Two decades later: Dale Earnhardt still influencing racing
Feb. 18, is an infamous anniversary in racing, and in 2021 it will mark the 20th year since the last fatal wreck in NASCAR. That the driver was the grittiest, hardest-charging, quintessential, most discussed and cussed wheel man that we’ll ever know makes the date indelible.
Twenty years ago Dale Earnhardt hit the wall in his sport’s Super Bowl, the Daytona 500. In this world, time is the only thing faster than Earnhardt. Impossible that it has been so long since he crashed on the last turn of the last lap of the big race — oh, so close to making it safely home. And just like that we’d never again see that mustachioed smirk, the one bearing the unspoken message “I can drive past you or through you, son, your choice.”
Twenty years later, as a field of
Earnhardt’s heirs prepares to run the same famous race that killed him, we are still measuring the man’s legacy.
As driver Kurt Busch has attested, “There will be no one else like him.” His introduction to Earnhardt was that same 2001 Daytona 500, when earlier in the race he passed the rookie but not before flashing him a one-finger salute. “What did I do? I’m just trying to mind my own business,” Busch thought at the time. Just like that, Earnhardt was in another driver’s head, where he haunted so many.
The sport today is vastly changed from the one the seventime Cup champion Earnhardt ruled. Not all for the better, certainly. No one has come along since Earnhardt to rouse the passions of an oft stagnant fan base like him. The closest has been a blood relative, Dale Jr.
Some things just had to change, like the insult that is the Confederate flag waving on the infield. This new season will see some new, encouraging hues in car ownership, from Michael Jordan to entertainer Pitbull. This sport must reach out from its core to survive, and if that means leaving behind those who refuse to evolve, then, so be it. Dinosaurs go extinct.
On balance, I don’t pretend to know what Dale Sr. would make of his sport today. But I’d sure love to hear his opinions, even if he grew to be an old grouse like most of the rest of us.
Kevin Harvick took over Earnhardt’s car after the fatal crash and for the longest time struggled to escape that long, dark shadow. But as time passed and his rides and sponsorship and ownership changed, Harvick pounded out his own identity.
“It made things more comfortable for the fact you were living on your success and it wasn’t something that was given to you. It wasn’t a position
The tradition of the Louie will live on at Silver Dollar Speedway for 2021. Hunt Promotions is dedicated to host all the events at the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds that made this a marquee event for racing fans who traveled to the Napa Valley in years past. The Calistoga Speedway Hall of Fame dinner is scheduled for Friday night, Sept. 3. The popular beer and wine gathering for the fans is
also a top priority along with live music that is played each day.
The off-track activities are a bonus, but the real thrills will take place on the high banked quartermile clay oval. On Saturday night, Sept. 4 and Sunday night, Sept. 5 the popular USAC/CRA non-wing 410 sprint cars will attack the famed Silver Dollar Speedway. Joining them is the King of the West Series presented by Northern Auto Racing Club.
The race honors the legacy of Louie Vermeil, a co-founder of the Northern Auto Racing Club, who was a leader of sprint car racing not only at the Calistoga Speedway but throughout Northern California for multiple decades.
Tickets for this event
go on sale April 1. Fans can reserve their seats by calling (916) 773-7223 on April 1. Camping for this weekend is also available. To reserve a camping spot please call the track office at (530) 350-7275. It’s unclear the COVID protocols at the Silver Dollar Speedway.