I am a little surprised but I hope with his decision it makes others stop and look at their own health and understand that there is a life after racing.
I am also hoping he ends up in the booth. The couple of races he was in the booth I thought he was excellent!!!
He seems like a genuinely nice guy. I had a chance to meet and talk with him once, and he was way more friendly and talkative then he needed to be. I was really impressed with how down to earth and cool he was.
I'd love to see him transition to road racing--- like he was doing before that fiery crash in the Corvette. I hate watching the "engineered for the big one" restrictor plate races that NASCAR holds. They are going to kill someone--- either in the stands, or in a car. It makes me sick.
Good for him for doing the right thing in the first place and stepping out of the car. He could have said nothing and kept driving if he wanted to. I do think this is, or at least should be, the end of his driving career. I don't see how he could get back in the car, given the known risks.
Joe, I totally agree with you. I love NASCAR, huge fan. But I absolutely hate restrictor place racing...if you want to call it racing. Every time it rolls around, I say to my wife "I hate these races, it's only a matter of time before disaster hits again. This is stupid". Hope they make changes before it actually happens.
OK I dont follow NASCAR much, what happened?
Dale Jr. suffered a concussion, had lingering side effects, had been sidelined ever since. Now he's made the decision to sit the rest of the year out.
Never met him but everyone that has mirrors what Joe sais about him. I am sad to see him retire but really glad if it means he is around for many years to come.
Klayfish wrote: Good for him for doing the right thing in the first place and stepping out of the car. He could have said nothing and kept driving if he wanted to. I do think this is, or at least should be, the end of his driving career. I don't see how he could get back in the car, given the known risks. Joe, I totally agree with you. I love NASCAR, huge fan. But I absolutely hate restrictor place racing...if you want to call it racing. Every time it rolls around, I say to my wife "I hate these races, it's only a matter of time before disaster hits again. This is stupid". Hope they make changes before it actually happens.
As if letting them run north of 250mph would be any safer?
I think this may be his third or forth confirmed concussion. I also have met him on a one to one basis and he really does take the time to make you feel very comfortable around him. Pretty much what you see is what you get. I also think he should probably really think about retirement. He really doesn't have anything to prove to anyone and I'm sure he would be just as well liked in another job related to racing. He has his own team and could stay involved if he so chooses. I'm sure he would like to win a NASCAR Championship before hanging it up but that becomes harder and harder and at what price with another big wreck which will surely happen. At first I think there was a lot of fan pressure to be like Dale Sr. but he has made it clear he is his own man.
He hasn't retired. He said he is looking forward to Daytona next year.
He should retire NOW. One bad crash and he could end up worse than he is now.
Jr. admitted he got a concussion after a wreck at California speedway years ago, but kept it hidden because he didn't want to sit out. That was just the culture of the sport at the time. The more we learn about the effects of multiple concussions make me think he's absolutely making the right choice. Getting a second concussion before another has fully healed can be deadly.
And although I hate to see this happen to him, I think it's great in a way that it's a driver of his stature making this decision publicly. With luck, it will mean other drivers won't be afraid to admit to a similar injury. Sadly, that probably wouldn't be the case if it were a less well-known driver.
iceracer wrote: He hasn't retired. He said he is looking forward to Daytona next year.
I'm calling it now, he'll be on the pole for the 2017 Daytona 500. 
I wonder if instead of restrictor plates they could just made them omit a pair of pistons and rods? Should only need a different crank and cam, and everything else could be like a 3.8L Buick.
oldopelguy wrote: I wonder if instead of restrictor plates they could just made them omit a pair of pistons and rods? Should only need a different crank and cam, and everything else could be like a 3.8L Buick.
I don't follow nascar that closely. What makes restrictor plate racing more dangerous? Is it because the cars are more evenly matched and therefore closer together, where an accident can take out more than one or two cars? I mean, it makes sense for closer and more driver skill and prevents the potential for 230+ mph speeds.
-Rob
In reply to rob_lewis:
They have a lot less power- 450hp or so compared to 750 or on the other tracks- so they have to stay on the gas to keep momentum and stay close to take advantage of the draft.. they go lap after lap inches apart at around 200mph and stuff happens..
