Life as a race car driver can be unfair and cruel at times. Every time race car drivers put on the straps and gear up for a race, they prepare to put themselves in the way of life-threatening danger. NASCAR has seen many such accidents in its long history, but the one which affected the sport the most is, without a doubt, the 2001 Daytona 500 crash.

The wreck changed NASCAR immeasurably. Losing arguably the best driver in the sport’s history was a disaster for the whole community. NASCAR legend and three-time champion Tony Stewart believes that there are two sides to one of the most significant crashes in racing history. On one side lies the loss of a driver of Dale Earnhardt’s stature, on the other are the changes that followed the gruesome incident.

“It’s always been that way”: Tony Stewart explains the positive changes after Earnhardt Sr’s accident

Tony Stewart appeared as a guest on last week’s episode of The Pat McAfee Show. A talk show that revolves around discussing various topics with various celebrities, the attention of the participants in the show gravitated toward Dale Earnhardt. McAfee indicates that when he tuned in to watch the documentary of the late Dale Sr, he immediately understood the importance of the accident in NASCAR history.

He said, “It was Earnhardt, right, that changed the entire scene of the whole thing. I watched that documentary, I watched that whole thing. You guys just kind of understood that this could happen at any given moment and that was before there was even the barriers because it just raced in a place that didn’t have it. And McGee was pi**ed you remember? He was so mad about it. Back in the day, you guys were just like daredevils.”

Making headlines at the time of the crash, Tony is well familiar with the effects of the incident. He implied that Earnhardt’s status was the deciding factor in the approach toward the safety of drivers. Prior to the incident, although driver safety was an issue, not many people batted an eye to the possibility of them being in a similar incident.

“Well, they did as much as they knew they could do at the time but then after Dale Sr’s accident, everybody really put a lot of focus on making sure how do we keep this from happening again and there were guys getting killed in race cars,” said Tony Stewart explaining the lack of awareness back then.

“I mean, it’s always been that way. But every decade the amount of guys that die in racecars keeps getting smaller and smaller and the injuries are smaller and smaller. I mean you still have big injuries, still have guys getting paralyzed, you have guys that have brain trauma.

“But the amount of opportunities and the amount of time that happens keeps getting smaller and smaller and the sport keeps getting safer and safer. It’s across the board. It’s not just NASCAR, not just Indy cars, sprint cars, and NHRA drag racing, everybody put a full-court press on how do they take the cars in their series and find a way to make it safer to keep these drivers from being hurt.”

Safe to say that it took Earnhardt’s death to completely revolutionize driver safety in racing. Just a year prior to Senior’s death, 2000 was filled with tragedy for the industry.

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Junior paints the NASCAR picture quite vividly

On May 12th, 2000, Richard Petty‘s grandson, Adam was the first of the three deaths that happened that year in a space of six months. A stuck throttle meant that Adam crashed into the concrete wall in New Hampshire in a violent manner. Driving for Petty Enterprises at that time, Adam’s crash provoked the people in the garage but the plan to reinforce the car never materialized.

The early 2000s were a dangerous time to be a driver in NASCAR. With everyone adopting the aggressive style of racing, having a fatal end to a race had a 50-50 chance. Earnhardt Jr has a fair idea of what transpired since his father’s death as he explained,

“Up until that point, when somebody had an accident and it took their life … you just thought, That could happen to anybody, but it’s not going to happen to me. You just went to the next race and ran the next lap,” said Junior speaking to Fox Sports.

Nine drivers lost their lives on the racing track in 11 years before Intimidator’s death. But one remarkable statistic is that from that moment to this day, not one death has been reported in a major race in the schedule. The sport has seen some horrific crashes in the time frame like the likes of Ryan Newman at the 2020 Daytona 500, but no deaths to mourn. It has been a significant step forward for the sport indeed.

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