Today marks 25 years since "The Intimidator" crashed into the wall on the final lap

I just remember the ambulance leaving slow. Told me all I needed to know.

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I heard he was only going like 40
Mph

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north of 150. Those cars didn't have the telemetry in them they do now. It looks like a survivable crash from the video but it had some violent G forces. Really sucks he didn't have a Hans on because he would probably still be alive if he did. An entire generation of racers now use them and Dale is a big part of the reason.

I know the physics are the physics but after all these years I still can't quite envision in my head how that wreck killed a man.

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I know the physics are the physics but after all these years I still can't quite envision in my head how that wreck killed a man.

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Rapid deceleration with nothing more than a nomex neck roll on. Back then old school drivers thought the Hans restricted their head movement and didn’t like to use them. To be fair 1st gen Hans were a pain in the arse but not worth dying over.

Was there. Didn’t find out about the seriousness of the situation till we arrived at restaurant in Orlando after the race. Buddies with me were NOT DE fans and high fives when he crashed. They felt like total crap when they heard. Nothing watching it live indicated how serious it was from our vantage point. Always remember that day…..

never watched Nascar or any racing whatsoever but still remember what I was doing when that happened. My BIL turned it on TV. Dale was the only driver I could even name. The man transcended the sport.

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And an old-school open face helmet.

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I still have a handful of cars I tune for and one of them refuses to give up his open face. But he’s old and DGAF.

Meanwhile I roll into K1 with Hans.

From what Ive read. His seatbelts were not standard and he liked them lose so he could look around. He hit the wall square at around 160mph and his chin hit the steering wheel. There are reports that Schrader said he saw blood on the wheel and Dale had a bone sticking out the back of his ear. So basically his jawbone went through his skull and his neck broke. Its got to be hard for Schrader having that vision in his mind all these years.

If you've never seen "The Day" by Speed Network, it's worth a watch.

It's heartbreaking.

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His seatbelts were not standard

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They were standard, but outside of their "expiration date". There has been some speculation that Dale's belts weren't run loose, but wrapped around part of the seat in his car because of how they were mounted. When he crashed, that slack came loose.

After the wreck Nascar mandated that belts had to be retired 1) after a crash or 2) after their "expiration date". They also mandated how and where they had to be mounted in the car, something that didn't exist when Dale was racing.

He died from a basal skull fracture from the head movement. The blood on the steering wheel was from his open faced helmet. One of the safety changes made after the race was that all drivers had to go to full face helmets and hans devices. .

Since Dale Died, no racer has passed away in Nascar's top 3 divisions. Two years ago, Ryan Blaney suffered an almost identical crash to Dale's and walked away from it.