attraction in NASCAR history, had to be cut out of the car, and he was
rushed to the hospital.
2001 Daytona 500
Earnhardt was pronounced dead from massive chest injuries even
while his driver, Michael Waltrip, was being interviewed in the
Daytona press box after his first career victory in 463 starts,
according to NASCAR.com.
My heart is hurting right now, Waltrip said in his postrace
interview. I would rather be any place right this moment than here.
I want to be with him to try to help. Its so painful.
He said he learned of the accident from driver Ken Schrader, a
close friend and hunting companion of Earnhardt.
He came to Victory Lane to give me a heads-up, and thats all
I know, Waltrip said before quickly ending his interview. I havent
been able to find out anything more than Schrader told me.
I have to go.
The accident happened a half-mile from the finish of the NASCAR
season opener when Earnhardt, running fourth, hit Sterling Marlin, hit
the wall in the high-banked fourth turn and was smacked hard by
Schrader.
We were three deep and he hit me, Marlin said. Then he
turned around.
It was the second major wreck in five years in the race for
Earnhardt. He flipped wildly on the backstretch near the end of the
race in 1997 but was not seriously hurt. He came back to win the race
the next year on his 20th try.
Earnhardt is the leader among active Winston Cup drivers with
76 career victories.
The crash was not as spectacular as an 18-car wreck 25 laps
earlier that took out 18 cars. Tony Stewart was injured in that
accident, but the track said he did not have life-threatening
injuries. Stewart had a concussion.
Earnhardt was a factor in the race throughout, and spent the
final laps in close proximity to his son and Waltrip, trying to block
Marlin. The Dodge driver had just passed Earnhardt, who was trying to
get back by him on the low side of the track when there was slight
contact that set his Chevrolet spinning up the 31-degree banking.
It turned to the right and hit the wall, and Schrader could not
avoid hitting it.
Both cars slowly began to slide down the banking to the bottom
of the track as the rest of the field race by, but there was no
further contact.
Earnhardt Jr. quickly left the postrace celebration for
Waltrip, and sprinted to the infield care center to be with his
father. It took several minutes to get the elder Earnhardt out of the
car, and he was quickly taken to Halifax Hospital.
The race was the season-opening event for NASCAR, which had
three driver deaths last year.
Busch Series driver Adam Petty, the grandson of stock car great
Richard Petty, was killed in May in Loudon, N.H., in May. Two months
later, Winston Cup driver Kenny Irwin also was killed at New Hampshire
International Speedway.
NASCAR truck series driver Tony Roper was killed in October at
Texas Motor Speedway.