Dale Earnhardt: Encyclopedia II - Dale Earnhardt - Racing career

Dale Earnhardt - Racing career

Dale Earnhardt began his Winston Cup career in 1975 making his very fist start at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in the World 600, located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Earnhardt drove a Ed Negre car and finished 22nd in the race. It wasn't a very promising start. Earnhardt would compete in 8 more races until, at the age of 28, Earnhardt got his first full time ride with Rod Osterlund Racing.

1979

Earnhardt started the 1979 season with car owner Rod Osterlund, who had fielded a full time team for Dave Marcis with 1 win and several top 10 point finishes. The two hit it off with each other right away. They ran well at Daytona and Earnhardt notched his very first win on April 1st, 1979, at the Bristol Motor Speedway dueling off NASCAR legends Darrel Waltrip and Bobby Allison. Earnhardt ran well the rest of the year, despite missing 4 races due to a broken collarbone suffered at Pocono, and would finish the year with 1 win, 11 Top 5's, 17 Top 10's, 4 poles, a 7th place points finish, and the NASCAR Rookie of the Year award.

1980: The First Championship

The dawning of a new decade in Winston Cup racing started with a bang for Dale Earnhardt as he won the Busch Clash (later renamed the Budweiser Shootout), a non-points race for all of the years previous pole winners. But that would not be the last of his accomplishments that year. Earnhardt would get his 1st points-race win of the year at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Earnhardt would go on to win at Bristol, Nashville, Martinsville, and at Charlotte, despite losing his crew chief midway through the year. Earnhardt went on to win his first championship, becoming the first driver to win the title the year after winning rookie of the year, the only one to accomplish that feat. Also crew chief jake elder left osterlnd. Jake claimed that he couldn't stand to work for any body for to long. Thats how he got the nick name "suitcase jake".

1981: The Lost Year

Osterlund sold the team to JD Stacy in mid 1981. While, Stacy had made millions in the oil business and was determined to put a ton of money into the racing business, he just didn't have the experience to make it work and Earnhardt recognized it immediately. Earnhardt and his new owner never hit off well and the relationship was ended as soon as possible. Earnhardt joined his future championship owner, Richard Childress to finish off the season after competing in only 4 races for Stacy. Earnhardt went winless in 1981 and finished 7th in the point standings.

1982: Victory Again

After Richard Childress convinced Dale that he didn't have the resources for the defending champion to be driving and that it wouldn't be fair to Earnhardt to go through that, Dale joined legendary car owner Bud Moore for the 1982 season. Earnhardt got back to victory lane at Darlington International Raceway and ended a 39 race losing streak. But that would be the only win of the year as engine failures from the unreliable Fords would plague their season. Earnhardt would finish 12th in the point standings, the lowest in his career (He would finish 12th again in 1992).

1983: On the Path to Resurgence

Earnhardt started the year winning at Daytona. Not the 500, but a win none the less. Earnhardt won the first of what would be 13 Twin-125 Qualifier's in his career. He didn't win Daytona but did notch wins at Nashville and Talladega. He finished 8th in the point standings, but again, unreliable engines convinced Dale that Richard Childress's Chevrolets could not be worse than driving Moore's Fords.

1984: Joining RCR

1984 began with good news for Earnhardt, he would be going to a new home with Richard Childress Racing. Earnhardt had a good relationship with Bud Moore but simply didn't have the results he was looking for. Earnhardt, who drove for Childress in 1981, thought RCR would be the best bet. Childress, who had been receiving help from Junior Johnson the last few years, had been building up his team and finally felt he was ready for Earnhardt. Earnhardt would match the amount of wins he had in 1983, with wins at Talladega and Atlanta. But the difference in the owner change was notable, as Earnhardt led at the halfway mark in the season before ending up 4th in points.

1985: Short Track Dominance

When Earnhardt began his career, former crew chief Jake Elder and others pegged Earnhardt as a driver he would win many short track races in his career and a few superspeedway races. Well, they were half right, as Earnhardt was one of the most prolific superspeedway winners of all time. But, in 1985, they thought they had the Kannapolis, NC native pegged perfectly. Earnhardt would win 4 races, 1 at Richmond, 2 at Bristol, and 1 at Martinsville, all short tracks. He would run respectably at the superspeedways but not consistent enough to contend for the title. His second year with Childress produced 2 more wins, but it resulted in a 8th place points finish. Childress tried to convince Dale to once again go elsewhere, but Earnhardt refused, and the results were historic.

