MOTOR SPORTS: A hard look at why it all happened

By Jason Marin

All right, we have had our week to celebrate the life and times of racing’s biggest and best driver. Now, it is time to take a look at the subject that no one has wanted to mention. It is time to take a look at the subject that has been barely spoken about. It is time to take a look at why the wreck that took Dale Earnhardt’s life happened.

What everyone has applauded since the legend’s death is his willingness to be unselfish in the heat of battle when he clearly had the better racecar. I submit to everyone that his unselfishness may be what caused this tragedy in the first place. Although that sounds like a harsh assessment, that may have been the sole reason Earnhardt is not running in Rockingham this weekend.

Look at the facts. Earnhardt slows up to allow his son (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and the car owned by him (driven by Michael Waltrip) to compete for the win. During this time he keeps several racecars behind him that are clearly faster and can compete for the win. Among those were Sterlin Marlin, who eventually would hit Earnhardt and knock him Ken Schrader, another car trailing Earnhardt.

The entire mess could have been avoided if Earnhardt would have ran his car all out or let the cars trailing him go by. This would have avoided any type of crash instance. If cars were allowed to run freely or if Earnhardt would have run his car freely, then no contact would have had to be made and no one would have been able to take the air off of Earnhardt.

Instead, Earnhardt played hero for his son and his employee. What resulted from this moving pick was a tragedy. Earnhardt stayed away from the lead two cars, got the air taken off of his car by Rusty Wallace, and was bumped by Marlin. This sent him careening into Schrader and then the wall and tragically took the man in black’s life.

I am not a cold and heartless person. I will miss Earnhardt as any racing fan that has covered him for the last year would. I am however saying that if things would have run as they were supposed to the tragic confluence of events that resulted could have been avoided.

Article courtesy of Sportsuperstarz.com