Behind the Wall: The Intimidator

By Richard Tix

As NASCAR fans many moments stick in our heads forever. Whether is is one of our favorite drivers winning, meeting them for the first time, or maybe when they win the Daytona 500. Sometimes racing memories stick in our heads for no reason and other times we wished they would have never happened.

February 18th, 2001 is one of those days all NASCAR fans wished had never happened. Everyone held there breath when Dale hit the wall at the Daytona 500, but no one ever thought "The Intimidator," a man tough as nails, could have passed during that hit. The excitement was still in the air as Michael Waltrip won the race and Dale Earnhardt Jr, Dales son, finished second.

When the bad news hit everyone was shocked and as NASCAR fans we still are to this day. I still can not believe it happened, none the less, to a man who was as indestructible as he was on the track.

But today, 13 years later (now 15 years), we should celebrate his life and not his passing. The #3 is back in NASCAR this season which has had some mixed results, but I ask all the fans out there to lay this to rest at least for a day. Celebrate that we can remember Dale Earnhardt in the #3 as a Champion, Father, and great man.

The crash took a life from everyone too soon, but it also helped us in the sport move forward. NASCAR focused more and more on the safety of the sport more than ever and that is why we are where we are today in every aspect of racing safety.

When people ask me about the #3 and if it should be back, I have mixed feelings, but the number did not make the man. When Dale Jr think's about him he remembers him as a Father and I think we as fans should just remember his as The Intimidator and a great race car driver, man, husband, and father. No one can ever fill his shoes in the #3 but no one can also say what Dale would have liked to be done with the number when he retired. I think it is best to just let Richard Childress do what he wants with the number as long as it is respectful. It just takes away from Dale Sr the more we argue about it.

So on this day NASCAR Behind the Wall would like to just take a look back and remember the man we all know as the Intimidator, Dale Earnhardt Sr.

Dale Earnhardt Sr