A Front-Row Seat with the Sportswriters Who Sat There
Sit down with host Todd Jones and other sportswriters who knew the greatest athletes and coaches, and experienced first-hand some of the biggest sports moments in the past 50 years. They’ll share stories behind the stories -- some they’ve only told to each other.
Liz Clarke: “His death was unfathomable because it was Earnhardt.”
Liz Clarke looks back on her “accidental career” as a sportswriter with the same thoughtfulness she always put into her stellar work. Much of our conversation focuses on NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt. Hear how she gained his trust in part by not being in awe of him, how his tough-guy exterior hid a soft heart, and how covering his death in the 2001 Daytona 500 shook Liz. She takes us along for “pinch-me moments” – such as the crowd’s emotional response to seeing Nelson Mandela at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa – from years of traveling the globe for The Washington Post. And we talk about the stress, the challenges, and the special camaraderie shared in a job that captured her heart amid sport’s wide range of emotions.
Clarke retired in April 2023 after 37 years as a reporter, the last 25 of them at The Washington Post, where she focused on enterprise stories, the Olympics, college sports, auto racing, and tennis. She also spent eight seasons covering Washington's NFL team and the scandals surrounding team owner Dan Snyder. Liz covered nine Summer and Winter Olympics, three World Cups, multiple Super Bowls, NCAA Tournament Final Fours, more than a dozen Daytona 500s, a half-dozen Indianapolis 500s, Wimbledon, the French Open, and thoroughbred racing’s Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
Before joining The Washington Post in 1998, Liz worked as a sportswriter at USA Today, the Dallas Morning News and The Charlotte Observer. She covered NASCAR for those three newspapers, and she is the author of the 2008 book, "One Helluva Ride: How NASCAR Swept the Nation." Liz was twice named National Motorsports Writer of the Year, in 1996 an ’98. Her other honors and awards include best sports feature in 2017 from the Society of Features Journalism, and best game story from the Associated Press Sports Editors in 2009.
Clarke began her career as a news reporter for the Raleigh (NC) News & Observer, covering higher education. She earned a BA in history at Barnard College, Columbia University; and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduate studies in journalism.
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Edited Liz Clarke transcript
Todd Jones (00:00):
Hey, Liz. Thanks for joining us on Press Box Access. This is a real treat.
Liz Clarke (00:08):
Well, you're nice to have me, Todd. It's good to see you. And always love talking about our wonderful profession.
Todd Jones (00:16):
Yeah. We've got a lot of ground to cover.
Liz Clarke (00:18):
Yes.
Todd Jones (00:18):
So, first off, congratulations on retiring in April.
Liz Clarke (00:25):
Thank you.
Todd Jones (00:26):
You got out.
Liz Clarke (00:26):
Yes. I mean, I guess I'm one of the few who kind of sets the terms of their departure, which is a great privilege. So, I'm 62 and a half, and about two years ago, I started posing the question to myself, "Could I retire at 62? What would that look like?"
Liz Clarke (00:49):
And I guess the key thing to say here is that I absolutely loved every day and every experience of my 37 years as a reporter. The last 33 of that, as a sports writer. Even the horrible, tough days, I loved them all. It was just a lifetime of experiences, and friendships, and challenges I never dreamt possible.
Liz Clarke (01:19):
But I'm also, an insulin dependent diabetic. Which is, each of us has their own challenges. For me, that's been a bit of a health challenge that gets kind of more difficult the longer you have it and the kind of cumulative toll of the travel and the stress.
Liz Clarke (01:41):
And as much anything the way I do my job, which is perpetual anxiety, I kind of make it way more fraught than it ought to be. As I neared 60, I was really facing a health versus can I do this job at a lesser intensity?
Liz Clarke (02:06):
And I just wasn't interested in that, but very interested in a very dynamic, fun, engaged, totally separate from sports third act of life.
Todd Jones (04:40):
That perpetual anxiety though that you mentioned, that is really what one of the many things that made you such a great reporter and writer, is that you were always on top of things.
Todd Jones (04:52):
Whether it be tennis, or NASCAR, or international events such as the World Cup, or Olympics, the NFL team, you had to carry that through. So, that's what the rhythm of the life was like, right? As a reporter.
Liz Clarke (05:05):
Well, first of all, thank you for your generosity in that. I mean, there's a couple ways to look at that. I did fret and worry and prepare to an absurd amount, but that's because very few things I covered, if any, were like steeped in my bones since childhood.