1986: The Second Championship

1986 started on a high note for Earnhardt and the Childress team as he won the Bush Clash. If you remember, Earnhardt won the Clash in 1980, and the team took it as an omen for a possible second championship. They were correct. Earnhardt would beat Darrell Waltrip for the title, the second in his career and the first with Richard Childress. Earnhardt would also win 5 races, at North Wilkesboro, 2 at Charlotte, and 1 at Atlanta. He also had two non-point races wins, the Bush Clash and the Daytona qualifier.

1987: The Third Championship, the End of Yellow and Blue, and the Season to Remember

Earnhardt's 1987 season started with big news, his longtime sponsor Wrangler would terminate its sponsorship at the end of the season and GM Goodwrench would take over for the 1988 season. Earnhardt and his team were determined to make Wrangler's last season the best; but not even they could have predicted what would happen in 1987. The team would win 11 races at Rockingham, Richmond, Darlington, North Wilkesboro, Bristol, Martinsville, Charlotte, Michigan, Pocono, Birstol, Darlington, and wrap it up with a win at Richmond. The team won set a modern era record of 4 consecutive wins and won 5 of the first 7 races. It would have been 7 of 7 had the team not had bad luck strike at Daytona when he ran out of gas while leading with 3 to go. Earnhardt also earned his nickname "The Intimidator" during the Winston All-Star race at Charlotte, bullying Bill Elliott in the final segment before scoring his first of three career wins in the event. The final, 10-lap segment featured Earnhardt's infamous, but erroneously named "pass in the grass". The point race was a romp. Earnhardt grabbed it early in the year and never let up, stretching the lead at one point to greater than 600 points over Bill Elliott before beating "Million Dollar Bill" by around 400 points.

1988: The Man in Black Earnhardt had always been an aggressive, no holds bar driver his whole career. Black had always seemed perfect for the driver rather than the exact opposite colors of yellow and blue. But in 1988, Earnhardt would change the look of his car, and as a result, the view of his personality, forever. When GM Goodwrench took over the primary sponsorship role of the RCR #3 Chevy, they insisted on a black paint scheme, and soon enough, Earnhardt's newest nickname came up: The Man In Black. The season would be a great year for most, but for Earnhardt, who had won back-to-back titles and was looking to become only the 2nd man in history to win 3 consecutive titles, it was a disappointment. Earnhardt scored 3 wins and finished 3rd in the standings behind Bill Elliott and Rusty Wallace.

1989: So Close, and Yet So Far Earnhardt was determined to get back to the top of the Winston Cup heap in 1989, and he proved it early and often. He scored 6 wins, but this season was to belong to a budding rival. Rusty Wallace would score 5 wins en route to the championship. Earnhardt learned a lesson in points racing from Ricky Rudd at North Wilkesboro, when he was racing Rudd for the win with a handful of laps to go. The smart thing to do for a title contender would be to let the man go and get the points, but Earnhardt was all about winning, and he wasn't about to let Rudd have it. The result saw the two get together and both of them spun, giving the win to Bodine. Earnhardt ended up 12th instead of 2nd, the difference in points costing him another championship. It was a lesson Earnhardt would take with him to 4 more titles.

1990: Redemption Earnhardt couldn't wait to get back behind the wheel of the #3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet in 1990. He had something to prove after letting the 1989 Winston Cup title slip out of his grasp. The season started with another heartbreak. Earnhardt had won the outside pole for the Superbowl of Stock Car Racing, the Daytona 500, and had dominated the entire speedweeks, winning the Bud Shootout and the qualifying race. On the big day, he had a 40 second lead, he had almost lapped the field, when the day's final caution came out with a handful of laps to go. When the green flag came out, Earnhardt was leading unkown driver Derricke Cope and was expected to take it home from there. But on the last lap, Earnhardt would have another run-in with his famous bad luck. While coming out of turn 3, Earnhardt would run over a piece of debris, cutting his tire down and giving the lead to Cope, who went on to win the race and then be famous for hair loss commericals while Earnhardt finished 5th. This could have crushed a lesser team, but RCR used it as a motivational tool. They took the tire that cost them the win and mounted it to the wall of their shop to remind their team of what had happened. The results led to a 9-win season and a 4th Winston Cup title for Earnhardt, beating out Mark Martin by just 26 points for the honor. Other notable wins for Earnhardt in 1990 were the Southern 500, The All-Star exhibiton race, and the Winston 500.

