MOTOR SPORTS: Earnhardt death brings safety back to forefront

We can talk about the safety of NASCAR, the various devices, the unfortunate circumstances that happened at the end of the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

But this is a fact; Dale Earnhardt died doing something that he had done since the last 1970s. Race cars at a fast speed with a risk of death.

That's what NASCAR is, that's what any type of racing is. It's going as fast as you can, pushing the thin line, without crossing over. When you cross over, the punishment is terrible. It can result in death. And that's what happened.

It was supposed to be a happy Sunday for Earnhardt. He was on his way to finishing third in the Daytona 500, trailing only two cars that he owned. The drivers of those cars were his son and one of his best friends. He would have celebrated with them, celebrated their success and basked in the glow of victory.

Instead, NASCAR prepares to bury another driver. One who dominated the landscape of the sport for decades, who never gave it to no one or thing. Then, tragically, the chips were cashed in.

It's a poker shoot, NASCAR. The drivers know that when they climb into the car, they are meeting injury, eye to eye. They stare it down every Sunday during the season and a number of other times. The safety record of the circuit has been well documented.

Sometimes, like in life, the bad things are remembered and talked about more than the good. Which isn't a bad things in itself. Because, if anything this should bring about change.

The change in NASCAR's safety is needed. Various boosters and announcers can talk about how the rollbar cage and the setup of the car makes it the safest auto racing in the world. But facts are facts. And the fact is that of the past four deaths in the world of auto racing have come in ten months, they have come in NASCAR.

Earnhardt's death, no one truly will know whether or not that could have been avoided. It is the work of something else, not the work of something given to human debate.

What can be debated is safety. What can be debated is why the HANS device has not been tested more stringently and used with more urging by NASCAR officials, who still, even after this accident, will say nothing than that it will encourage drivers to test it.

The walls are concrete on the tracks on the NASCAR circuit. But in this age of space communications, teams that are using computers in the pits, to say that something other than concrete can be used on the walls of racetracks is ridiculous and holds the speaker up to an enormous examination.

NASCAR's star was shining on Sunday because of Earnhardt. The driver was at once the small-town boy who had the know-how to operate a world-wide enterprise. He was hated or loved, but always respected.

Even at 49, Earnhardt still had the passion to drive cars. He still had the desire to be the best. But he showed a remarkable maturity to his driving on Sunday, tragically making a decision with consequences.

Earnhardt could have challenged his son and challenged Waltrip. He could have run up on them, he could have tried to bump and pass like he had so many times before in so many races. But instead, Earnhardt held back. He worked the role of team player, blocking other cars from making a charge.

There have been other stars on the NASCAR circuit, but Earnhardt was the first real television star. His success created more viewers, more interest for fans, more interest for other potential drivers.

Those drivers who grew up watching Earnhardt, watching the way he operated on a track and ran his business, must now take over the mantle that he has left behind.

NASCAR has a void today. One that has no immediate successor, no ready-made champion. The void is of a legend. Like the great Earnhardt was.