Death of Dale Earnhardt

Death of Dale Earnhardt
Dale Earnhardt's (#3 car) fatal crash in Turn 3 during the 2001 Daytona 500.
Location	Daytona Beach, Florida, United States
Date	February 18, 2001 (2001-02-18)
Result	NASCAR began improving safety of the cars, which resulted in the Car of Tomorrow.

Dale Earnhardt was an American race car driver who gained fame driving stock cars for NASCAR and winning seven championships. He was involved in a car accident during the last lap of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on February 18, 2001. He was taken to Halifax Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 5:16 p.m. after sustaining blunt force trauma to the head. Earnhardt was 49 years old. The event was highly publicized and generated intense interest from the media and resulted in various safety improvements in NASCAR auto racing.^[1]

Following Earnhardt's death and the subsequent investigation of the events leading to his death, NASCAR began an intensive focus on safety that has seen the organization mandate the use of head-and-neck restraints, oversee the installation of SAFER barriers at all oval tracks, set rigorous new inspection rules for seats and seat-belts, develop a roof-hatch escape system, and which eventually led to the development of a next-generation race car built with extra driver safety in mind: the Car of Tomorrow. Earnhardt had been the fourth driver to die in NASCAR competition within a year, beginning with Adam Petty's fatal crash in May 2000.

Circumstances of Earnhardt's death

Rules of competition

Dale Earnhardt died while competing in the 2001 Daytona 500, a NASCAR-sanctioned automobile race at Daytona International Speedway. NASCAR sanctions required the use of a carburetor restrictor plate for races held at the track.^[2] In 2000, the year before Earnhardt died, NASCAR instituted additional restrictions to the springs and shocks used on the cars, causing Earnhardt to complain to the media, "They [The rules] took Nascar Winston Cup racing and made it some of the sorriest racing. They took racing out of the hands of the drivers and the crews. We can't adjust and make our cars drive like we want. They just killed the racing at Daytona. This is a joke to have to race like this."^[3]

In response to criticism such as Earnhardt's, NASCAR developed a new aerodynamic package for the cars competing in Winston Cup Series races at Daytona and Talladega. In the initial running of this aerodynamic package at Talladega, Earnhardt passed seventeen cars within four laps to win the fall 2000 Talladega race.^[4] The 2001 Daytona 500 was the first 500 mile race run at the track with this package, which was designed to keep cars bunched up close together and to allow more frequent passing at high speed.^[5]

Events of the race

Following the start of the 2001 Daytona 500, Earnhardt led several of the opening laps, and continued to be a front-runner throughout the race.^[5] As the race entered its final laps Earnhardt and his familiar black #3 car were running in third, with two of his race team's cars, the blue #15 NAPA Chevrolet driven by Michael Waltrip and the red #8 Budweiser Chevrolet run by his son Dale Earnhardt, Jr., running first and second in front of him. Behind Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr., Earnhardt was blocking the attempts by Sterling Marlin in his silver #40 Coors Light Dodge to pass. With less than two laps remaining, Fox commentator Darrell Waltrip noted that "Sterling has beat the front end off of that ol' Dodge [Marlin's car] trying to get around Dale [Earnhardt Sr.]".

As the cars entered Turn 3 on the final lap, Earnhardt still held third and was running in the middle lane of traffic. Marlin was behind him and running the bottom lane, while Rusty Wallace's navy blue #2 Miller Lite Ford was directly behind Earnhardt and Ken Schrader was above Earnhardt riding the high lane in his yellow #36 M&M's Pontiac.

The accident began when Marlin came into contact with the left rear of Earnhardt's car. Earnhardt veered onto the flat apron, and while trying to correct this at high speed, he turned sharply to the right and headed back up the banking. When Schrader made contact, Earnhardt's car impacted the wall at an estimated speed of 155 to 160 mph and was pushed down the track by Schrader.

