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re: Today marks 25 years since "The Intimidator" crashed into the wall on the final lap
Posted on 2/18/26 at 7:32 pm to weagle1999
Posted on 2/18/26 at 7:32 pm to weagle1999
Dale talking about his helmet and stuff before the 500 happened:
0
Posted on 2/18/26 at 7:36 pm to stout
I was working at McDonalds at the time on the grill I had just turned around to check the hot drawers to see what I needed to put on when they broke in on the radio station we had on and announced in. Everything just got really quiet, like everyone's breath was taken away. I don't think I'll ever forget that moment.
Posted on 2/18/26 at 7:41 pm to poncho villa
quote:
I heard he was only going like 40 Mph
I was watching it live it didn’t look like a hard hit and seemed like a glancing blow. Was very surprised and disheartened when I heard he died. I’m not a big NASCAR fan but I like watching the big races on super speedways.
Posted on 2/18/26 at 7:43 pm to TigerFanatic99
quote:
Everything just got really quiet, like everyone's breath was taken away. I don't think I'll ever forget that moment.
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Posted on 2/18/26 at 7:49 pm to potent357
quote:
His head inside a heavy helmet basically snapped off of his spine. Car stopped going forward - his head did not. Fairly simple to understand. Hitting the wall the car came to a dead (pardon the phrase) stop. His body was strapped in and stopped. His head was not. It keep going and that was it. Thus the HANS device which now keeps this from happening.
I know. Like I said, i understand the physics. It just doesn't look as bad as it obviously was.
Posted on 2/18/26 at 7:53 pm to Iron Lion
quote:
My wife and I watch a lot of drag racing on YouTube and she asked me what those were actually called. I told her they should be named after Earnhardt.
I am not into nascar much but if I remember correctly some racers were wearing these back then and some weren’t. Dale refused to wear one. They said he would have walked away if he had. I think they soon became mandatory
Posted on 2/18/26 at 8:26 pm to billjamin
quote:
I am curious about the open face helmet comparability. I wonder if the issue was that the post anchors would spread the front of the helmet open. It would make sense. Have you heard anything about that?
Some drivers liked it because allowed them more freedom of movement while in the car. Pretty much the only advantage it may have had over the Hans. Smoke hated the Hans at first but when everyone had to use it, he got over it pretty quick. Same thing for a few other drivers who felt the same way, now it's the standard across the sport.
As far as the open face compatible issue that Hutchens was working on, I have no idea what made it different from the conventional model. Eventually everyone moved to full face helmets later in 2001 and it kind of became an idea that was no longer needed, at least at the top levels of NASCAR anyway.
Posted on 2/18/26 at 8:37 pm to stout
I was watching at the Bulldog on Magazine. Can’t believe it was 25 years ago.
Posted on 2/18/26 at 8:41 pm to Ponchy Tiger
quote:
I am not into nascar much but if I remember correctly some racers were wearing these back then and some weren’t. Dale refused to wear one. They said he would have walked away if he had. I think they soon became mandatory
Dale's biggest issue with the HANS was that it made getting out of the car more difficult. His biggest concern in the car was fire, and he was afraid that if a driver was wearing the HANS and the helmet attached, it would slow them down trying to climb out of a car in fire.
I was business acquaintances with one of the top guys at Hubbard-Downing (HANS manufacturer) and they ended up with a contract to supply the Richard Petty Driving Experience. He invited me to do the ride along at Atlanta, and I remember that those first generation HANS units were pretty bulky. I had done a ride along a few years prior when you just wore the helmet and it was a pretty easy in/easy out. The HANS did take a bit more maneuvering to get through the window.
Posted on 2/18/26 at 10:02 pm to N2cars
quote:
Basal skull fracture.
I think only one person had one in NASCAR and survived. A little known guy named Stanley Smith who crashed in 93 at Talladega. That was my first ever race. It was the first race since Davey Allison died in a helicopter crash, Neil Bonnett's first race back after a hiatus and he took down a section of the catch fence, and Jimmy Horton went over the wall in the same crash Stanley Smith was in. Horton famously said "you know you were in trouble when the first person to the car was holding a beer".
Watched the helicopter leave with smith in it. They said his car was full of blood too. He lived but never raced again.
Oh and Earnhardt won that race by inches ahead of Ernie Ervan in the old famous Kodak car that was a beast on superspeedways.
