Dale Earnhardt’s Memory Lives on 25 Years After His Untimely Death
Wikimedia Commons
February 18th, 2001 marked the 43rd running of the iconic Daytona 500. What should have been a celebratory Sunday, turned to tragedy by early evening. Dale Earnhardt was gone. 25 years later and the NASCAR legend’s death still feels like it happened yesterday. I remember watching on a tiny outdoor TV at our friends’ camp as we’d done for so many other races.
Daytona International Speedway. Final lap. Earnhardt sat in 3rd place with 2 of his team’s cars ahead of him – including his own son. Michael Waltrip in 1st, and Dale Jr. in 2nd. All he was trying to do was protect the win for his teammates.
Then the unthinkable happened.