Earnhardt's right-rear wheel assembly broke off, his passenger-door window blew out, and the hood pins severed, causing the hood to flap open and slam against the windshield. No other vehicles impacted Earnhardt's car after it hit the wall, as Schrader's car was the only one in the vicinity and the cars racing around the crash were able to make it past without incident. Both cars then slid down into the infield grass near the exit of Turn 4 and Schrader got out of his car. He went to check on Earnhardt, but immediately jumped back and began to wave frantically for EMTs.

The checkered flag was thrown after the accident. Waltrip won the race, with Earnhardt, Jr. finishing behind him. Wallace finished third while Marlin came across seventh, and Earnhardt and Schrader were credited with twelfth and thirteenth places despite not finishing the race.^[6] After crossing the finish line, Earnhardt Jr. got out of his car and rushed to his father.

Details of the crash

A subsequent investigation revealed that Earnhardt's car struck the concrete retaining wall at a heading angle between 55 and 59 degrees, at an estimated speed of between 157 and 161 mph. Earnhardt was killed instantly.^[7][8]

Earnhardt's injuries were severe enough that he was unable to exit the car without assistance and he was taken directly to Halifax Medical Center by ambulance. As per NASCAR rules, any driver involved in a crash and unable to drive back to the pits, or who must be extricated from his car, must report to the infield hospital. However, in severe cases, the driver may be sent directly to the emergency trauma room at the major hospital near the circuit. Earnhardt was pronounced dead at 5:16 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, reportedly surrounded by his wife Teresa Earnhardt, his team owner/friend Richard Childress, and his son Dale Earnhardt Jr.

About 2 hours later, at a press conference, NASCAR President Mike Helton announced, "This is undoubtedly one of the toughest announcements I've ever personally had to make. But after the accident in Turn 4 at the end of the Daytona 500, we've lost Dale Earnhardt."^[9]

Injuries sustained

His official cause of death was given by the Volusia County medical examiners as "blunt force injuries of the head". It noted, among other things, that Earnhardt sustained:^[10]

• Basilar skull fracture (fatal)
• Eight broken ribs on his left side
• Broken left ankle
• Fractured sternum (possibly from CPR)
• Collarbone and hip abrasions (an indication that the seat belts did not fail)^[10]

Aftermath

Dale Earnhardt's death received widespread media attention. One newspaper called the day "Black Sunday."^[11]

Grieving fans congregated at the headquarters of Richard Childress Racing and Dale Earnhardt Incorporated the night of the accident, as well as the track where Earnhardt died. Earnhardt was featured in the following week's Time (magazine) magazine, and video from the race was played on nearly every major United States televised newscast. Earnhardt's funeral was telecast live on multiple television networks.

Earnhardt's death resulted in both a police investigation and a NASCAR-sanctioned investigation. In a reversal of previous NASCAR policy, nearly every detail of the investigation was made public.

In the days following the accident, Sterling Marlin received hate mail and death threats from fans who blamed Marlin for Earnhardt's death.^[2] Earnhardt's son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., absolved Marlin of responsibility and asked everyone who loved his father to stop assigning blame for his death. On February 20, Marlin relayed the following to the public:

“

I definitely didn't do anything intentional. We were just racing our guts out for the last lap of the Daytona 500. Everybody was going for it. Dale's car got caught in the middle [three-wide with Kenny Schrader]. I was as low as I could go. Whether Rusty [Wallace] got him loose and down into me, I don't know. You have to talk to Rusty Wallace. I watched the tape one time and that is all I want to see it.[12]

”

