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Monday, July 2
Return to Daytona, return of memories
Associated Press
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Fresh white paint covers the black
mark on the Turn 4 wall where auto racing changed forever.
Other scars don't disappear as quickly.
|  | | Fresh paint cover the marks on the Turn 4 wall at Daytona where Earnhardt crashed. |
NASCAR returns to Daytona International Speedway this week,
racing there for the first time since Dale Earnhardt was killed in
a last-lap wreck at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18.
The tragedy changed the landscape of one of the fastest growing
sports in America, bringing safety issues to the fore and depriving
stock car racing of its best-known character.
Earnhardt was the brooding specter in black, the brash bad boy
who won seven Winston Cup championships, and always demanded the
attention of race fans at tracks and souvenir stands.
"There's nobody else like him, and there probably won't be
again," said Bill Rollins, a fan from Davie whose family visited
the track to pay homage to The Intimidator.
Like thousands who enter the Daytona USA exhibit next to the
track each week, Rollins took the eerie ride through Turn 4 on a
tram that whizzes tourists around the speedway.
Just as the tram zooms toward the spot of the crash, the radio
broadcast of the end of the race is replayed.
"It sent chills down my spine," Rollins said, "because of who
he was, and what happened there."
Naturally, the drivers will feel the same way when they make
their first turns around the track Thursday, the first day of
practice for Daytona's annual summertime race, the Pepsi 400.
"It's something we all have to work through and it's going to
be the most difficult time we'll all have to go through," Dale
Jarrett said. "But we'll do it, and the good memories will be of
the good races I had there with Dale."
Facing other issues -- safety, and keeping fans interested
despite the loss of one of the sport's biggest stars -- could prove
even more difficult.
"As an organization, we need to make sure we weren't on the
edge of a cliff," the day Earnhardt died, NASCAR president Mike
Helton said.
Slowly since then, NASCAR has become more aggressive in reacting
to safety concerns.
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I'm still a race fan. But it probably won't ever feel the same coming back here.” |
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—Fan Dave Schmidt on returning to Daytona. |
It is in the middle of an investigation into Earnhardt's death,
the results of which will be released in August. In the past,
NASCAR often dealt with safety issues privately.
Another sign of progress: When NASCAR drivers Adam Petty and
Kenny Irwin died in the months before Earnhardt's fatal crash, both
cars were destroyed. Earnhardt's has been maintained so NASCAR and
a handful of outside experts can determine what happened when his
car slammed into the wall at about 150 mph.
Also, beginning this week, NASCAR will require a minimum 17-inch
window opening on the driver's side. Teams have tinkered with the
size of the opening to try to improve aerodynamics.
The decision ensures drivers can climb out of cars while wearing
bulky, protective restraining collars that some experts believe
might have prevented the deaths of Earnhardt, Petty and Irwin.
Although not required by NASCAR, the majority of drivers are now
wearing the HANS device. Fewer than 10 wore one at the Daytona 500.
NASCAR is also building a research and development shop in North
Carolina.
"I've seen what they've done and it's impressive," driver Ken
Schrader said. "They're certainly not sitting back and doing
nothing."
While safety is a work in progress, fans still seem to be
enjoying the sport even without Earnhardt.
TV ratings increased 29 percent in the first half of the season.
Track officials in Daytona say ticket sales for the Pepsi 400 are
ahead of last year and they expect to sell out grandstand seats
more quickly.
Still, there are concerns about attendance in the second half of
the season.
Earnhardt's son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., certainly offers fans
somebody to rally around. But there will never be another driver
like The Intimidator, the daredevil who muscled his black No. 3
Chevrolet around the track.
"I'm still a race fan," David Schmidt of Tampa said at Daytona
USA. "But it probably won't ever feel the same coming back here."
Helton believes NASCAR is in good shape despite the loss of its
most famous driver.
"I think we're healthy," he said. "Certainly, things could
have been bigger if Dale were in the hunt for an eighth
championship. But he's not, and this is still a big sport with a
lot to look forward to."
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