I'll be honest about the first thing I think about when I hear the name "Ken Shrader"...
That is, that he was wrapped up with #3 at Daytona into the wall on that fateful day.
I actually still watched a NASCAR race once in a while in those days (haven't for a long
time now since, though) and I was watching when that all came down.
First thing I noticed on the screen that day was how quickly Ken got out of his car and got over
to Earnhardts', even though he surely must have been still reeling from his own wrecking...
and if you watch video of it now, you'll see he isn't there for long, turning away and frantically
motioning for help for Dale after initially trying to get the window net down himself.
That burden, of being the first to Dale after the wreck and seeing what he saw - and carrying
that inside for the rest of his life - man, that's just the worst because he knew....
He knew he had just witnessed his close friend die, right before his eyes.
I've only seen Ken speak of that incident a very few times, most recently perhaps on Junior's podcast,
where they get into it a little bit and perhaps even more importantly, Junior expresses his deepest
gratitude to Ken for a lifetime of being his mentor of sorts - the man Dale Sr. entrusted to guide Jr.
from time to time when he needed it.
I have all the respect in the world for Ken Shrader, not only for how he's done it in his life or how he's
been a racer in the purest form for decades - but because, in some warped way, I can relate to him
because of a similar situation I found myself in one snowy/icy morning on a highway 30+ years ago...
I also was witness to someone dying before my eyes that day because of a wreck and what I saw
when I rushed up to their window, well....it haunts me to this day.
You don't "get over" such a thing - but I remember doing my damndest to keep others arriving on
scene from seeing it, too, until the police and rescue folks got there.
Nobody - I mean nobody - needs to ever witness such a thing.