Liz Clarke (05:23):
I was kind of an accidental sports writer. I mean, a very proud one, but it wasn't, like many of our peers, a dream since I was eight years old and I threw baseballs with my dad in the yard and dreamed of being in a press box. I didn't have that type of narrative, which many people do.
Liz Clarke (05:43):
So, I approached every assignment, whether it was an NFL team, a World Cup soccer match, the most random Olympic sport, luge, skeleton, curling, things that are totally cool and you need to prepare and know about. But it wasn't steeped in my bones, so, I get that a lot.
Todd Jones (06:10):
No, I get you. I think I had this specific memory of the US Olympic track and field trials in Sacramento. I had a local throwing the hammer, and I was writing deadline versions of hammer throw. And I'm thinking to myself, “How did I end up here?”
Liz Clarke (06:28):
Exactly. Completely.
Todd Jones (06:29):
He picked it up, he threw it, what am I supposed to say on three different editions of this?
Liz Clarke (06:33):
No, no, no. I remember being sent like spur of the moment to cover skeleton at I think it was at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002. And happily, there was a bus ride of some sort to get to that venue for the skeleton.
Liz Clarke (06:49):
And back in the day, I mean, I know I had a cell phone, but it wasn't like there was the reliable enough connection to do research that way.
Liz Clarke (07:03):
So, right when I was told, “Go cover skeleton,” I like printed out everything possible about what is skeleton, what is a skeleton, how does it work, what are the rules? Kind of skeleton for dummies.
Liz Clarke (07:16):
So, I had this like stack of paper, and on the bus I'm like frantically highlighting, “Oh, it's shaped like this, it weighs this much, and it's actually a headfirst sport. It's not a ...” That's how elemental a lot of my education was.
Liz Clarke (07:31):
But I just didn't want to embarrass the paper, I didn't want to embarrass myself, and I wanted to do above all, justice to the athletes, to respect their sport. To know enough about their sport to respect all the years of training and sacrifice that they had put in. I wanted to put in that, albeit in a frantically compressed amount of time.
Todd Jones (07:54):
Yeah. I think we're kindred spirits. I used to carry around files like J. Edgar Hoover type files of clippings and marked up things and notes and cheat sheets. And I always felt that it was like my security blanket because I really didn't know what I was doing. I was a fraud.
Liz Clarke (08:09):
Yeah. But there's no crime in over preparing, because then, I mean, you write with confidence, or at least I write with confidence. It's hard for me to write well if I'm fretting, like, “Am I going to expose myself as not really being in command of this?” And if I feel in command, I write better.
Liz Clarke (08:29):
So, yeah, I was a bit of a neurotic.
Todd Jones (09:28):
You mentioned it was an accidental career. I love that term. You started out as a higher education reporter at the Raleigh News & Observer, but then you switched to sports by moving to the Charlotte Observer. Why did you decide to become a sports writer?
Liz Clarke (09:43):
Yes, it actually was a career fork that I had not planned, I didn't see coming, and I'm just so very grateful for it. So, I started out as a generic news reporter, cops, courts, school boards, the whole thing.
Liz Clarke (10:00):
And then I had come to specialize in higher education, which was a great beat at the Raleigh News & Observer because the UNC system is so significant to that state's economic present and future. And so, I absolutely loved that beat.
Liz Clarke (10:22):
I ended up, through covering higher education, writing about academic fraud in college sports specifically-
Todd Jones (10:30):
No, really? There's fraud in academics?
Liz Clarke (10:33):
Oh, yeah. Talk. No, the coverage was largely about the men's basketball team at NC State under Jim Valvano, who was just a totally beloved charismatic figure having won the national championship and very dynamic.
Liz Clarke (10:49):
But it was an era and an administration when a lot of rules were bent, if not flouted, to keep members of the team academically eligible under the requirements.
Liz Clarke (11:05):
So, back in the day, it was an era in the '80s in which sports sections generally focused on event coverage. Game advance, game story, game follow, all the things strictly on the field and less emphasis on off the field issues.
Liz Clarke (11:35):
So, through the higher ed beat, I wrote about the implications of this for the faculty. I mean, it actually, there was sort of a faculty uprising because they felt the academic rule bending was preventing the university from being regarded nationally, as it should, as it deserved to. So, that would that kind of made it my turf.
