Massachusetts Man Honors Fallen Hero, Dale Earnhardt

Hazelnut, MA - "3." For Joe Klut, that's all that needs to be said, because on this past President's Day, he chose to honor a fallen hero who served not in the White House, but all of White Trash. "Earnhardt was, is and always will be the man," says Klut, whose wife, Suze, spent 13 minutes shearing the 37" "3" onto Klut's back yesterday morning. "Sometimes, I look at the t.v. when Nascar's on, and I still see him out there drivin' 'round that damn track," says Klut, struggling to fight off tears in front of his 3-year-old mullet-laiden son, D.J. (first name "Dale," middle name "Junior").

"He's pretty into Dale," says Suze, still picking small curly hairs from underneath her fingernails at random intervals during the interview. "I just try and do what I can to support it," says the faithful wife before quickly adding, "until it involves the bedroom."

When asked what he thinks about the recent Jimmie Johnson scandal at Daytona (that his car was inspected only after it had won the race), Kutz just stares at the wall, just above the Precious Moments collection that Suze so admires, and just below the water damage on the ceiling, at the life-size portrait of himself wearing Earnhardt's uniform that Kutz insisted the Disney charicature artist make during his family's vacation last summer. "Dale was great on Sunday," says a misty Kutz, "Dale was great." We may never know exactly what he's talking about.