Driving a race car, whether it is NASCAR, Formula One, or another type, is far more than just going around in an oval. It's a test of skill, reflexes, and concentration, along with resource management and nerves. These drivers go at high rates of speed over the course of a race, and the result can be a spectacular crash that puts the driver and sometimes even the crowd at risk — a tire flying into the stands can be deadly.
The drivers of these cars have to have unshakable confidence in themselves. NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt Sr. crafted a perfect persona borne of belief in himself — he often walked around wearing sunglasses and a stone-faced look. According to Legacy, his fellow racers dubbed him "The Intimidator." He also was known as "The Man in Black." Earnhardt Sr. was there with one purpose in mind each race: win. He won 76 NASCAR Cup races and earned over $42 million in winnings, per Racing Reference.
The veteran racer drove as if he were invincible, and time and time again, it seemed that way. Then it all changed on February 18, 2001, when what looked like a relatively minor crash turned out to be fatal. The world began looking at racing in a completely different way after his autopsy results.
DALE EARNHARDT SR. COULDN'T HAVE BEEN SAVED BY PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT AT THE TIME
No one knew that February day would be the last one of Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s life. He was racing at Daytona Speedway and was on the last lap. He made contact with another car and both vehicles hit the concrete wall. To stop suddenly at a high rate of speed is often disastrous and sometimes deadly. Earnhardt Sr. was going 150 miles an hour when he hit the wall at the angle that he did. The result was blunt force trauma to his head, which is what killed him, according to the autopsy result. Fellow racer Ken Schrader was the first to get to him and realized he was dead, per ESPN. He had a host of other injuries, including fractures to his ribs and left ankle, but he was dead instantly from the damage to his head, which included a ring fracture of the base of his skull, via Autopsy Files.
There was some initial confusion about what had happened with the crash. Some thought that Earnhardt had altered his seat belt before the race and that had played a part in his death. Some speculated that the belt had broken, which but Tommy Propst, who took part in the futile effort to save the racing legend, was adamant that the seat belt was intact, via the LA Times. It was a truly sad day, one that would be etched in the minds of the people that saw it, but there would be something good that came of it.
DALE EARNHARDT SR.'S DEATH MOVED NASCAR INTO SAFER TIMES
Dale Earnhardt's death caused the sport to look inward. After the crash, NASCAR did an internal investigation and found that there were some design flaws in the cars that pertained to safety, per the Orlando Sentinel. The organization made changes to make things safer, according to NASCAR. Nowadays, the cars are designed to prevent things like blunt trauma to the head. There are sections of walls that now use energy- absorbing SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers that can absorb the energy from a crash, though there is still a push to make them cover more, according to SBNation. Drivers use harnesses that prevent injuries to the sternum and also keep the head from moving forward while the body stops. Since the changes, there have been no fatalities in major NASCAR races. That is part of Earnhardt's legacy: safer cars.
Per NASCAR, the legendary racer supported the idea of the walls being made softer, but he did not like anything that would have slowed the races down. Speed was a vital part of what attracted people to watch, and watering it down could have turned people away. However, the changes have not affected popularity in America, as the sport continues to gain fans, according to Tireball Sports.
Kenny Schrader was not the only racer that was impacted that horrible day. Earnhardt's son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., was participating in the same race that his father died. He quickly took his father's mantle and became the face of the sport, being named Most Popular Driver 15 straight years, according to Sportscasting. He got to race in these newer cars and tracks before semi-retiring in 2017. Now, NASCAR continues to flourish as it drives on into a bright future.
Poster Comment:
There's a bunch more stories of racer's deaths below this story at the source.
#1: NeoconsNailed To: Esso (#0)
I once attended a SDA church service where his cousin was the guest preacher. He was almost your hero's spitting image, but spoke with some extremely unusual accent that I could not for the life of me identify.
NeoconsNailed posted on 2022-01-07 11:10:38 Reply Private Reply
#2: Esso To: NeoconsNailed, Lod, 4um (#1)
The closest thing I have to a hero is Jim Lodwick.
We would all do well to be more like him.
