Back in his heyday, the late Dale Earnhardt was well-known for his fierce rivalries. Among them is his legendary rivalry with Hendrick Motorsports star, Jeff Gordon. The #24 driver burst onto the NASCAR Cup scene in 1992, right when Earnhardt was in his prime. So when a new challenger approached Earnhardt, sparks were definitely going to fly between the two.

Their rivalry reached its zenith in 1993, thanks to an incident between them. However, it was also worth mentioning that Ken Schrader was involved too. Speaking about that incident, nearly a year later, Dale Earnhardt spoke about his biggest takeaways. Aside from learning a lesson on not colliding with two teammates, he also acknowledged that life was too short for grudges.

A prime example of this was Ernie Irvan, who had a bit of a reputation. He was notorious for being an aggressive driver and earned himself the nickname, ‘Swervin Irvan.’ Safe to say, he was a perennial thorn in the side for many drivers. However, all the hate towards him, died a swift death when he had a horrific accident that gave him a head injury.

Dale Earnhardt leaves it all on the track

Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, and Ken Schrader were seen in a post-race interview uploaded by ‘nascarclassics’ on Instagram. The three good friends were seen laughing and joking about Phoenix Raceway after the race in 1994. The race was won by Mark Martin while Jeff Gordon finished in 4th place and Dale Sr. in a lowly 40th place. In their conversation, Gordon was reminded of how Earnhardt wrecked him at Phoenix last year, to which Gordon said, “I don’t think I can ever forget last year, but I forgive (him). We race each other real hard and things happen out there.”

Recollecting the incident and what he learned from it, Dale Sr. said, “I learned something from it. I got into [Ken] Schrader earlier, we got together and Schrader wrecked and I was racing [Jeff] Gordon later. Got into him and he wrecked, learned that you can’t wreck two team cars in one time, they’ll team up on you. Them guys are pretty neat guys, the whole group really, the whole bunch of us racers. Everybody races fairly clean, it gets out of hand, once in a while but that’s just cause of hard racing and tempers.” However, one crash that didn’t sit right with Dale Earnhardt Sr. was that of Ernie Irvan.

Earnhardt highlighted the difference between a wreck borne out of hard racing that doesn’t injure anyone and a freak incident like what happened to Ernie Irvan in 1994 at Michigan Speedway. “After the race, everybody gets over it. Somebody gets hurt like Ernie did and everybody pulls together. Over a year ago, everybody was badmouthing him. Now we want to see him back. He’s doing really good in the championship, he and I was having a great race, when he got hurt. I hate to see that.“

During practice for the race, Irvan’s Ford Thunderbird cut a tire and slammed into the wall. The injuries were so bad that Doctor Johan Miano had to perform an emergency tracheotomy inside the car to stop Irvan from drowning in his blood. Irvan suffered a traumatic brain injury, a skull fracture, and chest injuries. Irvan’s rehab was long and extensive. However, he returned to the race car in late 1995, competing in three races for Robert Yates Racing and finishing 6th, 40th, and 7th.

Remember, motor racing is still dangerous and there is a real risk of fatalities. In 1994 itself, there were two fatalities during the same weekend, Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr. Both incidents took place during the practice session for the Daytona 500. Since then, Kenny Irwin Jr would pass away in 2000 at New Hampshire during practice, and Dale Earnhardt himself in 2001 at the Daytona 500. These fatalities brought about a voice of change.

Dale Earnhardt’s passing ushered in a new era for safety

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in the 2001 Daytona 500, the NASCAR world came to a halt. The legendary Dale Earnhardt Sr. was involved in a last-lap crash with Ken Schrader, which took his life. Earnhardt’s death was the fourth in less than a year across NASCAR’s national series. In 2000, Tony Roper, Adam Petty, and Kenny Irwin all died of the same injury as Earnhardt — basilar skull fractures.

Since then, NASCAR has revamped safety like never before, to ensure something like that never happened again on the race track. In 2001, NASCAR mandated drivers use HANS (Head And Neck Support restraint) devices. The HANS device allows the head and body to move in sync, preventing a whiplash effect. In 2002, concrete walls were replaced with energy-absorbing barriers which softened the blow for drivers. These two changes were landmarks in motorsport as they safeguarded their drivers while not compromising on the speed of the sport.

“The impact that he has had after his death on the safety of this sport has been something that’s just far greater than would have happened with anybody else,” said Kevin Harvick, the 2014 champion who replaced Earnhardt at Richard Childress Racing. The demise of a 7-time champion is not a hole that any sport can fill, but preventing the hole from forming again is what NASCAR did. Since Dale Sr., no driver has ever passed away on the race track.