NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: For Drivers, Nothing Harder Than Giving Up Seat
Dale Earnhardt Sr. turned over his car in the 1997 Brickyard 400…
Tom Jensen  |  Posted October 11, 2012   Concord, NC
NASCAR Legend Dale Earnhardt Sr.. (Photo: Nigel Kinrade)
There is nothing more difficult, nor more unnatural than for a racer who has spent his entire life racing to give up his seat in a race car.

For competitors, nothing is more gut-wrenching and emotional than getting out of your car.

The most famous example came in 1996, when Dale Earnhardt Sr. broke his sternum and collarbone in a violent crash at Talladega Superspeedway. In the following race, the Brickyard 400, he was replaced after just seven laps by Mike Skinner.

After he got out of the car, Earnhardt fought back tears, not from pain but from frustration.

In one of the most poignant interviews he ever gave, Earnhardt climbed out of the car, waved off pit reporter Dr. Jerry Punch, who was seeking a comment. Then Earnhardt composed himself and told Punch, “Dadgum it, it’s hard to get out of there, Jerry. I mean, you know, it’s my life right here.”

Brian Vickers, after having the best year of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career in 2009, was diagnosed with blood clots in May 2010 and missed the remainder of the season.

“It sucks. This is what I love to do,” said Vickers. “I was laying the hospital and I probably wasn’t asking the right questions. Instead of asking, ‘Am I going to live?’ I was asking, ‘Can I race this weekend?’ That tells you kind of how I feel about racing. This is my life, this is what I love to do and I fully intend on doing it again. Being more focused and driven to do it better than I’ve ever done it before.”

Last year at Road Atlanta, Brad Keselowski had a violent accident when the brakes failed on his Penske Racing Dodge and he went head on at high speed into a concrete wall.

Keselowski broke his left ankle and wrenched his back in the crash, yet didn’t miss a race.

When he showed up at Pocono Raceway two days after his crash, Keselowski was adamant that he would not allow a relief driver in his car.

“I’m not going to get out; I don’t care how much it hurts,” Keselowski said. “That’s not going to happen. … I can tell you, I’m not getting out Sunday.”

Keselowski went on to win that race. “I consider myself a lucky guy to have walked away and be here,” he said.

Seeing another driver in your car is gut-wrenching.

“I'm really going to feel pretty odd not being in the car,” said Earnhardt Jr., who will not be at the track for the next two weeks so he doesn’t distract his team. “I'm anxious, real, real anxious just to get back into the car and get back to — I think you learn not to take things for granted, and I just hate that this has caused such a fuss.”

“Even though you know you're injured and you know you probably can't do your job as well as you should, or would be able to if you weren't injured, you just don't want to see anyone else in your car,” said five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson. “That's just the bottom line.”

Jeff Burton, one of the sport’s most eloquent drivers, agreed. “It’s a tough decision, and you tend to do it a lot of times when you probably shouldn’t from a performance standpoint because someone that was healthy could perform better,” said Burton.

“Being the guy that’s running for points, and driving the car, and having your name on the roof of the car, you want to finish it out even if you’re not 100 percent,” said Burton. “Sometimes it’s a character builder; sometimes you’re trying to learn something about yourself.”

One of the things that Burton learned was that there was an actual limit to what he could do. Back in his days with Roush Racing, whom he drove for from 1996-2004, impact from an earlier crash left Burton with vertigo he couldn’t overcome at speed forcing him to turn over his car to a relief driver in mid-race. “We’ve all been in that situation and we’ve all had to make that decision,” said Burton. “I had to make the decision years ago, but I just couldn’t do it. I had severe vertigo, and I just couldn’t drive. I could do it for a little while, but over a period of time it just got worse, and worse, and worse and I finally just had to get out.”

Thursday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Keselowski reiterated how difficult it can be not to compete.

“For any race car driver not being in the car is your worst fear,” he said. “It’s the nightmare that you have. … It’s your worst fear to not be in the race and that’s the competitive drive that you have as a race car driver.

“So, missing the show is terrible,” said Keselowski. “It’s just terrible to watch it and not be a part of it. It’s terrible to wreck out early in the race and have to watch it let alone to never be in it. It’s just a tough situation. I don’t know how to express it any different than that. It’s certainly not anything that anyone wants to see happen.”

A week after suffering a broken collarbone and sternum in a crash at Talladega Dale Earnhardt took the green flag only to drive six laps before giving way to Mike Skinner.



Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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