ESPN's new film details the life of late NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt. Peter Gregoire/SI

When I first learned that ESPN was making a movie about the life and fast times of Dale Earnhardt, my thoughts immediately turned to the Riddle family of Montezuma, Ga., whom I met earlier this year while reporting a story on NASCAR's most loyal cult: Earnhardt fans.

The Riddles have remained loyal to Dale Earnhardt Sr. almost four years after his death -- so much so that one of the second-floor bedrooms in their home is called the "Earnhardt Room." The 14-by-16-foot shrine to the late racer is filled with die-cast cars, posters, a couple of life-sized cardboard cutouts and a Goodyear tire from the Chevrolet Monte Carlo that carried the Intimidator to victory at the 1998 Daytona 500. The Riddles build family vacations around their Earnhardt passion and attend both Atlanta Nextel races -- the second of which is where I first met them them -- annually. At one point I remember asking Felton Riddle, who drives a truck for the Frito-Lay Company and whose clan also includes his wife, Rhonda and son, Tripp, what Earnhardt Sr. meant to him. Riddle started to tear up. "He knew hard times, and I knew hard times," he told me. "Not paying his bills, sleeping on the floor. But all he wanted to do was race and that came first. It still gets me to start talking about Earnhardt. I get emotional."

Actor Barry Pepper, who plays Earnhardt Sr. in ESPN's film, 3, is no stranger to iconic sports-figure roles. His dead-on portrayal of Roger Maris in HBO's *61 won Pepper critical acclaim and an Emmy nomination. But there is a difference between playing Maris and playing The Man. Or, better yet, playing Felton Riddle's man. "The same way that fans by the millions were intoxicated by [Earnhardt's] life and legend was the same reason I was fascinated by him," Pepper told me when I met with him last May at North Carolina Speedway in nearby Rockingham, where much of the filming of 3 took place. (The film debuts Dec. 11 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.)

The Earnhardt biopic is the fourth movie produced under ESPN's Original Entertainment banner, following a pair of better-than-average efforts (A Season on the Brink and The Junction Boys) and one catastrophically unwatchable biopic (Hu$tle). The early reviews for 3 are favorable. Entertainment Weekly grades it a B in this week's issue. (You'll have to wait next week for my take.)

To prepare for the role of Earnhardt Sr. Pepper listened to hundreds of hours of Earnhardt interviews. He walked around on the set listening to an iPod filled with Dale-isms -- "I didn't mean to wreck him ... Just meant to rattle his cage" -- and would break into them to get into character. Prosthetics -- a false nose that had to be adjusted twice daily -- helped Pepper play the racer from ages 17 to 49.

Though the Earnhardt family didn't give its full blessing to the film, Pepper earned some praise from Dale Jr. last week during the latter's weekly press conference. "I've been pretty excited about it myself," said Dale Jr. "I know that Teresa (Earnhardt) and our whole organization would have rather ... been more involved in something down the road.

"I spoke with Barry at Richmond earlier this year, and he was really genuine and really cared about the situation and the project itself. I think he went in and did the best job he could, and I really admire that. So I'm looking forward (to the film). I think Earnhardt fans will probably like it."

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The movie is ESPN's most ambitious original movie yet. A thousand extras (all from Charlotte and Rockingham area) were used during filming, and the producers emphasized making the tracks, uniforms, cars and signage look as authentic as possible to accurately reflect each era portrayed in the film. One thing that may not be realistic is the portrayal of Darrell Waltrip, the Earnhardt rival-turned-terrific Fox commentator. Waltrip comes off as a jerk in the film. "I didn't know I was in the movie until last week when I was doing a cable show at home and somebody e-mailed the host with a picture of the guy playing me," Waltrip told SI.com this week. "Well, it doesn't look like me. Somebody who saw the movie says it doesn't sound like me. And I'm pretty sure it doesn't act like me."

That's not the case with Pepper, who eerily sounds and looks like the Intimidator. "I was talking with one of the casting agents about this project and I remember saying that if I was playing Dale Jr., I would be terrified because he's a rock star. I'd rather play Elvis," said Sean Bridgers, who plays the late driver Neil Bonnett, one of Senior's closest friends. "Earnhardt Sr. is the exact same thing. When I found out Barry Pepper was playing Earnhardt I was like, he's a great actor but how are you going to get him to look like [Earnhardt]? The first day I came on the set Barry was filming a scene as Dale in his early 20s. It was like, 'Oh, my God. He pulled it off.' You really kind of forget it's Barry."

If fans such as Felton Riddle have the same reaction, then Pepper will have pulled off his greatest transformation yet. "It's a performance that will be judged by millions of people who this guy meant something to," said Pepper. "I think we have a realistic perspective that you can't please everyone. I don't believe you can please the family, those who raced with him, those who hated him, those who loved him, those who knew him as a child, his ex-wives, everybody. There so many different perceptions of who Dale Earnhardt was that you could only capture the essence of the man. That ultimately is the biggest challenge of the film, fitting a life into 100 pages of script in 92 minutes of airtime."

AND JUST BECAUSE I LOVE THE SPORT ...

The Media Circus Weekly Women's College Basketball Top 5:

1. LSU (8-0) --- Outside of escaping against Baylor (71-70), it's been the Big Easy for the team from Baton Rouge.

2. Georgia (5-1) -- Only blemish is a one-point loss to TCU in Fort Worth. No shame in that.

3. North Carolina (7-0) -- Upset UConn (71-65) and destroyed Villanova in the second half. Starting to make a believer out of me.

4. Connecticut (2-1) -- I still think this is a top-five team even after the loss to the Heels.

5. Baylor (4-1) -- Trust me, the Bears are going deep in the tournament. The LSU loss came in the first game of the season on the top-ranked team's homecourt.

A FINAL NOTE

A couple of months before the Athens Games I met with NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol to talk about NBC's Olympic coverage. It was the first time I'd met him, and he turned out to be everything I had heard: charming, smart, confident, a Master of the Universe in midtown Manhattan. Ebersol's passion for the Olympics was obvious and as I sat in his office at Rockefeller Center I was drawn to an enormous photo on his desk of Muhammad Ali carrying the torch at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

In the wake of last week's terrible news involving Ebersol's family, I recalled talking to him about his passion for the Yankees and how his youngest son, born Edward Bright Ebersol but known as "Teddy" to family and friends, had become of all things a Red Sox fan. It made his old man smile.

I wish for better days ahead for the Ebersol family and the families of the crew members killed in last week's crash in Montrose, Colo. Donations in Teddy Ebersol's memory can be sent to the Litchfield County Association for Retarded Citizens at the following address:

LARC Capital Campaign In Memory of Teddy Ebersol
84R Main Street
Torrington, CT 06790
Federal Tax ID 06-6075006