Sports: Daytona crash kills Earnhardt

Daytona crash kills Earnhardt

In the last turn of the last lap of the Daytona 500, the racing legend known as the Intimidator dies instantly when he slams into the wall at 180 mph. He was 49.

By KEVIN KELLY

DAYTONA BEACH -- It was supposed to be the happiest moment in Michael Waltrip's life, a tearful celebration of his first triumph in Winston Cup racing.

Instead, it wound up as one of the saddest.

Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time Winston Cup champion and one of the most recognizable personalities ever to drive a race car, died Sunday when he crashed on the final lap of the Daytona 500. He was 49.

"He was my friend," said Waltrip, whose winning race car was owned by Earnhardt. "He wasn't just an owner. He was my friend."

Throughout a career that began in 1975, the second-generation stock car driver from Kannapolis, N.C., won 76 races and cultivated a reputation as a brash, daring driver who didn't back down to anybody.

He was the Intimidator, the Man in Black. He was the father of rising NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr.

He was loved and loathed by millions of NASCAR fans.

"Today NASCAR lost its greatest driver in the history of the sport," NASCAR chairman Bill France said in a statement. "I lost a dear friend."

Dr. Steve Bohannon, emergency medical services director for Daytona International Speedway, said Earnhardt likely died of a basal skull fracture. It was the same injury that killed three NASCAR drivers -- Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin and Tony Roper -- last season.

Earnhardt was not wearing the HANS device, a head and neck support system developed by Michigan State University professor Dr. Robert Hubbard that is designed to prevent such injuries.

"No matter where it happens or how it happens or even how prepared you think you might be for it, losing somebody close to you hurts," said Kyle Petty, father of Adam Petty. "My heart just breaks for (Earnhardt's wife) Teresa and the family."

Earnhardt, who would have turned 50 on April 29, pegged this season as his chance to win a record eighth Winston Cup championship. A second-place finish in the standings and two wins last year had rejuvenated him as did a healthy back.

"I didn't think I'd see 50, much less be driving," Earnhardt said in January. "It's the competition that again drives you to stay in shape and do the things you've got to do to be competitive. With the injuries that I had in 1996 and 1997, I hurt my neck and finally got it fixed. I felt a big difference last year.

"I feel great, physically. I know what it takes to win the championship. I know what level you have to rise to."

The wreck happened as Earnhardt tried to protect Waltrip's position at the front of the field. Waltrip had been winless in 462 career Winston Cup races and signed to drive for Earnhardt before the season.

With Sterling Marlin moving up close behind him, the back of Earnhardt's No. 3 Chevrolet appeared to wobble before the car veered to the right, traveled up the race track and hit the wall at an angle.

The right side of Earnhardt's car was hit by Kenny Schrader moments before impact with the concrete wall.

"Dale got into me and then we went up (the track)," Schrader said. "We hit pretty hard, and Dale hit harder. I don't know what happened. All of a sudden we were crashing."

Earnhardt, who was in third place at the time, then slid down the banking and came to rest in a strip of grass just across the track from the grandstands that held some of the 200,000 fans.

As Waltrip passed under the checkered flag, rescue workers were arriving at the mangled black car where they immediately began administering oxygen and CPR to Earnhardt.

"He was unconscious, unresponsive from the time of the first paramedic's arrival," Bohannon said. "He was not breathing and had no ... pulse from the time of the first paramedic's arrival at the scene and remained that way throughout."

Rescue workers cut the roof off Earnhardt's car and moved him to an ambulance, which drove him to nearby Halifax Medical Center. A blue tarp was placed over the car, which was then loaded on the back of a flat-bed tow truck and taken to a secured spot in the Winston Cup garage area.

At the hospital, a trauma team tried to resuscitate Earnhardt for more than 20 minutes before placing him on a ventilator.

"He had what I feel were life-ending type injuries at the time of impact," Bohannon said. "And really nothing could be done for him."

With his wife by his side, doctors pronounced Earnhardt dead at 5:16 p.m.

His body was placed into a red Ford Aerostar minivan one hour later, only after police officers draped two white sheets over the windshield.

It was a sight that made some of the fans gathered outside the hospital weep.

France left at 6:28 p.m. followed by Earnhardt's crew chief, Kevin Hamlin, 10 minutes later.

Earnhardt, who is sixth on the all-time wins list, made his first career Winston Cup start in 1975 at Charlotte Motor Speedway and quickly gained notoriety through his success and unflappable, aggressive attitude in the race car.

He showed the latter traits during an International Race of Champions event Friday at the track when Eddie Cheever Jr. spun Earnhardt in Turn 1.

Earnhardt kept the car off the wall, recovered and finished seventh.

Earnhardt caught up to Cheever on the cool down lap, bumped him from behind and spun him into the grass on the backstretch.

"Once again, Dale Earnhardt showed that he's the greatest driver in the world by not wrecking (his) race car," Jarrett said. "I'm still amazed."

Earnhardt is the 27th driver to die at Daytona.

The most recent was IMSA driver Michael Himes in 1997. The last NASCAR driver to be killed in a crash at the track was Rodney Orr in 1994 during a practice session.