Poor Stirling...

[Jay]

from TSN.ca

(Feb 20) MOORESVILLE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Sterling Marlin was only doing what he was supposed to do - battle his way to the checkered flag in Sunday's Daytona 500.

He was involved in a fierce battle for third place with Dale Earnhardt in front of his Dodge Intrepid. Marlin was on the bottom of the track with Rusty Wallace to his immediate right and Ken Schrader's Pontiac alongside Wallace's Ford as the field charged to the checkered flag.

Earnhardt attempted to protect his position and alsorun interference so the two cars that he owned - driven by son Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip - would finish 1-2 in the Daytona 500.

This was Marlin's last opportunity to make his move in the last turn of the last lap of the biggest race in NASCAR Winston Cup racing. Attempting to go low, his Dodge made the slightest contact with Earnhardt's Chevrolet.

It was enough to send Earnhardt into a slide that would end his life when his car crashed hard into the fourth turn wall. Schrader's Pontiac ran into the side of Earnhardt's Chevrolet as up the race track, Waltrip drove the Earnhardt-owned Chevrolet to his first Winston Cup win in 463 races.

It wasn't long before the shock settled in that Earnhardt -- the biggest star in the sport's history -- was dead.

The fallout has been ugly. Marlin has received death threats for his role in the accident. Team Sabco's race shop in Mooresville, North Carolina is under police security because it has received threats of violence.

Before Sunday, Marlin was one of the most likeable drivers in the sport. Today, there are Earnhardt fans who blame him for the death of their hero.

"I'd like to thank Michael Waltrip for his words during the NASCAR press conference yesterday," Marlin said in a teleconference late Tuesday. "This has been a difficult time for me and my family, and we appreciate the support and prayers we received from drivers, the NASCAR community and the fans. Please understand I'd do anything not to be here today addressing this topic. I think the focus should be on the Earnhardt family and our energy focused on offering support, however it appears, and based on reports the past two days, that it would be best if I talked.

"We got home Sunday night and the first thing you go in and turn the news on and some reporter is on TV saying that from the vicious tap that I gave Dale Earnhardt sent him into the wall. You just want to climb right into the TV and pull the guy out of there. We went on to bed and took the phone off the hook. The next morning we got some faxes. I don't turn the computer on, but people calling saying this and saying that. It could about drive you crazy, but from what I saw, it was a totally racing accident."

Marlin is as much a racer as Earnhardt. The fiery battle being waged was a trademark of NASCAR Winston Cup racing as the competitors had the checkered flag in sight.

"We got under Dale going down the back straightaway, me and Schrader, and Kenny pulled up to the outside to make it three deep going in," Marlin explained. "I'm on the bottom, and I think, from what I hear, that Dale's spotter told him that he's under you,he's under you. I looked at the tape. I hadn't seen it many times, about one time, but it looked like when you get three deep the closing factor is really a lot. It looked like Rusty had really pulled up on Dale.

"I don't know if it got him loose or what. All I know is Dale came down just barely a little bit we touched and it sent my car across the apron and Dale's too. He over corrected his car and went back across the track. That's the last I saw from where I was sitting, and that's what happened."

Now, Marlin has to look over his shoulder whenever he goes out in public, which is difficult considering he competes in front of 100,000 race fans nearly every Sunday.

He has become the scapegoat for NASCAR's greatest tragedy.

"I definitely didn't do anything intentional," Marlin said. "We were just racing our guts out on the last lap at the Daytona 500. Everybody was going for it. Dale's car just got caught in the middle, and I was as low as I could go. Whether Rusty got him loose and got him down into me, I don't know. You'd have to talk to Rusty Wallace. I've watched the tape one time. That's all I want to see of it. I don't know.

"Some faxes came in and what have you. Any phone calls I received or anything that has come in has been 100 percent positive. As far as the web site, I don't know. A lot of people can hide behind names and say a lot of things on the Internet that is not true. Maybe it's just people that are frustrated and looking for somebody to blame. There was definitely nothing on my part that did anything. I think it was just purely a racing accident."

Marlin had been on the receiving end of Earnhardt's taps many times throughout his career, including a celebrated incident at Bristol, Tennessee in the late 1980s. The two were fierce on the race track, and didn't exactly hang out with each other out of the race car.

