10 Years Ago Earnhardt Died

[Dabs]

Seems hard to believe, and some of you may not be Nascar fans, but on this date 10 years ago, Dale Earnhardt, Sr. crashed into that wall and died. I was dating a Nascar lover at the time of Earnhardt's death, so I was forced to watch a bit here and there, and I seen the crash itself. I still can't believe he died in that, the impact didn't look as severe as some of the other crashes I have seen. But, at the high rate of speed and from what I heard, he wasn't wearing his harness properly (?). Anyway, racing lost a legend that day. But it appears Dale Jr. is doing pretty well for himself!

 

[BigBob]

Seems hard to believe, and some of you may not be Nascar fans, but on this date 10 years ago, Dale Earnhardt, Sr. crashed into that wall and died. I was dating a Nascar lover at the time of Earnhardt's death, so I was forced to watch a bit here and there, and I seen the crash itself. I still can't believe he died in that, the impact didn't look as severe as some of the other crashes I have seen. But, at the high rate of speed and from what I heard, he wasn't wearing his harness properly (?). Anyway, racing lost a legend that day. But it appears Dale Jr. is doing pretty well for himself!

He didn't wear most of the safety equipment that Nascar wanted the drivers to wear. It wasn't mandatory back then to wear the safety equipment and Dale thought it was uncomfortable so he didn't wear any of it. His death was the reason it's all mandatory now. Had he been wearing the safety harness, he would've survived because he wouldn't have hit his steering wheel.

This was a very sad day for me. I love Nascar. He'd still be racing today had he not died, but he did everything he could so his son could win a 500.

 

[LifeinthePond]

I don't know the history of design for the harness, but I imagine they are more comfortable now. Unless they are the exact same, either way...

I can see why he wouldn't want to wear one. They say boxing is 90% mental, 10% physical. I can imagine racing being 99% mental. Doing 500 or so laps at such high speeds, and having to worry about other drivers, and on top of that - your own car. It's mentally taxing. If his harness was uncomfortable, that can be very distracting. And that's why he's one of the best, if not thee best, he probably didn't allow for many distractions.

I'm not a fan of Nascar, it's still (to me) very boring to watch. I know it's something I couldn't do, either.

 

[Dabs]

Thanks for the input Bob and LITP. I was watching the news and they had a story about Earnhardt, and they did say that all the safety issues are top priority now in Nascar and ever since Dale's death, they have indeed, made it more safe for the driver. I love to drive, but no way I could do that either! The news also mentioned that Dale Earnhardt was to racing, what Elvis Presley was to music.

 

[BigBob]

Thanks for the input Bob and LITP. I was watching the news and they had a story about Earnhardt, and they did say that all the safety issues are top priority now in Nascar and ever since Dale's death, they have indeed, made it more safe for the driver. I love to drive, but no way I could do that either! The news also mentioned that Dale Earnhardt was to racing, what Elvis Presley was to music.

That's true. With Earnhardt, the racing may not be as big as it is today. Obviously it's not to the level of football, basketball and hockey, but a lot of drivers are still well known. They had actually made rules in Nascar at one point, though they still deny it, it did happen.. that if you took Earnhardt out of the race, you'd get points for the Championship. They did it because of how hard he raced and how he raced to win, no matter what it took.

 

[KSpiceFantastic]

His memory will always be remembered. I may not call myself a huge NASCAR fan, but I know the importance of Earnhardt on the community of racing fans out there. Without Dale... NASCAR would not be anywhere it is today.

And to argue with Bob, I think that NASCAR is more popular in the US than the NHL and maybe even to an extent the NBA.

NASCAR fans care more about their sport than most others.

 

[BigBob]

His memory will always be remembered. I may not call myself a huge NASCAR fan, but I know the importance of Earnhardt on the community of racing fans out there. Without Dale... NASCAR would not be anywhere it is today.

And to argue with Bob, I think that NASCAR is more popular in the US than the NHL and maybe even to an extent the NBA.

NASCAR fans care more about their sport than most others.

That doesn't mean it's more popular. So say there's 100 people who care more about their sports but there's 200 who watch the other.. the other sport is still more popular.

 

[Major]

I'm definitely not much of a NASCAR fan anymore, but I used to enjoy watching it and I was a big Earnhardt fan. I remember watching the Daytona 500 10 years ago and seeing him crash on the final lap. It didn't look like a serious wreck, so I didn't think anything of it. I was shocked to hear he was taken to the hospital and eventually died. Sad day.