Marlin Defends Last-Lap Maneuver in Wake of Threats

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Stock car star Dale Earnhardt had made his home here and this small town 20 miles northeast of Charlotte has been experiencing divergent reactions to the death of its favorite son.

While thousands of fans streamed to Earnhardt’s team headquarters, leaving a 150-foot-long trail of mementos and tributes to the fallen champion, countless others were phoning and e-mailing threats against Sterling Marlin to car owner Chip Ganassi’s nearby racing shop.

Earnhardt was killed on the last turn of the last lap Sunday in the Daytona 500, slamming into the concrete wall after his car had been tapped by Marlin’s in a tight pack of five cars fighting for position.

Marlin, speaking from his home in Columbia, Tenn., said he “definitely didn’t do anything intentional” and that it was “pure luck” he hadn’t crashed too.

“Maybe people are frustrated and just looking for somebody to blame,” said Marlin, a two-time Daytona 500 winner and longtime friend of Earnhardt. “I’d do anything to not . . . address this subject.

“If people just come back to their senses, listen to what everybody’s saying and watch the tape, that’s all I ask. . . . We were just racing our guts out on the last lap of the Daytona 500.

“I’ve only seen the tape once, but from what I saw, it was a totally racing accident. Kenny [Schrader, running to the outside of Earnhardt’s car,] pulled up to make it three-deep going in, with me on the bottom.

“Some other guys were closing fast and I think Rusty [Wallace] got up on him and got him loose. Dale and my car barely touched, and it sent my car across the apron, and Dale’s too. He over-corrected and then I didn’t see him again.”

Marlin somehow kept his car going straight and went on to finish fifth.

“It was pure luck I caught it,” he said. “When you run across the apron at Daytona at 180 mph, you usually don’t come back.”

Ganassi spokeswoman Gigi Liberati said of the threats, “You have to look at every threat as serious. I obviously can’t go into detail about what will be done, but there will be precautions.”

A patrolman was on duty outside the Ganassi race shop Tuesday.

Meanwhile, at Dale Earnhardt Inc., employees were back at work, preparing for Sunday’s race at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, and state police estimated that 10,000 fans had stopped by Tuesday, matching Monday’s outpouring. It also was announced that Dale Earnhardt Jr. will race this weekend.

Earnhardt’s family was at the complex too, planning the funeral. It will be held Thursday in Charlotte at Calvary Church, which seats 5,800 on three levels and features huge video screens inside. Family, friends and racing personnel will attend but the service will not be open to the public.

“Because it is impossible to accommodate the tremendous outpouring of support from those who followed Dale, we are unable to open the service to the public,” NASCAR said in a statement.

“With that in mind the family has chosen to broadcast the service live on television, enabling fans across the country to share in this service for Dale.”

Fox Sports Net will carry the coverage (8-10 a.m., PST, the actual service beginning at 9).

At Hampton, Ga., a memorial service at Atlanta Motor Speedway drew 3,500 in rainy weather.

In another tribute to Earnhardt, flags flew at half-staff and more than a dozen bouquets were scattered in front of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Earnhardt had driven in every Brickyard 400 and won the second NASCAR race at the famed track in 1995.

“The loss of Dale Earnhardt is an unbelievable and devastating tragedy to his family, his many fans and to the sport of auto racing,” speedway president Tony George said.