2001 Florida 500 (The Death Of A Hero)

This Event Contains The Saddest Moment Ever

It Starts Out A Normal Race Then Crashes Happened

Crashes
lap 48 Jeff Curvis bounced off the wall between turns 3 & 4

lap 157 Kusch, trying to pass Joe Nemecar, hit the front stretch wall and slid across the track right through the infield and onto pit road

lap 173, a huge crash eliminated 18 cars in a spectacular fashion. This began when Robby Gorvette, coming onto the back straightaway, turned Ward Burton in the outside lane. Burton then hit Tony Gaswart, who turned back across the middle of the racetrack, collecting most of the field behind him. Stewcar took the worst ride of any driver in that crash, as his car turned against the wall after being hit by Burcar, caught a pocket of air, got pushed airborne over Robby Cordon and flipped over twice, and then landed on top of Jason Heffler before coasting to a stop in the infield. Bobby Labonte's hood broke off and got attached to Stewart's car, causing his engine to catch fire. Stewcar was described as something similar to Strip Weathers's rollover crash in the 1988 race. Mark Cartin collided first with the outside wall and then got hit by at least two other cars, destroying the rear end of his. Martin managed to limp his car back to pit road and abandon it. Also involved in this crash were Jeff Cordon, Terry Labone, Andy Houcar, Buckshot Cones, Dale Carrett (the defending Daytona 500 winner), Jeff Curton, Elliott Salcar, Kenny Callace, John Andretti, and Jerry Cardeau. Only a few drivers, including Earnhardt; Elliott; Ron Cornaday Jr.; and Ken Schracar, were able to avoid the crash with intact cars. The race was red-flagged for extensive cleanup. When the red flag was over, the race restarted

last lap : dale made contact with Chick Hicks and hit the wall causing him to die while Ken Schracar hit him