From MSNBC.com:
EARNHARDT, CONSIDERED THE greatest star of his era and the biggest fan
attraction in NASCAR history, had to be cut out of the car, and he was
rushed to the hospital.
Earnhardt was pronounced dead from massive chest injuries even while his
driver, Michael Waltrip, was being interviewed in the Daytona press box
after his first career victory in 463 starts, according to NASCAR.com.
"My heart is hurting right now," Waltrip said in his postrace
interview. "I would rather be any place right this moment than here.
"I want to be with him to try to help. It's so painful."
He said he learned of the accident from driver Ken Schrader, a close
friend and hunting companion of Earnhardt.
"He came to Victory Lane to give me a heads-up, and that's all I
know," Waltrip said before quickly ending his interview. "I haven't been
able to find out anything more than Schrader told me.
"I have to go."
The accident happened a half-mile from the finish of the NASCAR
season opener when Earnhardt, running fourth, hit Sterling Marlin, hit the
wall in the high-banked fourth turn and was smacked hard by Schrader.
"We were three deep and he hit me," Marlin said. "Then he turned
around."
It was the second major wreck in five years in the race for
Earnhardt. He flipped wildly on the backstretch near the end of the race in
1997 but was not seriously hurt. He came back to win the race the next year
on his 20th try.
Earnhardt is the leader among active Winston Cup drivers with 76
career victories.
The crash was not as spectacular as an 18-car wreck 25 laps earlier
that took out 18 cars. Tony Stewart was injured in that accident, but the
track said he did not have life-threatening injuries. Stewart had a
concussion.
Earnhardt was a factor in the race throughout, and spent the final
laps in close proximity to his son and Waltrip, trying to block Marlin. The
Dodge driver had just passed Earnhardt, who was trying to get back by him on
the low side of the track when there was slight contact that set his
Chevrolet spinning up the 31-degree banking.
It turned to the right and hit the wall, and Schrader could not avoid
hitting it.
Both cars slowly began to slide down the banking to the bottom of the
track as the rest of the field race by, but there was no further contact.
Earnhardt Jr. quickly left the postrace celebration for Waltrip, and
sprinted to the infield care center to be with his father. It took several
minutes to get the elder Earnhardt out of the car, and he was quickly taken
to Halifax Hospital.
The race was the season-opening event for NASCAR, which had three
driver deaths last year.
Busch Series driver Adam Petty, the grandson of stock car great
Richard Petty, was killed in May in Loudon, N.H., in May. Two months later,
Winston Cup driver Kenny Irwin also was killed at New Hampshire
International Speedway.
NASCAR truck series driver Tony Roper was killed in October at Texas
Motor Speedway.
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