February 18 2001, Dale Earnhart Sr died while racing at Daytona Speedway. Shortly before that time he had started a racing team known as DEI racing. He had hired a driver, a journeyman, that had driven in over 400 races and had not crossed the finished line first in any race. His name was well known (Micheal Waltrip) and he was a good driver. He just hadn't won yet. Dale saw something in him. Something in his ability to drive and race. On February 18, 2001 they both were driving in the Daytona 500. Towards the end of the race a big wreck happened and took out a lot of cars and the race went under a red flag condition stopping the race. There they set on the track in this order, Micheal Waltrip, Dale Earnhart Jr., Dale Earnhart Sr. 1-2-3. As the race went back to the green flag, Dale Sr blocked other cars and allowed Micheal to maintain the lead and go on to win the race, but on that last lap, Dale Sr. got in to an accident and lost his life. He never got to see his driver win the biggest race of the year. He never got to see his driver win his first race. There was great celebration for Micheal as he pulled in to the winners circle, little did he know that while this was the greatest day of his life, it was also going to turn out to be the worst.
Fast forward to February 18, 2011. Yesterday. On the ten year anniversary of Dale Earnharts passing away at Daytona. Micheal Waltrip suited up to drive a truck in the NASCAR Camping World Series opening race at Daytona. As fate would have it, he won the race. What a storybook finish. What an emotional feeling for him. What great excitement for NASCAR and the fans of NASCAR. A better storyline could not have been written that played out before our eyes last night.
I was never that big of a Dale Earnhart Sr. fan, but I know what he meant for our sport. I also know how many people followed him, worshiped him, dressed like him and tried to imitate him. He was probably the greatest driver that NASCAR has ever seen so far. Many people loved him. As we watched the race last night, I couldn't help but think that somewhere, somehow, God and Dale Sr. were hanging out watching Micheal Waltrip cross that finish line last night.
4 comments:
I'm not a Nascar fan...but I enjoyed this post! :) Very Nice!
Ok, after that beautifully written post I may watch NASCAR.
It was a great moment in time! I remember watching it 10 years ago, I knew he wasn't breathing. I also remember Darrell Waltrip and his commentary that day.
Great post cuz!
That was such a freak of an accident. It looked like he barely grazed the wall. Nothing like some of the snotslingers that you watch and are amazed when the driver gets out, waves to the crowd and walks to the ambulance. When they pulled Dale out you could see the rescue crew go into high gear and then they started CPR. WTF? I watched the replay over and over. There is no way that wreck was that bad, but sure enough, Dale was gone. It sure doesn't seem like ten years.
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