Liz Clarke (12:05):
So, I ended up with another reporter, a news side reporter named John Day, who's now, a lawyer. We wrote for about a year and a half on that basketball team and the issue of how you keep a player eligible when the GPA doesn't justify that.
Liz Clarke (12:24):
Anyway, that led to kind of a job inquiry or a job offer from our main competing paper, the Charlotte Observer.
Liz Clarke (13:49):
And once I met the sports editor, this awesome editor named Gary Schwab, I was like, “I have to do this. This is not really my plan, but how cool?”
Liz Clarke (14:17):
So, what I thought was like a three to five year detour in the world of sports became the rest of my working life. I never left sports because I came to really love the opportunity, the challenge, the narratives. And I did my best to grow with it, and cover things I felt capable of covering, if not really well versed in.
Todd Jones (14:47):
Liz, do you think your lack of (pardon the expression) knowledge about sports at the start really kind of made you more open to asking questions and going down alleys that maybe you wouldn't have if you had grown up as a sports fan?
Liz Clarke (15:03):
No doubt. I mean, no doubt. But I mean, then again, I really believe in self-determination and you make your own fate. So, you have to do what's required to succeed and own your failures and your successes.
Liz Clarke (15:17):
So, I will tell you the way it worked for me is none of us who covers a city council or local government, the basic entry level reportings, we don't know the fine points of zoning laws or how a school board operates, or few among us have run for office who are covering political office.
Liz Clarke (15:44):
So, I think any reporter, no matter what your beat or what your background, there's a profound level of humility you really must bring to the assignment, to realize you're not the expert.
Liz Clarke (15:57):
You may be able to write a fine sentence, but that doesn't mean you really can understand the many layers of what's going on.
Liz Clarke (16:50):
And I think one thing I lacked that in many ways was a good thing, is not just automatic awe of athletes. I mean, I'm really good dealing with alphas whether they're politicians, or editors, or NASCAR drivers.
Liz Clarke (17:11):
I mean, I don't bow to people. I'm not obsequious. I mean, I'm always respectful unless you give me a reason. If we're going to go at it, fine, but no.
Todd Jones (17:22):
But you're not going to take the crap.
Liz Clarke (17:24):
No, I'm not going to take the crap. But I'm also, not going to just assume that because you're great at your sport, you're a great person, or because you say this, you really mean it. I mean, I think there's a lot of, or ... what you don't want in sports writers is fawning, and awe, and-
Todd Jones (17:44):
Idolatry.
Liz Clarke (17:45):
Yeah, idolatry. Thank you. That's the best word. Again, respect is a different category.
Todd Jones (17:54):
Liz, was there a moment early in your career where that helped you, that you recall, an anecdote with a particular athlete, or a coach, or somebody that was set up as one thing, and then you saw right through it?
Liz Clarke (18:13):
It actually, now, that I think about it or that you plant the seed, I think that is really why I ended up getting along so well with Dale Earnhardt. The dad, the late Dale Earnhardt.
I guess what worked in my favor, is the opposite of awe.
Liz Clarke (20:26):
He was the ultimate badass and just drove the black car, the black three, mirrored sunglasses, impenetrable kind of persona. The intimidator.
Todd Jones (20:38):
The intimidator.
Liz Clarke (20:39):
Exactly. And he was known among reporters as a giant pain in the ass, very surly and moody. People kind of tippy toed around him. And all that's true, but that was not truly who he was, I came to learn.
Liz Clarke (20:57):
So, one of my first assignments was do a long profile of Dale Earnhardt. And this was preceded by negotiating, like how much time can I get around Dale Earnhardt?
Liz Clarke (21:11):
And so, stunningly, again, really not because of me, the place of the Charlotte Observer, I was allowed to shadow him for a whole day. It actually ended up being almost a whole weekend, because there were other events.
Liz Clarke (21:23):
But my main meeting, when I got to know him was this day that I spent with him. Although I had dealt with him a little bit at the track and seen how he treated other people and people kind of gave him a wide birth, in other words.
Liz Clarke (21:42):
So, I was supposed to meet him at his race shop. Not the one that he raced for, but his personal one where his kids had their race cars. Dale Jr. being one of them, he was quite young at the time.
Liz Clarke (22:01):
At 7:30 one morning and we were going to go to North Wilkesboro. Track that is now, defunct, but was just recently brought back online through Dale Jr. That's another sidetrack.
