There will never be another Intimidator.
Pretty much any NASCAR fan will tell you that the sport hasn’t been the same since we lost Dale Earnhardt.
The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion passed away in a crash on the last lap of the Daytona 500 on February 18, 2001. And since then, the sport has undergone a series of changes that’s left it struggling to find that same magic that it had back when Earnhardt’s black #3 car was on the track.
Earnhardt scored 76 Cup Series wins over his legendary career, but maybe none more impressive than his final victory, which really summed up just what kind of driver Dale really was.
It was during the Winston 500 at Talladega in October of 2000. With Earnhardt sitting in 18th with just five laps to go, he managed to work his way through the field and take the lead on the final lap, bringing home what would ultimately be his final NASCAR win.
After his shocking death in 2001, the sport spent much of the season paying tribute to Earnhardt everywhere they went. I can still remember the broadcast going silent on lap 3 of every race of the season as fans in the stands held up 3 fingers in tribute. And the season produced several moments that ended up helping the healing process for everybody mourning the Intimidator’s death, including Kevin Harvick scoring his first NASCAR Cup Series win after taking over Earnhardt’s ride in just his third start.
Of course there was also the magical moment when the sport returned to Daytona in July, the first time the Cup Series had raced at the track since Earnhardt’s death. In one of the most emotional moments in NASCAR history, Dale Earnhardt Jr. took home the win and celebrated in the infield of the track that had taken his father just months earlier.
At the end of the season, Jeff Gordon won his fourth and what would be his final NASCAR Cup Series championship. But naturally, the death of Earnhardt still loomed large over NASCAR’s end-of-season awards banquet.
For the first (and only) time in his career, Dale Earnhardt was named NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver in 2001, an award that was accepted by his son, Dale Jr.
And when it came time to pay tribute to Earnhardt during the ceremony, country music superstar Garth Brooks was on hand to honor the legend.
Garth appeared at the ceremony to perform a moving version of his 1990 single “The Dance.” But ahead of the performance, Garth told the crowd that he felt there were other country stars who were better suited to honor Earnhardt, including Brooks & Dunn, who had featured Earnhardt in their “Honky Tonk Truth” music video years earlier.
“It is not an honor that I deserve to be here. There are people in my entertainment format like Kix Brooks, Steve Wariner that follow this stuff a lot closer than I ever would. I’m here to pay tribute though, to not the driver as much as a great man, a great father and a great husband.
And the only thing I know to do, I don’t talk very well, but in my songs hopefully we can get something across. This is a song from Tony Arata that’s dedicated to everyone that loved this man.”
As Garth performed with highlights from Earnhardt’s life and racing career playing behind him, the camera captured Earnhardt’s team owner, Richard Childress, fighting back tears. Michael Waltrip, who drove for Earnhardt’s Dale Earnhardt Inc. race team and scored his first win in the 2001 Daytona 500, sang along with tears in his eyes. And NASCAR president Mike Helton, the generally stoic and no-nonsense executive who had been the one to announce Earnhardt’s death to the world, wore his emotions on his face as Garth honored the sport’s biggest star.
It was a powerful moment at the end of an emotional season, one that changed the course of NASCAR forever.
There will never be another like Dale Earnhardt.