Dale Earnhardt's Death in Racing Crash Led to NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow

Daytona International Speedway's Last Lap Wreck Inspired a Design for a Safer Racecar

Dale Ernhardt died instantly from head injuries in a last-lap crash at the Daytona 500. Dale Earnhardt's racecar had slid into the wall while being rammed by another stock car racer a half mile from the finish line in the last turn of the 500 mile race on the 2.5 mile Daytona International Speedway.

Dale Ernhardt had been running hard in fourth place when he just touched another car at 180 miles-per-hour and was turned into the wall while another driver was unable to avoid running into the number 3 on the passenger side of the stockcar racer.

Dale Ernhardt had won the Daytona 500 in 1998 after going end-over-end in the backstretch at the end of the 1997 race. Dale Earnhardt was an aggressive driver and was known for bumping other drivers so he could get by them at the triple-digit-speeds on the high-banked track at Daytona International Speedway.

Three other NASCAR drivers had lost their lives during races in 2001. Dale Earnhardt's death though, was the greatest shock to his millions of fans and to the executives of NASCAR who were concerned about the effects of increasing speeds and the fragility of the racecars on the future of the sport.

Dale Earnhardt's death during the premiere race of the NASCAR season has created a new emphasis on driver and racetrack safety in NASCAR'S executive offices, requiring strict seatbelt inspections and led to NASCAR Research and Development's design and fabrication of the Car of Tomorrow which will incorporate safety innovations that have been developed in the ensuing six years since Dale Ernhardt's race fatality.

There was an investigation concerning the seatbelt supplied by the Simpson equipment company but there was no conclusive evidence of equipment failure in the death of Dale Ernhardt. Hundreds of American companies supply NASCAR car builders, many of them located in the new motor city area of California as Simpson is.