Liz Clarke (22:13):
Anyway, I had to meet him at his race shop at 7:30. He immediately offered me a Sun Drop soda and a chicken biscuit for breakfast because we were going to have this long day. And yeah, how great is that?
Liz Clarke (22:29):
And we ended up like jumping in his pickup truck and heading out for the drive up to North Wilkesboro, which is like 90 minutes. Most people, maybe a bit less for him.
Todd Jones (22:43):
So, it's you and Earnhardt in the cabin of his truck?
Liz Clarke (22:44):
Yeah, our guy was in the back in the — there was a backseat. But yeah.
Todd Jones (22:49):
So, how did he drive on a regular road?
Liz Clarke (22:52):
Just, well, I mean, not ridiculous, but not like a normal person. I mean, when he took back roads, so like no paying attention to the solid lines or no passing zones, just zip, zip, zip. But there weren't a lot of cars on the road at that hour.
Liz Clarke (23:10):
And then coming home that late-early evening, there were cars. We went a different way. And he was just a hellacious tailgater, just a pain in the ass tailgater. Yeah, I cannot stand. Just a bully. But I never felt unsafe, I'll tell you that.
Liz Clarke (23:27):
Anyway, the point I'm trying to make is, so I spent this whole day and he understood I was there, as Liz from the Charlotte Observer is going to shadow him. And so, I just had my notepad and I spent ... I didn't ask him a ton of questions. I was like writing in my notebook, like what he said all this, that, and the other.
Liz Clarke (23:48):
And then I realized it was really getting on his nerves. And at one point, he's like, “Aren't you going to ask me anything?” And I'm like, “Well, yeah. But right now, I'm just learning by watching you. I figured I'd learn more by just listening and watching.” And he's like, “Hmm.” I think he liked that.
Liz Clarke (24:06):
And I'm sorry, this is a muddled memory, but there were moments where he'd like provoke, kind of ask kind of challenging questions and I could tell he was testing me. It's what he was doing. He was just trying to see did I have a spine or who was I.
Liz Clarke (24:34):
I wasn't his normal reporter. I didn't seem to shrink from him, but could he kind of back me down? And I wasn't really doing anything confrontational and I just like would sass him back. I mean, he'd sassed me, I'd sass him back. And he liked that, totally liked that. And I mean, some memories are personal that I won't share.
Liz Clarke (25:01):
But just over the years, he was super helpful and super kind. And I know that's because I didn't treat him like the intimidator. I asked him normal things. I asked him about his dad. I asked him about just things that weren't strictly about turning left or being a badass, that didn't play into the stereotype.
Liz Clarke (25:27):
Because the truth is, he was an incredibly loyal, caring, sensitive person, and a deep thinker. I mean, he dropped out of school in the ninth grade, something he regretted for the rest of his life. And we talked about that a good bit.
Liz Clarke (25:45):
But super smart. I mean, one of the smartest people I've ever come to know. Along with Junior Johnson, who also, didn't finish traditional schooling.
Liz Clarke (25:54):
But if he trusted you, he trusted you. And it was good to get to that point. And I think if I had just treated him like this two-dimensional cardboard figure that he made millions off of, “I'm the intimidator, I'm the badass,” it wouldn't have got beyond a two-dimensional understanding of him.
Todd Jones (26:23):
You treated him like a person, not a persona.
Liz Clarke (26:27):
Yeah, yeah. And that's kind of how I expected to be treated too. I mean, like a professional. But I guess I'm not saying anything unique, but he was, it-
Todd Jones (26:40):
Actually you are, I mean, because most people only know Earnhardt as the persona, as the intimidator, as No. 3.
Liz Clarke (26:46):
Well, that's all he wanted people to know about him. That's certainly all he wanted his rivals to know about him. And that was the mirrored sunglasses, the pain in the ass, “This is how I drive.” He'd sit in his car about like this, and flunked down.
Todd Jones (27:04):
Hunch way down.
Liz Clarke (27:06):
Oh, I think irritated him because ... so, when we spent the day at North Wilkesboro, to get from one part of the track to the other, I think we took a golf cart. I know we took a golf cart and so, he drove. And we got in it and so, I like went like that.
Liz Clarke (27:21):
He's like, “Why are you sitting that way?” And I'm like, “You sit that way. And I wanted to see what's the big whoop? Like why are you doing that?” And he's like, “You sit up, you sit up proud, you're riding with me.” But yeah, I just treated him like a normal person.
