A Decade Without Dale

   The 2011 edition of the Daytona 500 will
be Sunday, February 20th.  It will mark ten
years since the sport of NASCAR lost it's
brightest star...and I remember it like it was
yesterday. Running in third place was the big
black #3 Monte Carlo of Earnhardt as the cars
entered the final lap of the race. Earnhardt 
only had two cars in front of him,..and he owned
both of them. In first place was Michael Waltrip, a lifelong friend, and behind him was son Dale Earnhardt, Junior, pushing Waltrip to the front. Dale must have been filled with mixed emotions on that last lap. Frustrated that maybe a couple of seconds off one
of the pit stops might have put him up front, but
also proud of the fact his son was just ahead of
him heading into the final turn of the race. Earnhardt, who never asked for any quarter, nor gave any,
lost a little traction in that final turn and slide up toward Sterling Marlin's car. The two cars touched and
Marlin's car inadvertently turned Earnhardt ninety 
degrees. The black Chevrolet hit the concrete 
retaining wall at better than 190 miles per hour. Safety

personnel did their best, but Earnhardt suffered
massive head injuries and was proclaimed dead before
he got to the infield medical facilities. He would leave
a sport with seven Championship seasons behind him at the age of 49. NASCAR President Bill France, a man not known for superlatives, might have expressed it best that day, saying, 'NASCAR has lost it's best driver ever.' I have been a fan of Dale Earnhardt since 1980 and still get misty when I think about him. NASCAR has made a lot of changes since his death, and one of the best is the HANS (Head and Neck Support) device. Of course, Dale would never have used it! He was opposed to wearing seat belts, but NASCAR made it mandatory, as they have the HANS device since his death. The rules have been altered over the past ten years, and you can bet Dale would have been against any and all changes. He had one favorite quotation he used when arguing over who would be in the race each week, "Let the fastest 43 cars make the race regardless of previous champions, big names, or big sponsors." When NASCAR installed restrictor plates on the cars to slow them down, Earnhardt replied, "If they have lace on their panties, they are in the wrong sport."  I still miss Dale Earnhardt.....