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Sunday, February 25
Fans Mourn Earnhardt at the Rock
Associated Press
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Sunday was 5-year-old John Estle's first chance to watch a live NASCAR race. It was also his first lesson in dealing with death.
"What happened to Dale Earnhardt?" his mother, Tina, asked the boy in the Hot Wheels pants and red plastic hearing protectors as they sat waiting for the race to begin at the North Carolina Speedway.
The boy looked up from his black-and-red Earnhardt banner. "He got hurt," John said, "and went to heaven."
|  | | A fan wipes her eyes as she looks over a memorial to Dale Earnhardt outside of North Carolina Speedway. |
John didn't see last Sunday's crash at the Daytona 500 that killed The Intimidator. But he had been listening all week to the talk, and his mother took him to a memorial service to prepare him for what promised to be an emotional day.
This is the closest thing John has had to a death in his family, his mother said.
"We wanted John to know before we came here why he was not racing," Tina Estle said. "He goes to church. He knows what heaven is and stuff -- and he knows he's not coming back."
A pall hung over the track Sunday as many fans prepared for their first race ever without Earnhardt. The mood darkened even more when Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrecked between the third and fourth turns on the first lap.
"When I saw Dale go into the wall, I really panicked," said Carol Viselli, who was standing at the infield fence at the third turn when the wreck occurred. "And I didn't see any activity coming out of the car, like a thumbs up or anything indicating he's OK."
"I said, 'Oh my God, not him. Of all people not him,'" said Pam Solomon, who comes from the senior Earnhardt's hometown of Kannapolis and was videotaping at the turn where his son wrecked. "Didn't even get a lap. Didn't even get the green flag, really."
Earnhardt Jr. suffered only bumps and bruises. The race was postponed later in the day because of rain and will be run Monday.
On the racetrack grounds, still-stunned fans walked around wearing T-shirts with Earnhardt's portrait and the inscription: "1951-2001."
Outside the main gate, a granite boulder inscribed with the names of past Winston Cup champions was transformed into a massive memorial, although it bears the names of more living drivers than dead. Bouquets, presents and testimonials were piled beside it.
Twelve-year-old Missy Kardos of Clayton knelt beside the stone, purple circles beneath her swollen eyes.
"It's kind of hard," she said, then buried her face in her mother's shoulder and sobbed. Her mother, Sandra, said she and her family had a strong bond with the man they'd never met.
"They're part of your life," she said, her own cheeks streaked with tears as she tried to comfort her daughter. "You've brought them into your life and made them part of who you are. And a lot of what they do and say on TV, and how you read about them, will help you to even mold your children: `This person has done such great things, and this is how they did it."'
Mark Bradway of Southern Pines prefers golf to racing. Even his choice of a favorite driver, Dale Jarrett, is based more on Jarrett's golf handicap than his pole position. But he had no trouble understanding the emotion Sunday at Rockingham.
"This is the equivalent of Michael Jordan, in the finals of the NBA, missing a dunk and falling and hitting his head and dying," he said. "That's what it is to this sport."
Jeffery Corum Sr. and his son, Jeffery Jr., honored both generations of Earnhardts. The father wore a No. 3 cap and jacket for the senior Earnhardt, the son No. 8, for Earnhardt Jr.
"We pull for both of them, don't we buddy?" Jeffery Sr. said as he put his arm around his 10-year-old boy.
"He's like Earnhardt," Jeffery Jr. said of Dale Jr., "but he can't be better than Earnhardt."
Solomon, whose favorite driver Kenny Irwin died in a wreck last year, said she worries about whether NASCAR fans can cope with more tragedy.
"If anybody else gets killed, I'm never going to another race again," she said with tears brimming in her eyes. "Because I can't take much more of it. I haven't gotten over Kenny yet, and now Dale. I mean, this is devastating for race fans."
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