The death of Dale Earnhardt, Sr. during the Daytona 500 on February 18, 2001, was a highly-publicized event that generated intense interest from the media and resulted in various safety improvements in NASCAR auto racing.
Earnhardt was a seven-time series champion and one of NASCAR's most storied drivers. Earnhardt was the fourth driver to die in NASCAR competition following Adam Petty's death in May 2000.
Following Earnhardt's death and the subsequent investigation of the events leading to his death, NASCAR began an intensive focus on safety that has seen the organization mandate the use of head-and-neck restraints, oversee the installation of SAFER barriers at all oval tracks, set rigorous new inspection rules for seat-belt and seats, develop a roof-hatch escape system, and eventually led to the development of a next-generation race car built with extra driver safety in mind, the Car of Tomorrow.
Circumstances of Earnhardt's death
Rules of Competition
Dale Earnhardt died while competing in the 2001 Daytona 500, a NASCAR-sanctioned automobile race at Daytona International Speedway. NASCAR sanctions required the use of a carburetor restrictor plate for races held at the track. In 2000, the year before Earnhardt died, NASCAR instituted additional restrictions to the springs and shocks used on the cars, causing Earnhardt to complain to the media, " took NASCAR Winston Cup racing and made it some of the sorriest racing. They took racing out of the hands of the drivers and the crews. We can't adjust and make our cars drive like we want. They just killed the racing at Daytona. This is a joke to have to race like this."
In response to criticism such as Earnhardt's, NASCAR developed a new aerodynamic package for the cars competing in Winston Cup Series races at Daytona and Talladega. In the initial running of this aerodynamic package at Talladega, Earnhardt passed seventeen cars within four laps to win the fall 2000 Talladega race. The 2001 Daytona 500 was the first 500 mile race run at the track with this package, which was designed to keep cars bunched up close together and to allow more frequent passing at high speed.
Events of the Race
Following the start of the 2001 Daytona 500, Earnhardt led several of the opening laps, and continued to be a front-runner throughout the race. As the race entered its final laps Earnhardt and his familiar black #3 car were running in third, with two of his race team's cars, the #15 NAPA Chevrolet driven by Michael Waltrip and the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet run by his son Dale Earnhardt, Jr., running first and second in front of him. Behind Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr., Earnhardt was blocking the attempts by Sterling Marlin in his #40 Coors Light Dodge to pass. With less than two laps remaining, Fox commentator Darrell Waltrip noted that "Sterling has beat the front end off of that ol' Dodge trying to get around Dale ".
As the cars entered Turn 3 on the final lap, Earnhardt still held third and was running in the middle lane of traffic. Marlin was behind him and running the bottom lane, while Rusty Wallace's #2 Ford was directly behind Earnhardt and Ken Schrader was above Earnhardt riding the high lane in his #36 M&M's Pontiac.
For reasons unknown, Earnhardt's car veered abruptly down the track, and the left rear corner of the car made contact with Marlin's front bumper. This contact caused Earnhardt's car to turn sharply to the left. Earnhardt's car drove off the track's steep banking, onto the flat apron. The car then turned sharply to the right and headed back up the banking toward the concrete retaining wall. Seconds before the car hit the wall, Schrader's car collided with Earnhardt's.
Almost instantly, as the front of Earnhardt's car made impact with the wall, the right-rear wheel assembly broke off the car, the passenger-door window blew out of the car, and the hood pins severed, causing the hood to flap open and slam against the windshield. No other vehicles impacted Earnhardt's car after it hit the wall and Schrader's car seemed to push Earnhardt's as it slowed to a stop. The cars of Earnhardt and Schrader slid down the track banking and came to a rest on the infield grass inside Turn 4. Schrader exited his car and went to check on Earnhardt, but seconds later was seen frantically waving for help as Earnhardt was unresponsive.
Meanwhile, the race continued despite the accident, with Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr. holding the first and second positions to the finish. Wallace finished third, Marlin seventh, and Earnhardt and Schrader were credited with finishing twelfth and thirteenth respectively.
Details of the Crash
A subsequent investigation revealed that Earnhardt's car struck the concrete retaining wall at a critical angle between 13 and 14 degrees, at an estimated speed of 157-160 mph. Earnhardt was killed instantly.