Todd Jones (29:18):
Liz, I'm fascinated about your working relationship with Earnhardt, because again, you were able to get past that surface image and that's not easy to do with people at a certain level of success. And how did that carry through your career of covering NASCAR?
Todd Jones (29:41):
Because you covered NASCAR for many, many years. Charlotte Observer, USA Today, Dallas Morning News, Washington Post, obviously. And you wrote the 2008 book, One Helluva Ride: How NASCAR Swept the Nation, about its growth.
Todd Jones (29:55):
So, you had to get the type of access that wasn't easy to get. How did that help you with Earnhardt through the years?
Liz Clarke (30:03):
Well, I mean, for sure, because I worked at the Charlotte Observer, that was everything, for access. And again, this was pre-internet, pre the explosion of different outlets. Drivers didn't have blogs or websites.
Liz Clarke (30:16):
All athletes, the way you reached fans was through the print media and a little bit ESPN. That was getting to be a big deal. But the place of the print media was far bigger then to athletes than it is now. The place of the Charlotte Observer in stock car racing, there was nothing more important.
Liz Clarke (30:41):
So, I arrived with the benefit of I'm Liz from the Charlotte Observer, and I'm here and I work with Tom Higgins. Who was the dean of motor sports racers for the Charlotte Observer.
Liz Clarke (30:54):
So, in fact, for the longest time, Earnhardt, I mean, he knew my name, but he would call me Little Higgins. So, Tom Higgins was the dean of racers. It would be like, “Oh, here she comes, Little Higgins.”
Liz Clarke (31:07):
So, those were in my favor before I earned any of it. Those were gifts that I tried to appreciate and use. I mean, I dealt-
Todd Jones (31:24):
Yeah, but you had to use that to then gain trust.
Liz Clarke (31:27):
Yeah. I mean, I have always been transparent about my intentions. “I'm working on this story. To do it well, I need A, B and C. Would you think about it? And you can talk to Tom Higgins.” I've never burned people. I've covered a million different sports, 37 years. I do not burn people.
Liz Clarke (31:52):
That doesn't mean I write candy, powder puff stories. I write hard stories. I write some very difficult stories, but no one is shocked by what I write. Nobody feels backstabbed by what I write. They know what I'm going to write.
Liz Clarke (32:11):
So, it's kind of like it helped that if somebody asked about me, “Can I trust her? What's she like?” It would either be, “I don't know her,” or, “Yeah, you can trust her. She'll tell you what's up,” whatever. So, that helped.
Liz Clarke (32:31):
And then again, I wasn't awed by him. I do think oddly, Earnhardt felt like an outsider. He was an outsider. Super conscious, again, of not finishing high school, super devastated by the death of his father at a very young age.
Liz Clarke (32:52):
He had such a hard life. Got a girlfriend pregnant, married as a teenager, worked in a gas station, worked in a cotton mill. Just earned everything the hard way and hustled. And did not grow up with a lot of kind of refined social graces.
Liz Clarke (33:14):
And then he was a multi-millionaire and a corporate sport spokesperson. So, he was a kind of acutely aware of ways in which he wasn't in the mainstream.
Liz Clarke (33:28):
And I honestly think he identified with me as like, “Well, she doesn't fit in either. Like here's an outsider. She's making her way, she's earning her way.”
Liz Clarke (33:39):
And I knew him over several years and observed him in different settings and three or four different papers. I would always find a way to write about him or reason to spend time with him. And he was incredibly caring to elderly people, incredibly gracious to older people, to anyone with a disability, to little kids.
Liz Clarke (34:12):
Like the toughest demographic for him was the classic NASCAR fan. The guys that would show up wearing his picture on their chest. I think it was hard for him to understand. I don't know. I have a thought, but I'm not making sense of it.
Liz Clarke (34:34):
But he had a real goodness to him, but an affinity, I think for people on the margins, more so than in the mainstream. And I think it helped me that I was in his view on the margins, but it was not holding me back. I got my interviews, I busted my ass in the garage, I asked questions.
Liz Clarke (34:54):
Also, in the NFL, I did not pretend to have knowledge. I didn't. I'm like, “Explain me a restrictor plate and show it to me. How does it work?” I didn't say to Darrell Green, “I played cornerback in eighth grade, and I totally get the play you just ran.”