Esso posted on 2022-01-07 13:23:17 Reply Private Reply
#3: Rube Goldberg To: Esso (#0)
Rube Goldberg posted on 2022-01-07 13:24:48 Reply Private Reply
#4: Lod To: Esso, 4um (#2)
Lod posted on 2022-01-07 14:49:21 Reply Private Reply
#5: Esso To: Lod (#4)
Esso posted on 2022-01-07 17:33:09 Reply Private Reply
#6: Lod To: Esso, 4um (#5)
Lod posted on 2022-01-07 17:58:08 Reply Private Reply
#7: Esso To: Lod (#6)
Esso posted on 2022-01-07 18:03:21 Reply Private Reply
#8: NeoconsNailed To: Rube Goldberg (#3)
NeoconsNailed posted on 2022-01-07 18:17:33 Reply Private Reply
#9: NeoconsNailed To: Esso (#2)
NeoconsNailed posted on 2022-01-07 18:40:17 Reply Private Reply
#10: Esso To: Lod, NeoconsNailed, 4um (#9)
Anyone care to answer that? Wikipedia probably won't be much help, BTW.
Esso posted on 2022-01-07 18:47:00 Reply Private Reply
#11: IRTorqued To: Rube Goldberg, esso, exon (#3)
IRTorqued posted on 2022-01-07 18:57:45 Reply Private Reply
#12: IRTorqued To: Esso (#10)
IRTorqued posted on 2022-01-07 19:01:22 Reply Private Reply
#13: Rube Goldberg To: IRTorqued (#12)
Rube Goldberg posted on 2022-01-07 20:29:38 Reply Private Reply
#14: Esso To: Lod, IRTorqued, 4um (#12)
I sent him a fancy silver Ronson table lighter that used to be my dad's. I'm certainly not classy enough to possess something like that. He must be a popular guy.
Esso posted on 2022-01-07 20:43:28 Reply Private Reply
#15: Lod To: Esso, IRTorqued (#14)
Lod posted on 2022-01-07 21:01:03 Reply Private Reply
#16: Esso To: All (#0)
Nascar Bans Ford’s Better Ideas - 1957 Ford F Code Paxton Supercharged Sedan
Man, that '57 Ranchero was cool as hell. @ 3:54
Esso posted on 2022-01-07 21:04:55 Reply Private Reply
#17: Esso To: All (#16)
Is a station wagon the perfect vehicle? 1957 Ford Ranch Wagon 5.0L
Esso posted on 2022-01-07 21:34:47 Reply Private Reply
#18: Lod To: Esso (#17)
When I was doing the maintenance/handy man stuff on my rentals, I had first an Accord and then a Mitsubishi, both wagons, both excellent.
Lod posted on 2022-01-08 21:09:05 Reply Private Reply
#19: Esso To: Lod (#18)
I ordered a '79 Pontiac Sunbird wagon from the factory with a 3.8 V6 5- speed. It was based off the the Vega Kammback wagon. I don't think Chevy had one, they went to the Monza, I think, I don't believe they did a wagon that I recall, if they did, they didn't offer the V6. That was one, cool ass car. I didn't get much chance to do any magic on it, some drunk fuck rear-ended it while I was at a stoplight downtown during that damned Three Rivers Festival in 79 or 80. Totaled. My older sister (Phinehas) was in the car with me at the time. Geese, we were both kids. That's the only time seatbelts did me any good.
Chevy had a Monza with a 305 V8 for awhile that was pretty cool for the choked off emissions era. A buddy had one, he told me you had to jack the motor off the mounts to change the spark plugs. I'm not sure if that's true, but it wouldn't surprise me. I've got some Polaroids of that wagon, man, when did two-door cars get outlawed? Four doors for me, are as useless at tits on a boar-hog.
Esso posted on 2022-01-08 21:49:19 Reply Private Reply
#20: Esso To: Lod (#18)
I think it was a 2009 Honda Fit that I died in. It was my wife's car until a semi rear-ended her. The company's insurance was being a dick, so I parked it behind the shop for a couple of years. I bought her a new 2013 Fit, late 2012, after her accident, and she drove off into the sunset in that after I got killed her old one.
I think I'm really mixed up on on the years (brain damage and all that), but I got my girlfriend a used 2015 Fit which she promptly totaled a week after I bought it. Her fault, $250,000 settlement. She ended up with a Ford Fiesta wagon, 2014, I think, safety green. The tranny, not my gal, the car, blew up, luckily it got taken care under warranty.
Back to the old Honda Fit behind the shop... The trucking co's insurance co. demanded that I either take their offer or have he car repaired. I took it downtown to Fox & Fox Frame Service, that had become a full service joint after I had worked for them for a year and had them do their stuff.