Posted on 2/18/26 at 10:20 pm to CleverUserName
quote:
I think only one person had one in NASCAR and survived. A little known guy named Stanley Smith who crashed in 93 at Talladega.
That race was basically a demolition derby.
Posted on 2/18/26 at 10:27 pm to el Gaucho
quote:
Really shows how far America has fallen as a nation I remember as a kid everybody in the country watched nascar
NASCAR sucks. It deserves to fall out of popularity.
Posted on 2/19/26 at 1:26 am to CleverUserName
quote:
93 at Talladega.
Was at that race and left after they red-flagged because of the crash you me tioned. Went to my grandmother's, who lived about a qtr mile from the Stuckey's at the Eastaboga exit of I20 right near the track and watched the finish on TV. It was a couple hours before they started back racing because of the damage to the fence and it was hotter than hell that day.
Posted on 2/19/26 at 6:16 am to stout
I remember watching that in computer lab at UGA thinking, that didn’t look good.
Posted on 2/19/26 at 6:44 am to stout
Wife and I used to never miss Talladega but she hasn’t been since his death.
A whole group of us guys from work would go to Daytona and we went till Dale Jr won it and then quit.
Just wasn’t the same not seeing that black 3 rolling around track.
Have a great picture of my 2 year old son at Dega I’m a full Dale suit. Had trouble getting into track for people wanting to take pics of him.
Love or hate Dale everyone paid attention to what he was doing during race!!!
A whole group of us guys from work would go to Daytona and we went till Dale Jr won it and then quit.
Just wasn’t the same not seeing that black 3 rolling around track.
Have a great picture of my 2 year old son at Dega I’m a full Dale suit. Had trouble getting into track for people wanting to take pics of him.
Love or hate Dale everyone paid attention to what he was doing during race!!!
Posted on 2/19/26 at 6:47 am to Rex Feral
I don't think I was paying attention to the crash but in the after coverage somebody had a camera looking into the parking deck when the ambulance came to the ER. Got him out and there was a medic atop him giving chest compressions. not a good sign. I don't know if that footage gets aired anymore.
Posted on 2/19/26 at 7:13 am to ThatTahoeOverThere
quote:
There are reports that Schrader said he saw blood on the wheel and Dale had a bone sticking out the back of his ear. So basically his jawbone went through his skull and his neck broke. Its got to be hard for Schrader having that vision in his mind all these years.
I'm watching that "The Day" mini doc posted on the first page now.
I also found this short on youtube about Dale Junior telling Kenny Schrader how he was glad it was him and how he's the keeper of certain knowledge and he respects him. It's a sweet, but gutwrenching thing:
Posted on 2/19/26 at 7:17 am to billjamin
They had to be going faster than that. I would guess 185-190 mph at impact. DE was wide open throttle and keeping up with the other cars. Just my guess. Sad day indeed.
Posted on 2/19/26 at 9:29 am to ChestRockwell
quote:
They had to be going faster than that. I would guess 185-190 mph at impact. DE was wide open throttle and keeping up with the other cars. Just my guess. Sad day indeed.
Estimates range from 140-180+. Those cars weren't broadcasting telemetry like the modern ones so it's hard to estimate how much speed the slide and impact scrubbed off before impact. I generally think it was probably in the 170-180 range.
Posted on 2/19/26 at 10:19 am to CocomoLSU
I like Dale Jrs podcast. I randomly came across the one where Dale and his brother Kerry met for the first time and retold tales of their lives and their relationship with their family. It was a very interesting podcast and the boys were truly funny together in their telling of the tales. LINK
Also the Dale podcast with his dads best friend Hank. That one was amazing as well. Hank knew Dales heart and was able to share some of that with Dale Jr. LINK
Honestly Jr has turned out to be a fantastic person, has a great personality, a smoking hot wife (Amy) who is funny as hell and just an all around good guy.
That time Amy revealed what she had whispered in Dales ear during a previous podcast that made him lose it laughing. He didnt know whether to be mad or impressed. LINK
Also the Dale podcast with his dads best friend Hank. That one was amazing as well. Hank knew Dales heart and was able to share some of that with Dale Jr. LINK
Honestly Jr has turned out to be a fantastic person, has a great personality, a smoking hot wife (Amy) who is funny as hell and just an all around good guy.
That time Amy revealed what she had whispered in Dales ear during a previous podcast that made him lose it laughing. He didnt know whether to be mad or impressed. LINK
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