1991-Slow and Steady Wins the Race If Earnhardt had learned anything from his last 2 seasons, it was that consistency and racing smart is sometimes more important than winning. This played out again in 1991 as Earnhardt scored his 5th Winston Cup championship. In his previous championship seasons, Earnahrdt had never scored less than 5 wins, but in 1991, Dale would score just 4 wins, but it would be more than enough as he would take the title by 195 points over Ricky Rudd. One of the biggest highlights of the season for Earnhardt was scoring the win at North Wilkesboro, stealing the thunder of Harry Gant, who had tied Earnhardt's mark of 4 consecutive wins and was going for a 5th but lost the brakes late in the run, giving Earnhardt the chance he needed to take the win and end Gant's streak. Again, Earnhardt proved that slow and steady wins the race.

1992-The Wheels Fall Off After back-to-back titles for the 2nd time in his career, Dale Earnhardt was determined to take advantage of the opporitunity to make it 3 in a row, but again, it wasn't to be. Earnhardt's lone win of the season came at Charlotte in the prestigous Coca-Cola 600, but otherwise, the season was lost to the RCR team. Dale would finish a career-low 12th in the points for the 2nd time in his career, and the only time he had been that low since coming to RCR. Longtime RCR crew chief Kirk Shelmerdine left at the end of the year, citing burnout and wanting to pursue his own racing dream. The team would regroup with Andy Petree as the crew chief in 1993.

1993 Back to the Top Hiring Petree turned out to be a good move, as the #3 GM Goodwrench Chevy was back up front in 1993. Earnhardt once again came close to a win at the Daytona 500, dominating throughout speedweeks before finishing 2nd to Dale Jarrett on a last-lap pass. Earnhardt would score 6 wins en route to his 6th Winston Cup title, including wins in prestigous races as the Coca-Cola 600, the Winston All-Star exhibition race and the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. Earnahrdt would defeat friend and rival Rusty Wallace for the championship by just 80 points and set about to repeating in 1994.

1994-7th Heaven Richard Petty had been the only driver in NASCAR history to win 7 championships in NASCAR's top division, a record no one thought would be broken. In 1994, Earnhardt showed them they were wrong. Once again, Earnhardt was a model of consistency, scoring only 4 wins, but winning the title by over 400 points over Mark Martin. As Earnhardt scored his 4th title in 5 years, he seemed poised to break the record for championships and make his own mark in the history books.

1995-The Chase for 8 Dale Earnhardt started off his challenge for a record 8th Winston Cup championship the same way he always did-coming up one spot short in the Daytona 500. He finished 2nd after again dominating speedweeks, this time to Sterling Marlin. Earnhardt wouldn't let this deter him from his goal, though. He would win 5 races in 1995, including his first career road course victory at Sears Point and the prestigous Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a win he called the biggest of his career at the time. But in the end, he once again came up short of the historic 3-peat, losing the title to Jeff Gordon by just 34 points.

1996-One Tough Customer When Earnhardt teamed up with Wrangler Jeans to sponsor him in the 80s, their slogan for him was that he was "One Tough Customer". In 1996, he showed us why. Earnhardt had his now-legendary Daytona luck, winning the pole for the Daytona 500 and dominating speedweeks again before finishing 2nd to Dale Jarrett for a 2nd time. Earnhardt won early in the year, scoring back to back victories at North Carolina Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway. Coming to Talladega Superspeedway he was leading the points looking for his 8th title despite the departure of Andy Petree as crew chief. David Smith had taken the reigns of the crew chief role in 1996. A horrific accident at the track appeared to have ended his season early, let alone his title hopes. But in true Earnhardt fashion, Dale refused to sit out and raced every weekend. He had to let Mike Skinner take the wheel the first week after the accident at Indianapolis, but Earnhardt didn't like the taste of that and the following weekend at Watkins Glen he won the pole and refused to get out of the car, dominating most of the race before fatigue from his injuries caused him to slow down. He wound up 6th but earned SO much more respect for his performance. Earnhardt would not win again in 1996, but he still finished 4th in the standings behind Terry Labonte, Jeff Gordon and Dale Jarrett. David Smith would leave as crew chief of the #3 team at the end of the year to become team manager of the new #31 RCR entry as a teammate to Earnhardt and Larry MacReynolds would replace him.

