NASCAR: Loss of a legend -- Dale Earnhardt

Sunday, February, 18, 2001

The day started out as a celebration. It was the start of a new season for NASCAR, and it was beginning, as it does every year, at the sport's premier event -- the Daytona 500.

All of the sport's top stars such as Jeff Gordon, Ken Schrader, Michael Waltrip, Sterling Marlin, Rusty Wallace, Bobby Labonte, and, of course, Dale Earnhardt, both senior and junior, were there and ready to go.

It was supposed to be a great race this year because some new rules had been put in place to make the racing even more exciting than in previous years.

NASCAR even had a huge new television contract that would make it even more of a mainstream sport than it had ever been before.

It was going to be a great day and the start of a special year. At least that is what was supposed to have happened.

Instead, the day ended in tragedy with the death of one of the sport's living legends, Dale Earnhardt, Sr., whose car spun out of control and crashed head-on into the wall in the last lap of the race.

If you think about it, the scene that played out in that race could have been part of a Hollywood script.

Earnhardt, the grizzled old veteran driver who was loved by his adoring fans and respected by his rivals, was nearing the end of his favorite race, the Daytona 500.

Throughout his career he was a driver who thought of nothing but winning -- winning at all costs -- and having fun. And now as the race was coming closer to the end, he was sitting in a great position, third place, and he was in a car that just might have had enough to pass the two cars in front of him to win the race.

But he didn't seem to be pushing his trademark black No. 3 Chevy, he didn't seem to be trying for the win. Instead, he stayed back, and in an unselfish act, seemed to be "blocking" the cars behind him from catching the two cars in front of him.

Why?

Because in the lead car was his good friend, Michael Waltrip, while in the second car was his son, Dale Jr. Both were part of his team, Dale Earnhardt, Inc., and Earnhardt was playing a new role -- team leader.

So instead of trying to win himself, he spent the last few laps trying to ensure that one of those two ahead of him would win.

Then with only a few hundred yards to go in the race, with probably his last vision being the sight of his friend and his son breaking clear and heading for the checkered flag, tragedy struck.

One second he was probably cheering for his friend and his son, and the next moment his car swerved, then turned right up the track and smashed head-on into the wall, while almost simultaneously another car driven by Ken Schrader, who had no chance of avoiding it, broadsided him.

Both cars slid down into the infield as emergency workers rushed to the scene.

While Waltrip was celebrating his win, unknowingly, his boss and friend, never regained consciousness. It would be learned later that even though they finally cut off the roof of his car and rushed him to the hospital, Earnhardt was already gone. He had died in his car, on a sunny Florida afternoon, on the racetrack he loved the most.

Yes, it could have been a Hollywood script, but sadly, it was not. It was real life.

Earnhardt came to stock car racing the way a lot of other drivers did who were born and raised in the countryside of North Carolina -- he followed in his daddy's footsteps. His father, Ralph Earnhardt, raced stock cars, but never reached the level his son would attain, though he did win the NASCAR Sportsman Championship in 1956 and raced in 51 Winston Cup events.

Dale Earnhardt started his first race in 1975. It was the World 600 at the Charlotte Moter Speedway, just down the road from his home in Kannapolis, North Carolina. He finished 22nd.

In 1979, he won his first race at Bristol, Tennessee, and finished the season being named Rookie of the Year.

He had a rough style of driving and was known to bump fenders to get an advantage. His driving style earned him the nickname "The Intimidator."

In 1980, he won his first Winston Cup Championship and became the first driver to win Rookie of the year and the season championship in back-to-back years.

He would go on to win six more Winston Cup Championships in 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, and 1994, tying him with Richard Petty, who also won seven in his career.

All told, Earnhardt won 76 races in his career, the sixth most in Winston Cup racing, and over $40 million.

Then last year, when there was talk that he might be "washed-up," he drove as hard as ever and almost won his eighth Winston Cup Championship, finishing second to Bobby Labonte. He also won two times last season, including the Winston 500 in October at Talladega Super speedway, which now will be remembered as his final victory.

But it was the Daytona 500 that he wanted to win the most. Prior to 1998, he had tried 19 times, but always came up short.

But then 1998 turned out to be his year, the year when his dream finally came true, as he won the race. And what a great celebration there was for him. He did donuts in the infield and then drove down Daytona's pit row where every single competitor's pit team lined the roadway to give him a celebratory high-five.

Everyone knew how much Daytona meant to Earnhardt and everyone on that day wanted to show him how happy they were for him to finally win it. It was a great scene to watch unfold on that day.

But now, three years later, the race track is silent, flags fly at half mast, and his wife Teresa, his children Dale Jr., Kerry, Kelly King, and Taylor, as well as the entire racing world, are in mourning.

The mourning for his passing will last a while longer, but the celebration of his life will go on forever.

Next week, NASCAR will hold its race at Rockingham, North Carolina, which is how it should be, because the sport, like life, goes on. And you can pretty much be assured that is the way Earnhardt would have wanted it as well.

You can also be sure that when that next race is held, somewhere around that track Earnhardt will be watching. He'll be watching that race, and all of the races, especially the Daytona 500, from now until eternity, while sitting back and "shooting-the-breeze" with the other great drivers that have gone before him.

Dale Earnhardt was 49-years old. He will be missed.