Sterlin Marlin is Receiving Death Threats

[FettsBabe]

Sterling Marlin is receiving death threats over the racing "tap" to Earnhardt's car.

Rubbing is Racing, and Dale's care went out of control. There was nothing anyone could do to prevent the wreck. It wasn't a vicious attack or murder.

Everyone taps another car and Dale wasn't any different, in fact, he caused many wrecks, and I really don't think he would respect his "alleged" fans behavior. :|

 

[BigSmooth]

In the article at espn.com, he said the majority of the messages are now supportive instead of threatening. I think people were just overreacting and lashing out after the shock of Earnhardt's death. Sterling Marlin didn't do anything in that race that Earnhardt himself might not have done.

I just really hope they don't let someone else use number 3.

 

[DefRef]

Gee, a bunch of chaw-dribblin', one-toothed rednecks are gonna get their 'my excellent compatriot guns and whack a guy for a bump gone horribly wrong? That'll help improve the sports image.

Drivers should refuse to use #3.

 

[PG]

Live by the bump, ....

I don't want to say the rest.
It's terrible that he's gone, but how do people think he got the nickname "Intimidator". He didn't get that nickname by letting people pass him or by letting people block him. I'm pretty sure he never meant to hurt anyone though, and I'm sure Sterling didn't mean to hurt him either. Sterling must feel bad enough as it is.

 

[fdiskboy]

More idiotic blather from Red.

Exactly what one would expect from him.

 

[trmiv]

I can't believe people would do that. Ridiculous. Things like this happen in racing, it wasn't Sterling's fault. When you are racing for that finish line, things are going to happen. I knew people would say things like this, right after I knew Dale was dead, I'm glad to hear the NASCAR community has been supportive of Sterling though. The guy feels bad enough that he was invloved in it, he doesn't need people blaming him fot it. I hope he gets a chance to talk with Little E about this soon.

 

[warcleric]

Heh, yeah talk to Little "E"'s front bumper. Seriously though, Sterling drives with a style almost identical to Dale's. Put the two together on the last lap, it was bound to happen. I am positive Sterling would never have done it if he thaught Dale would have gotten hurt. It is just racing.

 

[NOX]

Damn, that?s part of racing, especially Nascar! WTF is wrong with these people, It?s starting to develop into a damn cult following, or was it always that way? Next they?ll be suggesting he is still alive, like Elvis.

 

[NOX]

Dammit!

 

[NOX]

Starting to look like it: They think it's Dale

 

[Viper GTS]

What the hell do they think they're seeing in that picture?

Looks like a damned rainbow to me.



Viper GTS

 

[FettsBabe]

I'm sure Dale Jr. will talk to Marlin. Its Nascar's fault anyway. They want closer and tighter races...when you do that...this is what you get



Even the drivers say this isn't racing.

 

[Midnight Rambler]

From some vid clips I have seen, it appears initially that Dale got the "air taken off" his car (likely rear spoiler). Then came the two different touches with Sterling. But the real culprit IMHO was hitting the transition point of the track, where the flat inner lane meets the banking of the racetrack. When any car hits this, with the left wheels on the flat and the right wheels on the banking, it instantly shoots the car up the track. This is not just a NASCAR problem either, open wheelers have the same problem. This is something that needs to be addressed as much as any of the other safety issues that are being discussed.

Also, NASCAR's rule changes had absolutely zero to do with this incident. That might be a viable complaint for what happened with the earlier big pileup involving Tony Stewart, but Dale's crash was a totally different scenario. Just 4 or 5 cars together, going for it on the last lap. It was nothing more than a racing incident which unfortunately turned in to something more tragic. Just like Greg Moore's accident at California in '99. Hit some fluid on the track and he lost control.

All the racing rule changes in the world could never prevent these things from happening. And it would destroy the essence of what racing is about. The only answer, and it is not 100%, is increasing safety measures, in both the equipment and the tracks. NASCAR seriously lags other motorsports by a long ways in this regard.

