Earnhardt crash and surgery last year

[John B]

An unbelieveable week winds down. Even in the Northeast the story is still headlines, not just of sports but overall.

Anyway, something caught my eye today - I was flipping through a season preview which featured a profile on the Earnhardts and mentioned Srs wreck at Atlanta in 1999 which left him in considerable discomfort and neck pain. I didn't know he had had surgery on a couple neck vertebra before last season.

I'm assuming there is no possible correlation between the first accident/surgery and Sunday's wreck?

[Joe Fan]

John, I thought the same thing when they talekd about Earnhardt's neck problem. I wasn't aware that he had surgery either. This does make me wonder especially after that Ward Burton crash in 1997 which was much like Dale's. Another thing that makes me wonder is his age. I know that he worked out but not to the extent that Gordon and Martin does. As we age, we tend lose muscle mass naturally. I don't think that this probably was much of a factor but could the neck injury along with some weaker neck muscles (compared to a younger driver) played a role?

Also, someone on another BB said Ken Schrader had a similar crash in one of the Daytona 125s either in 1999 or 2000.