Liz Clarke (35:15):
Which a lot of guys kind of feel compelled to bring their expertise as a free safety or whatever. And-
Todd Jones (35:25):
That's like a fraudulent way of trying to relate to somebody.
Liz Clarke (35:30):
Yeah. And I think athletes see through that, to put it mildly.
Todd Jones (35:34):
Right. Well, Earnhardt, he saw you for what you were. I think that's really interesting that you were able to develop this rapport and this relationship because he saw you as a bit on the margins, a woman coming into the world of sports writing and NASCAR and working your ass off. And really doing the type of work that he respected.
Todd Jones (35:55):
And again, I think the thing that stresses, it's not friendship.
Liz Clarke (36:01):
No, it's not.
Todd Jones (36:01):
It's totally different.
Liz Clarke (36:03):
Totally different. But he was very funny. And it was early on in our relationship. I cannot remember for what reason, but we were in his hauler, the transporter truck, talking, and I mentioned to him that I was diabetic, that I had diabetes.
Liz Clarke (36:18):
And he honestly went like almost white as a sheet. He's like, “You have the sugar?” Which I don't know, you're not a southerner, but that's old time euphemism for having diabetes. If you have the sugar, you have the sugar.
Liz Clarke (36:36):
And in the old school south, it was a stigma. It's like you had cancer and it was a fatal illness. And it was bad.
Liz Clarke (36:45):
And he's like, “You have the sugar?” My parents are southerners. I'm like, “Yeah.” And he's like, “You have to give yourself shots?” And I'm like, “Yeah. Like seven times a day.” He's like, “I could never do that. I could never give myself shots.” And I'm like, “I could never race a race car at 200 miles an hour.” He said, “That's good.”
Todd Jones (37:14):
Yeah, he didn't want anything to do with putting a needle in his arm, but-
Liz Clarke (37:16):
Well, of course, that's a level of bravery that blew his mind. And then he became like totally Dale. He's like, “You don't need to be hanging out with those other reporters drinking.” And I'm like, “Well, Dale, I don't do that.” He's like, “Well, if you have the sugar, you can't be out drinking like those other reporters.” I'm like, “Fear not. I do not.”
Todd Jones (37:41):
He was like looking out for you.
Liz Clarke (37:43):
Very dear.
Todd Jones (37:46):
Liz, and this is a difficult question, but on February 18th, 2001, you're covering the Daytona 500. What was it like for you personally and as a reporter to be there that tragic day when Dale died on the final lap of that race?
Liz Clarke (38:02):
Yeah. So, I mean, apart from the death of my parents, that was the worst day of my life by a mile. And I've tried to talk about this to journalism classes, and it really, it's hard. So, forgive me, it's just hard every time because it feels like it was yesterday.
Liz Clarke (39:56):
And I had covered enough death in racing and enough horrible accidents that were not fatal, to know. And I had taken actually a special course in racetrack safety to get better at my job at one point.
Liz Clarke (40:17):
So, I knew that the shorter the duration of the crash, the more dangerous it is for the driver. It's the crashes that look worse, if the car barrel rolls 12 times, that's safest for the driver because all that energy dissipates over time. If it's over like that, the entire energy is transmitted through the body. And this was one of-
Todd Jones (40:45):
So, you knew right away that it was bad?
Liz Clarke (40:47):
I knew it was incredibly serious. And then there's a protocol that follows anytime a driver's in a crash, you're supposed to lower your window net.
Liz Clarke (40:59):
So, the driver's side window, there's no glass, there's just this webbing, and you lower it to signal, “I'm conscious,” to the people speeding to help you. Like, “I'm conscious.” So, it's like the first thumbs up, that's how you give the thumbs up.
Liz Clarke (41:15):
So, the car stopped and the window net is not coming down, and the car drifts down the banking. And I mean, I was just shaken. And then the race ends, like seconds go by. I mean, the race ends like two seconds later.
Liz Clarke (41:33):
So, the focus of the broadcast, the focus of everybody in the press box is on who wins. And I couldn't take my eye off his car.
Liz Clarke (41:44):
And then the broadcast, Darrell Waltrip said something like, “I just hope Earnhardt is okay.” And the first driver to the car was Ken Schrader, who I mentioned earlier. The happiest, funniest. Everybody loves Schrader, Schrader loves everybody.
Liz Clarke (42:07):
And he was first to the window, and when the ESPN got him immediately, whoever was broadcasting got him. And I'd never seen such a look on his face. And all he said was, “We just have to pray.” And I started crying right then.
