This is as good a place as any to post this. I was writing to a
friend; he had asked if I had seen the race and mentioned he hesitated
to install N4 as it just "felt funny"...
Yes. My mother was concerned (yeah, but she's got those psychic
vibes, anyways :), but it didn't really strike me as that bad, plus
the distraction of the winner's circle, plus we were getting a pizza
delivered just at that time. We ate and there was no further news, so
I got online, prowling NASCAR.COM, rec.autos.sport.nascar, and other
sites. The longer it took for any news, the greater the apprehension
grew. About 6:30 (over an hour and a half after the race ended), the
news began to break, reported and retracted on NASCAR.COM,
then on MSNBC.COM, CNN.COM, ESPN.COM... A sad night.
For me the thing that is so striking is the "stranger-than-fiction"
or "couldn't-write-something-like-that-and-have-it-be-believed" nature
of it. Dale Earnhardt, racing legend, conquers all, particularly
Daytona's other races, but has one last quest--the 500. It takes
twenty years and some amazing circumstances to thwart him along the
way, but he finally overcomes them and claims the prize. With that
final plateau reached (and that monkey off his back), finally
recovering from some lingering injuries, seeing his son come into the
Winston Cup series, setting up a winning team including his son, and
he's finally loosening up a bit a really seeming to enjoy his racing
(even playing the unfamiliar role of willing apprentice to the GM
Corvette team at the 24 Hours of Daytona). Then, a new season starts,
he and his team are competitive, and the last lap finds his cars 1-2
with him in a protective 3rd. And then it's all over.
Who would believe that. That's pure fiction. Or the sort of
legend that might be conjured up from the "bad old days" (safety-wise)
of racing in the '50s or '60s or '70s, not the modern day. But here
it is and we are living it. :(
So far racing online hasn't been that bad, since that's more of a
fantasy world of racing against other "Joe Schmoes" like myself. I
haven't done it yet, but racing with the AI and seeing the #3 will be
a lot harder.
"But in a way, fear is a big part of racing, because if there was
nothing to be frightened of, and no limit, any fool could get into
a motor car and racing would not exist as a sport." -- Jim Clark