Team owner Richard Childress made a public pledge that the #3 would never again adorn the side of a black car sponsored by GM Goodwrench, the color scheme and sponsor Earnhardt had driven since 1988. As the #3 team had finished 13th in the race, on its 2000 season status put it second in owner points (for purposes of provisional starting positions in case the team was slower than 36th in the new one round of qualifying rule imposed in 2001, NASCAR would position 37-42 based on owner points from 2000 the first five races of the 2001 season), and was on the Winner's Circle bonus program (ten teams with the most wins from 2000), Childress requested, and NASCAR approved, the team to be renumbered as the #29 team, with the same sponsor (GM Goodwrench Service Plus), but the car was adorned with a reversed color scheme (white body with black numerals and a black stripe on the bottom) was used for races at Rockingham and Las Vegas. The team would keep all bonuses earned as the #3 team in 2000 and the Daytona 500, and Earnhardt's 2001 points would be accumulated with Harvick's #29 points that season for the #29 team's owner standings, used in NASCAR bonus money programs. For the race at Atlanta, a new GM Goodwrench Service Plus scheme was introduced, with angled red stripes and a thin blue pinstripe, resembling the AC Delco Chevrolets driven in the Busch Series.

From 2003 until 2006, when the Goodwrench sponsorship ended, the #29 car was painted in black and silver, bearing greater resemblance to the machine that Earnhardt piloted but with a more contemporary flair. A small #3 decal is placed alongside the #29 to honor Earnhardt and the team's legacy (a move that continues to this day).

Childress' second-year Busch Series driver Kevin Harvick was named as Earnhardt's replacement driver, beginning with the race following Earnhardt's death, the Dura Lube 400 held at North Carolina Speedway. Hats bearing the #3 logo were distributed to everyone at the track to honor Earnhardt. The Childress team wore blank uniforms out of respect but as Harvick's performance improved, the regular GM Goodwrench Service Plus uniforms returned, with the team scoring a top-ten finish by the next race in Las Vegas, and winning the next week in Atlanta. Dura Lube 400 pole sitter Jeff Gordon gave a missing man formation during the pace laps, a custom used in motorsports for mourning.

Fans honored Earnhardt by holding three fingers aloft on the third lap of every NASCAR Winston Cup race. Meanwhile, NASCAR's television partners also went silent for the third lap, a practice that was repeated until the 2002 race at Rockingham, and at the 2011 Daytona 500, ten years after his death.

The team still scored a top-ten finish for the 2001 season, led by Harvick's two wins and top-ten finish in the points.

Cause of death controversy

At a news conference five days after the fatal crash, NASCAR officials announced that the left lap belt on Earnhardt's seat belt harness had broken. NASCAR's medical expert, Dr. Steve Bohannon, said he thought the faulty belt had allowed Earnhardt's chin to strike the steering wheel, causing a basilar skull fracture, killing him. This led to speculation that Earnhardt would have survived the wreck had the seat belt not broken.^[3]

First responders to Earnhardt's crash maintained that the seat belts were loose, but the lap belt was not broken or cut when the belts were unbuckled.^[13] However, NASCAR's investigation concluded that each of the medical workers attending to Earnhardt after the crash reported the buckle position of Earnhardt's harness was off-center by four to eight inches, which would have been impossible had the lap belt not broken.^[14]

A subsequent medical investigation revealed that belt failure did not play a significant role in Earnhardt's death.^[3]

At the time of Earnhardt's death, Simpson Performance Products—the company which manufactured Earnhardt's seat belts—manufactured the seat belts used in nearly every NASCAR competitor's machine.^[15] Bill Simpson, the founder of Simpson Performance Products, maintained that the belt had failed because it had been installed in an unapproved fashion in order to increase Earnhardt's comfort, an allegation that had been supported by some who were familiar with the situation.

The Orlando Sentinel, particularly sportswriter Ed Hinton, attempted to acquire Earnhardt's autopsy records and photos for study, autopsy records normally being public documents in Florida, but Earnhardt's widow, Teresa Earnhardt petitioned a judge to seal the records. After a short court battle, it was mutually agreed to appoint Dr. Barry Myers, an expert on crash injuries at Duke University, to independently study Earnhardt's death. On April 10, 2001, Myers published his report rejecting NASCAR's explanation, finding that Earnhardt's death was the result of his inadequately restrained head and neck snapping forward, independent of the broken seat belt (rendering the question of improper installation moot).^{[citation needed]}

