, the young Earnhardt had honed his driving abilities to the point of joining the Late Model Stock Car division. The highest point in Maryland is Backbone Mountain, which is the southwest corner of Garrett County, right near the border with West Virginia near the headwaters of the North Branch of the Potomac. His first race car was a 1978 Monte Carlo that he co-owned with older brother Kerry. A portion of extreme western Maryland in Garrett County is drained by the Youghiogheny River as part of the watershed of the Mississippi River. began his professional driving career at the age of 17, competing in the Street Stock division at Concord (N.C.) Motorsport Park. The Chesapeake Bay nearly bisects the state, and the counties east of the Bay are known collectively as the Eastern Shore. Earnhardt Jr. It shares a border near the center of the state along the Potomac with Washington, DC.

He currently drives the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Maryland is bounded on the north by Pennsylvania, on the west by West Virginia, on the east by Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean, and on the south, across the Potomac River, by Virginia. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974 in Kannapolis, North Carolina) is the son of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt. See: List of Maryland counties, List of Maryland rivers. NASCAR. Virtually all state and county elections are held in even numbered years not divisible by four, in which the President of the United States is not elected - this, as in other States, is intended to divide State and Federal politics. List of famous NASCAR drivers. Most of the business of government is done in Annapolis, the State capital.

Unlike most other states, significant autonomy is granted to many of Maryland's counties. Power in Maryland is divided among three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judicial. Maryland is a republic; the United States guarantees her "republican form of government" [|USC Article IV, section 4 (http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articleiv.html#section4)] although there is considerable disagreement about the meaning of that phrase. The United States is a federation; consequently, the Government of Maryland, like the other 49 state governments, has exclusive authority over matters that lie entirely within the state's borders, except as limited by the Constitution of the United States.

The Government of Maryland is conducted according to the state constitution. Main article: Government of Maryland. The right to vote was not, however, extended to non-white males until 1867. Article 24 of that document outlawed the practice of slavery.

A constitutional convention was held during 1864 that culminated in the passage of a new state constitution on November 1 of that year. Because of this it was not included under the Emancipation Proclamation. Despite popular support for the cause of the Confederate States of America, Maryland did not secede during the United States Civil War, in part due to precautions taken by the government in Washington, D.C. It was during this bombardment that the Star Spangled Banner was writen by Francis Scott Key.

During the War of 1812 the British military attempted to capture the port of Baltimore which was protected by Fort McHenry. In 1708 the seat of government was moved to Providence, renamed Annapolis in honor of Queen Anne. St Mary's City is now an archaelogical site, with a small tourist center. During the persecution of Maryland Catholics by the Puritan revolutionary government, all of the original Catholic churches of southern Maryland were burned down.

This lasted until 1658 when the Calvert family regained control and re-enacted the Toleration Act. In 1650 the Puritans revolted against the proprietary government and set up a new government that outlawed both Catholicism and Anglicanism. After Virginia made the practice of Anglicanism mandatory, a large number of Puritans migrated from Virginia to Maryland, and were given land for a settlement called Providence (now called Annapolis). Mary's City was the largest site of the original Maryland colony, and was the seat of the colonial government until 1708.

St. The Calvert family, which controlled Maryland, and the Penn family, which controlled Pennsylvania, engaged two surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, to survey what became known as the Mason-Dixon line which would form the boundary between their two colonies. This was found to be a problem, because the northern boundary would put Philadelphia, the major city in Pennsylvania, within Maryland. Originally, based on an incorrect map, the royal charter granted Maryland the Potomac River and territory northward to the fortieth parallel.

The Maryland Toleration Act (1649) was one of the first laws that explicitly tolerated varieties of religion (as long as it was Christian), and is sometimes seen as a precursor to the First Amendment. Maryland was one of the key destinations of tens of thousands of British convicts, which carried on until independence. The English colony of Maryland was founded by Lord Baltimore who on March 25, 1634 led the first settlers into this area which would soon become one of the few dominantly Catholic regions among the English colonies in America. The new colony was named in honour of Henrietta Maria, Queen Consort of Charles I.

George Calvert died in April 1632, but a charter for "Maryland Colony" (in Latin, "Terra Maria") was granted to his son, Cęcilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, on June 20, 1632. George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore applied to Charles I for a new royal charter for what was to become the Province of Maryland. Main article: History of Maryland. See: Annapolis Convention..

Its Associated Press abbreviation is Md. Maryland was one of the thirteen colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution. postal abbreviation is MD. Its U.S. Maryland is a state of the United States, one of the South Atlantic States (although often considered part of the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic States).

See List of counties in Maryland. Towson – county seat of suburban Baltimore County. Salisbury – largest city and business center of Delmarva pennisula. Rockville – business center of affluent Montgomery County northwest of Washington.

Ocean City – very popular beach resort on Atlantic coastline. Laurel – large suburban community directly between Baltimore and Washington on Interstate 95. Hagerstown – Largest community in 3 county Western Maryland region, has decaying industrial base. Frederick – Western gateway to Appalachian Mountains, suburban center.

Columbia – Large unincorporated town managed by the Columbia Association. suburb, home to the University of Maryland, College Park. College Park – D.C. Baltimore – Most populous city; commercial and cultural hub.

Annapolis – state capital, home of United States Naval Academy. Non-Religious – 8%. Other Religions – 4%. Other Christian – 2%.

Roman Catholic – 25%. Protestant – 58%. 2% Mixed race. 0.3% American Indian.

4% Asian. 4.3% Hispanic. 27.9% Black. 62.1% White non-Hispanic.

Fort Detrick. Webster Field. Naval Air Station Patuxent River. Indian Head Naval Surface Weapons Center.

Fort Meade. Bethesda Naval Medical Center. Andrews Air Force Base. Aberdeen Proving Ground.

Consumer Product Safety Commission. U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Social Security Administration (SSA).

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC). National Security Agency (NSA). Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

National Institutes of Health (NIH). National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Goddard Space Flight Center. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Census Bureau. Federal Agencies