Fans respond to Earnhardt report
By Tim Packman, Turner Sports Interactive
August 22, 2001
5:34 PM EDT (2134 GMT)
KANNAPOLIS, N.C. -- As much as the NASCAR community was awaiting the results of the investigation into the death of Dale Earnhardt, so were the hometown fans of Dale Earnhardt.
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Danny (left) and Herb Cauble
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Residents of Kannapolis, N.C, Earnhardt's hometown, were vocal about the 324-page report, released Tuesday by NASCAR.
Herb Cauble, 53, runs Towel City Retreading in Kannapolis and provided tires to both Dale and his father Ralph Earnhardt when they started racing. He said he watched bits and pieces of the press conference and read some published sections of the report.
"It was a thorough investigation and I admire NASCAR for that," Cauble said. "They seem to say it (the fatality) came from the way he wore his seatbelts. I'm sure everyone wears their belts a little different.
"Bill Simpson's lawyer said they had warned Dale about that a few times. I still wish they would put some mandatory head restraint system on the drivers."
"I feel NASCAR did all they could do for this investigation and I admire them for wanting to make the cars safer. It's just a shame that it took someone of Dale's caliber dying to bring this investigation about."
There had been much talk of closure coming from the report's findings.
"I've always just thought it was just a racing accident," Cauble said. "The reason this got all the headlines to begin with because it happened to someone of Dale's stature. The headlines continued because, I feel, some people may have talked out of turn the week after the accident.
"They thought NASCAR was holding something back, they weren't holding anything back."
Down the street from Cauble's business is the Bar-B-Que Pit Stop. The racing-themed restaurant is adorned with years of drivers who've raced in NASCAR -- a large portion of the wall is dedicated to Earnhardt.
Randy Full, a customer at the Bar-B-Que Pit Stop, has been an ardent Earnhardt fan for years. He also kept close tabs on the investigation, and Full also watched the live press conference on Tuesday.
"They didn't tell us a lot we didn't already know in the press conference," Full said. "I thought they bailed out. First, by not putting the exact blame on anybody by saying it could be this, or it could be that. We want to know exactly how and why it happened.
"Secondly, they gave us tons of possibilities and, I think, they know what happened. They're a well-organized company that should have been able to provide us with answers."
Vinnie's Raw Bar is located on the shores of Lake Norman in Mooresville. Much of its regular clientele is made up of a variety of NASCAR drivers and crew members, as well as fans.
One such fan is Tim Campbell, a 31-year-old software developer and follower of Earnhardt.
"I think, initially, they (NASCAR) needed to get its bearings to figure out what was going on with the situation," Campbell said. "I think they did the right thing by coming out and saying, 'We're going to do an investigation and report our findings at a specific time.'"
"There was such chaos during the first few weeks after the accident. After that, once NASCAR committed to the investigation it was all good."
"Placing black boxes inside the car to collect impact data is a great step. Like an airplane, you really need something inside that car to tell you what happens in a crash. That way, you can take measures in the future to prevent fatalities."
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