Chris O'meara / AP

Seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt was killed on the last lap of the Daytona 500 in 2001.

Video footage shows the strained relationship he had with a young Dale Jr., who desperately longed for his father’s attention but often was squeezed out of the spotlight. But there are tender moments, too, including a scene where Earnhardt tries to teach his son to water ski and another where a young Junior pretends to interview his father in Victory Lane.

There’s a part in which Earnhardt professes his adoration for Teresa, and, after often failing as a father to his first three children, scenes show him flourishing in the role with youngest daughter Taylor Nicole.

“Time is really short to spread between a family, home, racing, the dealership, the farm,” he says in the movie. “You just try to have something for the future for the wife and the kids if something happens to me.”

The film shows a sensitive side to the hard-nosed racer, and it’s sure to surprise many fans. He regrets dropping out of school and, despite his success on the race track, professes a constant fear of it all falling apart one day.

It’s why, despite 76 career wins and more than $41 million in earnings, he continued to labor on his farm each week and did most of the chores himself.

“I can win a race on Sunday and I can feed the cows on Monday or collect eggs in the chicken house, it doesn’t matter to me,” he says. “Because we win doesn’t change my attitude or way of life. I’m a jack of all trades and a master of none.”

That ethic is what endeared Earnhardt to so many fans, said NBC anchor Brian Williams.

“If you are out there working for a living with your hands, boy, this was your guy,” Williams says in the movie. “He represented blue collar hopes and dreams in this country. It meant a lot to him that because he was from that class and society, he would never betray that class and society.”

Childress admitted poring over the footage was painful and used a memory of Earnhardt to explain how he continued racing after his best friend’s death.

Once while riding horses in New Mexico, the horses tumbled down a mountain, and both men could have been killed. When they returned to camp unscathed later that night, Childress told Earnhardt that if he’d died that day, he’d expect Earnhardt to keep racing.

“Yep, same here,” was Earnhardt’s response.