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Wednesday, February 21
Daytona 500 has changed forever
Associated Press
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A half mile and a few seconds were all that separated jubilation and despair at Daytona International Speedway.
Michael Waltrip's unbelievable first victory. Dale Earnhardt's unthinkable death. All at the end of the last lap of the Daytona 500, which was changed forever.
"I didn't know the thunderstorm Dale was fighting in back there with all those cars," Waltrip said, recounting the moment now frozen in time.
Surely, he wasn't alone.
The Earnhardt crash looked almost routine by NASCAR standards, especially considering what had happened just minutes earlier.
After nearly three tension-filled hours of side-by-side racing, a 19-car crash sent Tony Stewart's car hurtling skyward, flames shooting out of the engine.
Bobby Labonte's car was on fire, too, and minutes later, the Winston Cup garage looked and sounded like a junkyard, as the mangled cars were pulled by wreckers with their high-pitched beep-beep-beeping.
Stewart emerged with the worst injury, a sore shoulder and concussion, and once again observers marveled at how so many escaped unscathed after such a scary-looking accident.
The crash brought about a rare red flag, stopping all action, as track workers cleared debris from the track.
That pushed the finale deeper into the afternoon, turning the 500 into a 26-lap sprint for the checkered flag.
As the drivers passed under the white flag that signifies the beginning of the final lap, Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. had begun to separate themselves from a pack that included Earnhardt, Ken Schrader, Sterling Marlin and a hard-charging Rusty Wallace.
Most fans at the track must have thought Earnhardt was getting ready for one final run, a chance to slingshot past the two leaders and win his second Daytona 500. Then again, maybe not.
Half a lap passed, then two-thirds, and the famous black Chevrolet hadn't made its move.
Racing for third place would have countered everything The Intimidator stood for. Still, it kind of made sense.
Ahead of Earnhardt were his two employees -- Earnhardt Jr. and Waltrip, the hard-luck driver who was like the little brother Earnhardt never had.
Maybe victory would have to wait this time. Earnhardt might have wanted to preserve the 1-2 finish for two people he cared deeply about.
"That goes against everything he's ever done in the last 20 years on the racetrack," said Jim Freeman, executive director of the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, who watched the race at home in Alabama. "I haven't been able to totally buy into that theory. Then again, he may have realized he didn't have the car to do it himself."
As Earnhardt appeared to try to block the drivers behind him, his car drifted ever so slightly toward the bottom of the track, where Marlin was holding his line as they entered Turn 3.
Contact ensued.
Earnhardt's car skidded quickly downward onto the apron of the track, fishtailing. As the cars rounded the bend, the nose of the Chevy tilted toward the outside wall and Schrader plowed into its passenger side. Earnhardt slammed headfirst into the wall at Turn 4 at about 180 mph, dying instantly.
Later, an autopsy report described the fatal injuries: Earnhardt had a skull fracture that ran from the front of his head to the back. His sternum was broken. So were his left ankle and eight ribs.
As Earnhardt's car slid down toward the infield and came to rest, Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr. zoomed toward the checkered flag.
Television cameras left the wreck behind to pan toward the finish.
Waltrip's older brother, Darrell, started screaming in the Fox Sports television booth.
"You got it, you got it, you got it! All right. It's a television dream come true. Oh, man," he yelled.
Then quickly, awkwardly, he asked, "How about Dale? Is he OK?"
Everybody figured he was. He wasn't called Old Ironhead for nothing.
He had walked away from worse-looking crashes dozens of times, including once in 1997 at this very track, when he wrecked, then jumped back into the battered car and drove to the pits. The trip to the infield care center would just have to wait.
As Waltrip passed by on his victory lap, doctors were reaching into the wreckage of Earnhardt's car trying to save a life already lost. Moments later, Waltrip was 2,000 feet away basking in his victory.
The hard-luck racer had won for the first time in 463 tries, a full 15 years. He sat in Victory Lane, doing an interview with a big piece of blue confetti stuck to his sweaty forehead.
"I owe this all to Dale Jr. And his daddy, too," Waltrip said. "I saw him back there fighting them off. I know they're all very proud of their driver."
In the infield, firefighters had cut into the wreckage so Earnhardt's body could be removed and placed in an ambulance.
Earnhardt Jr. practically sprinted off the track to follow his father to the hospital. A blue tarp was draped over Earnhardt's car.
Waltrip stood in Victory Lane, flashing the 'V' sign. Any second now, he figured, he would feel Earnhardt's strong hand grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and The Intimidator congratulating him by saying, "That's what I'm talking about, right there."
The words never came.
Somewhere amid the celebration, Schrader came over and whispered the somber news into the champion's ear. "The old man is hurt."
More than hurt.
Minutes later, Waltrip moved over to the tower that stood high above the track for more interviews. This was one of the few places that offered a view of the entire scene -- triumph and tragedy.
Before Waltrip took the first question, he knew he was no longer the story.
"My heart is hurting right now," he said. "I would rather be any place right this moment than here. It's so painful."
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