5 for 3
Today marked he five year anniversary of the death of Dale Earnhardt. I know for most of you, his death didn't really effect (affect? Where's an editor when you need one?) you at all, but for me, having not lost a parent or a sibling, it was pretty much the worst day of my life so far. It wasn't that I lost a member of my family, but it felt like it. Sounds a little over the top, I know, but if you've ever met my father or been inside my parents house, you would understand.
My dad was a huge fan and it's evident from the Earnhardt memorabilia that fills every available space in my parents living room and bedroom. You name it, I'm pretty sure it's here somewhere. Racing, all forms, but mostly NASCAR, has been a part of my family as long as I can remember. I don't ever remember a time when it wasn't discussed and Dale Earnhardt was always The Man around this house ( I was a Darrell Waltrip fan first, his Budweiser car looked cool, then I became a Bill Elliott fan because, when I was 8 I saw him go 200 MPH and that was the coolest thing ever. Boys are funny that way).
Growing up conversations between my dad and I were mostly about sports. All sports in general, Baseball, football, etc, but if you wanted to really wanted to get him stirred up and get the conversation going, all you need do was start talking about racing. I can't tell you all the state capitals, the Presidents, what the word "Cryptic" actually means, but I can tell you that Dale Earnhardt is the only man in history to win the NASCAR rookie of the year award and the (then) Winston Cup Championship in consecutive years. Growing up, Dale Earnhardt had such an impact on my dad and meant so much to him, that it was almost like he was part of the family. Again, I know how that sounds.
Daytona is special to me, because it's our home track. My dad took me to the track for the first time, I think, in 1985. We went to qualifying for the 500 (The Bill Elliott thing). The first time we went to any actual racing events was 1986. We went Friday for the IROC race and a Goody's Dash series event and we went to the 1986 Daytona 500. We've gone to Speedweeks every year since. We don't go to the actual 500, since you gots to be willed those tickets, but we usually go to the Twin 125's on Thursday (I'm not even going to explain what this is, if you really want to know, ask me later.), the Friday races and from 1990-1999 we went to the Saturday Busch Series race. See, I don't even remember not going.
Dale is the all time overall wins leader at Daytona. He only won the 500 once, but he has 34 total wins at the track (this includes the Preliminary events during Speedweeks and the race in July). He's finished second in the 500 5 times (Tied with Richard Petty for most ever). He was the favorite in the 500 every year and lost it every way you can imagine. In 1990, after leading 155 of 200 laps, only losing the lead when he came in to pit (Second most laps led that day was Geoff Bodine with 8). Leading on the last lap heading into turn three Dale blew a tire and finished 5th. Untouchable all day, he ran over a $4 part that fell off another car (They found it embedded in Bill Elliott's grill) stop him with 1/4 of a lap to go. One of the biggest upsets of all time.
I've been to four Daytona 500's: 1986-Dale was leading with a handful of laps left and had to stop for gas. Geoff Bodine went like 1000 laps on a tank of fuel and won. 2000- Dale Jarrett won. Worst thing I've ever seen. They made some changes to the rules and it made the racing suck very much bad. 2001- Greatest race I have ever seen..except for the final turn.
We were sitting in the stands coming out of turn 4. Dale's car came to rest almost directly in front of us. We watched the whole scene as they cut the roof of the car off and pulled him out. We were sitting up in the tower section so, we couldn't see to much of the detail of what they were doing. Looking through binoculars I could see them start chest compressions as they loaded him on the ambulance. Instant denial set in. Chest compressions-Standard Operating Procedure, right?
We drove back to my brothers house in Cocoa after the race not knowing anything other than he was taken to the hospital. When my dad was told he was standing in the driveway unloading my brother's stuff from the truck. He broke down. Hard. I've never seen my dad cry-ever- and here he was, bent over, head on the side of the truck, crying. I went numb. I started crying. Not for a dead race car driver, but for my dad. This was his passion, this was his hero and it was gone. Just broke my heart.
Dale was something my dad and I connected with. It was something that had created a very strong bond between us. I would usually root against him, just to goad my dad, but deep down I know I was seeing the best. The best stock car driver of all time. Which may not mean anything to you, but it meant everything to my dad, which made it mean all that much more to me.
When Mickey Mantle died, Billy Crystal said that he felt like his childhood had finally ended. February 18, 2001 felt like that day to me.
We went to the July race at Daytona and it didn't start out to well. It was my dad's first trip back since Earnhardt's death and he almost lost it when we walked past the "3" the had painted on the grass outside turn 4. He originally hadn't wanted to go, but I talked him into it and I thought then, that it was a bad idea. When I left to come back to Tallahassee the next day, my dad told me that he hadn't wanted to go, but he was glad he did because he was able to deal with his grief and enjoy racing again. I felt like I gave something back to my dad. One down, 999, 999 to go.
Final note on this, my fourth and to this point, last Daytona 500, was 2002. The guy sitting next to my dad was from Toronto. He was an Earnhardt fan who didn't decide to come to the race until the week before. Total random chance he was seated next to us. After the race was over (Ward Burton won), we were sitting in the stands waiting for the traffic to clear out and my dad and the guy started talking. If you know my dad you know that talking to strangers and even more so, sharing feelings is rare. He and this guy opened up and talked about the whole thing. Two men talking about a man they never met, didn't know anything about outside of he drove a car for a living. Two total strangers, connecting. That's what Dale Earnhardt meant to people.
If you want to read up on Dale's legacy, Nascar.com has put this web site up. You can watch video of different highlights of his career. I recommend the final win of his career.
