Was that necessary, curious george? Show some decensy the next time around, man.
TruePisces, I know I started a thread quite (uncomforatbly) recently ragging on auto racing and its fans. However, even I realize that Dale Earnhardt was a true racing legend. When I saw the headline about his death, I couldn’t believe it (“Oh my God, not that Earnhardt”). His family, friends, and fans have my sincerest sympathies.
Strainger, please don’t feel uncomfortable about this. You were expressing your opinion on the sport. One which, being a loyal race fan of as many years as I’ve been, I’ve heard many, many times. 
But no one, fan or foe alike, would have wanted this to happen, or even conceived it as a likely possibility. As a race fan (though I’d never been a big Earnhardt fan in particular - and yet his death has affected me this deeply), I know the sympathies are well felt. Thank you.
To put this in perspective for those who aren’t racing fans, this was like Michael Jordan collapsing on the court during the last seconds of a playoff game, or Tiger Woods on the last hole of the Masters.
Not quite. It would be the equivalent of Jordan hitting his head on the post and dying instantly while going for a dunk. It would be the equivalent of Tiger somehow conking himself with his own clubs accidentally and dying. If Earnhardt had had a heart attack in his car and died that way, I think a lot of people would have reacted differently to his death. It was the…unnaturalness…of it that makes it so hard to get over. By unnaturalness, I mean “not from natural causes”. Same with Princess Di. A violent car crash really hits us, because it could happen to any of us, no matter how healthy we are. And for someone we subconsciously think of as “immortal,” it really drives it home. “If Dale Earnhardt could die in an automobile, what chance have I got?”
Oddly enough also at Daytona:
I haven’t been a racing fan for very long, so this is pretty recent. But if I said anything older I’d be lying.
I believe two years ago at Daytona Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon were fighting for the victory. Earnhardt gave Gordon about every single move he could and Gordon fought him off the whole way and ended up winning by a nose.
Then as they were driving their cool down lap after the race was done, Earnhardt pulled up to Gordon and gave him a little Love Tap in the bumper. Sort of a “Great job, Good race! Congrats!” type of move. He may have took on the bad guy role with relish during the races he ran. But he was certainly a good guy and a good sport, and knew where his place was after the race was done.
Oddly enough also at Daytona:
I haven’t been a racing fan for very long, so this is pretty recent. But if I said anything older I’d be lying.
I believe two years ago at Daytona Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon were fighting for the victory. Earnhardt gave Gordon about every single move he could and Gordon fought him off the whole way and ended up winning by a nose.
Then as they were driving their cool down lap after the race was done, Earnhardt pulled up to Gordon and gave him a little Love Tap in the bumper. Sort of a “Great job, Good race! Congrats!” type of move. He may have took on the bad guy role with relish during the races he ran. But he was certainly a good guy and a good sport, and knew where his place was after the race was done.
Anybody else with a good Earnhardt memory?
Oddly enough also at Daytona:
I haven’t been a racing fan for very long, so this is pretty recent. But if I said anything older I’d be lying.
I believe two years ago at Daytona Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon were fighting for the victory. Earnhardt gave Gordon about every single move he could and Gordon fought him off the whole way and ended up winning by a nose.
Then as they were driving their cool down lap after the race was done, Earnhardt pulled up to Gordon and gave him a little Love Tap in the bumper. Sort of a “Great job, Good race! Congrats!” type of move. He may have took on the bad guy role with relish during the races he ran. But he was certainly a good guy and a good sport, and knew where his place was after the race was done.
Anybody else with a good Earnhardt memory?
I remember that. Some local TV news sports dumbass where I live accused Earnhardt of poor sportsmanship, without even realizing the motivation behind it. Earnhardt was a fierce competitor, but he absolutely respected the other drivers on the track.
I’ve been a great Earnhardt fan for the past 17 years. It will be pointless to watch the next few races. Hadn’t actually bought the Talladega package yet and now there’s no reason to go. He WAS Talladega.
Dale was a hard charger with the utmost integrity. Never a sniveler or cry baby when the breaks went the other way.
Never met the man, but admired and respected him. Little E will do well if he’s half the man and driver his father was.
That being said, don’t forget that his blocking for Mikey & Jr. wasn’t entirely selfless. A third place finish isn’t all that bad when you own the cars that place first and second.
I’m still in shock over his death - especially considering that everyone walked away from the earlier pile-up.
Rest in peace, Dale.