Philip Villanueva, a University of Miami neurosurgeon who had previously analyzed the crash for the Sentinel before the autopsy records were available, said he had reached the same conclusion, but had wanted to examine the autopsy photos to be certain. Dr. Steve Olvey, medical director of CART for 22 years, and Wayne State University crash expert John Melvin also agreed with Myers' report. Simpson's founder, Bill Simpson, called the report "The best news I've heard in seven weeks. I've been living in daily hell." ^[16]

On the same day as Myers' report was made public, NASCAR announced its own investigation, after having remained silent for six weeks since the accident. When the official NASCAR report,^[17] which had cost over a million dollars, was published on August 21, 2001, it concluded that Earnhardt's death was the result of a combination of factors. Those factors included the last-second collision with Schrader's car, the speed and angle of impact, and the separation of the seat belt as being contributing factors. It was also noted that investigators could not determine whether a head and neck restraint device would have saved Earnhardt's life, and that airline-style black boxes would be mandated for all vehicles in order to better understand the forces at work in a crash such as Earnhardt's.^[18]

In July 2001, Bill Simpson left Simpson Performance Products, citing the stress as "too much." The Simpson company attorneys asked NASCAR to unequivocally assert the following in regards to the broken lap belt found in Earnhardt's car:^[19]

• The belts were of high quality in workmanship and there were no design or manufacturing defects.
• The belts met the NASCAR rule book requirements.
• The belts, as installed, did not conform to manufacturer installation requirements.
• The separation of the left lap belt was not a result of design or manufacturing defect, but caused by improper installation.
• The belt separation was not the cause of Earnhardt's death.

NASCAR, however, did not respond.

A year after leaving his own company under controversy, Simpson returned to the motorsports safety industry after his one-year noncompete clause expired, starting IMPACT! Racing Products. ^[20]

Safety improvements

There were several safety improvements made in the sport of stock car racing following Earnhardt's death.

In response to the speculation about a broken lap belt in Earnhardt's car, many teams migrated from traditional five-point safety harnesses to six-point safety harnesses.^[21]

At the time NASCAR's report on Earnhardt's death was published, there were no rules requiring drivers to wear head and neck restraints. NASCAR president Mike Helton stated that "We are still not going to react for the sake of reacting."^[22] However, NASCAR did wish to "encouraged their use." By August 19, 2001 41 out of 43 drivers were wearing them at the Pepsi 400 by Meijer at Michigan International Speedway, just two days before NASCAR's report came out.

Two months later, after a crash during an ARCA race that killed driver Blaise Alexander, NASCAR mandated the use of head and neck restraints. Coincidentally, Earnhardt's eldest son Kerry Earnhardt was involved in the crash that killed Alexander, but Kerry was not injured.

In addition to head and neck restraints, NASCAR began requiring the use of soft walls at race tracks in which its top touring series compete.^[23] The soft walls feature foam and move slightly upon impact, dissipating energy and resulting in less forces being exerted on the driver during an impact.

Soon after Earnhardt's death, NASCAR began developing the Car of Tomorrow, which is currently used in competition in the Sprint Cup Series. The design of the Car of Tomorrow incorporates the result of research conducted in the aftermath of Earnhardt's death.^[21]

Autopsy pictures

On February 19, 2001, the Volusia County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on Dale Earnhardt's body. The unusual act of notifying NASCAR and Teresa Earnhardt was made prior to releasing the records sought by members of the public and media.

Three days later, Teresa Earnhardt filed a legal brief in the Circuit Court of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, in and for Volusia County, Florida (Case No. 2001-30373-CICI Div. 32).^[24] Once the complaint was filed, the Medical Examiner was barred from releasing the public records, including autopsy photographs, pertaining to Dale Earnhardt, until a formal hearing on the merits of Teresa Earnhardt's case could be heard.