My dad was a huge fan and it's evident from the Earnhardt memorabilia that fills every available space in my parents living room and bedroom. You name it, I'm pretty sure it's here somewhere. Racing, all forms, but mostly NASCAR, has been a part of my family as long as I can remember. I don't ever remember a time when it wasn't discussed and Dale Earnhardt was always The Man around this house ( I was a Darrell Waltrip fan first, his Budweiser car looked cool, then I became a Bill Elliott fan because, when I was 8 I saw him go 200 MPH and that was the coolest thing ever. Boys are funny that way).
Growing up conversations between my dad and I were mostly about sports. All sports in general, Baseball, football, etc, but if you wanted to really wanted to get him stirred up and get the conversation going, all you need do was start talking about racing. I can't tell you all the state capitals, the Presidents, what the word "Cryptic" actually means, but I can tell you that Dale Earnhardt is the only man in history to win the NASCAR rookie of the year award and the (then) Winston Cup Championship in consecutive years. Growing up, Dale Earnhardt had such an impact on my dad and meant so much to him, that it was almost like he was part of the family. Again, I know how that sounds.
Daytona is special to me, because it's our home track. My dad took me to the track for the first time, I think, in 1985. We went to qualifying for the 500 (The Bill Elliott thing). The first time we went to any actual racing events was 1986. We went Friday for the IROC race and a Goody's Dash series event and we went to the 1986 Daytona 500. We've gone to Speedweeks every year since. We don't go to the actual 500, since you gots to be willed those tickets, but we usually go to the Twin 125's on Thursday (I'm not even going to explain what this is, if you really want to know, ask me later.), the Friday races and from 1990-1999 we went to the Saturday Busch Series race. See, I don't even remember not going.
Dale is the all time overall wins leader at Daytona. He only won the 500 once, but he has 34 total wins at the track (this includes the Preliminary events during Speedweeks and the race in July). He's finished second in the 500 5 times (Tied with Richard Petty for most ever). He was the favorite in the 500 every year and lost it every way you can imagine. In 1990, after leading 155 of 200 laps, only losing the lead when he came in to pit (Second most laps led that day was Geoff Bodine with 8). Leading on the last lap heading into turn three Dale blew a tire and finished 5th. Untouchable all day, he ran over a $4 part that fell off another car (They found it embedded in Bill Elliott's grill) stop him with 1/4 of a lap to go. One of the biggest upsets of all time.
I've been to four Daytona 500's: 1986-Dale was leading with a handful of laps left and had to stop for gas. Geoff Bodine went like 1000 laps on a tank of fuel and won. 2000- Dale Jarrett won. Worst thing I've ever seen. They made some changes to the rules and it made the racing suck very much bad. 2001- Greatest race I have ever seen..except for the final turn.
We were sitting in the stands coming out of turn 4. Dale's car came to rest almost directly in front of us. We watched the whole scene as they cut the roof of the car off and pulled him out. We were sitting up in the tower section so, we couldn't see to much of the detail of what they were doing. Looking through binoculars I could see them start chest compressions as they loaded him on the ambulance. Instant denial set in. Chest compressions-Standard Operating Procedure, right?
We drove back to my brothers house in Cocoa after the race not knowing anything other than he was taken to the hospital. When my dad was told he was standing in the driveway unloading my brother's stuff from the truck. He broke down. Hard. I've never seen my dad cry-ever- and here he was, bent over, head on the side of the truck, crying. I went numb. I started crying. Not for a dead race car driver, but for my dad. This was his passion, this was his hero and it was gone. Just broke my heart.
Dale was something my dad and I connected with. It was something that had created a very strong bond between us. I would usually root against him, just to goad my dad, but deep down I know I was seeing the best. The best stock car driver of all time. Which may not mean anything to you, but it meant everything to my dad, which made it mean all that much more to me.
When Mickey Mantle died, Billy Crystal said that he felt like his childhood had finally ended. February 18, 2001 felt like that day to me.
We went to the July race at Daytona and it didn't start out to well. It was my dad's first trip back since Earnhardt's death and he almost lost it when we walked past the "3" the had painted on the grass outside turn 4. He originally hadn't wanted to go, but I talked him into it and I thought then, that it was a bad idea. When I left to come back to Tallahassee the next day, my dad told me that he hadn't wanted to go, but he was glad he did because he was able to deal with his grief and enjoy racing again. I felt like I gave something back to my dad. One down, 999, 999 to go.
Final note on this, my fourth and to this point, last Daytona 500, was 2002. The guy sitting next to my dad was from Toronto. He was an Earnhardt fan who didn't decide to come to the race until the week before. Total random chance he was seated next to us. After the race was over (Ward Burton won), we were sitting in the stands waiting for the traffic to clear out and my dad and the guy started talking. If you know my dad you know that talking to strangers and even more so, sharing feelings is rare. He and this guy opened up and talked about the whole thing. Two men talking about a man they never met, didn't know anything about outside of he drove a car for a living. Two total strangers, connecting. That's what Dale Earnhardt meant to people.
If you want to read up on Dale's legacy, Nascar.com has put this web site up. You can watch video of different highlights of his career. I recommend the final win of his career.
posted by Richard at 11:51 PM
4 Comments:
OK don't take this personal but I want fun Richard back...
My guess is that last post was from Swanson.
Anyway, that was beautiful Richard. I'm not kidding, I'm crying right now. I know what that day ment to you all. I remember that I was actually driving right past the track on my way home from West Palm when it happened. That always gives me the chills.
I'm not even going to joke here because that day went from incredibly fun to unbelievably horrible in about 5 seconds for me too.
Wow...you actually brought tears to my eyes. I'm not a racing fan but I have seen and heard how the loss of Dale truly effected people. While it is a tragedy look at it also in a good way as it was definitely a moment you and your dad shared together and one you will not ever forget - both sad and a happy moment in time.
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