Vol. I, No. 5: 1. Sports: Earnhardt, Sr., Dies at Daytona -- RIP.

Sports: Dale Earnhardt, Sr., Dies ...
Some Find Consolation Because He Died
"... doing what he loved to do."

The NASCAR world and millions of fans were shocked when, on the final lap of this year's Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt, Sr. -- The Intimidator -- took the wall, never to regain consciousness. ...

Earnhardt was pronounced dead at 5:16 that Sunday evening. His is the 4th death on the NASCAR circuit in less than a year. ...

At 49, Dale Earnhardt, Sr., had owned Daytona with 34 victories, including, most recently, his '98 win. Earnhardt is credited by most -- fans and others alike -- for brining NASCAR into the national limelight and helping to make the sport the popular and lucrative phenomenon it has become. ...

A Different Daytona This Time Around
Compared with last year -- which was something of a tame affair by NASCAR standards, with lots of laps in single-file and relatively few lead changes -- this year's race was an all-out scramble. ...

As you can see from the Free Press photo above [taken by Greg Suvino, AP], on the last lap -- when the accident involving Earnhardt occurred -- the cars were side-by-side, three deep on the steep-banked Daytona track as they approached the finish line. But even before the accident involving Earnhardt, the field had been thinned out when a pile-up involving some 19 cars saw The Intimidator, among others, narrowly escape.

Michael Waltrip, the winner, edged out Dale Earnhardt, Jr., by 0.164ths of a second. Rusty Wallace [0.277] and Ricky Rudd [0.386] finished 3rd and 4th, meaning the top four finished within less than a half-second of one another. Bill Elliott [0.528], Mike Wallace [0.786], Sterling Marlin [0.820], and Bobby Hamilton [0.861] all finished within a single second of Waltrip. It was Marlin who Earnhardt bumped with on the final lap. Jeremy Mayfield [1.070] and Stacy Compton [1.091] rounded out the top ten, while Joe Nemechek [1.186] was the only other driver to finish on the lead lap.

Earnhardt had unofficially held the lead on 172 laps, more than any other driver in the field. Sterling Marlin, who had started in 3rd and held 3rd with 10 laps to go, had the lead on 167 laps. Ward Burton, who'd been running strong until the first pile-up, and ended up finishing 35th, had the lead at some point for 158 laps. Five others drivers -- Dale Earnhardt, Jr. [145], Ken Schrader, [134], Jeff Gordon [120], Mike Skinner [112], and Jeff Burton [103] -- each held the led at some point during 100 or more laps. Of the 44 drivers who took the track for Sunday's race, more than half led the race during some part of 25 or more laps, and 17 held a lead position during 50 or more laps. ...

What Happened?
Some folks attribute it to the new aerodynamic rules which NASCAR instituted this year. The restrictor plates -- required for more than a decade at Daytona and Talledega -- are intended to curb speed and make for a tighter race. This year's new rules made the grouping even tighter. That, some are speculating, is what caused this year's Daytona to have less than half the field finishing the race.

The Head & Neck Safety Device [HANS] was made available to drivers this year after last year's deadly accidents -- involving Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, and Craftsman series driver Tony Roper -- all died from the same type of injuries, fractures at the base of the skull. It was the same type of injury which early reports were identifying as the cause of Earnhardt's death, too. But in Sunday's start at Daytona, only a few were wearing the new device, with the majority complaining that it was too heavy and uncomfortable. Earnhardt, who had a rep for avoiding new safety equipment, still drove in an open-face helmet, something most drivers abandoned a long while ago.

Nonetheless, Dr. Steve Bohannan, who acted as a spokesman for the group of MD's who tried in vain to revive Earnhardt after their efforts failed, admitted that he did not know that the HANS device would have helped Earnhardt to survive the accident. Such speculation will probably not keep NASCAR from revisiting the safety rules after Sunday's pile-up and the subsequent accident which took Earnhardt's life.

Local Reactions
Just a few days ago here at DownStreet, we were finishing up our pre-race feature on the Daytona before we went to press Friday. Like most folks, we were up for the start of another season. But this morning was a different story altogether. ...

