I lived in a small apartment over a garage in 2001. The hubby was out and the three year old was at his grandparents, so I was chilling at home and turned on Daytona with only a few laps to go.
I saw the crash, and will never forget how surreal it was listening to DW excited for his brother, and in shock at what happened to Dale. I ran to the computer and refreshed CNN for hours until the awful truth was released.
Rusty Wallace was my guy, so I had vitriol for Dale for decades, but I’m not heartless. And even up here in Central New York Big E’s fandom was immense.
23 years is a long time, and also the blink of an eye.