Why not just take away aero until they actually have to slow down for the corners? The Michigan low downforce package seemed to work really well--they were flying (210 at the end of the straights) and no real problems that I saw.
In reply to oldopelguy:
We had to run a restrictor plate on the V6 Buicks in our Busch car.
On the concussion front, I had a few when I was younger that were written off as no big deal. When I was 34 I whacked my head while swapping the trans in my 300TE and I was sick for a month. The long term effects have been horrible and for the last couple years I'm very careful getting up and down, it's no joke and while I have no idea how bad his is I know mine is really bad and it scares me what the "next one" will be. Your head is nothing to mess with....
This is the second time Dale has benched himself due to concussion. If the doctors haven't already told him to stop driving, I'd be surprised. One more good hit and he might not be able to live a normal life. It's a rare thing to be out of the car for this long due to head injury, and decide to continue driving. As it is now, his biggest impact in Nascar might just be made as a car owner.
Will wrote: Why not just take away aero until they actually have to slow down for the corners? The Michigan low downforce package seemed to work really well--they were flying (210 at the end of the straights) and no real problems that I saw.
or switch to 7 wide tires to reduce grip...
Smart move on Dale's part, IMO. No reason to endanger yourself or your competitors.
"
I hope he comes back, but who knows.
The only solution to restrictor plate racing is to bulldoze Daytona and Talledega.
ncjay wrote: It's a rare thing to be out of the car for this long due to head injury, and decide to continue driving.
A good friend of mine that I crew for suffered a Traumatic Brain Injury in 2008, when he crashed his GT-3 car at Mid-Ohio. It took 3 years before the neurologists would clear him to race again.
This year will be his first Runoffs since before his crash.
The big difference is that Earnhardt is dealing with the cumulative effects of multiple concussions, while my buddy has only had one serious whack to the head.
Streetwiseguy wrote: I hope he comes back, but who knows. The only solution to restrictor plate racing is to bulldoze Daytona and Talledega.
Indeed. They made a kind of sense when the cars were bricks aerodynamically and were making 500hp. Now?
They don't run races at Avus anymore, either, right?
(The original track was 12mi long. And only one of the curves was banked.)
Streetwiseguy wrote: I hope he comes back, but who knows. The only solution to restrictor plate racing is to bulldoze Daytona and Talledega.
Just have them run through the bus stop chicane at Daytona.
z31maniac wrote:Klayfish wrote:As if letting them run north of 250mph would be any safer?
No one ever said anything about allowing them to run 250mph. How about (like others have said) taking aero off, making the tires skinnier, harder compounds, reducing grip. If the cars were loosened up, driving skill would keep the top guys at the top, and the others would fall behind Now every car in the field can run up to 185-190mph or so.....get all bunched up, and then they wait for the inevitable crash. That's what I mean when I say they are intentionally engineering for the "big one". NASCAR knows what they are doing--- there is nothing unintentional about these wrecks.
Unless they change the rules, someone is going to get hurt....badly. I think it's more likely to be a fan than a driver, and that would cause a chilling effect throughout the entire racing world. Think LeMans in 1955---- that's what scares me, and prevents me from supporting NASCAR.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1955_Le_Mans_disaster
We ran restrictor plates too. The biggest thing about the plates is that Nascar hands them out. They have your car number on them and are not a pick one out of a pile kind of thing. They fudge a bit on the plates depending upon who they want to run well. It only takes a tiny fraction of an inch to make a huge difference in performance. It won't make you a sure winner, but it will make sure you run well.
Back to the original post, I wouldn't be surprised to see Jr. retire. I'm with the he doesn't have anything to prove anything anymore crowd. Dario Franchitti was in the same situation from what I understand and he probably made the smart choice in his case. But I fully understand the attraction of wanting to drive. I suppose it depends on how much you are willing to risk. In Nascar though, you will have another wreck at some point, it's just how hard the hit will be and what angle. On TV, some of the hits look mild, but in the car they are anything but.
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