MOTOR SPORTS: In Death Earnhardt’s Legacy Brings Life To NASCAR

He was the reigning superstar of the Winston Cup circuit. He was revered by many and hated by the rest. For Dale Earnhardt there was no holding back, only straight ahead at 200 mph with a left turn mixed in here and there. When all of that ended in a tragic mishap at this year's Daytona 500 it may be that the south's favorite son became the patron saint that will save many racing lives before all is said and done.

Born the son of one of the toughest sons-of-a-gun to ever drive in NASCAR, Ralph Earnhardt, teenager Dale impressed with his early instincts and racing savvy. In his standard uniform, tattered blue jeans and a plain white T-shirt, Earnhardt set out on his first Winston Cup start in '75 to revolutionize a sport he grew up with brandishing natural ability that few ever had seen.

From that very first 22nd place finish in the World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway Earnhardt had a lot of supporters that knew what he could do if he ever got the chance to strut his stuff in NASCAR's elite circuit. Well, he got his chance midway through the '81 season and he never looked back through a ride that resulted in seven Winston Cup Championships, 76 victories and the birth and death of a driving legend.

When it came to driving fast and making left turns nobody did it better than Dale Earnhardt. But even from his earliest days behind the wheel admirers like Richard Petty thought the “Intimidator” took too many chances. That was just Dale's style. “Rubbin' is racin',” the man behind the gold reflective shades said. If it took a little paint tradin' to get that checkered flag then that was life in the really fast lanes.

Those that know racing aren't sending death threats to Sterling Marlin whose bump was the beginning of the end for Earnhardt at Daytona. They realize that Dale got what he gave in that sequence. Unfortunately it all just ended badly, very badly indeed. Feb. 18, 2001 marked the end of racing for many of his fans around the country. It marked the end of a 22-year run of intimidation and triumph that may never be matched in racing history.

But irony hung in the air that fateful day at Daytona. The irony being that Dale Earnhardt was racing perhaps the most unselfish race of his long career. Running a 180-mph screen for his son who finished second, and his adopted “Little brother” Michael Waltrip who went on to win, Earnhardt shielded the likes of Marlin and Schrader off their backs and in that final turn paid the ultimate price for his generosity.

Wrecks on race day are commonplace in NASCAR. Usually the more terribly violent the crash looks the more common it is for the driver to climb out alive. The more punishment the car is able to absorb and carry away from the driver the better chance he has to climb out of that 1 ¾” roll bar shell around him and walk away.

Witness the fantastic sequence in which Tony Stewart's 5th place car went airborne and landed on the 26th place car at this same Daytona speed fest, bringing seventeen of his closest friends to a crashing, screeching halt. All walked away save for Stewart who spent a wee bit of time in the hospital. These types of wrecks usually result in a few broken bones, maybe a concussion. Fortunately none of the participants took the same fatal right turn that Earnhardt did.

The proof is in the pudding. Right turns on oval tracks are just plain unnatural. If you could ask Neil Bonnet, Ernie Irvan and Dale Earnhardt, they would tell you a 180 mph right-hand turn that ends in a head-on collision with a wall gives you a headache that won't go away. Hard right turns in NASCAR will kill you and all three died in nearly the same manner.

Dale had done things the same way for a long time and had some measure of success in the process. He preferred racing in a nearly prone position with his seat much further back than most drivers. It is assumed that Earnhardt had a lot to say about the design of the safety belt system that protected him and it is now rumored that Dale himself altered the belt system personally to suit his style. It remains to be seen if his own design proved to be his own undoing.

The same 5-point safety belt system protects all of NASCAR's Winston Cup drivers today. In all of NASCAR's 52 years nobody ever seen it fail as it did in Earnhardt's fatal crash. Had it not failed, Dale would have had a much greater chance of surviving the ordeal.

It's debatable as to whether even the much debated HANS safety device could prevent death when colliding with a wall at 180 mph. Such a collision transfers high G-forces directly upon the internal organs of the driver's body and most commonly results in a fractured skull and death. Human brains don't react positively to such inertia. That's what got Earnhardt in the end.

Driver safety is now a hot topic in every NASCAR garage. Many acknowledge that the HANS system is the best safety system currently available but only 6 drivers used it at Daytona. Apparently 14 other drivers had it at the track at Daytona and many of others had ordered it. Some chose not to install the HANS because its one-size-fits-all design is not so comfortable for some of the taller drivers. It seems the maker of the HANS is now ready and willing to help custom fit the system to all drivers willing to use it.

Talk is floating around about convening an independent task force to study driver safety. “Safety needs to be at the forefront of Winston Cup racing,” said NASCAR driver Bobby Labonte. “It's the most important thing. I'm sure a lot of things might happen now.” Perhaps the great minds inside the crew garages will meet with the NASCAR suites and join forces to put an end to the carnage thinning the ranks of the sport's greatest assets, its drivers.

The Intimidator's legacy may do more good than he could ever have imagined. In death Dale Earnhardt could save the lives of many of his best friends and in the end save the future of his beloved NASCAR.