Start your engines!
Play RPM.ESPN Stock Car Challenge!
|
|
Monday, February 19
Fans flock to Earnhardt's hometown
Associated Press
MOORESVILLE, N.C. – For a community still healing from the
loss of Adam Petty, the death of Dale Earnhardt was almost too much
to bear.
|  | | Sherena Genenbacher, 11, places flowers at a makeshift memorial for Dale Earnhardt at his corporate headquarters near Mooresville, N.C.
|
Hours after Earnhardt was killed in an accident on the last lap
of Sunday's Daytona 500, a steady stream of devastated fans stopped
at his race shop to mourn.
Jeff Goddard, an employee of Petty Enterprises, was one of them.
Wearing a bright red Petty jacket, Goddard paced in front of the
makeshift memorial created along the gate at DEI Inc.
"I just got in my car and drove and ended up here," he said.
"We kind of just got over the death of Adam, and now this. It's
devastating"
Petty, 19, was killed in a crash during practice at New
Hampshire International Speedway last May. A fourth-generation
driver, his death rocked the racing community.
But it did little to brace anyone for the death of Earnhardt, a
seven-time Winston Cup champion and the sport's biggest name.
"No matter where it happens or how it happens or even how
prepared you think you might be for it, losing somebody close to
you hurts," said Kyle Petty, Adam's father.
Ned Jarrett, father of Dale Jarrett and a former racer and now a
broadcaster, wiped away tears as he remembered Earnhardt.
"Dale Earnhardt was the greatest race car driver that ever
lived – he could do things with a race car that no one else
could," Jarrett said. "He leaves a big, big void here that will
be very hard to fill."
H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler, president of Lowe's Motor Speedway in
Concord, likened Earnhardt's death to the death of John F. Kennedy.
|
Sending your remembrances
|
|
The Earnhardt family has asked that instead of flowers, donations can be sent to the Foundation for the Carolinas, a
nonprofit philanthropic organization. The address is:
Foundation for the Carolinas
In Honor of Dale Earnhardt
P.O. Box 34769
Charlotte, N.C. 28234-4769
|
In North Carolina, where the hub of racing is located in the
rural towns outside of Charlotte where drivers can mingle with the
community, Earnhardt was considered an icon and a hero.
"Dale was the Michael Jordan of our sport ... to think he is
not around anymore is incomprehensible," Wheeler said. "This is a
terrible, terrible loss and, for me, it ranks right up there with
the death of JFK."
That sentiment was shared by the hundreds of fans who stood
outside the large shop that housed DEI's three Winston Cup cars – Daytona champion Michael Waltrip, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Park.
Cars lined the two-lane highway leading up to the garage, where
three flags – the United States, North Carolina and DEI's – hung at
half-staff. A fourth – a checkered flag representing Waltrip's win
at the Daytona 500 – was added Monday morning, also at half-staff.
Police guarded the entrances, but that didn't stop fans wearing
their black No. 3 hats from lighting candles and placing flowers as
they embraced each other at the makeshift memorial. Many were so
overcome with grief, they needed help just to stand.
"If you are an Earnhardt fan, you had to come," said a crying
Susan Johnson of Kannapolis.
"He was a humanitarian. He gave a lot to the people of
Kannapolis. There's a road named after him. He was our local boy
done good."
At Richard Childress' shop in Welcome, where Earnhardt's team
was based, more fans gathered. A color photo of Earnhardt was
propped up, lit by a single candle placed in front of it.
A sign nearby read, "It's hard to lose a hero, but at least
we've got the memories. RIP Intimidator."
Even people who weren't Earnhardt fans gathered at the shop
Monday, including Gary Farabee, 59, of Lexington. "He was a guy
you either loved or loved to hate," he said. "But it's just not
the same this morning. It just doesn't feel right."
Farabee said he found himself rooting for Earnhardt recently.
"Over the last year, I think he's exposed his inner self, his
softer side, a little more," he said. "I don't think I pulled for
him as much as a racer as I pulled for him as a man."
Allen Wrenn of Summerfield came with his wife, Blanche, to pay
their respects to the Earnhardt family. He said he had known the
family since Dale's father, Ralph, was a professional race car
driver.
"He really raced. He didn't pull no punches," Wrenn said. "If
he hit somebody, that was OK, and if somebody hit him, that was OK,
too."
Billy Simmerson, 30, of Salisbury, brought his 1-year-old son,
Chris, to the shop. "I don't think NASCAR will ever be the same
without him," Simmerson said. "I know it won't be nearly as
interesting."
He noted that other drivers have died recently. "Those others
didn't win seven championships," he said.
As the race teams arrived at Concord Regional Airport, many were
just learning about Earnhardt's death. Those who already knew
solemnly walked through the private airport to their cars.
Driver Johnny Benson said he didn't even find out until he got
home.
"NASCAR lost its greatest driver and probably the greatest
driver it will ever have," he said. "Our sport will go on, but I
don't think it will ever be the same."
Mike Wallace said many drivers would take solace in the fact
that Earnhardt died on the track.
"I've told my wife many times, 'If anything ever happens to me
in a race car, you just remember it was exactly what I was wanting
to do,' " he said. "The only thing I can say is it's what Dale
Earnhardt wanted to do. He died doing what he loved to do."
|
|
|
|