But Marlin had a deep appreciation for what Earnhardt meant to the sport. "Dale Earnhardt was NASCAR," Marlin said. "He had a tremendous amount of fans everywhere. I think the shock of it... It shocked me. We didn't know it was that bad. Tony Glover (Team Manager) told me about the time we were getting ready to leave the race track in Daytona that it didn't look good for Earnhardt. I said, 'well, what do you mean?' He said, 'he's hurt pretty bad.' By the time we got to the airport, they came told us. I was in total shock. I've seen him hit and flip and tumble and me and himhave been in some at Talladega upside down and I couldn't believe it.

"It made you just want to go throw up, just sick at your stomach. You couldn't believe it could happen." Marlin has received support from his fellow NASCAR Winston Cup drivers, who believe he did nothing wrong and should not in any way be blamed for causing the crash that killedEarnhardt. Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip asked everyone to remember Marlin in their prayers because he is going through a difficult time.

"I've had an outpouring of drivers, NASCAR, fans, everybody," Marlin said. "Dale Earnhardt's people, Richard Childress' people. It was just strictly a racing accident. Things happen and people are going to look for somebody to blame. On a short track, you beat and knock and get by somebody, and they're going to pop you back. Them high-speed race tracks, you know you don't touch anybody because it's going to hurt when you hit. It's no way in this world I would do something like that knowing the consequences and put myself in jeopardy, too. I don't know how I kept mycar straight and kept from coming back up across the race track.
Somehow I got control of my car and finished the race.

"The reaction has bothered my wife and kids and everybody around you. If people would just go look at the tape, they could see. Maybe they haven't looked at the tape or just hearsay and haven't seen or know what went on. Your fellow drivers call and NASCAR calls and all the folks at DEI and Childress call and say, 'man just hold your head up. There's nothing you could have done.' It makes me feel a ton better. People just need to look at the tape. Hey, we were just racing."

Marlin will race at Rockingham, North Carolina this weekend and hopes the sport can overcome the loss of its greatest hero. Earnhardt's death has shaken NASCAR to its very roots. "I'm just kind of at a loss for words on it," Marlin said. "It's like I think Dale would want it. I think he would want everyone to go and be business as usual and give 100 percent. One part of you, you kind of dread going and the other part, says you crank that motor up and get ready for practice to start and it'll be a good time. You're in the car and nobody is messing with you. It's something that Dale's done all his life, and I've done about all my life. It's something you enjoy doing.

"It'll be on our mind all year, all the drivers' minds and fans and everybody the whole year, but we'll do our best to carry on. I wish we could have him back next week at Rockingham, and we'd race him all year, but we can't bring him back and we hate it, but it was just a racing deal."

I apologize for the length of this, but I thought it was something worthy of discussion. You have to feel sorry for this guy... It wasn't his fault at all...

[Joe Fan]

It is really a shame that some people blame Sterling. I think it came from the fact that he made some kind of statement after the race that he did what he had to do because Earnhardt was blocking. I don't have the exact quote but unfortunately it was taken out of proportion.

[Liz]

We hope this bunch of people will forget it soon. Remember the signs accusing DC of being a murderer because of his accident with TGF at Spa? And I'm sure there are people who still blame Mass for Gilles' death. Likely it's just people trying to find a reason for a tragedy that has no reason except the fortunes of war.

[Jared]

I certainly don't condone this, but don't think this is a NASCAR issue alone. Liz brought up several F1 examples, and I believe that if another car had caused Senna's fatal accident, that driver would have been accused of murder by his passionate Brazilian fans and who know what would have happened to him. So don't think that this is just a "bunch of fanatical hicks."

Sterling did say that by Tuesday, the hateful messages had subsided and were replaced by memos of support from Earnhardt fans.

Poor Sterling. I know this has to be tough on him, as well as Kenny Schrader.

[R]

If my memory serves me correctly, TGF didn't attend Senna's funeral because of threats from fanatics saying that he would be murdered if he set foot in Brazil. So he was blamed by some anyway.

I'm glad to hear that the hateful messages to Sterling has subsided. He did not deserve these accusations. When someone with a superstar status - like we saw with Senna, and now with Earnhardt - dies in such a tragic manner, many people feel the need to find a culprit. The magnitude of what's happened can become too hard to deal with rationally, and out of despair someone who really doesn't deserve to be blamed can be made a scapegoat. Most people will think otherwise when they have had a chance to come better to grip with the situation. It was - without a shadow of a doubt - a racing incident.

[Lee]

The individuals making these threats are not racing fans, they are losers that belong in the same class as low-life scum, such as, John Gearan, the writer that whote the article insulting the Petty family after Adam's death last year. Jim Rome, who insists on berating Earnhardt, and his fans on radio and television, and Tom Likis, the radio DJ that is just a common, everyday run of the mill a$$hole!