re: Dale Earnhardt was killed 19 years ago today. The final accident report

As a result of the wall impact, Mr. Earnhardt moved generally forward and to the right from his rightward deviated position with the left side of his head leading and his head tending to swing back towards the left. During this response, the left lap belt webbing separated under load allowing a greater forward and rightward excursion and more significant contact with the steering wheel from the left part of Mr. Earnhardt’s upper body and potentially the left posterior portion of his head. During rebound, Mr. Earnhardt’s body moved rearward with respect to the vehicle and curved more and more to the left. Contact with the posterior portion of his head could also have occurred in this phase with aft structures rather than against the steering wheel. Mr. Earnhardt’s death likely resulted from an impact to the occipital scalp in the presence of neck tension producing a fatal ring fracture.