A Decade without Dale: Rembering the Intimidator

It was 10 years ago on this fateful day.  Sunday, February 18, 2001 was the date.  I was sitting in the living room of my grandparents house watching the broadcast with my Grandpa on the big screen TV. There was excitement abound for NASCAR fans.  It was time for NASCAR's Super Bowl, the 43rd Annual Daytona 500.  This was the first broadcast on FOX Sports.  Bill Elliott won the pole for this race driving for Ray Evernham.  The talk coming in was about Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, and most notably their new driver Michael Waltrip.  Michael had NEVER won a race to this point, 462 straight races without a win.  People were wondering why, of all the drivers to hire, why Dale hired Michael.  It was because Dale had faith in Michael.  The race started, and with the package, made for a lot of dicy racing.  This same package was in place when Dale went from 17th to win in 4 laps the previous fall at Talladega.  The race had the BIG ONE, piling up 20 cars, including Tony Stewart who flipped wildly in the air.  Passing by all the carnage was the black GM Goodwrench #3 of Earnhardt stealthily.  When the race resumed, he continued driving like I and no one else had seen him do.  He was driving extremely defensively, protecting the #15 NAPA Chevy of Waltrip and the #8 Budweiser Chevy of his son, Dale Jr.  He kept fending the pack off.  When the white flag waved, no one knew what was going to happen next.  The drama was building as the race was winding down was incredible.  It was literally shaping up to be a storybook ending.  Waltrip wins his first race, his teammate 2nd, and his teammate's father and car owner 3rd.  Going into turn 3 Waltrip and Dale Jr. had a small gap between themselves and Dale Sr.  Dale was battling for 3rd while holding the field back from his cars, like a parent protecting their children.  Dale dipped low to block Sterling Marlin, and the accident happened.  At the time, I didn't think it was THAT bad.  I mean, Dale had been in much worse looking accidents than that.  I realized the seriousness when one of my favorite drivers, Ken Schrader, went over to look into the car to check on Dale.  When he began frantically motioning for the emergency crews, I just got an empty feeling.  I was only 12 then, but realized that it was life-threatening.  Seeing Schrader tell Michael in victory lane was absolutely sad.  I, and I know everyone else, felt bad for him.  This was supposed to be his crowning achievement, and Dale was supposed to be there celebrating with him.  It was Dale who took the chance on Michael to begin with.  Schrader's interview pretty much drove it home to me.  Dale was dead.  I was just numb.  When they came on with the press conference, and Mike Helton uttered the words the NASCAR community dreaded to hear.  "After the accident in turn 4 at the end of the Daytona 500, we have lost Dale Earnhardt."  Those words still elicit a deep emotional response from me.  This is like saying that Superman has died.  It just wasn't supposed to happen.  Not like that.  As soon as those words were said, I broke down and cried.  I wasn't a huge Dale Earnhardt fan, but I had respect for the man, and knew what he meant for our sport.  Little did I know then just HOW MUCH he meant to the sport.  The next day, I can remember someone saying something to me that just angered and frustrated me.  "Why are you so upset?  It was just some race car driver who was killed in a wreck.  Get over it."  I just responded to that by saying something simple and to the point.  "You have no idea, so just shut up and leave me be."  Their ignorance was frustrating to me.  Now as I reflect, I have shed a few tears writing this looking back.  Many memories flash back, about the man known as the Intimidator, what he did in the car, and back to that Black Sunday in which NASCAR was altered forever, and how odd it was the rest of that season and into the next as to how odd it was not seeing the black GM Goodwrench #3 on the track, and how Kevin Harvick, a young and fairly unknown driver to most of us helped speed up the healing by helping Dale's team go back to where he would want them to be, victory lane.  He is gone, but never forgotten.  RIP Dale Earnhardt!!