Earnhardt killed at Daytona
February 18, 2001
BY DAVE VAN DYCK
FOXSports.com
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.- And now we know the cost of trying to script a show in
what is a serious sport:
The sport’s greatest star is dead, the fourth death in one year;
One of its greatest young stars is in the hospital, lucky to be alive;
Nineteen drivers-almost half the field in Sunday’s Daytona 500 at the
time-were involved in one accident that left their cars smashed as if they
were being prepared for the recycling factory.
And that’s what NASCAR gets for staging a show for the fans instead of the
sport.
It gets the Daytona 500 marred with a red flag and black eye.
It gets Dale Earnhardt, its most recognizable driver, pronounced dead at
Halifax Hospital.
It gets the feel-good story of Michael Waltrip’s first victory in 463 tries
turned into a teary-eyed tragedy over the loss of his boss, Earnhardt.
It gets the heart-warming story of second place finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr.
turned into a heart-wrenching saga over the loss of his father.
NASCAR thought it was doing the right thing-for the fans and, therefore, for
itself--in slowing down the cars and bunching them up.
But then you realize auto racing is not a studio sport, it is not a game, it
is not theatrics.
It is a sport of life, and death.
It is what makes this sport so sacred, and so scary.
NASCAR might have trouble recovering from the loss of its most recognizable
driver, from the carnage that was created three-fourths of the way through
its Super Bowl.
But it should have known it was too much to ask that 43 drivers of varying
experience and expertise could have total concentration for 200 laps.
What happened Sunday-because of rules changes--was what was hoped for but
feared most about this race.
It did bunch up the cars; it also did crunch up the cars.
The racing could have brought in new fans if the wrecks wouldn’t have driven
them away.
It is a sad day for NASCAR racing.
Earnhardt meant more to it than just being a champion, and he died of an
apparent neck injury while NASCAR takes biting criticism for not doing more
to improve safety.
You can make the argument that Earnhardt’s wreck was not caused by the new
rules, although you’ll never get me to believe it.
But no one believes that about what happened on Lap 175, when the car of
rising star Tony Stewart went airborne and tumbling, punted along by several
cars. He was lucky to suffer “only” a concussion.
Everyone knew it was going to happen.
“I can’t believe it didn’t happen before that,” Mark Martin said before he
had heard of Earnhardt’s death, referring to the 19-car pileup in which
Martin’s car was crushed. “I really hope everybody is satisfied with that
race. I feel like we have to entertain [the fans], and I hope that was
enough entertainment to that point.”
“I think we tore the hell out of just about every car with these new rules,”
said third-place finisher Rusty Wallace, whose car was gashed along the
right side. “I don’t like them at all, but, hey, a couple of fans like
them.”
“It’s a mess. It’s just a mess,” said Jeff Burton before hearing of
Earnhardt’s death. “The Daytona 500 is the biggest race of the year. I know
it was exciting to watch, but exciting and dangerous are two different
things.”
“I’m sorry, but that’s not racing,” Dale Jarrett said. It may be a great
show [for the fans], but from a driver’s perspective that’s not it.”
NASCAR wanted so badly to be so popular among its fans, so badly to increase
its TV ratings that it forgot about the people who made it so popular.
What fans at Daytona and on television will be left with is the indelible
memory of that last-lap crash that took Dale Earnhardt’s life.
They’ll remember how his car swerved suddenly to the right and was
broadsided at 190 miles an hour by Ken Schrader’s car. How it was pushed
along for hundreds of feet. And how still it was inside the car as
paramedics cut the roof off just to apply c.p.r.
It was too late.
It is too late to unchange the rules, too late to re-think the reasoning
behind the rules.
The sport lost its greatest driver.
The race winner lost his car owner.
The second-place finisher lost his father.
The fans lost their favorite.
The sport may have lost its credibility.
Copyright 2001, FOX Interactive Television, LLC. All rights reserved.
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