We have lost DALE today. Twenty five years later ...............................

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

We have lost DALE today. Twenty five years later ............................... and it can feel like yesterday at times.

For 3-4 years before that day, I kept thinking it was past time for D.E. to retire and move into the world of automotive sports tv like his old long lost buddy , Neil Bonnet had done some years before he was tragically killed in a race car. Neil Bonnet had one of my all time favorite NASCAR inspired Sunday morning racing sports talk shows before the lure of the track sucked him back into those cars. So, two close friends were taken from the racing world in the same way.
They were both enjoying and loving , doing exactly what they were born to do. NASCAR has lost so many of the greats over the last few years. Most not in cars. To this day one can still see tiny #3 stickers or license plates on the front of trucks and cars.
I just saw in the Tv listing that several times today there is a special show (not sure I will be able to watch it) titled "We have lost DALE today." Funny how humans can feel so connected to some person that we never even meet in our lives. Hope most of you all are having a good or better weather day than most of us have been having this winter. WoW. We had gotten to the point of really NO winter around us the last 10-12 years. Not the case last year or this one.

 

[Timmastertech]

I watched that documentary thursday after the duels. I still remember that day vividly. I was a huge Earnhardt fan. My parents say I latched onto him as a kid because I started paying attention to watching races with my Dad when I was 3 and he was the imtimidator, my name is Tim and the connection was made. Heck, the day after the 500 the parts department at the GM dealer we bought parts from at the time called to make sure I was okay (I was still a little kid then) because every time my Dad or grandfather took me with them to pick up parts I would sit and talk Nascar with the parts guys

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

I watched that documentary thursday after the duels. I still remember that day vividly. I was a huge Earnhardt fan. My parents say I latched onto him as a kid because I started paying attention to watching races with my Dad when I was 3 and he was the imtimidator, my name is Tim and the connection was made. Heck, the day after the 500 the parts department at the GM dealer we bought parts from at the time called to make sure I was okay (I was still a little kid then) because every time my Dad or grandfather took me with them to pick up parts I would sit and talk Nascar with the parts guys

I started out not a fan of his at all. I had grown up under the spell of "The King" and Cale Yarborough, the Allison's and their rivals. I was a fan of NASCAR when one could not even watch their races on LIVE tv. One had to wait until the next day, the Monday after and one of the few tv stations back then would show the race from the previous day in its entirety. LoL I would go around all Sunday and Monday trying not to see the news or sports so I could enjoy watching not knowing the outcomes.
Once I started paying attention to D.E. and the fact he started out driving one of the very last Chevelles , the Type S3 with Army sponsorship and I saw what he could do on the track against the big boys of the day, I was hooked and became a big fan of his. He was very hard on himself, people around him and people he worked with but it was told that he would help anyone in need if he could. He of course had a lot of haters against him too. They all do at times. Most of the joy of following NASCAR left me that day. Then once a lot of the drivers I had followed so long started to retire, it just is not the same. I have not been to a race since and I usually only watch a few each season these days. The Daytona for sure, the Talladega races and couple others. It is so different these days.

 

[Mainia]

WOW, that was a fast 25 years, I remember like it was 10 years ago. Question.......Did he have a chance of living, if he would of respected his racing harness EOL (End Of Life) date, or was the G force so great it would not of mattered? I thought I remember his belt broke at a mounting point or was it lack of a HANS?

 

[goblin]

RIP.
What shocked me most was how "not a big deal" his crash looked. Like he's been through a gazillion of these.

In my book this crash was a bit in the vein of the motorcycle crash that paralyzed Wayne Rainey a few years prior. He kept flying in spectacular crashes throughout the season, then "pop" did he drop off from his bike in crash that looked like nothing, and it was over.

 

[GMBoy]

I was a fan as well. I went to every track with my Dad and enjoyed Nascar races. Not anymore - I won't even watch it. I think Nascar died after the best drivers of the 80/90's left the sport and nascar changed the rules and raised prices so the average family can't afford to go anymore.

 

[goblin]

To me Nascar is best described in Malcolm in the middle, when Dewey screams "we won, we won" at end of the first lap.

I'm having it easy, as MiM best describes everything in life. Genius stuff to this day.

 

[y_p_w]

I didn’t really understand NASCAR, but I did have a pair of Gargoyles.

 

[The_Jeff]

I thought he passed on 2/18/01?

 

[TnT_M]

Hard to believe its been 25 years. I remember it like it was yesterday. I was not a Dale fan because I was a huge Mark Martin fan. Dale seemed always steal the limelight from Mark.

As I've grown older I have become more of a fan for what he did for the sport. The documentary was really good and the icing on the cake.

