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Death of Dale Earnhardt

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The death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. on February 18, 2001 was a significant event in NASCAR and sporting history. Earnhardt was a seven-time series champion and had many fans. He died in a crash during the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. He was the fourth driver killed since Adam Petty's death in May 2000, and although controversy over safety had been brewing for some time, Earnhardt's death and the overwhelming fan outcry was arguably the catalyst that eventually resulted in significant safety improvements. Following the death and investigation, NASCAR began an intensive focus on safety that has seen the organization mandate the use of head-and-neck restraints (currently, only the HANS device is approved for competition), oversee the installation of SAFER barriers at all oval tracks, set rigorous new rules for seat-belt and seat inspection, develop a roof-hatch escape system, and develop a next-generation race car built with extra driver safety in mind, dubbed the Car of Tomorrow.

1 Circumstances of Earnhardt's death
2 Aftermath
3 Cause of death controversy
4 Autopsy photos
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

Circumstances of Earnhardt's death

Following the start of the Daytona 500, Earnhardt led several of the opening laps, and continued to be a front-runner throughout the race.^[1] During a pit stop, Earnhardt made contact with the #36 Pontiac car driven by Ken Schrader in an incident that left both cars running without damage or loss of position, but would later prove ironic. On lap 173, a large accident took place, involving 18 cars. Tony Stewart who beat Earnhardt in the Budweiser Shootout, found his car tumbling wildly down the backstretch.^[1] As it tumbled, Earnhardt managed to weave his way through wrecked cars and come out unscathed. The race was red flagged (stopped) to facilitate clean up of the track, and when the race resumed, it was Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt, Inc. drivers Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Michael Waltrip in the top 3 positions. As the laps wound down, Waltrip was leading Earnhardt, Jr. and Earnhardt, Sr. On the front stretch coming to 3 laps to go, Sterling Marlin made contact with Earnhardt at the left rear corner of Earnhardt's car. Earnhardt's car wiggled but kept control and he remained in third position. Marlin was known in that race for having a fast car, and Earnhardt repeatedly blocked his attempts of passing on the last few laps. With less than two laps remaining, Darrell Waltrip commented that "Sterling has beat the front end off of that old Dodge (Marlin's car) trying to get around Dale (Earnhardt)". Going into turn 3 on the last lap, Earnhardt was racing three wide with Marlin to his left and Schrader to his right. In the corner, Earnhardt's left rear fender made slight contact with Marlin's front bumper. Earnhardt’s car slid off the track's steep banking, onto the flat apron, and then turned sharply up the track toward the outside retaining wall. As the #3 car came up the track it collided with the #36 Pontiac driven by Ken Schrader. Schrader's car hit Earnhardt's car just behind the passenger door, causing both cars to run nose-first into the wall. Earnhardt's #3 hit at a 13 to 14 degree angle at an estimated speed of 157-160 mph, killing him instantly.^[2]^[3] The right-rear wheel assembly broke off the car on impact. The hood pins severed and the hood flapped open, slamming against the windshield as the car slid slowly down the track. While Michael Waltrip raced toward the checkered flag to claim his first victory, with Earnhardt, Jr. close behind, the cars of Earnhardt and Schrader slid off the track's asphalt banking toward the infield grass inside of turn four. After climbing from the wreck of his car, Schrader peered into Earnhardt's car, only to walk away and signal for EMTs. Hours later, at a press conference, NASCAR President Mike Helton made the formal announcement to the world saying, "Undoubtedly this is one of the toughest announcements I've personally had to make. After the accident in Turn 4 at the end of the Daytona 500, we've lost Dale Earnhardt."^[4]

Aftermath

Dale Earnhardt's death received widespread media attention. Fans began congregating at the headquarters of Richard Childress Racing and Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, as well as the track where Earnhardt died, Daytona International Speedway. Earnhardt was featured in the follwing week's Time 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, including CNN and Fox News Channel. Earnhardt's death was the catalyst for change that continued six years later. Following his death there was a police investigation as well as a NASCAR-sanctioned investigation. Nearly every detail of the event was made public, from the finding of a broken seatbelt inside Earnhardt's car to graphic descriptions of the injuries the driver suffered at the moment of impact. The allegations of seat-belt failure led Bill Simpson to resign from the company bearing his name, which manufactured the seatbelts used in Earnhardt's car and nearly every other NASCAR competitor's machine. ^[5] Some fans threatened to kill Sterling Marlin for causing the wreck. Earnhardt's son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., absolved Marlin of responsibility and asked everyone who loved his father to stop assigning blame for his death. Earnhardt's #3 car was immediately retired by team owner Richard Childress. Childress made a public pledge that the number would never again adorn the side of a black car sponsored by GM Goodwrench, the color scheme and sponsor Earnhardt had driven since 1988. Earnhardt's team was re-christened as the #29 team, with the same sponsor (GM Goodwrench) but a new color scheme. A reversed color scheme (white with black numerals and a black stripe on the bottom) was used for races at Rockingham and Las Vegas. For the race at Atlanta, a new GM Goodwrench scheme was introduced, with angled red stripes and a thin blue pinstripe, resembling the AC Delco Chevrolets driven in the Busch Series. Later versions of the car would bear greater resemblance to the machine that Earnhardt piloted but with a more contemporary flair. 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, soon replaced by the GM Goodwrench Service Plus uniforms. Dura Lube 400 pole sitter Jeff Gordon symbolically gave Earnhardt the pole for the race. 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 where race broadcaster FOX hosted for the final time.

Cause of death controversy

At a news conference five days after the fatal crash, NASCAR officials announced that a seat belt had broken in Earnhardt's car. Daytona International Speedway physician 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. The manufacturers of seat belts for NASCAR, Simpson Race 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 Sentinel 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 (making the question of proper or improper installation irrelevant). 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." 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. However, when the greatly anticipated official NASCAR report,^[6] which had cost over a million dollars, was published on August 21, 2001, it cited collision with another car, the speed and angle of impact, and separation of the seat belt as factors in the fatality. After NASCAR's report, Simpson retired, citing the stress as "too much." The Simpson company attorneys asked NASCAR to unequivocally assert:^[7]

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.

At the time, NASCAR declined requiring drivers to wear uncomfortable head and neck restraints. NASCAR president Mike Helton said that "We are still not going to react for the sake of reacting." However, it did state that it "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, a crash in an ARCA race that killed driver Blaise Alexander of a basilar skull fracture caused NASCAR to quickly mandate head and neck restraints. Incidentally, Earnhardt's son Kerry Earnhardt was involved in the crash that killed Alexander.

Autopsy photos

In the midst of the general controversy, legal, political and public opinion were all engaged in ways that changed Florida's laws as to how and under what circumstances public record medical examiner files, including autopsy photographs, would be released to members of the public. On or about February 19, 2001, the Volusia County Medical Examiner performed an autopsy on Dale Earnhardt's body. During a press conference, Amy Rippel of the Orlando Sentinel made a public records request to inspect the public autopsy records of Dale Earnhardt. 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).^[8] 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. ^[9] ^[10] ^[11] 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. ^[12]. 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.