Media Coverage: Death furthered attention to the sport
Throughout his 26-year NASCAR career, Dale Earnhardt often made the media's job easier, whether it was through a jaw-dropping quote or a breathtaking move on the racetrack. Five years after his death in the 2001 Daytona 500, it can be said that Earnhardt is still helping the media -- every single week.
As the green flag flew Feb. 18, 2001, a new era had begun in NASCAR. It was literally the first Cup race day of a new six-year, $2.4 billion television deal that moved the league from mostly cable outlets like ESPN and TNN (now Spike TV) to primarily network partners FOX and NBC.
Sam Flood, who produces the NBC/TNT NASCAR broadcasts, said that alone began the sport's dramatic change.
"There's an entirely different dynamic when you go from being primarily a cable sport, like it was in the years before 2001, to becoming a network sport," Flood said. "A lot more people are paying attention and you as a sport have to be aware of that."
What happened at the end of that fateful February afternoon would make a lot more people pay attention.
Neil Goldberg, who spent more than a decade producing NASCAR broadcasts for ESPN and ABC before coming over to FOX to produce its NASCAR broadcasts, said the second Earnhardt's No. 3 Chevrolet hit the wall, he knew that one way or another, something big was going on.
"When you watch this sport long enough, you start to pick up on those type of things," he said. "We knew that it was a bad angle by the type of impact. We just didn't know how bad."
Mike Joy, who has covered racing in one form or another for more than 30 years and was in the FOX broadcast booth for Earnhardt's final race, says almost from the moment NASCAR president Mike Helton told the world that Earnhardt had died, NASCAR's relationship with the media changed.
"There used to be a lot of, 'This is how it is,'" Joy said. "Dale Earnhardt's death led to more of an openness about and from NASCAR.
"When we go on the air, we're much better informed of the how and the why."
Goldberg concurred, saying all the extra eyes that looked at NASCAR after Earnhardt's death helped change the sanctioning body's ways.
"The lines of communication became much more open," Goldberg said. "As the ratings grew and the audience grew, one thing that NASCAR learned is that sometimes no information is not always the best way to go."
The most notable examples are when NASCAR announces rule changes or makes in-race rulings. These days, it's not uncommon for Helton or NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter to come up to the broadcast booth and talk to fans directly. In fact, Joy recalled one visit by Helton after a ruling that crystallized the changing relationship.
"Mike Helton came in the booth and [analyst] Larry McReynolds said to him 'We've been expecting you,' Joy said. "It's far easier for us to talk to them."
Flood said he's also seen a change in NBC/TNT's broadcast -- one broadcast, in particular.
"It clearly continued to happen with the Hendrick plane crash," Flood said. "We worked very closely with NASCAR that day to make sure that the story got out when it was time for the story to get out.
"I think NASCAR has learned that when you become a network sport, you've got to work as a partnership."
Safe at home
One of the byproducts of the Earnhardt tragedy was an emphasis on safety that many felt was long overdue.
"We didn't look far enough outside the box," said Joy, who aside from his commentating duties has three SCCA victories and many test laps under his belt in both Cup cars and Craftsman Truck Series vehicles. "People were looking at the air crush zone on the car. Nobody was looking at the biomechanics of the human body."
Joy said that after the Earnhardt crash happened -- and the ensuing bump in viewership -- more people started looking into how to make the drivers safer over and above changes that could be made to the car. What came out of those brainstorming sessions were things like the HANS device and the SAFER barriers, both of which are now household phrases to NASCAR fans.
To Goldberg, it was a much-needed progression.
"The things we pay attention to at the racetrack changed after that," Goldberg said. "You watch this sport for months or years and you almost become immune to the danger. Now when a crash happens, we talk about things like the HANS device or the SAFER barriers and fans see how vulnerable these drivers are. You have that constant reminder that there's a reason these drivers can walk away from incidents."
Hot potato
Aside from his undeniable presence on the racetrack, Dale Earnhardt had almost an equal presence in the garage area. Whenever a controversy would arise or rule changes would be rumored, Earnhardt was always the guy that the media went to for a quote from the drivers' perspective. A garage leader, if you will.
According to NBC/TNT pit reporter Marty Snider, when Earnhardt died, so did the ability for reporters to rely on that one go-to guy.
"I think there was a little while where people looked for a garage leader and no one's really stepped up to fill that role," Snider said. "There's really no go-to guy.
"I guess Jeff Gordon became that guy for a little bit. Rusty Wallace became that guy for a little bit. I think the guy that's done the best job of it is Jeff Burton. He really knows how to break something down into momspeak -- so that mom at home can understand it."
At the end of the day, however, Goldberg said even without Earnhardt's presence in the garage, the seven-time champ continues to change the sport on almost a daily basis.
"The ratings got bigger after that race in Daytona and the people that got introduced to the sport after Earnhardt's death have, in large part, stayed with us," he said.
"Even with the loss of his life, Dale Earnhardt furthered attention to the sport."
