By all that’s right and proper—and if God had been a bit more kind—it would have been the best day of Michael Waltrip’s life. No question, his victory in the 2001 Daytona 500 would have atoned for all those on-track disappointments throughout the first 462 starts of his NASCAR Cup Series career.
But what happened as Waltrip was winning that 500-miler overshadowed anything he had ever done before or was to do going forward.
As “Mikey” was taking his first checkered flag, his team owner, mentor, good friends, and professional inspiration was crashing in Turn 4 at Daytona International Speedway. In the blink of an eye, Dale Earnhardt was gone, killed instantly after contact with Sterling Marlin, then Ken Schrader, and finally the outside retaining wall.
It was confirmed afterward at a nearby hospital that Earnhardt was totally unresponsive when rescue and medical teams reached the scene within moments of the accident. A statement from NASCAR and hospital officials said the seven-time champion died on impact from a basilar skull fracture suffered when his head snapped forward when his car hit the wall. Doctors said there was nothing they could have done no matter how quickly Earnhardt was presented to them. The impact, they said at the time, was unsurvivable.
At first, Waltrip was told only that third-running Earnhardt had crashed within seconds of the checkered flag. With no reason not to, the (FINALLY! WHEW!) first-time winner went joyfully to Victory Lane for a raucous celebration. Later, beginning to worry, he did the obligatory media sessions in the press box and broadcast compounds. He grew increasingly worried when Earnhardt wasn’t there at some point with a long-awaited hug and handshake. It was perhaps an hour after the accident when he learned the horrific truth.
“The worst day of my life,” is how Waltrip described that Sunday afternoon and night to Autoweek. “It went from the best day to the worst, just like that.” Later, in a wide-ranging media interview, he added: “I think everything happens for a reason. If I could change history or change life, the hug I would have gotten from Dale after the race that day would have been the best hug I’ve ever had in my life.”
Now 58, well-known and generally embraced as a loveable but somewhat overbearing television personality, he was asked which comes to mind first when the 2001 Daytona 500 is mentioned: his victory or Earnhardt’s death?
“It’s definitely Dale Sr.,” he said without hesitation. “I think of Dale because that loss was way bigger than my win. I’m a Christian guy. I believe we’re going to heaven, and I believe when Dale Jr. and I drove off from Turn 4 at Daytona (running 1-2 and content to finish that way), I think Dale Sr. had a smile on his face.
“And if I leave this world with a smile on my face, I don’t know how many people can say that. Usually when you go, it’s not good. And when he went, it was really good. That’s where the title of the (2019) book and the movie (“The Blink of an Eye”) comes from. There’s a Bible verse that says if you believe you will be in the presence of the Lord in the blink of an eye. And I know Dale was a believer, and that means he saw his son and his friend going to win the Daytona 500, and he was in heaven all within the blink of an eye.”
Along similar lines … a writer for Forbes magazine once asked Waltrip to explain the emotions of that day. “There’s really no way to tell you what it was like,” he answered. “Nothing can compare. You think you’ve had the best day ever, then you start getting hints that something isn’t exactly right.
“It’s 30 or 40 minutes later and you still haven’t seen your buddy, the guy who was a big reason why you won. You start to ask questions and wonder. And then, eventually the news came to me that Dale had died. I don’t know how else to sum it up. It went from the best day to the worst day. Today people say, ‘What a bittersweet race.’ But I don’t remember the sweet part. When you sum it all up, it was just a hard day.”
Consider All That Had Gone on Before
Waltrip, 22 at the time, followed his famous brother, Darrell, into Cup in 1985. He was glib and articulate, an oft-time goofy, fun-loving, harmless extrovert much like ol’ DW. The problem was, he lacked ol’ DW’s driving talent. When Darrell said he was too busy to help Michael get started, the kid went go-kart racing on his own. He moved from Kentucky to North Carolina, and lived briefly with Richard Petty, who suggested he skip Xfinity and go directly to Cup. After four good seasons in the Darlington Dash/Baby Grand Series, he took Petty’s advice.
He won races and a championship in that feeder series, good enough to get a Cup ride with popular owner Chuck Rider. They stayed together 1986-1995 before Waltrip spent 1996-1998 with Wood Brothers Racing, 1999 with Jim Mattei, and 2000 with Jim Smith. He landed his dream job in 2001, signing on with Earnhardt’s well-connected DEI organization. That year’s Daytona 500 was his first start with DEI, teaming with Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Park in Chevrolets. As usual for the previous 18 years, Earnhardt Sr. was driving the No. 3 Chevrolet in his last race for Richard Childress Racing.
As for What Followed…
Despite losing its heart and soul in Daytona Beach, DEI kept racing through 2008. It used 15 drivers in those 13 seasons, four of them combining for 24 victories. (Earnhardt Jr., Park, and Waltrip combined for five victories in 2001 alone). All told, Earnhardt Jr. had 17 of DEI’s 24 total victories, Waltrip had four, Park had two, and Martin Truex Jr. one.
Waltrip left DEI after the 2005 season. By then, Park was out of racing due to a head injury and Earnhardt Jr. was driving for Hendrick Motorsports. (DEI shut down after the 2008 season; six drivers shared four cars that winless season). Waltrip drove one year for Doug Bawel, then fielded his own mid-pack team for eight years. He made a handful of what amounted to ceremonial starts from 2010 through 2016, then retired at age 54 after one start in 2017.
His stat line: four superspeedway victories in 784 starts for 10 owners between 1985 and 2017. He also won 11 Xfinity races in 279 starts and one Truck Series race in nine starts. In addition to his four Cup victories, he also won three non-points exhibition races, two Daytona 150-mile qualifying races, and races in the ARCA, K&N West, and Menard series.
But Wait … There’s More
• His victory in the 2001 Daytona 500 made Waltrip the sixth driver (to that point; it’s now eight) to get his first Cup victory in the 500. The others: Tiny Lund in 1963, Mario Andretti in 1967, Pete Hamilton in 1970, Derrike Cope in 1990, Sterling Marlin in 1994, Waltrip in 2001, Trevor Bayne in 2011, and Michael McDowell in 2021.
• Darrell and Michael Waltrip are among nine sets of brothers with Cup Series victories. The others: Terry and Bobby Labonte, Jeff and Ward Burton, Bobby and Donnie Allison, Tim, Fonty and Bob Flock, Herb and Donald Thomas, Kyle and Kurt Busch, Benny and Phil Parsons, and Brett and Geoffrey Bodine.
• Waltrip is among 36 drivers with victories in NASCAR’s top three series. He began the “Triple Crown” effort with an Xfinity victory at Dover in September of 1988. He then won in Cup at Daytona Beach in February of 2001 and the Truck Series at Daytona Beach in February of 2011.
• Not only was Waltrip the 1983 Darlington Dash (Baby Grand) champion, he was its Most Popular Driver in 1983 and 1984. All told, he made 33 starts over parts of the 1982-83-84-85 seasons, winning eight times (six in his championship season), with 17 top-5 finishes, 19 top-10s, and three poles.