The Greatest Race - The Most Terrible Tragedy
Last Sunday I was all excited to have the girls see their first Winston Cup race, and I was very excited to get this shot of Hayley getting a good look at our long time favorite driver, Dale Earnhardt. Little did I know that the day would end in tragedy. It's been a week since the accident and reality is only now just starting to settle in for me, and for Amy, and for many of his fans. The Black 3 car will not be racing today - it will not be racing ever. Someone someday may get behind the wheel of a car painted with a "3" - maybe even a black car at that - but "The 3 Car" has run its last race.
More of my comments below.
Some fond memories that Dale and his NASCAR brethren brought to us:
As I look back at those scenes from two and three years ago, a couple things come to mind.
First, the thoughts of how much Amy and I enjoyed racing and loved to follow Dale came back to me - we haven't been to a race in a year and a half (we haven't fitted the girls with protective earphones yet...), and I'd forgotten a little bit of the thrill and excitement that we felt about racing.
Second, how eerie a couple of the shots in those old pictures were. In the pictures from July 1998 we got up-close-and-personal with Dale's car after he had bounced it off a wall and, of course, walked away unscathed, no big deal, happens all the time. We even remarked how thoughtful it was for Dale to wreck one of his cars so we could get so close to it - a rare treat for us. I see that incident a little bit differently now. Did Dale think it was just another wreck and forgot about it 10 minutes later, or did he go back to his trailer that night and hug his wife Teresa a little bit longer, thankful for yet another chance to beat the odds and see his family again? I bet on the latter...
In the pictures from August 1998 you can see we watched the actual race from the pits of the Texaco 28 car, driven by John Andretti. Shortly after that race that same 28 car was taken over by a young talented driver named Kenny Dale Irwin, Jr. Less than a year later, back in Loudon, NH, Kenny died in a one car accident during practice.
Everywhere you look in racing you see countless reminders of the exultation it can bring, but you can never get more than a few heartbeats away from the danger, the risk and reality of tragedy and death, that haunts its history.
Hug your spouse, your kids, your parents, and whomever else you love - today. Carpe Diem.