Following the accident, Earnhardt was cut from his car and taken directly to Halifax Medical Center by ambulance (since he had no vital signs and the injuries were obviously life-threatening, he was never taken to the infield care center which is usually mandatory). Earnhardt was pronounced dead at 5:16 p.m EST, reportedly surrounded by his wife Teresa Earnhardt, his team owner/friend Richard Childress, and his son Dale Earnhardt Jr.
About 2 hours later, at a press conference, NASCAR President Mike Helton made the formal announcement to the world, saying, "Undoubtedly this is one of the toughest announcements I've personally had to make. After the accident in Turn 4 at the end of the Daytona 500, we've lost Dale Earnhardt."
Injuries sustained
The official cause of Earnhardt's death in the medical examiners autopsy report was listed as "blunt force injuries of the head". It noted, among other things, that Earnhardt sustained:
- Basilar skull fracture (fatal)
- Eight broken ribs on his left side
- Broken left ankle
- Fractured breast bone
- Collarbone and hip abrasions (an indication that the seat belts didn't fail)
Aftermath
Dale Earnhardt's death received widespread media attention. One newspaper called the day "Black Sunday". Grieving fans congregated at the headquarters of Richard Childress Racing and Dale Earnhardt Incorporated the night of the accident, as well as the track where Earnhardt died. Earnhardt was featured in the following week's Time Magazine , and video from the race was played on nearly every major United States televised newscast. Earnhardt's funeral was telecast live on multiple television networks, including CNN and Fox News Channel.
Earnhardt's death resulted in both a police investigation and a NASCAR-sanctioned investigation. In a reversal of previous NASCAR policy, nearly every detail of the investigation was made public.
In the days following the accident, Sterling Marlin received hate mail and death threats from fans who blamed Marlin for Earnhardt's death. Earnhardt's son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., absolved Marlin of responsibility and asked everyone who loved his father to stop assigning blame for his death.
I definitely didn't do anything intentional. We were just racing our guts out for the last lap of the Daytona 500. Everybody was going for it. Dale's car got caught in the middle . I was as low as I could go. Whether Rusty got him loose and down into me, I don't know. You have to talk to Rusty Wallace. I watched the tape one time and that is all I want to see it.
– Sterling Marlin (driver of the #40 Dodge)
Earnhardt's #3 car was immediately retired by team owner Richard Childress. Childress made a public pledge that the number would never again adorn the side of a black car sponsored by GM Goodwrench, the color scheme and sponsor Earnhardt had driven since 1988.
Earnhardt's team was re-christened as the #29 team, with the same sponsor (GM Goodwrench), but the car was adorned with a reversed color scheme (white body with black numerals and a black stripe on the bottom) was used for races at Rockingham and Las Vegas. For the race at Atlanta, a new GM Goodwrench scheme was introduced, with angled red stripes and a thin blue pinstripe, resembling the AC Delco Chevrolets driven in the Busch Series.
From 2003 until 2006, when the Goodwrench sponsorship ended, the #29 car was painted in black and silver, bearing greater resemblance to the machine that Earnhardt piloted but with a more contemporary flair. A small #3 decal is placed alongside the #29 to honor Earnhardt and the team's legacy.
Childress' second-year Busch Series driver Kevin Harvick was named as Earnhardt's replacement driver, beginning with the race following Earnhardt's death, the Dura Lube 400 held at North Carolina Speedway. Hats bearing the #3 logo were distributed to everyone at the track to honor Earnhardt. The Childress team wore blank uniforms out of respect but as Harvick's performance improved, the regular GM Goodwrench Service Plus uniforms returned, with the team scoring a top-ten finish by the next race in Las Vegas, and winning the next week in Atlanta. Dura Lube 400 pole sitter Jeff Gordon gave a "missing man" formation during the pace laps, a custom used in motorsports for mourning.
Fans honored Earnhardt by holding three fingers aloft on the third lap of every NASCAR Winston Cup race. Meanwhile, NASCAR's television partners also went silent for the third lap, a practice that was repeated until the 2002 race at Rockingham.
NASCA
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