Dale Earnhardt: The End

In 2000, Earnhardt began to see himself as before. Many believed it was due to neck surgery he had to repair the injury he sustained at Talledega in ’96. He won 2 of the most exciting races that season. One was at Atlanta when he beat Bobby Labonte to the finish by .006 seconds, the other was at Talledega when Earnhardt gained 17 positions in 4 laps to take the win. With these wins under his belt, Earnhardt moved up to second in the points standings. But crashes at Watkins Glen and Bristol, plus poor showings at a couple of other races, would prevent him from winning another title.

It was a beautiful day for racing, February 18, 2001. The first official race of the year, the NASCAR ‘Super Bowl’, the Daytona 500. Despite not winning the Twin 125 qualifying race he had dominated for most of the ’90, Dale Earnhardt seemed relaxed and confident before the start of the race. A spectacular accident in which several cars were eliminated from the competition occurred at the end of the race. After a red flag stop to clear the track, the race continued with Dale Earnhardt, his son Dale Jr. and their DEI teammate Micheal Waltrip in front. With 3 laps to go Waltrip was in the lead followed by Earnhardt Jr. and Dale Sr. Earnhardt Sr. had been fighting off Sterling Marlin’s attempts to take 3rd position.

During the final lap, Earnhardt was running three behind Marlin and Kenny Schrader. For unknown reasons, Earnhardt’s suddenly dove down the runway. The left rear quarter of Earnhardt’s car made light contact with Marlin’s front bumper. The #3 car ran off the track and onto the apron, then began to return to the track. Earnhardt’s car hit Schrader’s car and Dale crashed head-first into the wall at 160 miles per hour. Compared to similar wrecks of that type, no one thought it was that bad. Waltrip went on to win the race. EMT teams along with Dale Jr. rushed to the scene of the accident. Earnhardt was taken by ambulance to Halifax Medical Center. A few hours later, NASCAR President Mike Helton announced the death of Dale Earnhardt. Not just NASCAR, but the entire sports world was stunned. The once seemingly unbeatable Dale Earnhardt was gone.

But as a friend pointed out to me, he probably died right where he fit it. Doing what he loved so much and what he was so damn good at. Dale Earnhardt Jr. still races and has some accomplishments under his belt. Dale Earnhardt Sr., he was competitive, stubborn, tough, with his friends and family, just a good guy from North Carolina, and he was a winner. He was all of those things. I’d like to think that when he got to heaven, Ralph Earnhardt was there to meet his son. With a handshake, a pat on the back, and a comment that went something like, “Damn, boy, you did pretty well. I’m proud of you.”