One thing I’ve noticed as I’m entering the second year of blogging is that coming up with topics is difficult, except when all of a sudden one just pops in your head. That’s what happened this morning. I was getting ready to send a facebook message to a friend about this weekend’s Daytona 500. The Daytona 500 is seen as the Super Bowl of auto racing, except it starts the season and doesn’t crown the season’s champion. The race is still one of the largest in all of auto racing and ranks up there with the Indy 500.
The Daytona 500 was the first NASCAR race that was nationally televised in 1979. This was impressive because NASCAR was still a very Southern Sport at the time. But the ratings were large because people only had a handful of channels to watch and the East Coast was being hit with a blizzard that kept many people in their homes. The race ended with Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough fighting for the lead. Cale went to sling shot past Donnie who drove down the track to block and pushed Cale’s left tires into the infield grass. This caused Cale to lose control of his car and it turned into Allison’s and they both crashed ending up in the infield grass in turn three. Richard Petty, who was half a lap behind the leaders, went on to win the race. As Yarborough and Allison got out of their cars they began to argue. Bobby Allison who was a lap down stopped in turn three to come to his brother defense. A fight broke out between the Allison brothers and Cale Yarborough and the cameras were there to catch it all. In the years to follow NASCAR continued to grow eventually becoming the second largest spectator sport in the country following the NFL.
The 2011 Daytona 500 will mark the 10th anniversary of the passing of one of NASCAR’s most popular drives, Dale Earnhardt. Dale was the common man’s driver. He grew up watching his father Ralph Earnhardt race the local dirt tracks. At a young age he knew racing was in his blood and one day planned to make a career of it. Who knew his career would end up the way it did. When Dale died in 2001 he was the face of NASCAR, some will argue he still is today. Dale won 7 NASCAR championships equaling “The King” Richard Petty for the most by any driver. Dale 76 Cup races and had 428 top tens. Dale Earnhardt was the Intimidator, the Man in Black, and he didn’t take shit from anyone. I remember one time in the late 90’s Earnhardt was involved in a serious wreck and many people didn’t think he would race the next week. One thing about Dale was he never wanted to get out of his car. The next race was at a road course which increased the speculation because of the stress his body would go through with making both left and right turns throughout the day. So Dale qualified the car and got it onto the Pole. The crew then set the car up for his back up driver. In order to keep the Pole position Dale needed to start the race. The plan was to swap drivers within the first 20 laps taking them off pit sequence but in a road race many drivers to this to gain an advantage later in the race so it wouldn’t hurt them since the track is long enough they wouldn’t go down a lap. Dale sitting in his car in pain and in a seat that isn’t designed for his body, never swapped out of the car. He drove that car to a 6th place finish. Dale led most of the race but fatigue finally set in.
The Daytona 500 the biggest race of the series and the biggest driver of the series had raced it 19 times and never won it. Dale had cars to win it but something always happened at the end of the race that snatched the victory away from him. In 1998 he finally won the race. At the end of the race every crew member for every team and everyone who could get to pit road lined up to shake the man’s hand or slap the car as he drove by. I remember watching this race with my dad and you couldn’t help but getting choked up watching Dale do donuts on the infield grass. Dale won the race again 1999. The 2001 Daytona 500 was lining up to be a great day for the Earnhardt’s. Two Dale Earnhardt Incorporated Cars were 1 and 2 in the final laps and Dale was in 3rd. Going into the last turn Dale was racing three wide with Sterling Marlin and Kenny Schrader. Earnhardt’s car was in the middle and veered down making contact with Marlins car and then shot up the track and hit nose first into the wall. Later that day NASCAR President Mike Helton announced that Earnhardt had passed a way. The toughest man in NASCAR had passed away.
In the years since 2001 many safety regulations have been changed. The drivers are no longer allowed to wear open face helmets, they are required to wear the HANS device, safer barriers have been added to the concrete walls to soften impact, and even the car has been upgraded to improve the safety for the drivers. Nobody wants to see another driver die at the track. This year NASCAR has finally improved the cars to keep them from forming a giant pack flying around the track at 200mph. While a wreck at that speed will still be scary at least it shouldn’t take out 15 or more other cars.
So while you are watching the race on Sunday, remember Dale and remember to honor him with a moment of silence during lap 3. INTIMIDATOR!!!!!!!!!!
Boogity, Boogity, Boogity, Let's Go Racing Boys!
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