On the bright side, 41 orders were placed on Monday for the HANS device. Considering all the F1 and CART teams already have theirs, these are likely all going to NASCAR drivers. Between F1, CART, and others, now we are going to find out if the HANS really does work. The only way to know is to have it in use.

 

[The Wildcard]

what were the rule changes?

 

[ChrichtonsGirl]

I'm not surprised. For some godforsaken reason, when I heard the news I followed a link to a Dale Earnhardt fan message board, and literally an hour after his death there were already rumblings of a lynching for Marlin. I don't follow racing, but I can respect who he was to the sport - but FettsBabe is right - he earned his own reputation as "The Intimidator" by not being afraid to tap some other guy's bumper. I doubt he'd blame Marlin.

 

[Futuramatic]

Rule changes:

-45 degrees to 70 degrees on rear spoiler, with the addition of a lip pointing to ward the front of the car on the top of the spoiler... gives car more drag (slows top speed)

-Raised front valence 1/2 inch to decrease aerodynamics (more drag)

-Air damn on roof of car to increase drag

-Increased the size of the holes in the restrictor plate by 1/32 of an inch (about 25-30HP) to increase power in the engines


Theses rules were instituted back at hte end of 2000 season for Taledega. It made for a great race... much liek hte race Sunday, with the obvious exception. NASCAR wanted to make the cars more competitive without increasing top speeds, thus the increased drag and increased horsepower. Basically they cant go faster, but they have more acceleration to get out of draft and pass. It also bunches up the cars. Usually on superspeedways (restrictor plate tracks) the fields strings out within 15 laps... nothing like what we saw Sunday where the lead pack was always 20 cars or more. The leader was never able to pull away on Sunday. It is what NASCAR wanted, unfortunately, the more cars in one place, the more chance for massive wrecks, liek the one Stewart and most the field was involved in. I PERSONALLY do not think Earnhardt's death was a DIRECT result of hte rule changes; the change in the rules did not cause his spin. However, if the cars had been more strung out like previous years, there may not have been anyone near him to cause the situation that resulted Sunday from the intense competition.

I am still in tears. I cannot look at a picture of him without getting misty. Just to know the person he was, regardless of driving ability... the loss here isn't of a great driver, it is of a great man who was a faithful and loving husband and a role model for his children. It is easy to get up in the ramifications of his death on the sport and forget that there is a woman out there who just lost a husband and children who now have no father. He will be missed.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Futuramatic, well said. That is pretty much my take on things too. The new aero rules did not directly lead to Dale's accident, but had they not been instituted I do not believe that he would have been in such close contact with the other cars which is what caused the accident. Of course, had the new aero rules not been established, Dale may not have been engaged in defending Waltrip's lead. It is impossible to say what would have prevented the accident, one could say that the first accident (the 15+ car pileup) caused Dale's accident by causing the red flag and giving Marlin a chance to get back in contact with the leaders. There is no one cause of the accident, just a myriad of coincidences that culminated in a horribly wrong conclusion. I'll admit that my initial reaction to learning that Dale was dead was to with that Marlin's engine would blow in every race from now on (I never wanted the guy hurt though), but now I'm over that and looking at things objectively it becomes impossible to fault Marlin. I am sure that had Dale and Sterling's positions been reversed, Dale would have done exactly what Sterling did, and it was quite impossible for Marlin to have foreseen what would happen. Finally, that link did look kind of like a "3", but if one looks into the clouds long enough he can see any shape he wants to, so I doubt there is any significance to the "3".

Zenmervolt

 

[blurredvision]

Why retire the number 3 anyways?? Earnhardt was a great driver, and I would beleive someone else driving the number 3 car would remind us all of the great driver better than a simple logo on the turn 3 wall or something like that.

Richard Petty's number 43 wasn't retired, and neither should the number 3.

 

[GreenBeret]

Yeah but then richard petty didn't die racing did he? hmmm... it might be worth thinking about.