Editor Comment: Some poeple have been calling for the removal of this video with Dale Earnhardt
I say keep the video up. I am sure he would rather have people celebrate his life and person, then mourn his death. He died doing what he loved to do; it is how I think he would have wanted to go.
Earnhardt's death was the catalyst for change that began an intensive focus on safety and continues even now.
Dale joins a list of distinguished dirvers
The Roger Williamson clip is Sad. David Purley is a hero. He abandoned his race in an attempt to save the life of his friend Roger Williamson Sadly his valiant efforts were to no avail, as Williamson perished in the fire.
It was arguably one the saddest days in Grand Prix history.
1st Crash
Dale Earnhardt (Died Feb 18, 2001)
As the final lap unfolded, Earnhardt was following his son and Waltrip. The first three cars were in a single line. But just behind Earnhardt, Sterling Marlin, Ken Schrader, and Rusty Wallace were in a furious three-wide battle. Earnhardt moved from the center of the turn toward the bottom, possibly to block Marlin.
Going into the final turn during the last lap, Earnhardt's car seemed to be going faster than Sterling Marlin and Ken Schrader as a result of being pushed by Sterling Marlin. There appeared to be contact between the back bumper of Earnhardt's car and the nose of Marlin's. However, most observers in the press box concluded that there was no contact and that Earnhardt lost control because Marlin's car disrupted the air flow across Earnhardt's rear spoiler - a common problem that drivers must overcome at Daytona.
In the final turn of the 2001 Daytona 500, Earnhardt's car spun off the track's steep banking, onto the flat apron, and then turned sharply up the track, toward the outside retaining wall, and into the path of the 36 Pontiac driven by Ken Schrader. Schrader ran into Earnhardt's car just behind the passenger door, causing both cars to run nose-first into the wall. Earnhardt's 3 hit at a critical angle at nearly 150 miles per hour. The left-rear wheel assembly broke off the car on impact. The hood pins severed and the hood flapped open, slamming against the windshield as the car slid slowly down the track. To most observers, the crash looked minor, and certainly not as dramatic as his famous 1996 wreck at Talladega, when Earnhardt's car was pelted several times in the roof and windshield as it rolled across the track.
While Michael Waltrip raced toward the checkered flag to claim his first victory, with Junior close behind, the cars of Earnhardt and Schrader slid off the track's asphalt banking toward the infield grass just inside of turn four. After climbing from the wreck of his car, Schrader peered into Earnhardt's car, only to jump back and signal for EMTs. As medical crews converged upon the crash scene, a FOX reporter asked Schrader about Earnhardt's condition. "I'm not a doctor, but I got the heck out of the way as soon as I got there," Schrader said solemnly. Earnhardt was taken to Halifax Medical Center by ambulance after being removed from his car. Hours later, at a press conference, NASCAR President Mike Helton made the formal announcement to the world saying, "Undoubtedly this is one of the toughest announcements I've personally had to make. After the accident in Turn 4 at the end of the Daytona 500, we've lost Dale Earnhardt."
Fans took it upon themselves to begin honoring Earnhardt by holding three fingers aloft on the third lap of every NASCAR Cup race, and the television coverage of Fox and NBC went silent for each third lap from Rockingham through to the next Daytona 500 in honor of Earnhardt (and, after 9/11, in remembrance of those who perished that day). For the first three weeks after Earnhardt's death, on-track incidents brought out the caution flag on lap three. Three weeks after Earnhardt's death, Harvick scored his first career Cup win at Atlanta driving a car that had been prepared for Earnhardt. In the final lap of the 2001 Cracker Barrel Old Country Store 500, Harvick beat Jeff Gordon by .006 seconds, and the images of Earnhardt's longtime fueler, Danny "Chocolate" Myers, crying after the victory, Harvick's tire-smoking burnout on the frontstretch with three fingers held aloft outside the driver's window, and the electrifying Fox television call by Mike Joy, Larry McReynolds, and Darrell Waltrip, concluding with "Gordon got loose, it's Harvick! Harvick by inches!" are memorable to many NASCAR fans. The win was also considered cathartic for a sport whose epicenter had been ripped away.
2nd Crash
Roger Williamson (Died Jul 29, 1973)
During the race, Williamson suffered a sudden tyre deflation, which pitched his car into the barriers at high speed and catapulted it 300 yards across the track, eventually coming to rest upside down against the barriers on the other side, during which his petrol tank had ignited while being scraped along the track. A fire began to take hold and Williamson was unable to extricate himself. Fellow driver and friend David Purley, although not a teammate of Williamson's, abandoned his own race in a desperate and valiant attempt to rescue him. Williamson had not been seriously injured by the impact, and was heard shouting to Purley to get him out of the car as Purley tried in vain to turn the car upright. Initially the commentators on Dutch TV, race control and some of the other drivers participating in the race assumed that it was Purley's car that had crashed and that the driver had escaped unharmed. As a result the race continued at full pace while Purley desperately tried to save the life of his friend.
