Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2001 | 11 a.m.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Earnhardt's true impact upon America's collective consciousness came into focus on Monday, the day after the seven-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion died of head injuries suffered in a crash during the final lap of the Daytona 500.
From his hometown in Kannapolis, N.C., to Daytona International Speedway, from New York to Los Angeles, from Indianapolis to Las Vegas, Earnhardt seemingly was the subject of conversation, tributes and makeshift memorials.
Even conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh devoted the better part of his show Monday morning to memorializing the racing legend. Virtually every radio station in Daytona Beach -- even traditional music-oriented FM radio stations -- devoted the bulk of their programming to The Intimidator.
But perhaps the most telling example of Earnhardt's immense stature came when the trauma physician who attended to Earnhardt both at the track and at a nearby hospital on Sunday spoke emotionally about the fallen driver Monday afternoon at a press briefing outside Daytona International Speedway.
Dr. Steve Bohannon had been stationed on an ambulance along the backstretch at the 2.5-mile superspeedway when Earnhardt's familiar black No. 3 Chevrolet crashed in Turn 4.
"When I walked up and saw what car it was and then looked in (the car) and the other physician who was in the car working on (Earnhardt) looked up at me, I could tell ... it broke my heart, what was happening," Bohannon said.
Earnhardt, who died upon impact according to the autopsy report which was released Monday, was rushed to nearby Halifax Medical Center and pronounced dead after a team of trauma specialists worked on the driver for 22 minutes.
"It was a very trying experience on my part," Bohannon said. "Most of the time ... we try and distance ourselves (from our patients) but this was someone who I knew ... and I knew what we were dealing with and it was very hard."
What Bohannon and the other trauma surgeons were dealing with was a larger-than-life American icon. That fact also was not lost on racing fans in Las Vegas who flocked to racing-related venues across the Valley to pay their respects to the Man in Black.
At Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Earnhardt raced three times during the Winston Cup Series' annual stop here since 1998, fans were lined up more than an hour before the track's gift shop opened to buy Earnhardt memorabilia.
LVMS general manager Chris Powell said Monday that the track would donate all proceeds from the sale of Earnhardt souvenirs to Speedway Children's Charities as a way of honoring the driver's memory.
LVMS officials also were finalizing plans to honor Earnhardt at the March 4 UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 Winston Cup race.
"I can say this: The people who come to our race will definitely know that Dale Earnhardt is in our memory," track spokesman Jeff Motley said.
At the NASCAR Cafe on The Strip, a hostess said people had been gathering at the establishment since Sunday night. Fans placed flowers on Earnhardt's show car at the restaurant and many signed a large sympathy card that NASCAR Cafe plans to send to the Earnhardt family.
At the Race Rock restaurant on Fremont Street, fans dropped by Monday to view the Earnhardt memorabilia, including one of his driver's suits and a helmet, it has on display.
Richard Childress, who had been Earnhardt's car owner since 1984, released his first statement in the wake of his friend's death. It read:
"Words cannot express the tremendous loss all of us at Richard Childress Racing are feeling at this time. All of our thoughts and prayers and deepest sympathies are with ... the entire Earnhardt family.
"Dale Earnhardt was much more than a race car driver. He was a very loving husband and a proud father and grandfather. He was a successful businessman. He was also a hero to millions of racing fans throughout the world.
"Dale was my friend. We hunted and raced together. We laughed and cried together. We were able to work side-by-side and have the success we had for almost 20 years because we were friends first.
"I will miss him always. He was the greatest."
Back in Daytona Beach, NASCAR president Mike Helton said this Sunday's Winston Cup race in Rockingham, N.C., would go ahead as scheduled.
Helton also defended his series' safety policies in light of criticism that NASCAR has not made it mandatory that its drivers wear the new HANS safety device, which is said to reduce the type of head and neck injuries that killed Earnhardt and three other NASCAR drivers in the past nine months.
"We are always investigating safety issues," Helton said. "It's an ongoing work in progress that everybody in the garage area ... (is) working on.
"We don't accelerate it, we don't slow it down ... we simply are not going to react for the sake of reacting ... we will do it when it's the right thing to do."
Michael Waltrip, who drove an Earnhardt-owned car to victory in Sunday's Daytona 500, said he planned to try out the HANS device during a test session next week at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Waltrip said the criticism most NASCAR drivers have about the device is that it makes it hard for drivers to get out of the car quickly in an emergency because the device is tethered to the helmet.
"I have been preparing to test it at Atlanta and see if I'm comfortable in it and if I feel like I can get in and out of a car like I want to," he said.
"I have a hard time getting in and out of the car without a helmet on because I'm so big (6-5). I've just got to make sure I can get out of there with a helmet on or look at the options that might be available of taking it off."
Waltrip also begged racing fans and the media not to blame driver Sterling Marlin for causing the accident that led to Earnhardt's death. Waltrip said television replays showed that Marlin's car made contact with Earnhardt's car, causing Earnhardt to spin and hit the outside wall.
"It's my opinion that that was just a racing incident," Waltrip said. "I want to ask that everyone keep Sterling Marlin in your prayers. Sterling didn't do anything wrong; Sterling was simply racing.
"When the checkered (flag) is waving, nobody is going to let off. When they rubbed, I'm sure Sterling didn't think Dale would wreck or he would not have rubbed him. They made contact, there's no denying that, but I did not see that being anyone's fault -- just hard racing on the last lap."
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