The bill to repair was far higher than my buyout price, and was really exacerbated when the adjuster told me that they wouldn't pay to have the driver's side seat belt replaced. Any seatbelt needs to be replaced after an accident when the belts were in play.
The adjuster told me, "Well, I'll just tell Dick Fox how to run his business then." Woah, there was a good reason that I only worked for Dick for a year. That dude really stepped in it.
Long story, longer, they did a beautiful job on the car. You couldn't tell it'd been wrecked without matching VINs. When Texting Granny dusted me off in that sumbitch, I ended up getting more on the settlement for that car than I paid for it new, I think.
The wife is gone, Marla is gone, three Honda Fits are gone, I got some crazy 30 y/o chasin' me around. I ain't worried about a goddamed thing!
A nice two-door wagon like that Scion IQ I was supposed to pick up in Denver in early 2020 would be nice.
"Wish in one hand, and shit in the other. See which one gets full first." - Esso's dad, a lot of times before 3Apr1976.
Esso posted on 2022-01-08 22:31:34 Reply Private Reply
#21: Lod To: Esso, car nuts, 4um (#17)
www.macsmotorcitygarage.c...-cadillac-station-wagons/
Lod posted on 2022-01-09 10:22:23 Reply Private Reply
#22: BTP Holdings To: Lod (#21)
My Mom was driving the old Buick station wagon and she had three Nuns in the back seat. She was on Lake Shore Drive and needed to stop for a red light. The brakes went out and she had to zig zag thru traffic to stay out of an accident. If the old man had checked the brake fluid and found it low he would have had to go to auto parts store and buy brake fluid. If didn't do his due diligence and it nearly cost big time. He was a cheapskate his whole life, right up to the end. When he passed away in Chicago he had no plot to be buried even though my younger sister begged him years ago to get a place for himself.
He was such a cheapskate he would not give a key to the trunk of the Chevy Bel-Air. My Mom and I went to a tomato farm to pick tomatoes. When we finished they wanted to look in the trunk. We told them we didn't have a key and they thought we were stealing tomatoes. :-/
BTP Holdings posted on 2022-01-09 11:18:56 Reply Private Reply
#23: BTP Holdings To: Lod (#4)
One day they forgot one and I had to take it. I was wearing a wool felt cowboy hat. It was on the 6th floor. I took the elevator up and the stairs down and left to a chorus of Rhinestone Cowboy. LOL
BTP Holdings posted on 2022-01-09 12:23:04 Reply Private Reply
#24: Esso To: Lod (#21)
Why The 1975-1980 Chevrolet Monza 2+2 Hatchback Was a Success And A Disappointment.
Esso posted on 2022-01-09 19:20:41 Reply Private Reply
#25: Esso To: Lod (#21)
Poverty Corvette - 1968 AMC AMX
Esso posted on 2022-01-09 20:21:27 Reply Private Reply
#26: Esso To: All (#25)
Esso posted on 2022-01-09 20:32:19 Reply Private Reply
#27: Lod To: Esso (#25)
Lod posted on 2022-01-09 20:38:53 Reply Private Reply
#28: NeoconsNailed To: Esso (#0)
https://www.google.com/search? q=new+details+emerge+in+earnhardt+jr++crash+mystery+2021&lr=&safe=images &as_qdr=all&sxsrf=AOaemvI6GeJnwNYd4j- 71HicO2Tsi_gtqg%3A1641947574416&ei=tiHeYdbWGMzn_QbHwYPAAw&ved=0ahUKEwjWi aav- 6r1AhXMc98KHcfgADgQ4dUDCA4&uact=5&oq=new+details+emerge+in+earnhardt+jr+ +crash+mystery+2021&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAM6BwgAEEcQsAM6BQghEKABOgUIIRCrA koECEEYAEoECEYYAFDCAliUCGDSC2gBcAJ4AIABoQGIAdMEkgEDMC41mAEAoAEByAEEwAEB& sclient=gws-wiz
tho this is almost juicy:
https://www.sportscasting.com/dale-earnhardt-jr-kept-a-federal-crime-he- committed-secret-because-he-was-more-afraid-of-his-fathers-reaction- than-going-to-jail/
"Mailbox baseball" -- what next! Once again I don't give a crap about Sr or Jr but if there's news of interest, esp. conspiratorial, let's have it.
NeoconsNailed posted on 2022-01-11 19:36:13 Reply Private Reply