1997-Blackout In 1997, the black #3 was shut out of victory lane for only the 2nd time in Earnhardt's career. The joining of he and famous crew chief Larry MacReynolds was thought to be a match made in heaven, but turned out to be the opposite. Despite their friendship, the chemistry wasn't there. The lone win of the season came during speedweeks at Daytona in the Twin 125-mile qualifying race, his record 8th straight win in the event. Once again in the hunt for the Daytona 500 with 10 laps to go, Earnhardt was taken out of the Daytona 500 by eventual winner Jeff Gordon. Earnhardt would hit the low point of the year when he would black out early in the Southern 500 at Darlington, causing him to hit the wall and scaring onlookers and fans. He would go to the hospital and be cleared to race, but had no idea what caused the blackout. Earnhardt would finish the season 5th in the final standings, but was obviously disappointed by their lack of results.

1998-FINALLY Finally! The first words out of everyone's mouth when Dale Earnhardt finally scored the victory in the only jewel left from his crown. After 20 years of disappointment in the Daytona 500 and dominating races only to fall to the wayside late in the going, Earnhardt finally held on and did not let go. He started Speedweeks like any other, winning his Twin 125-mile qualifier race, then fielded questions from the media about his inability to win the race thus far. On race day, Dale showed himself to be one of the contenders early, leading for long periods of time. By halfway, though, it seemed that Jeff Gordon had the upper hand. But by lap 138, Earnhardt had taken the lead, and thanks to a push by teammate Mike Skinner on lap 170 on the restart, he would not lose it. Earnhardt beat Bobby Labonte to the line to take the checkers in the race. There was a wild celebration afterward, the likes of which few races have seen since. Unfortunately, the rest of the season would not go as well for Earnhardt. He slipped to 12th in the standings by the season's halfway mark, and Richard Childress decided to make a crew chief swap, taking Mike Skinner's crew chief Kevin Hamlin and putting him with Earnhardt while giving Skinner MacReynolds. The results seemed to improve, as Earnhardt climbed back to 8th in the final standings.

1999-BACK IN BLACK 1999 was the year that served notice that The Intimidator had NOT gone into that good night. Everyone had started talking about Earnhardt's age and thinking that with his son Dale Jr. getting into racing that Earnhardt might start thinking retirement. Dale set out to prove them wrong, and did so with ease, scoring the sweep at Talladega Superspeedway. But this season was highlighted by a much more controversial moment. At the August Bristol Night race, Earnhardt found himself in contention to win his first short track race since his win at Martinsville in 1995. Earnhardt had not won a non-restrictor-plate race since 1996, and people doubted his ability to win on the short tracks, thinking he had mellowed and wasn't going to beat and bang anymore. When a caution came out with 15 laps to go, leader Terry Labonte got hit from behind by the lapped car of Darrell Waltrip. His spin put Earnhardt in the lead with 5 cars between he and Labonte with 5 laps to go. Labonte had fresher tires and Earnhardt did not. Labonte caught Earnhardt coming to the white flag and hit him 3 times to move him out of the way. Earnhardt returned the favor, but unlike Earnhardt, Labonte could not hold on. He spun, and Dale collected the win and the boos from the multitudes at the track. The Intimidator was back, and he was serving notice that he was not to be messed with. Earnhardt would finish 7th in the standings that year, but more importantly looked like a contender again.

2000-The #1 Earnhardt Everyone was expecting 2000 to be the Year of Earnhardt, but Dale Jr. , not Dale Sr. Earnhardt's son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., had moved up to the Winston Cup Series and was competing for Rookie of the Year, and most expected the younger Earnhardt to outrun his father. Once again, Earnhardt proved his detractors wrong, as he scored the 2 most exciting wins of the year, winning by a foot at Atlanta Motor Speedway over Bobby Labonte, then winning at Talladega Superspeedway after coming back from being 18th with only 5 laps to go to score his first No Bull 5 million dollar bonus. On the strength of these performances, Earnhardt took the #3 GM Goodwrench Chevy to 2nd in the standings, proving to everyone that he was by no means done racing yet. He also won the battle of the Earnhardts, as Dale Jr. scored 2 wins also, but finished only 16th in the standings. For the first time in years, everyone was thinking that next year was the year of Dale Earnhardt.