The fire marshals stationed at the corner where the accident occurred were both poorly trained and badly equipped, and it was left to Purley to snatch the sole fire extinguisher and attempt to put out the fire. The marshals, who were not wearing flame retardant overalls, stood by as the fire spread, awaiting the arrival of the fire truck, which had to navigate across the track while the race was still in progress. The fire was relatively small for at least three minutes and there was more than ample time to right the car and pull Williamson out, but as desperately as he tried, Purley was unable to do it by himself. In what was seen by many as the most shocking aspect of the incident, one of the marshals tried to pull Purley away from the wreck as the helpless Williamson remained trapped. Some spectators, appalled at the seeming indifference of the marshals to Williamson's plight, tried to breach the safety fences in order to help Purley, but were pushed back by track security staff with dogs. It was some eight minutes before the first fire truck arrived on the scene. By the time the car was eventually righted, and the fire extinguished, Williamson had died of asphyxiation.
A blanket was thrown over the burnt out wreck with Williamson still inside, and the race carried on.
It was arguably one the saddest days in Grand Prix history. The loss of Williamson was representative of so many other deaths and serious injuries of drivers of that era, and it was the first time that such a dramatic and tragic event at a race was televised live to so many people. The accident publicly exposed the failings in Grand Prix safety at the time, and was further ammunition for those like Jackie Stewart to use in their campaign to make Grand Prix racing safer. Niki Lauda was reported after the race to have felt "sick with guilt" that nobody had been willing or able to give Purley help.
Photographs taken by Cor Mooij of the reaction of David Purley were awarded the World Press Photo for sports in 1974. In 2003, on the 30th anniversary of his fatal crash, a bronze statue of Roger Williamson was unveiled at the Donington Park circuit in Leicestershire, England. Then-owner Tom Wheatcroft had provided financial backing to Williamson, and described the day Williamson died as "the saddest day of my life".
David Purley will always be remembered for his actions during the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix, where he abandoned his race in an attempt to save the life of his friend Roger Williamson, whose car was upside down on fire following a horrific accident. Sadly his valiant efforts were to no avail, as Williamson perished in the fire. A picture taken by photographer Cor Mooij of Purley's anguished face after it was clear his attempts had failed won the Sports category of that year's World Press Photo. That same year David Purley was awarded the George Medal for his rescue attempt.
3rd Crash
Tom Pryce (Died Mar 5, 1977)
Tom Pryce began his final race weekend, the 1977 South African Grand Prix at Kyalami
On lap 21, Zorzi pulled off to the left side of the main straight, just after a brow of a hill and a bridge over the track. The Italian was having problems with his fuel metering unit, and fuel was pumping directly onto the engine, which then caught fire.
The situation caused two marshals from the pit wall on the opposite side of track to intervene. The first marshal to cross the track was a 25-year old panel beater named William (Bill). The second was 19-year old Frederick Jansen Van Vuuren, commonly known as Jansen Van The situation caused two marshals from the pit wall on the opposite side of track to intervene. The first marshal to cross the track was a 25-year old panel beater named William (Bill). The second was 19-year old Frederick Jansen Van Vuuren, commonly known as Jansen Van Vuuren, who was carrying a 40 lb fire extinguisher.[36] George Witt, the chief pit marshal for the race, said that the policy of the circuit was that in circumstances involving fires, two marshals must attend and a further two act as back-up in case their extinguishers were not effective enough. Witt also recalled that both Bill and Van Vuuren crossed the track without prior permission.[37] The former made it safely across the track, the latter did not. As the two young men started to run across the track, four cars driven by Hans-Joachim Stuck, Pryce, Jacques Laffite and Gunnar Nilsson were exiting the final corner and coming onto the main straight.
"As we got to the top I suddenly sensed this marshal running across the track from my right, carrying an extinguisher. I took a big chance and I don't know how I got away with it. There was no time, I just reacted on pure instinct."
Hans-Joachim Stuck Pryce was directly behind Stuck's car along the main straight, Stuck himself sensed Van Vuuren and moved to the right to avoid both marshals, missing Bill by what Tremayne reports to have been a matter of "millimetres". From his position behind Stuck, Pryce could not see Van Vuuren and was unable to react as fast as Stuck. He struck the teenage marshal at approximately 170 mph. Van Vuuren was thrown into the air and landed yards in front of Zorzi and Bill. The fire extinguisher smashed into Pryce's head, before striking the Shadow's roll hoop, which threw it over the adjacent grandstand. It came to earth in the car park to the rear of the stand, where it hit a parked car and jammed its door shut.
