NASCAR—Year 10 A.D.—After Dale

rocky sinyardJan 24, 2011

“’Nascar has lost it’s greatest driver ever, and I personally have lost a great friend’, and that’s Bill France’s quote, and I think that pretty well sums it up for the NASACR community right now,” said a disbelieving Mike Helton after the devastating crash on February 18, 2001.[1]

As we all know, this February marks the 10-year anniversary of the departure of Dale Earnhardt. All real race fans realized at the time—NASCAR would never be the same!

Dale Earnhardt—Ironhead—The Intimidator—and finally, The Man in Black— was the icon for the world of stock racing at the end of the last century. His blue-collar swagger attracted millions of fans to the sport of NASCAR. He was the leader for what was then a great tradition of racing. His shoes will never be filled!

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The race fans that did not love and admire Dale, despised him. They did not appreciate his lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way mind-set. However—regardless of opinions—we all cried when we heard the news on that day.

I can remember Darrell Waltrip—emotional, as Michael had just won the race—asking, “Is Dale okay?” I can still see Kenny Schrader beside Dale’s crashed car, waving for the safety crew. And the ambulance as it proceeded slowly—so very slow—away from the track.

I recollect the void at Rockingham the following week. Even though Steve Parks won the race in his DEI ride, there was not any joy at the track. Only tears …

And I recall how the pain began to heal as a young Kevin Harvick found his way to victory lane at Atlanta in Dale’s RCR ride. Mysteriously, this was Kevin’s third start in Cup and the third race after Dale’s death. Both Richard Childress[2] and Harvick[3] stated in post race interviews, “This one’s for Dale”.

Race fans, we can only imagine what NASCAR would be like if Dale was still around. I am certain that DEI would be operating at a much higher level. And I believe that racing would somehow be more exciting with Earnhardt at the track each weekend.

I wonder if he would have been able to convince NASCAR that racing is not a game. We do not need a playoff system!

I would hope that Dale would lobby for the fair traditions of racing. Green-white-checkereds and double file restarts are not fair. Both promote wrecking—not racing!

In a pre-race interview before the 1997 Diehard 500, Ned Jarrett asked Dale, “You got plenty of money, don’t need that to keep racing. Is it worth the risk to keep on going?” Dale replied, “Sure, to win. I mean—that’s what we’ve always done. The money’s never been a factor. We raced when we didn’t have any!”

Later in the same interview, Ned inquired, “I think Dale Earnhardt is the best race driver that has ever been in a stock car. How do you feel about that?” Dale, sort of stumbling by the compliment, humbly responded, “Ah Ned, that’s a big statement—you know I think my dad was the greatest when it comes to racers—and Richard Petty and all these guys—I just love to race, Ned. I don’t claim to be the best—I like to win and we’ve really been fortunate to accomplish a lot in racing.”[4]

Friends, I truly believe that Earnhardt would still be with us—had he been racing to win on that February afternoon in 2001. He had a great car that day; perhaps even good enough to win his second Daytona 500.

However, in a un-Earnhardt-like manner, Dale was not driving aggressively on that day—but selflessly—hoping to defend Michael Waltrip and Dale, Jr. from the pack as they raced each other for their first Daytona victory.

A note of interest—in Earnhardt’s crashed car, there was a Bible Scripture taped to his dash[5]: The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10

Well race fans—I agree with Ned! Dale Earnhardt was the best driver to ever buckle up in a stock car. He was a racer’s racer and no one will ever replace him on or off the track! All true race fans will always miss him.

A long, long time ago...
We can still remember
How that NASCAR used to make us smile.
And we knew if we had our chance
That we could watch those racecars dance
And, maybe, we’d be happy for a while.

But February made us shiver
A tragic crash did deliver.
Bad news to our doorstep;
We couldn’t take one more step.

I can remember that we cried
When we read about his widowed bride,
And something touched us deep inside
The day that NASCAR died.