2001-"We've Lost Dale Earnhardt" When 2001 started, most people were thinking Earnhardt was the man to beat for the Winston Cup title. With the season he had last year, people knew he could still get the job done. When the Daytona 500 rolled around, it seemed different. Every Speedweeks for over a decade, Dale had won at least one race before the Daytona 500. This year, Earnhardt appeared to have the qualifying race in hand but was passed by Sterling Marlin on the last lap. He finished 2nd to budding star Tony Stewart in the Bud Shootout. When the Daytona 500 started, Earnhardt appeared to have a good car, but not a dominant one. A big crash inside 25 laps to go eliminated a great deal of competition, though, and it appeared that either Earnhardt, his son or his newest hire, Michael Waltrip, would win the race. Earnhardt appeared content to ride behind the two, seemingly running interference for them. When they came to the final lap, Sterling Marlin got a run under Earnhardt and tapped him in the quarterpanel, sending him into Ken Schrader, which in turn sent him into the wall headfirst. As his friend Michael and his son Dale Jr. went on to finish 1-2 in the Daytona 500, Dale's life would end. The rest of the season seemed to be a tribute to the greatest to drive a stock car, with his replacement, Kevin Harvick, driving a white #29 GM Goodwrench Chevy, scoring 2 wins and a 9th-place effort in the standings en route to rookie of the year. Steve Park, another Earnhardt hire, won at Rockingham and appeared to have a top 10 finish in the standings secured before a serious head injury ended his season early. Dale Jr. scored 3 wins, including emotional wins at Daytona and Talladega, en route to an 8th-place finish in the standings. Michael Waltrip would push his teammate and friend Dale Jr. to his win in the first race back at Daytona in July of 2001 for a Dale Earnhardt Inc. 1-2 finish at the track, for a storybook ending to a hard time for the Earnhardt camp.

DALE EARNHARDT INCORPORATED It's not general knowledge of the exact time of the creation of Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, or DEI, as it's commonly known, but it was not originally intended to field race teams. Dale Earnhardt started it to take care of his other buisness ventures, his chicken farms, souvenier sales and other buisness interests. His first racing venture was in the NASCAR Busch Series, where he fielded a #8 Chevrolet for himself (#8 in honor of his father who used the same number in his career). The number would later change to #3, and he would let other drivers run races for experience. Kirk Shelmerdine and Kenny Wallace are just 2 of the names who did so. Earnhardt came to realize that he wanted to continue in the racing buisness after he was no longer a driver, and decided to turn his operation into a fulltime competitor on the Busch circut. In 1995, he hired Jeff Green to drive the #3 Chevrolet, and he finished 5th in the standings, but scored no wins. After a 4th-place finish and another winless season for Green, Earnhardt relased him and hired Steve Park. Park won 3 races and the Rookie of the Year award in 1997, winning himself a fulltime Winston Cup ride in 1998 with DEI, driving the #1 Pennzoil Chevrolet. With Park moving up to the Cup level, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was hired to run the #3 Busch Series entry. Earnhardt scored 13 wins and 2 championships in his 2 years driving the #3 car and was moved up to Winston Cup fulltime in 2000 driving the #8 Budweiser Chevrolet for DEI. Meanwhile, Earnhardt had started another team that turned into an overnight powerhouse. In 1995, NASCAR started the Craftsman Truck Series, and was looking for some star power to make the series taken seriously. NASCAR asked people such as Richard Childress, Rick Hendrick, Jack Roush and Dale Earnhardt to get involved. Dale decided to give it a shot, and after watching an ESPN airing of "Winter Heat", he saw Ron Hornaday. He liked what he saw and decided to hire him. Hornaday would drive the #16 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado from 1995 to 1999, winning 25 Truck Series races and becoming the Series' first 2-time champion (1996 and 1998) before moving to the NASCAR Busch Series in 2000 to take over the #3 Busch Series entry vacated by Dale Earnhardt Jr. The truck team was shut down after 1999. Hornaday scored 2 wins and finished 5th in the standings in the Busch Series in 2000, but was released as DEI planned to move the team up to the Winston Cup Series with Earnhardt's good friend Michael Waltrip driving. The #3 Busch Series team was shut down after the 2000 season, but DEI would get back into the Busch Series, first as a supporter of Chance 2 Motorsports, co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Teresa Earnhardt, and later as its own program again. In 2002, Dale Earnhardt Jr. wanted to learn the ropes of owning a race team, and Teresa decided to lend DEI engines, bodies, chassis and engineers to the program. Dale Jr. would win 6 of the first 8 races he ran in a 3 year span, and his protege, Martin Truex Jr., would win back to back titles in the series in 2004 and 2005. Meanwhile DEI would decide to field a #11 Chevrolet in the Busch Series for up-and-comer Paul Menard, who's father, John Menard, owned Menard's Home Improvement Warehouse and was the primary sponsor of the car. The team started as a parttime deal in 2004, then moved to fulltime in 2005, with Paul scoring 2 poles and a 6th-place effort in the standings. Menard will continue to race fulltime in the Busch Series for the #11 team in 2006 while running a limited Cup schedule for DEI. Michael Waltrip was signed to drive the #15 Napa Chevrolet in the Winston Cup Series in 2001, making DEI a 3-car program in the Cup series, but no other entries. Steve Park was the first Cup entry for DEI, driving the #1 Pennzoil Chevrolet, which made its debut in 1998. His first season was a disater, failing to qualify for some races and finishing out of the top 35 in points after being injured early in the season at Atlanta. Darrell Waltrip finished out the year in the #1 car, reinvigorating his deteriorating career with some solid runs. In 1999, Park improved to a top 15 points effort, but was still winless. He knew he'd have to win in 2000 to have any hope of keeping his ride. He scored his first career Cup win at Watkins Glen in 2000, finishing in the top 15 in the standings for the 2nd straight year and scoring the company's first career Cup Series pole at Bristol in April of 2000. 2001 saw Park score another win at Rockingham and run in the top 10 in points for most of the year before a serious head injury ended his season early. Kenny Wallace took over the #1 car during this time, scoring a pole and a 2nd place at Rockingham before giving the ride back to Park in 2002. Park seemed to struggle, however, amid whispers that he came back to early or might have been hurt too badly. After a subpar performance that saw few top 10 finishes and multiple wrecked cars, DEI released Steve Park in May of 2003 and replaced him with Jeff Green. Green fared no better, though, and was replaced at Darlington in September of 2003 by John Andretti. Andretti would finish the year in the #1 car, and Pennzoil left as primary sponsor at the end of the year, sending the #1 chevy to parttime status with John Andretti, Martin Truex and Ron Fellows driving it on a limited schedule in 2004. It kept the parttime status in 2005, with Martin Truex driving 7 cup races in preperation for a fulltime Cup program in 2006 with Bass Pro Shops as Primary Sponsor.