The impact with the extinguisher had wrenched Pryce's helmet upward, and he had been partially decapitated by the strap. Death was almost certainly instantaneous. Pryce's Shadow DN8, now without a driver or a roll hoop, continued down the main straight towards the first corner, Crowthorne, coasting slowly. The Shadow left the track towards the right, scraping the metal barriers before veering back onto the track after hitting an entrance for emergency vehicles. The Shadow then hit Laffite's Ligier putting the latter out of the race. As for Van Vuuren, the injuries to his body were so severe that he was identified only by exclusion after the race director summoned all of the race marshals and Van Vuuren could not be found.
4th Crash
Eric Martin (Died Oct 9 2002)
Eric Martin an ARCA driver who was killed at the Lowes Motor Speedway on October 9, 2002. Eric initially spun and hit the retaining wall backwards coming out of the fourth turn. Eric radioed his crew that he was fine - only to be broadsided seconds later by fellow driver Deborah Renshaw at speeds exceeding 160 mph. Eric was killed instantly in that second collision. The wreck occurred during a practice session for the EasyCare 150, ARCA's final race of the 2002 season.
5th Crash
Tony Roper (Died Oct 13, 2000)
Roper died in 2000 from injuries suffered in an accident during the Craftsman Truck Series race the day before at Texas Motor Speedway. Roper was the third NASCAR driver to perish from racing related injuries in 2000
6th Crash
Blaise Alexander (Died Oct 4, 2001)
On October 4, 2001, during the EasyCare 100 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, Alexander was battling Kerry Earnhardt for the lead when their cars touched, sending Earnhardt flipping upside-down through the infield while Alexander crashed into the outside retaining wall nearly head-on. Earnhardt made it out unscathed, but Alexander was taken to the hospital unconscious and showing no pulse. Within 25 minutes, he was pronounced dead. His death, the sixth stock car racing fatality in two years, convinced NASCAR to mandate the HANS device for all drivers.
7th Crash
Riccardo Paletti (Died Jun 13, 1982)
Riccardo Paletti was an Italian motor racing driver. Paletti's Formula One career is among the shortest of all, as he fatally crashed on the start grid in only his second Formula 1 start; it was his first race with a full grid of cars.
At the start, the lights took an unusually long time to turn to green. During this time, Didier Pironi, who had the pole position, stalled the engine of his Ferrari. When the lights switched to green, the other cars swerved across the track, trying to squeeze past Pironi's stationary car. Raul Boesel just clipped the back left of the Ferrari, spinning his March into the path of Eliseo Salazar and Jochen Mass. Salazar, Boesel and Mass suffered minor impacts but it looked as if everyone had passed the Ferrari without serious consequences. However, Riccardo Paletti could not react in time and slammed into the rear of the stranded Ferrari at around 100 mph, catapulting it into the path of Geoff Lees.
Paletti sustained heavy chest injuries and was lying unconscious in his car, wedged against the steering wheel. Didier Pironi and Sid Watkins, the FIA's head doctor, were on the scene in a matter of seconds to stabilize and assist Paletti. As Watkins climbed over the wreckage of the Osella, the petrol that had leaked from the fully loaded car's ruptured fuel tank ignited, enveloping the car in wall of fire. The heavy fire was quickly extinguished, but by then the critically injured Paletti was without a pulse. He was cut from his wrecked car and rushed to the hospital, where he died soon after arriving. It is, however, a testament to the quality of Formula One's medical team and protective clothing, that despite the fire, he suffered no burns.
8th Crash
Paul Dana (Died Mar 26, 2006)
Paul Dana was an American race car driver in the Indy Racing League. A native of St. Louis, Missouri.
In the practice session for the first race of the 2006 IRL season, at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Dana collided with Ed Carpenter's disabled car after Carpenter's tire went flat, thrusting the car into retaining wall, before sliding to the bottom of the track. Paul Dana, in the Rahal-Letterman car, was told to "go low" by his spotter. Slow-motion footage showed that Paul had hit debris from Ed's car just before impact, which caused damage to the right-front suspension.
ABC/ESPN's telemetry indicated Dana's car hit Carpenter's car at about 176 mph, while Scott Sharp, who was running alongside Dana, reported that he had slowed to approximately 50 mph by the time of Dana's impact.
Dana was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries just before noon. He was 30 years old.
9th Crash
Neil Bonnett (Died Feb 11, 1994)
During the first practice session for the 1994 Daytona 500, Bonnett's car suffered a right front tire failure in the track's fourth turn. Bonnett's car hit the outside wall nearly head-on. Bonnett was taken to nearby Halifax Medical Center, but he had died on impact. In a tragic twist, Bonnett's close friend Dale Earnhardt would be killed in an almost identical crash in the same location on the same track a little over seven years later.
