Just because he thought he 'knew better,' does not mean he had to lose his life. And incidentally, Newman's accident was nineteen years to the day that Earnhardt died.
Logical didn't fit in Dale's world. Mounting points for safety restraints were already known to maximize the equipment's ability to correctly function. Dale didn't like those mount positions as they wouldn't let him drive in a nearly horizontal position ( Nearly equal to a gangster lean certain folks think is cool ). As a result, the Simpson Restraints couldn't restrain him. Literally slid under the harness. He paid dearly for his comfort and took Simpson with him as they were blamed for having a defective product. It took years for the lawyers to prove that the mounting points were all wrong at Dale's request, not because of equipment failure. Dale isn't here today because of Dale, sadly.
While people generally prefer to remain living, I do believe ol' Dale would have been satisfied to know he died in his car during a race. And heck, probably happy with the fact that it was the last turn of the last lap of the D-500.
That we will never know John. But I suspect that if he got to review the circumstances later from above, he was probably way pissed off knowing that something he had done hundreds of times before had such a devastating result that time. Dealing with other driver's reactions to his blocking had been predictable up until he was the receiver of that pit maneuver. Hell of a way to retire, at least he was in his element to the end.
Newman released and walked out of hospital: https://www.foxnews.com/auto/ryan-newman-walks-hospital-daytona-500-crash
Way glad to see it. And amazed. The toughest man to pass in NASCAR is now also the toughest to hurt too.
OK, Now that Newman is out of the hospital.. I Told You that HAMLIN would Win..... wish I had money on it..
Yup, you did. Don't have a dawg in the hunt - have mostly stopped watching NASCAR since they invented the playoff shtuff. Couldn't tell you who's drivin' any thing.
Hamlin was an easy bet. But he wouldn't have won if Blaney's push had been successful rather than turning his pushee into the wall.
Stupid Blaney. He was pretty torn up about this. Not crying like Joey after a Talledega crash upset, though.
Try this on for size: NASCAR, desperate for ratings the past decade, finds itself with a violent crash at the end of a race on a Monday that nobody was watching. This crash immediately went viral. To keep the hype going, they put the media on an information stranglehold. People talked about this for days. This was the greatest publicity that sport has seen in years, and they stoked it until they ran out of wood (i.e. Ryan said, ‘F this, I’m going home!’). Seem believable?
Not if they required the driver, at the pit, to hop out and pull the arm, to see if there's a pitting penalty....