Dale drove the #3 car for most of his career, spanning the early 1980s until his unfortunate passing in 2001. As of 2005, no other Nextel Cup race car has used this number, and NASCAR has considered officially retiring it.

Dale Earnhardt - Death

Dale Earnhardt died on February 18, 2001, on the last lap of the Daytona 500. Earnhardt had what many thought was the best car throughout the race, as he led 17 laps and stayed at the front of the pack. But as Earnhardt saw the way the race was developing with his two drivers, one his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and the other a man he considered a brother, Michael Waltrip, it appeared Earnhardt backed off, trying to hold the pack at bay and let his two drivers decide the outcome. He decreased his speed to block the rest of the field when, about 100 yards away from the finish line, he was nudged by Sterling Marlin's bumper. It appeared Earnhardt had it saved but the car took off up the track. As it went up towards the wall it hit Kenny Schrader, which veered his car into a direct head on hit and severed the seat belt. Michael Waltrip went on to win his first race in over 400 races competed, and his son, Dale Jr. came in second. Earnhardt, who throughout his career let nobody get by him or stay in front of him, and did all he could to get by them including wrecking them, was killed on impact by massive head injuries trying to let another win.

He is survived by his third wife Teresa and four children: Son Kerry (from his first marriage to Latane Brown), Kelley, Dale Jr. (both from his second marriage to Brenda Gee), and daughter Taylor (from his third marriage). Kerry and Dale Jr. are both NASCAR drivers. Dale Jr. finished second when his father died at the 2001 Daytona 500. The winner of that race, Michael Waltrip, was one of Dale's closest friends, and drove for DEI.

Three weeks after Earnhardt's death, young California driver Kevin Harvick, hired to replace him in the now-renumbered and repainted #29 GM Goodwrench Service Plus Chevrolet, scored a win at Atlanta. The Fox television commentators' call of the final lap of the 2001 Golden Corral 500, Harvick beating Jeff Gordon by .006 seconds, and the images of Earnhardt's longtime fueler, Danny "Chocolate" Myers, crying after the victory, are among the most memorable moments in recent U.S. motorsports history. Dale Earnhardt Jr. scored an emotional victory in the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 7, 2001.

