Driver may have contributed to his own death Enquirer news services Stock car driver Dale Earnhardt altered the seat belt in his No.3 Chevy Monte Carlo during last week's Daytona 500, possibly playing a hand in his death on the final lap of the race. But one source who saw the car after the wreck told the New York Daily News the seat belt failure was because of alterations to the safety harness ordered by Earnhardt, not because of a design flaw or failure of the mechanism. Another source confirmed the manner in which Earnhardt had the belt installed probably caused its failure.
Drivers often make equipment changes so they can be more comfortable in the cockpit.
Dale was so successful, he went through a lot of accidents, he had no real reason to change some of the ways he did things. The integrity of the restraint system was severely compromised by the webbing separating. Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon won the pole position for today's Dura Lube 400 at Rockingham, N.C., Saturday. Dale Earnhardt cannot be replaced. The Cincinnati Enquirer , a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper.