But not always. And so it was on a Sunday afternoon in Daytona, when the time came for a giant. Other sports do not see days like this. Not days when a champion is out there in front of his roaring true believers, his black No. 3 as familiar as their own birthdays. In the NFL, they talk of sudden death.
Auto racing knows.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished second in the Daytona 500 Sunday. Auto racing is accustomed to mourning its dead and comforting its survivors and healing its wounds. It has taken genuine and heartfelt heroes to move the masses. What happens now is some soul searching. But then life and the sport go on.