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Dale Earnhardt once said "It (racing) was always my dream and I was just fortunate enough to be able to live out that dream." Unfortunately, for Dale Earnhardt and many NASCAR fans, his dream ended on February 18 of 2001 during the last lap of the Daytona 500. Running third, behind Michael Waltrip and his son, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Earnhardt moved toward the bottom of the track, possibly in an attempt to block Sterling Marlin. The air flow across Earnhardt's rear spoiler was disrupted by Marlin's car, causing one of NASCAR'S most beloved icons to run his No. 3 black Chevrolet head-on into the wall. By the time his two team-mates crossed the finish-line 10 seconds later, Dale Earnhardt was probably already dead. His death came at the end of a dark 10 month period during which NASCAR lost not only Earnhardt, but Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin and Tony Roper.

From it's inception NASCAR has been concerned with driver safety, however has left most safety issues up to the teams and individual drivers. Their safety "mandates" were, for the most part, merely safety suggestions. Very few were actually written into NASCAR rules. For many years, NASCAR did not even require helmets or firesuits - they merely suggested that the drivers used them. Driver Todd Bodine once remarked that he could "get into a car in shorts and a t-shirt" if he wanted to. And according to driver Bill Elliot, as late as 2006 there were no NASCAR regulations requiring the drivers to even wear gloves. With the deaths of Petty, Earnhart and the others, it was apparent that NASCAR was going to be forced to take a more proactive role in safety standards. Though many of NASCAR'S safety standards are still just suggested, more and more have become mandatory.

Earnhardt, Petty, Irwin & Roper all died from something called a basilar skull fracture. In layman's terms a basilar skull fracture occurs when the body suddenly stops and the head does not. When these drivers crashed into the wall at speeds in excess of 150 mph, the belts securing the drivers in their cars restrained their bodies, however their heads snapped forward. The weight of the helmets intensified this effect. As the head snapped forward the fibrous joint between the occipital and temporal bones was severed. Though the HANS head and neck restraint system had been available for several years, many drivers were reluctant to use it, claiming that it was cumbersome, uncomfortable and made it hard to move. It does, however, keep the heads

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