MOTOR SPORTS: Dale Earnhardt and Celebrity Status

Last Sunday, the racing world lost one of its best competitors when Dale Earnhardt crashed and died on the last lap of the Daytona 500.

Earnhardt's death revealed the affection people have for athletes as well as the excessive treatment fans provide celebrities.

I do not typically write about auto racing. In fact, I have not watched an entire auto race in my life. People, though, should not be indignant about Earnhardt's death. The debates concerning the Hans device, broken seat belt, or bump by a fellow racer mask the most important factor in Earnhardt's death.

The fundamental aspect of racing is speed and danger. These men drive cars at speeds nearly three times as fast as you and I. Furthermore, they build their vehicles for speed and not always for safety. I know when I ever get in an accident, my front hood will not flap in the air like a windsock like Earnhardt's did last weekend. These men understand the extreme dangers that accompany their sport and no safety device will ever offer total protection in this sport.

Reports of people blaming Sterling Marlin for Earnhardt's death should infuriate people. Racing stresses speed and contact. Every racer bumps his fellow racers as they circle the track. Marlin probably felt bad enough about inadvertently causing Earnhardt's death and those who compounded this feeling should be ashamed. A variety of factors - dearth of safety devices, a broken seat belt, and auto racing itself - are to blame for Earnhardt's death not a mishap on the part of Marlin.

Earnhardt's funeral and the public display of emotion raises another issue. Sports fans think they know the men and women for whom they cheer. This is a nice sentiment but false. A friend once related a story where he saw Brett Hull in a mall and worried that Hull might recognize him. Seconds later, he realized that Hull did not know who he was and the only reason my friend knew Hull was through the television. Like the Hull example, many people probably thought that they knew Earnhardt. Fans who e-mailed ESPN talked as if Earnhardt was a member of their family. Some explicitly stated that he was. Earnhardt, though, is no more a member of their family as he is of mine. Earnhardt, as with other athletes, has a public façade and a private life. Fans too often conflate the two. Furthermore, the elaborate funeral and media coverage increased fans' connection with Earnhardt and demonstrated that we are not in his family.

Earnhardt's death certainly came as a surprise to many people. Interestingly, the media and others suggested that his death was more tragic than the death of any other human being. Tens of people die daily in car wrecks, but the media coverage of these tragedies pale in comparison to the attention Earnhardt received. Consider also, the plane crash that took the lives of ten people associated with Oklahoma State University basketball. This too was a tragic occurrence, but because of the players involved and a television personality, the University and others hosted elaborate memorials for them. Other people who die in small plane crashes rarely receive this attention.

We invite athletes and other personalities into our homes through the television and make them part of the family. If they somehow suffer a fatal tragedy - like Earnhardt or the Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball players - we grieve and mourn as if they were part of our families. However, we hardly know these people. Their public persona could dramatically change once they are among their real families. Maybe this is why we are so angry when athletes run afoul of the law: it is like a cousin or brother doing the same.