I certainly understand the thoughts of not getting why the general public would be so upset about a persons death that they didn't even know. It really doesn't square up does it. Or maybe it does. The back story of some of these people that live in the limelight occasionally hits a right note for an individual that is just a fan. The one example for me was Davey Allison. I was a fan of his daddy Bobby Allison. Watched a lot of piece mill replays of the early stock car races on Wild World of Sports when I was just a kid growing up. So I pulled for the Alabama Gang, for pretty obvious reasons. When Davey came on the scene he quickly became my other favorite behind his daddy. When Bobby got injured and no longer could continue Davey was the clear favorite of mine. Davey lost a brother to a racing incident, and you saw the Allison family go through that ordeal. As a fan you read articles detailing the accounts on the track of this young man. Through magazines that dealt with the sport of stock car racing, you read personal accounts of this young fellow and his young family. So as a fan I was familiar with their story, his story. I can tell you that as a man in his early thirties back then, I shed a few tears on the day Davey Allison died. Didn't know him. Never met him. Kinda like grown men getting something in their eye at the end of the movie Brians Song. Didn't know Brian Piccalo, but the story was gripping and very human. We identify to some of the details in these stories. I miss Davey Allison, if he hadn't died, Jeff Gordon wouldn't have four championships, and Dale Earnhardt would never had won seven.... He was that good.... They had a tribute to Davey following his death on the broadcast of the Talladega race that year. It was a montage of moments from his life set to Garth Brooks song "The Dance". Even today when I hear that song, it kind of tugs at the heart.
