Dale Earnhardt's ultra-competitive nature won many races -- and many more fans. (AP)

Earnhardt was also despised by thousands of other fans for his take-no-prisoners style of aggressive driving. But whether you loved him or hated him, there was no question that his career was one of the most significant reasons for the tremendous growth of NASCAR in the 22 years since the first flag-to-flag telecast of the Daytona 500 in 1979.

High-speed danger and the ever-present potential for instant death has set auto racing apart from most other sports. It has always been a bit more real and a bit more raw. But when a crash ends the life of the sport's biggest star, even hardcore fans find themselves wondering whether the price is worth the spectacle.

After all, we don't worry that Tiger Woods will be killed teeing off on 17, or that Mark McGwire will lose his life on a 3-2 pitch.

But after Earnhardt's car slammed the wall and snuffed out his life in the final turn of the last lap of NASCAR's biggest race of the season, NASCAR president Mike Helton was left with the solemn and heartbreaking task of making a statement that David Stern will likely never have to make during the NBA Finals.

"This is undoubtedly one of the toughest announcements that I've ever personally had to make," the stock, taciturn Helton said here a few minutes before 7 p.m. Sunday. "But after the accident in turn four at the end of the Daytona 500, we've lost Dale Earnhardt."

Rescue workers attend to Dale Earnhardt moments after the crash.(AP)

The last auto racing fatality as big as Earnhardt's was the death of Formula One World Champion driver Ayrton Senna during the Grand Prix of Imola in Italy in May 1994. Earnhardt was rattled by that death, and the same day he urged caution at the driver's meeting before the Winston 500 at Talladega. Naturally, he went out and won the race.

Until recent years, most NASCAR fatalities have involved backmarkers or lesser drivers in support races. On the first day of Speedweeks in 1994, three months before Senna's death, one of NASCAR's best known stars, Neil Bonnett, lost his life here in a practice accident. Bonnett was one of Earnhardt's best friends, and he also died in turn four in a single-car crash in which his car went out of control in much the same manner of Earnhardt's car.

But with NASCAR's emergence as a major American spectator sport, every death becomes a high profile incident. Last year, the deaths of three drivers raised a fresh crop of safety questions. Death touched the Pettys for the first time in the family's long NASCAR history when third-generation driver Adam Petty, only 19, perished in a single-car accident during a practice session at New Hampshire International Raceway. Winston Cup driver Kenny Irwin died in an almost identical crash at the same track. And NASCAR truck series driver Tony Roper was killed in a crash at Texas Motor Speedway.

Petty and Irwin died of basilar skull fractures when their helmeted heads snapped forward upon impact with the wall. Earnhardt apparently was killed by the same type of injury.

In the wake of last season's fatalities, much focus has been placed on a piece of safety equipment known as the HANS device, which is attached to the seat's head rest and is designed to keep a driver's head from snapping forward in a crash. Some NASCAR drivers are using it, but Earnhardt was not one of them. The primary criticism of the HANS device was that it limited a driver's ability to turn his head and thus limited his ability to see.

Earnhardt was old-fashioned about safety equipment and still preferred to use a low-back seat and an open-face helmet long after most drivers had switched to full-face helmets and high-back seats. He said he used an open-face helmet because he could see better.

Whether the HANS device might have saved Earnhardt's life will always be a matter of conjecture. But Dr. Steve Bohannon, the speedway's director of emergency services, said, "I really don't know if that would have (made a difference) or not. I know a full-face helmet would not have made any difference whatsoever. He had no evidence of facial injuries. I don't know if the HANS device would have helped or not. I suspect not."

But after all of the hashing and rehashing, the thing that probably stands out the most in the wake of Earnhardt's death is his brilliant career.

It was not just that he won seven championships (tying Richard Petty's record) and 76 races. It was how he raced. No NASCAR fan can ever forget the classic, controversial fender-banging battles of the 1980s, when Earnhardt tangled with Geoff Bodine, Darrell Waltrip, Bill Elliott and many other top drivers while clawing his way to the top of the NASCAR heap. But from 1990 to 1994, when Earnhardt won four titles in five years, he was one of the least crash-prone drivers.

Time and time again, particularly here at Daytona, he made unforgettable moves with his race car. Who can forget how Earnhardt and Earnhardt alone used the outside groove at fast, fearsome Atlanta Motor Speedway to pass other cars? Who can forget his move in the 1992 IROC race here, when he shot from third to first in the final few hundred yards to win the race? And who can forget his classic victory in the 1999 Daytona 500, when he finally broke his jinx in NASCAR's biggest race. He spent the 1990s winning everything there was to win at this speedway except the big one.

His reputation was fully intact to the moment of his death. In the IROC race here Friday, Eddie Cheever drove Earnhardt into the grass on the inside of turn one to block him from passing. Although he went through the grass at about 150 mph as he entered the corner, Earnhardt somehow managed to keep control. Once again, the fans were left shaking their heads in amazement.

And when Earnhardt spun Cheever out on the backstretch during the cool-down lap, the fans once again witnessed the excitement and controversy that could result from Earnhardt's superheated, ultra-competitive nature.

He was right there again Sunday, leading his favorite race at his favorite track on four different occasions for a total of 17 laps. When his life ended, he was one of the wealthiest, best-known sports figures in America. Although he still drove for car owner Richard Childress, as he had since 1984, Earnhardt was the owner of three cars in the race.

When calamity struck, Earnhardt was running in third place, following two of his own cars. His son, Dale Jr. was just ahead of him. His new driver, the hard-luck Michael Waltrip, was on the verge on his first-ever Winston Cup victory. But as Earnhardt's cars flashed under the checkered flag and gave him his greatest day as a team owner, his own unmatched career was already one for the ages.