EXCLUSIVE: Inside Dale Earnhardt's Final Minutes, From The Doctor Who Tried To Save His Life

Drive through the Daytona International Speedway infield, and you'll still see black No. 3 flags waving atop hundreds of campers. If not flags, then shirts. Or hats. Or golf carts. Take your pick. They're everywhere. 

He's everywhere. 

It's been 25 years since Dale Earnhardt died on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, but he's very much still alive in the world of NASCAR. That's right. Twenty-five years. Hard to believe. This sport lost it's soul – it's leader – a quarter-century ago.

Some say it's never been the same. It hasn't. Some say it'll never be the same. It won't. Every few years, when we get to these milestones, we're reminded of Dale Earnhardt when we come back to Daytona. 

This year is no different. Folks have tried to move on. Some can. Others bury it, only to be reminded of that day when the garage reopens every February in Daytona. 

"It's a terrible thing to see somebody die," said Dr. Steve Bohannon. "I was just focused on taking care of my patient, it didn't matter who they were. We went into the trauma bay, and, you know, I knew he wasn't going to make it back."

The Crash That Killed Dale Earnhardt 

Bohannon, now 68 and retired, was the trauma doctor at the Speedway that afternoon. In fact, he had just been hired as the track's "Medical Director of Emergency Medical Services." He would hold that title for the next decade. 

"I had just started in that position," he remembered. "And I mean, sh-t hit the fan. So yeah, I was new to that."

The former Halifax trauma specialist was working his first Daytona 500, and was stationed in Turn 2 on the final lap when Earnhardt hit the wall coming out of Turn 4. We've all seen the video by now. Some of us have seen it a hundred times. Some more. 

Earnhardt was blocking as Dale Jr. and Michael Waltrip raced to the finish. Sterling Marlin got into his left-rear quarter panel, and the rest is history. Ken Schrader was the first one on the scene, immediately signaling for help. 

By the time Bohannon arrived from Turn 2, it was obvious – to him – that Dale was gone. 

Dr. Steve Bohannon testifying in court after the death of Dale Earnhardt. (GETTY)

"I think everybody knew at the scene," he said. "Everybody knew that he had passed away at impact. I knew all the medics, and they shook their heads when they saw me walk up. I went in and checked his pulse, and saw the blood coming from the ears and from the airway, and knew it was a basal skull fracture and that he had no sense of life."

Bohannon later added that while the crash itself didn't look fatal, he wasn't surprised at the end result. 

"When the car stops, the body keeps moving," he said. "And when your body quits moving, your brain keeps moving and decelerates inside your skull, and the forces are tremendous."

Still, they had to try. "We gave him the benefit, like we do, all the drivers, and tried to do everything we could," he continued. 

Earnhardt was put on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance, along with Bohannon. Halifax's trauma center is less than a mile away. The two sat in the back. Bohannon intubated him, administered IVs, and "did what needed to be done" to save Earnhardt. 

When they got to Halifax, the trauma team immediately went to work. Over the years, the story has changed. Some say he was quickly pronounced dead. 

Not true, said Bohannon. 

"We worked on him for at least 30 minutes," he recalled. "We took x-rays, put chest tubes in, you know, we did a lot."

And that's when Teresa Earnhardt walked in. 

Dale and Teresa Earnhardt before the 2001 Daytona 500. (GETTY)

Teresa Earnhardt's Final Minutes With Dale

The relationship between NASCAR fans and Teresa Earnhardt has been … contentious … over the years. Frankly, that's putting it mildly. 

She's not well-liked in the NASCAR world, for multiple reasons. It's been well documented. Fallouts with Dale Jr. Fallouts over DEI. Recently, she felt the wrath of NASCAR fans when she attempted to turn Earnhardt's 400-acre farm into an industrial complex. 

It hasn't been pretty. But, on that day, Bohannon said, she was "composed."

"She was trying to push her way into the trauma room, and security was holding her back," he continued. "I saw who it was, and I said, ‘No, let her in.’ So we let her in, and she stood in the back of the trauma room, and was very composed, and didn't get emotional. 

"She just let us do our jobs, and watched. I felt like it was important – I've always felt like it was important – for the family to see that everything is being done for their loved one."

It was to no avail. Earnhardt was pronounced dead 30 minutes later. Teresa remained in the room after the fact, long enough to see the team begin to prepare Earnhardt's body for the coroner. 

That included removing his wedding ring. Teresa stepped in. 

"She said, ‘No, leave it on,’ and so they looked at me, and I said, ‘Whatever she wants,’" he remembered. "So, they left it on him. I'm sure she was crying, you know, when we were done, and she came over and held his hand, and we gave her some time there alone, and I left."

'We've Lost Dale Earnhardt'

That's when Bohannon met Mike Helton, NASCAR's president at the time. Helton, of course, is the one who made the announcement that every NASCAR fan has heard a hundred times over. 

"We've lost Dale Earnhardt."

Bohannon was the one sitting immediately to Helton's left during that press conference. 

"He said, 'You know, would you do me a huge favor and come back to the Speedway with me? I'm going to go announce his death to the press, and would you come with me?'" Bohannon recalled. "So we got in a car and I got to the Speedway, and I thought we were going to go just talk to a few reporters.

"He takes me into this building I've never been into before, and I look in this room, and there's at least a hundred people, all reporters, and then a podium in the front full of microphones. I had no idea it was going to be like that. 

"We walked up to the front, and Mike announced the death of his friend and then he turned it over to me, and asked me to say a few words. I told them what had happened, and what had been done for Dale, and that was it. 

"I had no idea that was just going to the beginning."

Over the next year, things turned nasty. Again, it's well documented. At one point, Bohannon testified in court on Teresa's behalf to keep Earnhardt's autopsy pictures sealed. He's seen them. Nobody else needs to, he said. 

"They're very graphic and of no interest to anybody other than an anatomist or a doctor," he added. 

Medics race to save Dale Earnhardt after his crash in the 2001 Daytona 500. (GETTY)

Of course, NASCAR changed in the months after Dale's death, too. The HANS device was introduced, and made mandatory. SAFER Barriers were installed. The seat belt and restraint system in the cars were overhauled. 

All upgrades, of course, that Earnhardt probably would've resisted. 

"Dale would be the one to put up the biggest fuss, I think, about having to wear one of those," Bohannon laughed. "Just restricting his ability to turn his head and see who's coming. But everything changed after that. The new generation is quite a bit different."

Different? Yes. Safer? Yep. Is NASCAR better off for it? It's a topic for another time, and another day. Some fans believe the sport died with Dale Earnhardt. Others believe he saved it. 

As for Bohannon, he's moved on – best he can. He's now retired and traveling the world with his wife, Leigh. 

Admittedly, he doesn't follow NASCAR anymore. Once he left the Speedway in 2010, he left the racing world behind him. 

But still, every once in a while – mostly when an annoying writer like me bugs him while he's on a beach somewhere with his wife – he's reminded of that fateful February day in 2001. 

And, for better and for worse, the memories come flooding back. 

"I was just focused on taking care of my patient, it didn't matter who they were," he said. "None of it hit me (at the time). It was the end of an era."