It was Feb. 18, 2001...

Ten years. Five hundred twenty weeks. Three thousand, six hundred fifty days.

That’s how long since a wife has felt her husband’s kiss. Since a girl has hugged her daddy. Since a son shared a laugh and a day hunting or fishing with his father.

Since a sport has watched its champion. The People’s Champion.

I’ve thought long and hard about what could be said about this anniversary today. Feb. 18, 2001. Ten years since Dale Earnhardt died in a crash at Daytona International Speedway. A lot has been said, written and broadcast. So there is certainly nothing I could add there.

This may sound sacrilegious, but it’s hard to be sad and somber about this. This is a man who died doing something he really, really enjoyed. How many lives are that said about?

All the things I’ve seen and read about “Dale” show me he lived life on his own terms, did what he pleased and what he liked. As the saying goes, “He took life by the horns.” I believe he understood the concept that life is too short to not enjoy it.

Did racing stop that day? No. So, obviously that wasn’t the end of the world. The sun rose the next day and lives have gone forward. Each week, 43 men take to the Sprint Cup races and this weekend will be no different.

But did it have an effect on the sport? Certainly it did. NASCAR got an even sharper focus on safety. Head restraints, helmet changes, hatches in the tops of cars, the Safer Barriers have come about since then.

Economically it has been both good and bad. There are some folks who say they haven’t been back to a race since “the day Dale died.” OK, their loss. They may say they don’t but I don’t believe for one minute they don’t still watch. Sales of souvenirs exploded. You still see cars and trucks with “3” stickers. There are personalized license plates. In West Virginia, you can get sanctioned NASCAR tags of the #3. Intimidator t-shirts are plentiful at the track in at least two haulers, and at WalMart, both on bodies and up for sale on the racks. There are books and DVDs hailing Dale Earnhardt.

The death of Dale Earnhardt 10 years ago was certainly tragic. All loss of life is tragic. He was the face of racing. He was, despite probably being rather wealthy, an everyday man in the eyes of the fans. He hunted, fished, loved the outdoors and loved his family. I’m sure there was a dog or two in the picture at some point.

SPEED has shown “The Day,” which follows what transpired 10 years ago, who knows how many times in the past week. The scenes are sometimes uncomfortable. Richard Childress, Ken Schrader, Mikey and Darrell Waltrip and Danny “Chocolate” Myers, are all in tears. You see the footage of Victory Lane that day and the greeting between Schrader and Mikey in a whole new light. And did we really need to see the slow ride from the track to the hospital and the EMS taking Earnhardt from the ambulance into the emergency room, a medic obviously doing CPR? Probably not.

In the weeks that ensued, I forced myself to watch a race for the first time. After interviewing people about Earnhardt for stories, I wanted to see for myself why everyone watched. After a few months, looking at the mechanics of everything about it, watching the fans and consuming everything I could find written or filmed about the sport, I was hooked.

I’ll be at Charlotte for the All-Star Race again this year, and probably for the Coke 600. And I’ll be at Bristol in August. I've been to the Hall of Fame. I took the photo at the top of this blog a week before the First Class was enshrined there.

My friends and I are planning a pilgrimage to Daytona in 2012 for the 500. Yes, Dale Earnhardt did change the sport. And I guess in a way, my life. I've made friends across the country, and the biggest thing we have in common, the reason we ever met, is stockcar racing. These are friends from California and Arizona. Good friends. Friends you keep.