On February 28, March 13, and March 16, 2001, the Orlando Sentinel, Michael Uribe, founder of WebsiteCity.com, and Campus Communications, Inc., publisher of the University of Florida's student newspaper The Independent Florida Alligator, filed motions to intervene into the Earnhardt v. Volusia litigation in order to uphold their rights to inspect and copy public records held by the Volusia County Medical Examiner to include the photographs and videotape of Dale Earnhardt's autopsy examination.^[25][26][27]

On June 12–13, 2001, a trial was then conducted before Judge Joseph Will. Will eventually ruled against Uribe and CCI's original public records requests and constitutional arguments to inspect and copy the medical examiner files pertaining to Dale Earnhardt, to include autopsy photographs. Judge Will's ruling set forth in motion an extensive legal battle later fought in the appellate courts by both Uribe and CCI seeking to deem the denial of their public records request unconstitutional under Florida State and Federal laws. Then on December 1, 2003, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear Uribe and CCI's appeal.^[28] Thus, the Florida Legislature's March 29, 2001 law preventing release of Dale Earnhardt's public record autopsy photographs would remain in effect.

The Florida Legislature's March 29, 2001 law, also known as the Earnhardt Family Protection Act, was sponsored by Senator Jim King (R-Jacksonville) and changed Florida's previously long standing and historically open public records laws from that day onward. The Earnhardt law deemed Florida's medical examination autopsy photographs, video and audio recordings exempt from public inspection without the expressed permission from applicable next of kin.

See also

• 2001 Daytona 500
• Death of Ayrton Senna — another fatal crash whose impact on Formula One was similar to that of Earnhardt's crash on NASCAR
• List of NASCAR fatal accidents
• List of racing drivers who died in racing crashes

References

1. ^ Dale Earnhardt's last gift 5 years after the crash, That's Racin
2. ^ ^{a b} Restrictor Plates Appear to be Here to Stay, USA Today
3. ^ ^{a b c} Jarrett Is Ahead of Field Before Daytona Starts, New York Times
4. ^ Talladega – Earnhardt wins and that's No Bull, AutoRacing1.com
5. ^ ^{a b} I Killed Dale Earnhardt, Slate.com
6. ^ Official results of 2001 Daytona 500 on NASCAR.com
7. ^ Transcript of NASCAR's report on Earnhardt crash, August 21, 2001; USA Today, Retrieved November 19, 2007
8. ^ Earnhardt dies instantly of head injuries, ESPN.com
9. ^ "Earnhardt dies following Daytona 500 accident"; Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive, February 21, 2001; NASCAR.com; Retrieved September 6, 2007
10. ^ ^{a b} CNNSI.com: Earnhardt autopsy report answers, leaves questions
11. ^ Black Sunday – the day Dale Earnhardt died Sporting News. Archived at Findarticles.com
12. ^ CNNSI.com: Marlin speaks out on Earnhardt accident
13. ^ Earnhardt Seat-belt Debate Intensifies, The Orlando Sentinel
14. ^ Official Accident Report – No. 3 Car NASCAR Publications, 2001, p. 8
15. ^ Daytona: From the Birth of Speed to the Death of the Man in Black. Hinton, Ed. Warner Books, 2001. ISBN 0-446-52677-0.
16. ^ "Experts say belt no factor in Earnhard's death". Baltimore sun. 2001-04-10. http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/nationworld/sns-earnhardt-osreview,0,5637877.story. Retrieved 2009-04-27. 
17. ^ Nascar.com
18. ^ Of Black Boxes and Seat Belts, CBS
19. ^ NASCAR releases findings of Earnhardt crash probe, CNNSI
20. ^ St. Petersburg (FL) Times, Bill Simpson is Glad to be Back, August 21, 2002
21. ^ ^{a b} New NASCAR Race Car Influenced by GM Racing Safety Research
22. ^ NASCAR Releases Earnhardt Findings, Orlando Sentinel
23. ^ Putting up barriers to make NASCAR that much SAFER, NASCAR.com
24. ^ Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief
25. ^ Sentinel Motion to Intervene
26. ^ Uribe Motion to Intervene
27. ^ CCI Motion to Intervene
28. ^ Petition for Writ of Certiorari

External links

• NASCAR's official report on the accident