Marlin, Nashville community react to Dale Jr.’s plane crash
Former NASCAR Cup driver Sterling Marlin said he breathed a sigh of relief when he learned Thursday that Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his wife, Amy, escaped without serious injuries after a plane they were riding in crashed after landing in Elizabethton.
Earnhardt, who retired from NASCAR in 2017, was on his way to call Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race for NBC Sports at Bristol Motor Speedway 15 miles away.
“It was a close call and I really am happy to hear (Earnhardt) and his wife are OK; it’s really something,” said Marlin, who lives in Columbia. “He’s a tough kid. I’m glad everybody’s safe.”
Marlin was involved in an accident in 2001 at the Daytona 500 with Earnhardt’s father, Dale Earnhardt Sr., and Ken Schrader that left Earnhardt Sr. dead.
Marlin said news of Earnhardt Jr.’s plane crash made him flashback to two other aviation crashes that occurred in 1993 and claimed the lives of NASCAR drivers.
The first came on April 1 when Alan Kulwicki was on his way from a promotional event in Knoxville to Bristol. The twin engine plane he was in crashed on its approach at the Tri-cities Regional Airport.
The other was on July 12 when Davey Allison crashed his helicopter while attempting to land at Talladega Superspeedway.
“We didn’t want another accident like Kulwicki or Davy’s,” Marlin said. “I thought back about both of those.”
Nashville community reactions
Nashville businessman Gary Baker is a former NASCAR driver who later was part-owner of the Baker Curb Racing team. Being a close personal friend of Dale Earnhardt Sr., Baker has known Dale Jr. since he was a young boy. Baker delivered the eulogy at Dale Sr.’s funeral. “His father is one of the all-time greatest personalities that ever went through the NASCAR family and the way I see it, anybody kin to a man that great has got to be a good guy,” Baker said. “So I was very concerned when I first heard about (Earnhardt Jr.’s place crash) before we first got the reports that they had basically walked away. That was a lot of relief, that we don’t have another Earnhardt tragedy — we just didn’t need that.”
Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville track operator Tony Formosa, who left Friday for the race in Bristol, said he
froze when he heard about the plane crash.
“My head fireman at the track told me Dale Jr.’s plane just went down in East Tennessee and at that point they didn’t know that they had gotten out okay and it took my breath; I sat there for a minute in my truck and couldn’t move,” Formosa said. “Then I pulled the story up on my phone and I was trembling. It showed a picture of the plane actually burning, but it also said they were all right and were transported to the hospital.”
After hearing that Earnhardt and NBC Sports made the decision for Earnhardt not to be in the booth for Saturday’s race, Formosa said it was a good call.
“They all need to be on their knees thanking God this weekend,” Formosa said.
Donnie Redd watched Dale Earnhardt Jr. begin his racing career at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville when Redd worked as a communications director at the track. Redd later spent more than 20 years working various jobs in NASCAR and has remained close to Earnhardt Jr.
“It shook me up because that brought back a lot of memories of Davey Allison at Talladega and then Alan Kulwicki getting killed up there in ‘93. That was the first thing that went through my mind. All of a sudden time just kind of stood still.”
Redd, who lives in Shelbyville and now works at Huntsville (Ala.) Speedway, said he immediately started calling contacts he still has in NASCAR to find out everything he could about Earnhardt Jr.’s condition.
“I called two or through people I know who are in scoring and were actually at Bristol and they kind of kept me up to date on what was going on,” Redd said. “I was like everybody else, just hoping and praying everything was well.”
Joe Williams has been the public address announcer at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville since Dale Jr. used to race there.
“If you stay in this sport long enough you expect certain tragedies,” Williams said. “There is a point at which, when they befall the same group or whatever where you say, ‘Enough!’ I think about the Allisons and say, ‘Enough!’ And with the Earnhardts thankfully it was not a tragedy, still I say, ‘Enough.’ And then there’s Bristol. We lost Alan going in and Dale (Jr.) was going into Bristol.”
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @Mikeorganwriter.