When Dale Earnhardt died in a NASCAR crash at Daytona in 2001 it changed everything about the sport. Charles Bradley looks back over a decade in America's biggest motor sporting enterprise.

The start of the new millennium will always be remembered for the day NASCAR lost its Elvis.

When Dale Earnhardt was killed on February 18 2001, in an innocuous-looking trip into the wall at Turn 4 with Ken Schrader as tried to protect a 1-2 for his own team of Michael Waltrip and Dale Jr on the final lap of the Daytona 500, NASCAR's leading light was extinguished. His end was as quick as the man himself, and the resonance of his loss was felt just as Ayrton Senna's had been in Formula 1 at Imola in 1994.

To continue reading this feature...

You must have an AUTOSPORT subscription. Prices start from just $1.43 per week and give you full unrestriced access to all PLUS features. View package options? Magazine subscriber?

Online subscription

from just

$1.43

per week

• Unrestricted access to all PLUS features
• View website in ad-free environment
• Full F1 stats since 1950 in FORIX

View all package options