Personally, I have had better weekends.
First off, thanks to all of you who gave me some positive feedback on my little NASCAR mention last week. Will definitely do some NASCAR features throughout the year.
I do not even know where to begin concerning the death of Dale Earnhardt. Let's just say that Dale is one of my favorite sports figures of all-time, if not my favorite period. And lets not get into that dumb debate on whether race car drivers are 'athletes' or if auto racing is a 'sport'. It is a stupid, pointless argument and now is not the time for it.
Anyways, Dale has always been my man. I kind of consider him to be the Oakland Raiders of his sport. For years racing fans considered him as sort of a 'lone wolf', a bit of a rebel, which was all right by me. I also, for some reason, looked at Dale as invincible. We all know of the potentially lethal consequences of auto racing, at any level. A lot of us looked at #3 as somehow being immune from it, for he seemed bigger than life. Remember the 1997 Daytona race, when battling for the lead late he crashed, flipped, and barrel-rolled in spectacular fashion. Dale climbs into the ambulance, only to climb right back out when he saw his car still somewhat intact and jumped back in it - just to see if he could finish the race. We're talking about one of the great competitors ever.
Then after finally exorcising the Daytona demons in 1998, every member of every opposing pit crew team went out to greet him one-by-one on his way to Victory Lane. That told you right there what the NASCAR community thought of him. It was one of the great scenes ever witnessed in sports.
In the waning laps of last Sunday's race, a one-two-three finish for Dale Earnhardt Inc. was about to become a reality. DEI?s new hire, Michael Waltrip, was about to reward Dale by breaking a 0 for 462 drought in the biggest race of all. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was in second and Dale Sr. was in third, trying to hold off other challengers.While the first two pieces of the storybook finish fell into place, something horribly went wrong with the third. Going all out on Turn 4 of the final lap, another car taps the #3 and sends it headfirst into the wall.
After the checkered flag fell and the cameras went back to show the other driver in the accident rushing to Earnhardt?s car, then frantically signaling for help, I knew the unthinkable had occurred. FOX TV downplayed the incident initially, as it should, not knowing all the facts, but hints were falling everywhere, on TV as well as at the track. Darrell Waltrip knew something bad had happened. Also spectators at the track who have access to headsets with frequencies of the drivers, pit crews, and spotters, as well as the radio and TV broadcasts noticed that the pit crew was unable to get communication with Dale. An even more chilling hint for those with this access was when MRN radio went to commercial, but fans at the track could hear what the announcers were talking about during the break. MRN?s lead announcer, Alan Bestwick, was asking Eli Gold, who was the fourth turn announcer, what Earnhardt?s status was. Eli, knowing fans at the track were listening, responded "I better not say right now".
Myself, I was trying to get more information in the two hours that followed by the internet, as well as a BBS board. It was taking a long time for Yahoo, Sportsline et al to put up the wire stories. When they finally came up it was, "M. Waltrip finally wins, 20 car wreck on lap 175, and oh by the way, Earnhardt taken to the hospital after another crash on the last lap, his condition unknown (or details are sketchy)". Hint, hint, hint. Later, reports surfaced having Earnhardt in 'serious and guarded condition'- guarded according to the medical dictionary meaning a patients outcome being in doubt. Finally, I caught the middle of an interview at halftime of NBC's NBA game and a conversation between Ahmad Rashad and some reporter at Daytona. They were talking about Dale in past tense. I run back to the BBS board. Three posts within a minute. "He's dead, Dale's gone, RIP #3".
To me it was like the breaking news of JFK, John Lennon, and Princess Diana, all rolled into one.
Later, I go to the grocery store. First thing I see is an Oreo cookie display with Earnhardt on it. Then I come into work today and my sports calender for February 18 goes back to 2/18/90, when Dale Earnhardt blew a tire leading on the last lap of the 500. The reminders and ironies are everywhere.
Someone said it best, Kulwicki, Davey Allison, Clifford Allison, Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, Dale Earnhardt. That must be quite a race going on upstairs.
KACSPORTS sends its deepest condolences to the Earnhardt family, as well as NASCAR fans everywhere.
Kurt Crowley
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