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Grief, debate fill airwaves

Dale Earnhardt's life, and death, were topics all over radio and television.

By SHARON GINN

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 20, 2001

With most races scheduled to be broadcast on network television, NASCAR officials hoped this would be the year Winston Cup racing would become the talk of the country.

Monday, in the most tragic way, that wish came true.

News of Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash in Sunday's Daytona 500 evidently touched NASCAR fans and non-fans. The airwaves were overloaded with talk about Earnhardt's life, his death and the dangers of stock car racing.

ESPN's SportsCenter, which NASCAR long has complained has given too little time to Winston Cup racing, devoted its first 15 minutes of its later editions to the Earnhardt story. It also ran a Sunday Conversation that was a compilation of several interviews with him, and wrapped up the program with a detailed chronology of his life. In a matter of hours, the HANS (Head and Neck Support) device became a national issue, in part because of shows including CNN's TalkBack Live, which devoted Monday's installment to Earnhardt.

A 3 p.m. news conference at Daytona International Speedway was televised in unprecedented fashion. It was carried live by ESPN, CNN, Fox Sports Net, CNNSI and ESPNNEWS, and Tampa Bay area radio stations WDAE-AM 620 and WQYK-AM 1010.

"The chatter in the hallways, you hear (people) say, "I'm not a NASCAR fan, but. . .,' " SportChix host B.L. Newell said Monday afternoon on 1010. "That's the beginning of a lot of sentences today."

It took time for the news to sink in. Even Fox was unable to properly address the crash after Sunday's race because it had to wrap up its already long broadcast and Earnhardt's condition was unknown. When his death was announced after 7 p.m., though, Fox's NASCAR team went live on Fox Sports Net, and from then on, there was no letting up.

On television the talk was accompanied by pictures, some of them grisly. Video of the fatal crash aired over and over -- it could even be played on demand on foxsports.com and nascar.com -- and viewers could get a first-hand look at the crash because of a camera that was planted in Earnhardt's car.

Radio chatter was dominated by Winston Cup fans expressing grief and racing newcomers struggling to understand why a crash that seemed benign could be fatal. The phone lines at 1010 were down for part of the day, but the hosts found no shortage of things to talk about.

Callers and hosts philosophized about whether rules changes will be necessary, and many floated the theory that Earnhardt died the way he would have wanted: during the final lap at Daytona while helping his teammate and son to finish first and second.

WDAE's Chris Thomas was among those who disagreed: "I'm guessing Dale Earnhardt Sr. would have liked a much longer life."

FOX RATINGS: Fox Sports' broadcast of the Daytona 500 earned overnight ratings nearly identical to the final ratings posted by CBS a year ago. Fox got an 8.4 rating and 19 share. Each ratings point represents 1,022-million households. The share figure means 19 percent of those who had TVs on were watching. CBS's final rating last year was 8.4 (22 share). Final ratings are expected today.

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