Farewell to a champion

[Kruzin]

We lost a great competitor today.
On the last lap of the Daytona 500, Dale Earnhardt was involved in a crash that took his life at the young age of 49.

<IMG SRC="http://members.home.net/kruzin-kenny/dale.jpg" ALT="Dale" BORDER="0"></A>

NASCAR and it's fans will miss you Dale.

My prayers go to his family and freinds.

[This message has been edited by Kruzin (edited 19 February 2001).]

[Liquid Snake]

[Rags]

Truly a sad day. #3 will always be remembered.

Rags

[Joel]

[DuRaNgO]

a very sad day

[DentyCracker]

Man one of my friends cried openly. I was speechless. And to think he died trying to ensure someone else won. If he'd been selfish today he most likely would have won the race and still be alive, life isn't fair sometimes. I can't believe the Intimidator is no more ):

[ALBPM]

DAMN IT!!

[KvHagedorn]

One of the great names in racing. Even those who do not follow NASCAR know what a great champion Dale was. He will be greatly missed.

It's a shame that with the many advances in safety, the head-on collision with a wall has not been addressed in NASCAR. After the same sort of crash killed Ayrton Senna, F1 instituted some deceleration zones to prevent this sort of thing. The walls themselves must be made safer. Nothing within the car can prevent the serious trauma which happens when a car contacts a cement wall head-on at 180MPH. I hope more circuits will honor Dale's memory by taking measures and trying to figure out how to fix this problem and save the next person from this kind of tragedy.

Dale will be fondly remembered. Though he was known as "The Intimidator" on the track, those who knew him knew that off the track he was the exact opposite. I was just watching on ESPN what many of his friends and competitors had to say about him, and he was greatly loved. My condolences to thise who loved him. He is surely now in a better place.

[SCompRacer]

At high speed, there will always be a risk of death no matter what safety measures are implemented in cars or tracks.

The sport loses a great champion.

[Oboy]

At least he went out doing the thing he loved to do and that was race!

He will always he a legend in auto racing.

[Alec]

Yes, that tragic event made it to the news today here in Portugal. Dale was a great racer.

The accident didn´t seem so big compared to the other one in the same race that involved around 20 cars, in which no one got injured!

Living on the edge...

[cerb]

Oh, man. Umm... I'm speechless.

Unfortunately, due to living in Australia I didn't get to watch many Nascar events, but to me, Dale Earnhardt's name typified Nascar itself.

I have not been quite this shocked and saddened over a fatal racing incident since Greg Moore's untimely death not 18 months ago.

I know these guys know the risks involved in their sport/passion, but it does make you think.

A prominent Australian driver (Gregg Hansford) was killed a few years back in a touring car incident and that was a great loss, not only to racing, but to Australian motoring in general - he was pushing the government to make advanced driver training compulsory for learner drivers , and unfortunately his goal has not come into being.

However, due to the nature of the accident (his car was stationary when t-boned on the driver's side by a car travelling at almost top speed) side impact protection was revised and improved in the touring car classes.

It is unfortunate that it takes a death before some aspects of car safety get a major investigation, but it goes without saying that there will always be some degree of risk in motorsport.

Dale shall be forever immortalised for his racing achievements.

[Pneumatic]

I saw the crash and it didn't look that bad. Of course it didn't look like he hit doing 180 miles per hour either. Still I have to wonder how with 5 point harnesses, a safety cage, helmet and all of the latest advancements in safety, you can sustain a life ending head injury in a NASCAR car. Must have been just the right angle or something.

"The Intimidator" will definately be missed!

[This message has been edited by Kindness! (edited 19 February 2001).]

[DuRaNgO]

around the track, one last time..........