In an episode of Cars and Culture with renowned journalist and podcaster Jason Stein, NASCAR Cup Series team owner Richard Childress shed light on how the NASCAR fans recovered from the sorrow that the great mishap of 2001 brought with it. Needless to say, it was the fall of one of the brightest stars that the sport has seen to this day, the great Dale Earnhardt.
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Michael Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished first and second in the 2001 Daytona 500, making it a day that could have been remembered as a glorious one for their team. Instead, it is remembered as a day of immense tragedy.
However, like Richard Childress said, “There are healing moments in life when you got to go on”, for the NASCAR fandom, one such moment came with Stewart-Haas Racing legend Kevin Harvick’s Atlanta win, 22 days after the tragedy.
Childress explained that the entire sport was in pain when Dale Earnhardt was killed in the horrific crash that involved the likes of Sterling Martin and Ken Schrader. “The sport was hurting so bad from the loss of an iconic star like Dale Earnhardt at the time,” exclaimed Childress.
“Nobody thought it could happen to them, when you’re a race driver you don’t. When it happens to someone, it changes a lot of things. The fans were hurting; you could just see it, you could feel it,” he added.
Healing moments for the entire NASCAR community
When Kevin Harvick won his first-ever Cup Series race as he drove Earnhardt’s car to the victory lane, it was indeed a healing moment for the entire community. Moments after the win, Harvick said, “None of us expected this this soon and the unfortunate circumstances. All I’ve got to say is this one’s for Dale.”
But that wasn’t enough to soothe the wound that Earnhardt’s death had left the fans with. The final balm to the cut came with Earnhardt’s son Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the Pepsi 400 at Daytona International, the same track that witnessed the death of the 7-times Cup Series champion a few months back.
Junior’s victory on July 7, 2001, was followed by an emotional celebration with Michael Waltrip, whose Daytona 500 victory had lost its luster after Dale Earnhardt died. It was also NASCAR’s first return to Daytona since the death of Dale Earnhardt.
Michael Waltrip never got the chance to celebrate his Daytona victory. After Junior won, both of them stood on the tops of their respective cars and embraced each other as NASCAR fans shed tears of joy. Junior said, “I can’t physically embrace all those people that are up there in the grandstands. But that’s as close as I can get.”