I know exactly what you mean, OldBroad. I’m a big Tony Stewart fan and, for years, I’ve been known in my family as the racing jinx. Before Tony, I was a Brett Bodine fan (still am, just REALLY like Tony). Every race I watched, something bad happened to Brett. The only race I DIDN’T watch was the one he won. When I started rooting for Tony, and he did WELL, I thought my jinx was gone. I hadn’t had a chance to watch any of the race up until that accident, and when I saw the 20 car flip like that… and the (what seemed to me at the time) frantic way the track worker waved over the crew, I was reminded of JD McDuffie’s crash back in '91. I thought my jinx was back. But then I saw Tony moving and I thought “Well, even if it is, at least he’s ok.”
Then there was Dale’s accident. I was yelling and screaming for Mikey to cross that line, and I was so excited when he won. When Darrell kept saying “I hope Dale’s ok”, I thought “Of course he is. Dale always manages to come out ok.” He had just earned my respect 10 times over for helping give poor Mikey his first win.
And when it started looking worse, and when the news finally came, I was shocked… and then the bitter thought came to my mind, “My jinx didn’t leave. It was just saving up for something big. It let everyone in the other accident walk away relatively unhurt because it had bigger fish to fry. Might not have been my driver, but it was somebody that would still hit me, and my family, hard. Thanks a lot, jinx.”
I’m still not utterly convinced the jinx is gone, but I’m not blaming me like I was later that night. I just wish I could understand WHY… I know the mechanics of why Dale’s accident WAS worse than Tony’s… but why any of them have to leave us at all… I don’t think I’ll ever understand.
By the way, I want to thank you guys for sharing YOUR thoughts and feelings, and for listening while I ramble on. This is kinda a catharsis (I hope that’s the word I’m looking for! 
) Writing has always been the way I release… so this helps.
{{{Every NASCAR fan and all who have been touched by DE’s death}}}
I saw the crash and I didn’t think much of it at first, but Darrell Waltrip (one of the commentators) was correctly worried, saying it was the worst kind of accident you can have on a racetrack. It bothered him that they were having to cut Earnhardt out of his car, because it meant he was either unconscious or trapped or worse.
I watched some other TV (I can’t remember what; an XFL game, maybe), then I started channel-surfing and when I got to CNN, they were announcing that he had died.
I was stunned. “Don’t they usually survive crashes like that?” I wondered. Over the next two days, it was patiently explained that his crash was far worse than it looked because of the quick and abrupt de-celeration, that the human neck, spine and skull are just not capable of absorbing so much energy without being damaged; something has to give. They explained that a flying, end-over-end crash like the one earlier in the race was actually easier to survive because kinetic energy is released more slowly.
The amateur scientist in me was satisfied. It all made sense.
But another part of me was troubled. Then a retired driver (I don’t remember which one) said on ESPN that racing fans don’t want to see a driver die. They want to see him crawl out of the wreckage and wave, with a smile on his face, telling us that he had defied death once again. (Football fans are the same way. We want to see a guy run full speed into a pile of bodies and then get up and do it again and again.)
Dale Earnhardt didn’t do that. He reminded us that we are all mortal and very, very fragile indeed. That’s why I was so troubled. Intellectually, I know I’m going to die some day, but I haven’t quite accepted it emotionally.
I hate being reminded that I’m mortal.
As for Dale himself, a story in today’s L.A. Daily News reported how well-liked he was in his hometown, that he shopped at Wal*Mart and never expected to be served out of turn, that he pumped his own gas into his pickup truck, that his kids played with everyone else’s, that he seldom got a speeding ticket, that he always had time for his fans.
The story told how the news spread throughout the local Wal*Mart and how, after the shock wore off, the people started buying every Earnhardt souvenir the store had. Much of it ended up at a makeshift memorial outside the front of Earnhardt’s business.
His fans did not have to do that. They did it because they wanted to. They wanted to because he had earned their respect.
Rest in peace, Dale. Here’s hoping your kids live beyond 100.
Well, my daughters father and grandmother took her to the local memorial service.
She said it was pretty cool.
Now remember she is 10, and is very upset that Dale is gone and she thought it was cool that people so far way are thinking of him and crying.
She is the child I went to all the local stock car races with when I was pregnant, and now her dad takes her, and they watch the big races on tv together. Her dad was going to get them tickets to actually travel to a race this year, but who knows what will happen now.
I am going to tape the services for her tomorrow while she is in school. And that way she can take it to her dads when she goes this weekend so he can see it also.
When I said I had some calls to make to check on people her father was the first I called.