Ryan Preece barrel roll

[mowens]

Dale Earnhardt was using a sixties style single seat belt. If he was wearing the then current style seat belt system he more than likely would have lived.

From what I've read, doctors think he still would have died from a broken neck with no head restraint. His head snapping forward separated his skull from his spinal column, killing him instantly. Doctors think there was a good chance he would have survived with a Hans device, but, with the way he had his car configured no one really knows.

"It's the spot at the bottom of the skull, top of the neck, where the spine actually enters the skull to meet with the brain. Dale hitting the wall and having such a hard deceleration whipped his head forward so hard, it broke the skull around that spot and essentially ripped his spinal cord away from the brain."

[Del.]

I always thought it was strange they had a concrete wall there.