Working Through Death of a Legend
fanhouse.com
Filed under: Daytona Int’l Speedway
Over the next two weeks, FanHouse will be covering the top sports stories of the decade. In this installment, Holly Cain gives a first-person take on the moments surrounding Dale Earnhardt’s untimely death at the 2001 Daytona 500.
I vividly remember the sickening feeling when I first realized that Dale Earnhardt might be seriously injured.
Using binoculars from a seat in the Daytona International Speedway press box — seven stories above the famous track’s finish line — I watched driver Ken Schrader climb frantically from his car and run a few feet over to Earnhardt’s Chevy. It was the final lap of the Daytona 500 and the cars had collided and hit the Turn 4 wall before coming to rest on the infield grass.
Schrader’s urgent gestures to the safety crew and then his body language — turning away from the wreckage — was unusual for the normally controlled veteran.
Once the rescue workers arrived at Earnhardt’s famous black No. 3 and assessed the situation, it felt everyone was moving too slowly. The ambulance — headed to the hospital just across the street — left the scene — and wasn’t rushed. The wrecker was in no hurry.
Then, the telltale sign: track workers unrolled a large tarp. After a decade of covering the sport, I knew the tarp was used to cover and cloak race cars in fatal accidents.
I will never forget watching a then 26-year old Dale Earnhardt Jr. running down pit lane towards his dad’s car a good half-mile away.