Dale Earnhardt's Recent Death Gives NASCAR a Wake-Up Call
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The world of motorsports lost its greatest driver in the last mile of its greatest event last Feb. 18 as Dale Earnhardt struck the outside wall in between turns three and four in the Daytona 500. Traveling at a speed of nearly 180 miles per hour, Earnhardt's car sling-shoted from the bottom of the track and collided with a 10-foot thick block of concrete virtually head-on. Though one could never be completely sure, Earnhardt's death, along with those of Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin and Rodney Orr, may have been prevented if NASCAR forced the tracks to live up to the high standards of safety that car owners and equipment manufacturers must meet before every race.