Godspeed #3. You are a legend!

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

WOW, that was a fast 25 years, I remember like it was 10 years ago. Question.......Did he have a chance of living, if he would of respected his racing harness EOL (End Of Life) date, or was the G force so great it would not of mattered? I thought I remember his belt broke at a mounting point or was it lack of a HANS?

Not sure exactly what could have saved him in a crash like that. Head on is never good. I think by that point he was not scared it could happen because the cars had become so well made and safe. We all got used to seeing cars doing end over end or wild flying and multiple flips with the drivers coming out just fine. When that wreck happened it woke a lot of people in charge of NASCAR up.

 

[TnT_M]

WOW, that was a fast 25 years, I remember like it was 10 years ago. Question.......Did he have a chance of living, if he would of respected his racing harness EOL (End Of Life) date, or was the G force so great it would not of mattered? I thought I remember his belt broke at a mounting point or was it lack of a HANS?

He died from a basal skull fracture and blunt force trauma. The HANS device and banning of open face helmets evolved from his death.

IMO, given his situation and choice of equipment nothing could have saved him. Lots of speculation about broken mounts, unlatched belts etc, but I think it is just that, speculation.

 

[MrkofXcellence]

Like the other commenter mentioned, I was watching that race and it seemed like a much more minor crash than many I had seen people walk away from. I absolutely could not believe what I was seeing.

 

[HemiBenny]

The thing with his wreck was the sudden impact. At that speed, he turned straight at the wall, the car hit it, and stopped. His body absorbed a lot of that energy. The spectacular wrecks with cars flipping and rolling are dissipating a lot of that energy. I’m sure the lack of a HANS device and the open face helmet didn’t help matters.
I remember that day like it was yesterday. I wasn’t a big Dale Earnhardt fan; I was a Rusty Wallace fan, but Dale was the face of NASCAR.
I can’t imagine what Kenny Schrader has gone through, having to remember seeing him after he walked up to Dale’s car. You could see the urgency in his actions towards the rescue crews. Also, Sterling Marlin receiving death threats after the fact was sickening. Sterling did nothing wrong.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

The thing with his wreck was the sudden impact. At that speed, he turned straight at the wall, the car hit it, and stopped. His body absorbed a lot of that energy. The spectacular wrecks with cars flipping and rolling are dissipating a lot of that energy. I’m sure the lack of a HANS device and the open face helmet didn’t help matters.
I remember that day like it was yesterday. I wasn’t a big Dale Earnhardt fan; I was a Rusty Wallace fan, but Dale was the face of NASCAR.
I can’t imagine what Kenny Schrader has gone through, having to remember seeing him after he walked up to Dale’s car. You could see the urgency in his actions towards the rescue crews. Also, Sterling Marlin receiving death threats after the fact was sickening. Sterling did nothing wrong.

Yes. I doubt any safety feature could do much for anyone in that instance. Old Dale was probably so excited about following up in that black #3 in the third place position behind Mike W. and Junior that he was probably ready to jump out of his car at the finish line. The wreck should / could not be blamed on anyone really. Those type wrecks are an unfortunate part of racing at those speeds. The Daytona race today had an eerily similar wipe out at the end. Very last lap today. Totally different, special built cars and no one hit the walls head on thank goodness. The cars have been special made for many years but never to the special safety specs called for these days.

I was a Rusty Wallace fan back then too. Rusty , Daryl Waltrip and Dale (all friends-finally by then) had some amazing shoot outs till the checkered flags many times keeping everyone on the edge of their seats.

In all of my years following NASCAR , after the Richard Petty / Cale Yarborough , the Allison brothers era, I think that the years with Rusty Wallace / Dale E / Dale Jarrett / S. Marlin / Shrader / Jeff Gordon / Ernie Ervin / late Davey Allison / Daryl Waltrip (he and Dale E kind of had their feet in both eras....) had to have been, IMHO some of the top two-three greatest drivers eras in all of NASCAR history.

 

[y_p_w]

I thought he passed on 2/18/01?

It was posted on the day of the Daytona 500. Probably wasn’t thinking of the exact date, but the day of the race.

 

[MrkofXcellence]

“I think that the years with Rusty Wallace / Dale E / Dale Jarrett / S. Marlin / Shrader / Jeff Gordon / Ernie Ervin / late Davey Allison / Daryl Waltrip“

This 100%. I dont think it comes close. Hazard and danger aside, I think it was due in part to the wiggle room provided by that era of car. It went from that to Car of Tomorrow…what a major let down. Now the cars are so incredibly evenly matched that its hard to watch. Combined with the sharing of all the data/telemetry between the teams. So the best drivers now automatically are forced to share their trade secrets. What the heck??