|
|
|
|
That Dale Earnhardt had walked away from far more horrific crashes spoke to
the bizarre karma of Feb. 18 and of the 2001 NASCAR season in general. Typically
aggressive while running interference on the final lap at the Daytona 500 for
the two leaders, the Earnhardt-owned cars of eventual winner Michael Waltrip and
runner-up Dale Jr., Earnhardt slammed headfirst into a wall between the third
and fourth turns, dying instantly from head trauma after his seatbelt snapped.
Is it hubris to suggest that Earnhardt leading NASCAR to the height of its
popularity, then leaving his legacy to his son, Dale Jr., and his signature car,
now driven by Kevin Harvick, is vaguely reminiscent of a still-strong Moses
dying at the edge of the promised land? Indeed Junior's first win of the season
came, whether suspiciously or fatefully, at Daytona's Pepsi 400 in July; he took
the final lead in that race at the same spot on the track where his father had
died. Harvick, who inherited Earnhardt's black No. 3 Chevy Monte Carlo, won in
Atlanta in March in only his third start and finished the season as Winston Cup
Rookie of the Year. His ruthless bumping and running drew comparisons to
Earnhardt (and, less flatteringly, to Tony Stewart) and led to altercations with
Chad Little, Ricky Rudd, Jeff Green and Bobby Hamilton as Harvick became the
first driver to finish in the top 10 in both the Winston Cup (ninth) and Busch
(first) standings. After a six-month investigation into Earnhardt's death,
NASCAR announced that each car will carry a crash recorder next year and that
the organization will work to improve track medical facilities, but decided not
to require drivers to use a head-and-neck restraint, perhaps demonstrating which
-- safety or hard driving -- held the early lead in the race for the
Intimidator's enduring legacy.
--Jamal
Greene
CNNSI.com: Tribute to Dale Earnhardt
Frank Deford: Honorable pastime
Life of Reilly: What Drove Dale Earnhardt
Video Box: Mike Helton and Johnny Phelps on NASCAR controversy 
|
Photographs by George Tiedemann, M. David Leeds/Allsport, Chris Stanford/Allsport
|
|
|