Of the few folks I had a chance to talk to down in Bristol Village before I set out to revise our lead sports story here, some admitted that the accident brought them to tears, a reaction which winner, Michael Waltrip, who was driving in his first race for the Earnhardt team, also displayed after learning of the news.

When I got back to the office, I called Roy Dyke, down at Roy's Automotive, and spoke with him. Roy himself drove for a number of years on the local circuit, and we talk about the races fairly often. "There was some talk about the HANS," Roy said. "But I don't know if it would've made any difference. He took the wall pretty hard." Roy also had some thoughts about what The Intimidator might have been up to as the finish line drew near.

"Earnhardt was blocking," he said. "And I can't be sure, but Waltrip and Junior were in front, and it sure looked like he was trying to hold off the rest of the filed for them. It didn't look like he was trying to win."

John Pandiani, another enthusiast of both NASCAR and CART, who many moons ago had taken a course at the Skip Barber school, said it plainly. "People tend to forget that this is a dangerous sport."

Daytona 500 / Unofficial Results NASCAR Winston Cup Series 2001, Race #1
END	START	NO.	DRIVER	CAR	SPEED	BEHIND	LAPS LED
1	19	15	Michael Waltrip	Chevrolet	182.555	--	58
2	6	8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	182.704	0.164	145
3	12	2	Rusty Wallace	Ford	179.561	0.277	22
4	30	28	Ricky Rudd	Ford	180.679	0.386	82
5	1	9	Bill Elliott	Dodge	178.901	0.528	29
6	27	7	Mike Wallace	Ford	177.690	0.786	79
7	3	40	Sterling Marlin	Dodge	174.733	0.820	167
8	34	55	Bobby Hamilton	Chevrolet	175.421	0.861	26
9	42	12	Jeremy Mayfield	Ford	175.339	1.070	61
10	2	92	Stacy Compton	Dodge	174.442	1.091	14
11	32	33	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	160.230	1.186	5
12	7	3	Dale Earnhardt	Chevrolet		1 Lap	172
13	14	36	Ken Schrader	Pontiac		1 Lap	134
14	37	77	Robert Pressley	Ford		1 Lap	0
15	40	11	Brett Bodine	Ford		1 Lap	2
16	28	45	Kyle Petty	Dodge		1 Lap	0
17	39	14	Ron Hornaday	Pontiac		1 Lap	57
18	42	21	Elliott Sadler	Ford		1 Lap	2
19	8	99	Jeff Burton	Ford		1 Lap	103
20	21	19	Casey Atwood	Dodge		2 Laps	27
21	16	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford		4 Laps	2
22	31	88	Dale Jarrett	Ford		13 Laps	8
23	18	32	Ricky Craven	Ford		15 Laps	25
24	33	5	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet		16 Laps	0
25	23	27	Kenny Wallace	Pontiac		16 Laps	2
26	4	31	Mike Skinner	Chevrolet		17 Laps	112
27	11	26	Jimmy Spencer	Ford		17 Laps	0
28	41	10	Johnny Benson	Pontiac		19 Laps	3
29	29	44	Buckshot Jones	Dodge		19 Laps	0
30	13	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet		22 Laps	120
31	25	1	Steve Park	Chevrolet		23 Laps	70
32	5	25	Jerry Nadeau	Chevrolet		24 Laps	55
33	22	6	Mark Martin	Ford		25 Laps	46
34	15	1	Jason Leffler	Dodge		26 Laps	7
35	10	22	Ward Burton	Dodge		27 Laps	158
36	24	20	Tony Stewart	Pontiac		27 Laps	17
37	38	4	Robby Gordon	Chevrolet		27 Laps	8
38	9	96	Andy Houston	Ford		27 Laps	47
39	35	43	John Andretti	Dodge		27 Laps	9
40	36	18	Bobby Labonte	Pontiac		27 Laps	6
41	26	97	Kurt Busch	Ford		31 Laps	67
42	20	93	Dave Blaney	Dodge		65 Laps	23
43	17	51	Jeff Purvis	Ford		153 Laps	0

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