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Thursday, July 5
Junior looks forward to Daytona return
Associated Press
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The ride through the tunnel wasn't so
tough for Rusty Wallace. The first lap around the racetrack was
different.
For the first time since Dale Earnhardt died, Wallace and the
rest of the NASCAR drivers returned to Daytona Beach on Thursday,
each coming face to face with their own mortality in a sport with a
preciously thin margin for error.
|  | | As hard as it is to believe, Dale Earnhardt Jr., is looking forward to returning to Daytona. |
"I went into Turn 3 today, and it was like, 'I remember that
melee,"' Wallace said. "I was in the middle. Earnhardt shot
across my bow. I got on through and said, 'Whoa, this is cool, the
world just opened up.' I didn't know he had been killed in that
corner."
That was Feb. 18, in the last lap of the Daytona 500. As drivers
return 4½ months after the tragedy for the Pepsi 400, they come
back to find a different track -- a different sport.
Most notably, they've lost their most colorful, independent
character in a sport that has become more buttoned-down and
businesslike as it has grown exponentially over the past decade.
They also lost the rival they respected the most, and one of the
few athletes in any sport who simply couldn't be ignored.
"I used to go to the racetrack and say, 'How did Earnhardt
qualify?"' Wallace said. "I didn't ask who was on the pole. It
was, 'How did Earnhardt qualify?' Now, I just go to the track and
run."
An afternoon thunderstorm scrubbed qualifying Thursday, meaning
the drivers will come back at noon Friday to determine starting
positions for Daytona's annual summertime race.
Of course, with everything happening at speeds reaching 190 mph,
there will be very little time to reminisce or grow teary-eyed over
the loss of an icon.
"It can be one hell of a wreck if your mind's wandering around
out there," Wallace said.
He recalls being clipped by Earnhardt at the end of a 1993 race
in Talladega. Wallace's car flipped 10 times. He woke up in a
medical helicopter with an IV in his arm.
It was Earnhardt who emerged that day unscathed, thinking
Wallace's injuries might have been fatal, and insisting on
hand-delivering Wallace's racing gloves to him.
Like so many of his competitors, Wallace marvels at how
innocent-looking Earnhardt's accident was. It was two cars, no
rolls or spins, a split second that drastically changed the sport --
compared with his own 10 flips, and hundreds of other accidents
over the years that have looked so much worse than Earnhardt's.
"I guess when it's time to go, it's time to go," Wallace said,
shrugging.
With Earnhardt gone, officials at NASCAR and the tracks that
stage these races have struggled with the question of how to honor
Earnhardt without overdoing it.
Nowhere is that question more important than at Daytona.
Here, track officials chose to hang large, black banners with
Earnhardt's trademark No. 3 on the outside of two towers on the
north side of the track. The bottom of the banners reads "In our
hearts forever."
When the race is over Saturday night, the traditional fireworks
display will become an Earnhardt tribute, one of dozens the drivers
have seen and heard as they've worked their way to the midpoint of
the season.
Some drivers, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., have grown a little
tired of the routine. Others are more tolerant.
"It doesn't get old to me," Ward Burton said. "Dale had been
around a long time. He was the leader of the sport the last couple
decades. Obviously, he was a big talent on the racetrack. We don't
get tired of that. I know his fans are obviously still hurting and
always will."
For his part, Earnhardt Jr., has declined interviews this week,
choosing instead to release a few prepared statements through his
public relations staff.
Earnhardt Jr., was seen joking with NASCAR chairman Bill France
outside the Winston Cup trailer Thursday, before ducking out and
running to his own trailer, avoiding a hopeful rush of TV cameras
and microphones.
"This may sound strange or hard to believe, but I'm looking
forward to racing at Daytona," Earnhardt Jr. said in his
previously released statement. "It's the greatest track we race at
for all of its history."
On Tuesday night, the employees at Dale Earnhardt Inc., had a
midseason party to celebrate Michael Waltrip's overlooked victory
at the Daytona 500. Teresa Earnhardt and Dale Jr., were there.
Everybody seemed to have a good time.
"We have our good days and our bad days, but we're here and
everyone seems to be doing good," said DEI vice president Ty
Norris.
Still, things are different without the Intimidator, the man who
won 34 races at Daytona, including that heartpounding breakthrough
in 1998, when he took his first Daytona 500.
Coming Saturday: The first race sans Earnhardt since 1978.
"We miss him, and to come to Daytona certainly reminds us of
the night we left here," car owner Robert Yates said. "He helped
build our sport, so the best thing we can do to honor him is to do
it the way he did."
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