Earnhardt remembered

Ironically, the man who could not bring himself to attend a funeral had thousands of family, friends and racers attend his memorial service on Thursday.

It was a grim day, befitting of the occasion. The streets were icy, the skies grey and the air damp as thousands of mourners quietly filed into Calvary Church in south-east Charlotte to say farewell to a sporting icon, an American original.

Dale Earnhardt was eulogized in song, sermon and scripture on Thursday as more than 5000 invited guests attended a memorial service at North Carolina's largest church to pay their last respects to one of motorsport's greatest champions.

It also brought home the finality that NASCAR's greatest hero was gone.

"This is just a very bad day for everyone," said Tommy Houston, Earnhardt's brother-in-law - the brother of Earnhardt's widow, Teresa. "We never thought a day like this would ever happen, but now it's here."

Junior Johnson, a legendary former driver and team owner couldn't believe the reality that the sport's greatest driver was dead.

"It's very sad," Johnson said. "His death will really effect the sport. For the past few years, NASCAR has tried to portray itself as fun and games and forgot that it was really serious business.

"Dale Earnhardt's death proves that this sport isn't fun and games."

Even drivers from other racing series were awestruck at the impact of Earnhardt's death. Tommy Kendall is a sports car racer who holds the SCCA Trans-Am Series record for most wins in a season. Kendall has competed in several Winston Cup races on road courses and even tried out in a Petty Enterprises Pontiac in 1992 when he was being considered as the driver after Richard Petty retired.

Kendall flew in from Manhattan Beach, California to pay his last respects to his hero.

"In our own little circle, race drivers are heroes to one group of fans and friends or another," Kendall said. "But Earnhardt was the hero to the heroes. We all worshipped, respected and feared Dale Earnhardt. I don't care if you were Al Unser Jr or Jeff Gordon or Dale Jarrett or whoever, Dale Earnhardt was the driver that we all looked at as our hero.

"What his death has done is expose all of the raw edges that still exist in this sport. And believe me, there are plenty of raw edges here."

Earnhardt was the one driver in all of racing who appeared invincible, which is why his death has been so hard to accept.

"It's like discovering that bullets don't bounce off Superman's chest," Kendall said.

Thursday's service was a much larger version of a similar ceremony held on Wednesday morning at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Mooresville, North Carolina for the Earnhardt family before the NASCAR legend was laid to rest at an undisclosed location.

Earnhardt, a seven-time Winston Cup champion, was killed on Sunday in a crash in the final turn of the final lap of the 43rd Daytona 500.

Randy Owen, lead singer for the country group Alabama, sang two songs and NASCAR chaplain Dale Beaver delivered the eulogy that praised Earnhardt as a loving and caring family man.

Forty-five busloads of mourners attended the service and police tightly controlled traffic around the church. To discourage the public from coming to the church, no parking was provided for anyone who did not have an invitation to the service.

Standing near the altar bedecked with hundreds of floral arrangements, including two red-and-white arrangements shaped in Earnhardt's familiar number three, Owen began the service with a song he had especially written for the Earnhardt family.

After Rev. John Cozart of St. Mark's Lutheran Church read from scripture, Beaver delivered a 10-minute eulogy in which he described how his fear of meeting Earnhardt for the first time was quickly softened by the NASCAR champion's concern for his children.

"I want everyone to tell a story about Dale Earnhardt, and I'm sure you all have one, and then laugh," Beaver said. "Dale would be happy that we would be laughing about him."

Beaver recalled his own first meeting with Earnhardt. Members of Motor Racing Outreach, which serves as the ministry to NASCAR, were planning a camping trip at Pocono, Pennsylvania for the children and Beaver was told he had to get Earnhardt to sign a parental permission slip.

Afraid to introduce himself to the racing legend, who was known as "The Intimidator" on the track, Beaver asked Earnhardt's public relations handler, J.R. Rhodes to get the signature.

Rhodes returned with the permission slip unsigned and Beaver was told that Earnhardt was in the Richard Childress Racing transporter eating lunch and wanted to see him personally.

"I expected to find a person eating a bear, but instead I saw a man eating an orange and in a warm manner he invited me in to meet him," Beaver recalled. "He was concerned about his child. He wanted to know our intentions about his daughter, Taylor, going on the camping trip. I walked out of there getting a lesson in parenthood. They grow up fast and you need to spend as much time with them as you can.

"I knew when I walked out of that room that I had been in the presence of greatness."

All of the employees of Dale Earnhardt Inc, which owns the car for Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip, Earnhardt's son and second-place Daytona 500 finisher Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Steve Park, all filed into the church dressed with the same black shirt. The DEI logo was on the left breast pocket of every shirt.

Sterling Marlin, the driver whose Dodge made contact with Earnhardt's Chevrolet that resulted in the fatal crash, attended the service along with other fellow Winston Cup drivers.

NASCAR and CART team owner Roger Penske and his wife Cathy were already seated in the section reserved for Winston Cup team owners and drivers.

NASCAR's founding France family, along with NASCAR president Mike Helton, took their seats before a North Carolina Highway Patrol Honor Guardsman escorted Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, and youngest daughter, Taylor, to their seats to begin the ceremony.

Owens concluded a song that he had written for the memorial service with the words, "That one word hurts so bad when you lose the friend you had.... Goodbye until then."

Beaver closed his sermon by saying, "God grants them a safe race, but sometimes he doesn't. Jesus did not intervene, so that we will all see and experience his greater glory." He recalled the story or Lazarus and said: "Unwrap him and let him go. When I walked that day in the presence of greatness, I met with a person and discovered a flower."

Owens closed with a song entitled "Angels Among Us." The ceremony concluded when Earnhardt's widow was escorted to the podium and through broken words said thank you to the crowd before crossing herself.

Dale Earnhardt is gone and has created a void in NASCAR which may never be replaced. And those who remembered him can't believe he's gone.

"For all those people who say Dale Earnhardt died doing what he wanted, that's just bull," Johnson said. "I know when I raced I never wanted to die in a race car and I'm sure Dale Earnhardt didn't want to die that way either."

US President George W Bush released the following statement prior to the memorial service: "I have asked my close friend Joe Allbaugh to attend today's memorial service for Dale Earnhardt. I am saddened by the untimely loss of this American legend and want to express my deepest sympathy to his family, friends and fans. Dale was an American icon who made great contributions to his sport. Dale's legacy will live on for millions of Americans. He was an inspiration to many."