For Just A Moment – I Remembered The Day Earnhardt Died

By Cooper Banks

The day Dale Earnhardt died is one I will never forget.  No joke, that day was the first time I’d ever sat and watched an entire NASCAR race.  I was 18 years old, I think — maybe 19.

I don’t even know why I decided to watch it.  I was never that interested in NASCAR or any motorsports for that matter.  I just decided that day, I guess.

When the fatal crash happened on the last turn of the last lap, I didn’t know how bad it might be until Darrell Waltrip started talking.

You might remember the call…

You can remember the raw emotion from Waltrip, who had just watched his little brother win the most prized race in all of motorsports.  He had also watched one of his good friends die.  Sheesh, what a trip.

I can imagine there might have been a similar feeling for Denny Hamlin on Monday evening.

Hamlin won the 2020 Dayton 500 race thanks to a massive crash on the final stretch of the last lap.  The crash tossed the #6 car into the air, seriously injuring fellow driver Ryan Newman.

When news of Monday’s crash came in — I remembered my experience watching Earnhardt slam into that wall in 2001 and I was immediately thinking the worst.

I was pleasantly surprised (and quite relieved) to hear that Newman would not lose his life.  What a trip, indeed.

Following Earnhardt’s death, NASCAR underwent massive changes in the way it protects drivers.  It will be interesting to see what might happen following Newman’s fiery crash.