[SSOOCH]

Ten years ago today the world lost one of the greatest Race Car Drivers of all time. We still miss you.....

[PQ]

It's been ten years?

Damn I'm getting along.

[Moose]

I was fortunate to have met him on several occassions.

I became a fan, watching this Wrangler sponsored Monte Carlo doing amazing things on the track...and then I learned about the driver, Dale Earnhardt. He could do things other drivers could only dream about.

After meeting Dale, and seeing the person he was away from the track, I became an even bigger fan.

I got to see him win the Daytona 500 in person, and I was there, listening to team owner Richard Childress calling to him on the radio after his wreck...I still tear up ten years later.

Racing died for me on Feb. 18, 2001.

But Legends never die.

Godspeed Dale...we miss you.

[SSOOCH]

I'll never forget when it hit me the hardest. My biggest hero is my Big Brother. He is a huge fan of motorsports and I owe all my respect for cars and everything Automotive to him. On the day that Earnhardt died I was watching the race at my house. After the race I tried to call him to see if he knew what had happened since they cut away from the coverage so fast. I could not get him on the telephone. I rushed over to his house. He was outside working on his 70' Camaro. All he said to me was "....he's dead". He was pretty choked up. It hit me like a ton of bricks.....and yes I still get choked up thinking about this.

[Moose]

I remember people coming up to me after the race (I still had my scanner on) asking if I'd heard anything...I took them off as I was leaving the track, and it was so quiet...it was surreal...

:(

[lordfriday2]

I remember turning on the TV and seeing that crash 10 minutes later....

[ArtfulDodger]

Originally Posted by Moose

I was fortunate to have met him on several occasions.

I became a fan, watching this Wrangler sponsored Monte Carlo doing amazing things on the track...and then I learned about the driver, Dale Earnhardt. He could do things other drivers could only dream about.

After meeting Dale, and seeing the person he was away from the track, I became an even bigger fan.

I got to see him win the Daytona 500 in person, and I was there, listening to team owner Richard Childress calling to him on the radio after his wreck...I still tear up ten years later.

Racing died for me on Feb. 18, 2001.

But Legends never die.

Godspeed Dale...we miss you.

Moose, I too was fortunate to have met the man on many occasions. He was indeed a great person both on and off the track, and as you said "racing died for me also on 2/18/2001.

[ljustin293]

wow....ten years!!

Moose, amazing you got to meet him, it was a dream of mine

[bigredbusa]

not to nit pick but its 9 years. Next year is the 10 year anniversary. Dale Sr is the reason I started watching NASCAR, the day he died all my stuff went into a box till about a year later when I could finally take it out and look at it. I still don't buy anything new, I find it a little tacky.

[PAUL SS]

I was at Daytona that fateful day watching the race from the backstretch. I ate dirt and smoke as I watched the underside of Tony Stewarts car fly by well off the track. At the end there seemed to be a small crash as Michael Waltrip crossed the finish line first. We only learned that that last lap crash had claimed Dale Earnhardts life as we returned to our hotel. Nobody could believe it, we were all in shock. Man, he was something else to watch race. Nascar has not been the same since.

[AZCamaroFan]

Sad. I remember it too. I'm a sports fan in general. Strangely, i had never followed Nascar before that. In recent years i've become somewhat of a fan.

[Moose]

Originally Posted by ljustin293

wow....ten years!!

Moose, amazing you got to meet him, it was a dream of mine

I consider myself very fortunate.

I've got a piece of memorabilia which I'm very proud of; I went to Richard Childress' "Open House" in '94, and I have a hauler signed by Richard, Dale's entire crew, and Dale himself. (My girlfriend and I waited in line 7 hrs., and not once did Dale leave the table.)


I was also fortunate enough to attend a car show at DEI, celebrating the Camaro, where I got to tour the race shop, and have lunch in Dale's 'Trophy Room'. Here I am in my SS parked in front of DEI;

[tightchevelle69]

i was in the front stretch right off of turn 4 that day. we knew something wasnt right when they hauled the car off the track with a tarp over the top of it. there was a lot of commotion around the car but we never actually saw him pulled from the car while it was in the field! sad ride home that evening.

[FANTA-Z]

I was there that day as well, and I was going to say its the 9 year anniversary not 10. I was right at the end of pit road about 10 rows up. After the Tony Stewart accident they stopped right in front of us during the red flag. I was and still am a huge Earnhardt fan and I had a million people calling me asking if I was ok after the race. It was a very sad day for me :(