Dale Earnhardt - Controversy over cause of death

At a news conference five days after the fatal crash, NASCAR officials announced that a seat belt had broken in Earnhardt's car. Daytona International Speedway physician Dr. Steve Bohannon said he thought the faulty belt had allowed Earnhardt's chin to strike the steering wheel, killing him. The manufacturers of seat belts for NASCAR, Simpson Race Products of Charlotte, North Carolina, maintained that the belt had failed because it had been installed in an unapproved fashion in order to increase Earnhardt's comfort, an allegation that had been supported by some who were familiar with the situation.

Certainly, being held responsible for the death of NASCAR's most popular driver was not a desirable prospect for Simpson. On the other hand, NASCAR also did not wish to be seen as negligent in not requiring adequate head and neck restraint for drivers in the wake of five fatal accidents in the past 11 months, including popular drivers Kenny Irwin, Jr., Tony Roper, and Adam Petty, grandson of NASCAR's legendary driver, Richard Petty. They also soon made it a requirement to wear full faced helmets (although Earnhardt had been one of the very few to still use an open face helmet).

The Orlando Sentinel, particularly Sentinel sportswriter Ed Hinton, attempted to acquire Earnhardt's autopsy records and photos for study, autopsy records being normally public documents in Florida, but Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, (along with public opinion) petitioned a judge to seal the records. After a short court battle, it was mutually agreed to appoint Dr. Barry Myers, a Duke University expert on crash injuries, to independently study Earnhardt's death. On April 10, 2001, Myers published his report rejecting NASCAR's explanation, finding that Earnhardt's death was in fact the result of his inadequately restrained head and neck snapping forward, independent of the broken seat belt (making the question of proper or improper installation moot).

Dr. Philip Villanueva, a University of Miami neurosurgeon who had previously analyzed the crash for the Sentinel before the autopsy records were available, said he had reached the same conclusion, but had wanted to examine the autopsy photos to be certain. Dr. Steve Olvey, medical director of Championship Auto Racing Teams for 22 years, and Wayne State University crash expert John Melvin also agreed with Myers' report. Simpson's founder, Bill Simpson, called the report "the best news I've heard in seven weeks. I've been living in daily hell."

On the same day as Myers' report was made public, NASCAR announced its own investigation, after having remained silent for six weeks since the accident. However, when the greatly anticipated official NASCAR report[2], which had cost over a million dollars, was published on August 21, 2001, it cited collision with another car, the speed and angle of impact, and separation of the seat belt as factors in the fatality. After NASCAR's report, Simpson retired, citing the stress as "too much." The Simpson company attorneys asked NASCAR to unequivocally assert:

• The belts were of high quality in workmanship and there were no design or manufacturing defects.
• The belts met the NASCAR rule book requirements.
• The belts, as installed, did not conform to manufacturer installation requirements.
• The separation of the left lap belt was not a result of design or manufacturing defect, but caused by improper installation.
• The belt separation was not the cause of Earnhardt's death.

NASCAR, however, did not respond.

Consonant with its report, NASCAR declined at the time to require drivers to wear the uncomfortable head and neck restraints. NASCAR president Mike Helton said that "We are still not going to react for the sake of reacting." However, it did state that it "encouraged their use." Drivers were indeed encouraged, with 41 out of 43 drivers wearing them at the Pepsi 400 by Meijer at Michigan International Speedway on August 19, 2001, just two days before NASCAR's report came out.

In the end, there was no controversy, as all competitors and insiders knew the truth. Before Earnhardt's death, drivers Kenny Irwin, Adam Petty, and Tony Roper had all died of basilar skull fracture due to a blunt impact with the wall delivered at a critical angle, their impacts and angles nearly identical to Earnhardt's accident. In 1999, NASCAR mandated new rules for the cars' chassis that lessened the amount of energy the car absorbed and increased the amount of energy the driver absorbed on impact. Leading experts all knew that, with the chassis change, lack of soft walls, and/or head and neck restraints, the configuration was a recipe for disaster. NASCAR knew of all these concerns prior to Earnhardt's accident; however, it took the death of one of the sport's greatest stars before NASCAR finally reacted.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Racing career", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki