Dale Ernhardt Biography

Autumn Clausen
Ms.Davis
G5 College Prep English 1
31 March 2017
The Race That Keeps On Going Dale Earnhardt was born on April 29th of 1951. He was a legend to many people. Then one day everything changed. It was the final lap on the Daytona 500 race in 2001. Dale Earnhardt was on the final lap of the race when he bumped into by Sterling Marlin. It sent him swerving for a few seconds and then he smashed right into the wall (Jacksonville.com). Ken Schrader was there pushing Dale along because Dale had almost hit the fourth-turn wall. Everyone from the audience and at home were watching and waiting for the race to start again. People all around wanted to know if Dale was okay. Hours later they finally learned the truth. We later on learned that
he had continuously refused to wear his head and neck safety device. He had died from head injuries (History.com).
Dale Earnhardt was only forty-nine years old when he died. No one was expecting to see him die so soon. Ever since that tragic day, National Association for Stock Car Auto has remembered him and had an anniversary for his death. Every ten years they continue the number of years his death had happened live on television. People still talk about it and wish he could return to the race track. Sadly for those people, it will never happen. “I was sitting at home watching the race, he was getting ready to win when he got into an accident. He was shoved into the wall.” Most people would mention that it was the start of the season. Some may say that they were sitting in their rooms watching the race in their pajamas. “I was probably wearing my pajamas. It was a Sunday afternoon. The start of the season. It was later in the afternoon, later in the race.” Sharon Vaughn later stated “Everyone was talking about it, it was big news and it was a tragic death”. This shows that many fans cared about what had happened and were truly devastated when they officially announced his death. Sharon later states “I didn’t think he was going to die it was a crash that anybody has walked away from a million and one times. It still happens today and people walk away.” Most of the audience didn’t even believe he was severely injured. “Not at all, it was just a fender bender. Nobody thought that was going to happen. We all expected him to get out of the car. It wasn’t a severe crash. We were all just waiting for them to clear up the accident so they could get going again and fix his car.” Dale was an amazing racer even though he fell short in his life span. Other drivers have recognized all of the accomplishments and good things that Dale has done for their profession. Fans around the world are still shocked by the way Dale left this earth. One fan stated “It was horrible, it was just shocking. To this day it is still shocking. I can’t believe he had passed away. It was horrible.”
Many racers have gone through a similar crash but they have recovered and walked away from it. It was so common that no one thought that he was going to die. The audience knew that he was only trying to help his son win the race. “I don’t remember who else was involved in the crash. He was trying to help his son win.” Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, as time has gone on National Association for Stock Car Auto or NASCAR for short has made more and more safety equipment so another driver doesn’t have to get hurt. They make the head and neck restraints mandatory (Brennan). They even made the padding around the walls of the car softer so that any impact would be less harsh on a driver. There are many more improvements made to the cars that the racers drive.
People in society have realized that we need to make sure that lives are not being lost because minor accidents such as this one.
We continue to see that as society continues to grow the safer we need to be and we need to have regulations on how to keep our society safe. NASCAR has made more improvements other than the ones mentioned above such as five point safety harnesses, fuel cells, onboard fire extinguishers, advances in tires, window netting, fire retardant uniforms and purpose-built racing seats. One of the most important device or improvement that they had made was the HANS device, it is a u-shaped collar and it is worn underneath harness belts. The HANS device restricts the movement of a driver’s head in case of a hard impact.
These improvements have actually helped the other drivers. Although Dale is no longer alive we have seen that his death has improved the ways that NASCAR has made regulations mandatory so that accidents such as this one do not happen or the impact does not hurt a racer as much as they used to before they made the new rules. In a way Dale changed the way NASCAR views important subjects such as a crash or injury during a race. The more ways that we can help other racers the more we can see that the people are what
matter.
Over the years there have been a total of twenty eight people that have died in the cup series on NASCAR tracks. The latest though had been Dale, In the circuit Daytona International Speedway there had been the most fatalities nine to be exact. Dale had been argued one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR during his reign he earned the title “The Intimidator”, he gained this title by his tough, aggressive style of driving. Dale had been involved in another crash in 1997, where his car had flipped over, but Dale had still managed to steal the win which is really amazing, this race started his winning career.
Dale Earnhardt learn his NASCAR ways from his father, His father ended up dropping out of college to pursue his very own career in NASCAR driving. Dales father became one of NASCAR’S most respected competitor, Dale looked up to his father, he was Dale’s role model and inspiration. Dale’s father was the death that changed NASCAR for the better, new safety regulations were made to help prevent deaths and serious injuries (Dale Earnhardt Killed in Crash). People guide us to the direction we are suppose to be lead on, we have loved ones to help us choose what our passion is going to be and that is what Dale’s father did for him. Dale was shown a path that only he could choose to take and he did, he died the same way his father did doing something that he loved, which is only what we can ask for in life.
The bump that did it all was made by sterling Marlins, it was one of many on that devastating day. Most of the blame was put on the faulty seat belt, but Marlins still feels like it could still be more his fault. Marlins only wonders what could have been done to prevent the deadly accident. Even though the blame was out off of Marlins a lot of people are still furious with him, he gets hate everyday for his “doings” he only brushes them off his shoulders and continues on with the day. Marlins and everyone knows the truth of what happened and can only know that Marlins can’t have all the blame (Ten After 3: Sterling Marlins).
“It was crazy out there,” Everything was happening all at once I guess you could say, at high speed racing anything could happen and something did an accident that will forever be remembered.
In Dale’s last race everyone was pushing to get to the top, pulling all the strings and fighting for that metal. Dale just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and it hurt him badly, everyone was saying if only that seat belt did screw up maybe Dale could still be here with us today winning more medals and cups coming out on top. As soon as the accident happened you just had this feeling of knowing that it was bad that something was not right. One of the other drivers ran to Dale’s car and he said he knew instantly that Dale had been dead, it was just a tragedy that no one wanted to hear about (Ten Ater 3: Sterling
Marlins).
The last turn of the last lap blew it all, Michael Waltrip won his very first race on the tragic day. Waltrip had accumulated up to 462 losses before he gained a win. After all this time since the accident Waltrip has not celebrated his win, a win he would say he didn’t want. Every since that day Waltrip says that everything that he has done he done with Dale’s spirit by his side guiding him along the way to success (A Fellow Racer Recalls Dale). Even though something amazing happens a dark cloud can cover it and that is what happened to Michael Waltrip, he could never be mad that this happened only sad.
There are many theories to what had happened that day, some say Marlins caused it when he hit him, and others say that it was Dale’s fault cause he was “trying to block cars” so that Waltrip could win, but most of them aren’t true and we’ll never know what is true. The only thing that we can say is that the cause of death was a mishap with the seatbelt. Even though some don’t want to believe it that’s the truth. Waltrip says that he had not known that his friend had crashed until he rolled into victory, he wanted Earnhardt’s congratulations but came soon to realize that, that wasn’t going to happen. The only thing he wanted was Earnhardt’s applause, he didn’t even really want the trophy (A Fellow Racer Recalls Dale). Only when things are gone do we realize how much we needed them how much we strive to get them back.
Dale Earnhardt was loved by many, he inspired a lot of NASCAR drivers and more. Even though it costed someone’s life in order for NASCAR to understand the type a safety equipment needed to keep these drivers safe we are happy that they have made changes and got thing in line to protect future NASCAR drivers. NASCAR driving is for those who love the feeling of adrenaline pumping in their body, the sound of the wind rippling through their car and the feeling of victory, and that is the feeling Dale got every time he raced.
To everyone Dale Earnhardt was a hero after the accident no one had the heart to tell people that he had died not the friend that had rushed to his car right after as soon as he looked in he looked out and said it was bad, that was all he could say, there was no he’s dead there was it’s really bad. Some didn’t want to believe it, but it was true and that was the sad part. Death is a part of life, actually it’s the end death can be good and bad depending on if you are willing to go, at that point and time it was decided that it was Dale’s time to go. I don’t think that he minded much he got to die doing the thing that he loved and I bet that was the only thing that he could have asked for.
Dale Earnhardt was a NASCAR driver, one of the best and that is what he is going to be known for. We can only wish that things could have been different, that is what Marlins and Waltrip wanted, but I guess you could say you don’t always get what you want. Dale Earnhardt is a legend and he is going down in history to stay.

Works Cited

Brennan, Christine. "Earnhardt's Death Still Reverberates." Explora Secondary Schools.
Ebscohost, 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 27 Mar. 2017.

"Dale Earnhardt Killed in Crash." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 29 Mar.
2017.
Press, The Associated. "10 Years after Dale Earnhardt's Death, a Cloud Still Hangs over
Daytona, NASCAR." Syracuse.com. Jenna Fryer, 16 Feb. 2011. Web. 02 Apr. 2017
.
"Ten after 3: Sterling Marlin's Bump of Dale Earnhardt Changed Everything." Jacksonville.com.
N.p., 04 Jan. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.

Vaughn, Sharon. Personal interview. 4 Apr. 2017.

Waltrip, Michael. "A Fellow Racer Recalls Dale Earnhardt's Deadly Crash." NPR. NPR, 18 Feb.
2011. Web. 27 Mar. 2017.