Liz Clarke (42:26):
And so, I called the paper and there was someone running the paper, it was her first weekend running the paper. It was a Sunday. And she was quite young, Courtney. And again, it was before the internet. It's hard to explain how information flowed far differently then.
Liz Clarke (42:52):
And I just said, “There's been a terrible crash. I am worried about Earnhardt. It's possible he's been taken to the hospital.” I said, “If he dies, it is possible that you'll know before we know.” B4ecause races don't like to announce a death.
Liz Clarke (43:16):
I could picture the AP being in the hospital and getting confirmation of the death before NASCAR confirmed that he was dead. And I just said, “Please know if he's dead, this is a A1 story and you've got to call me immediately.”
Liz Clarke (43:32):
Because the Washington Post at that time, well, they didn't really understand how important he was.
Liz Clarke (43:41):
And so, I just started writing a basic news story. So and so won a crash-marked Daytona 500 race, in which seven time champion Dale Earnhardt crashed and was taken to the hospital with XXX. I was going to say serious injuries. Fill in later, just to get going. And everybody's typing along.
Liz Clarke (44:10):
And then my cell phone rang and it was Courtney. And she just said, “I'm sorry.” And then I didn't hear anything. So, it did happen like I thought. The AP moved on the wire, “Dale Earnhardt is dead.”
Liz Clarke (44:31):
And it might have been 15 minutes before it was announced in the press box. It might have been five, I can't remember. But the president of NASCAR came in and confirmed it later. But I had known, and I didn't make a sound because I didn't want to tell anyone. I couldn't speak. I just started crying and had to type.
Liz Clarke (44:57):
And then she called back and said, “They want you to write an A1 story, an appreciation of him,” and then something else. I had to do two stories.
Liz Clarke (45:11):
Anyway, it was unfathomable because it was him, it was his track. He was just the best. And plus, he was invincible. He was the intimidator, the badass. Like nothing bad could ever happen to Dale.
Liz Clarke (45:35):
And I had covered some bad things that happened to Dale. I remember him bracing with a broken sternum at Indy once. And then I'll stop here.
Liz Clarke (45:47):
But I mean, what followed was days of mourning, and investigation, and the seatbelt was broken, and some serious news safety questions. The funeral followed. It was a long time before I left.
Todd Jones (46:07):
Yeah. It became a whole other range of stories.
Liz Clarke (46:09):
And then the outpouring of grief. I mean, it was-
Todd Jones (46:14):
Liz, can I ask you something real fast?
Liz Clarke (46:16):
Yeah, I'll stop.
Todd Jones (46:18):
Liz, how did you write that night?
Liz Clarke (46:22):
You mean?
Todd Jones (46:24):
How were you able to write being as upset as you were?
Liz Clarke (46:29):
Oh, that's easier to answer. I mean, I think somebody had put this advice in my head years earlier. I don't know why, how, or what the occasion was, but I just thought, “Take the emotion out ...” And not take it out. Just set it aside.
Liz Clarke (46:56):
And I thought of the story like child's building blocks. And I'm just like, “Make one paragraph, make a second paragraph.” Each paragraph was a building block.
Liz Clarke (47:09):
And so, I wrote the news story first, which is like follows a sequence. And then here's who Dale was. I'm writing for a general audience.
Liz Clarke (47:20):
And then my phone kind of starts blowing up, like my dad called, who would never call on assignment. And a boyfriend at the time called because they knew how much I loved Dale, and I'm just, “Can't talk. Can’t talk.” And I stopped answering.
Liz Clarke (47:38):
I just thought of it as right, as clearly in a logical order as possible, get through the news story. And I did that. And then I had to write the appreciation, which was like kind of a more personal thing.
Liz Clarke (47:56):
And it happened that really, like nine months prior, I had spent time with Earnhardt at his farm, and we got in his truck again, which it was the best place to interview him when he was driving. But we were just like putting around his farm. He wanted to show me the pond where he fished, and he had a chicken farm, like the chicken coops. Like we were ... anyway, he was-
Todd Jones (48:25):
Right. He was proud to show you all this.
Liz Clarke (48:26):
… so proud and totally relaxed when he was driving. And it was his turf. I mean, literally his turf. And I would just run the tape recorder and we'd talk.
Liz Clarke (48:35):
And we talked about his retirement. And so, he was 49 then. And he was saying he was worrying about it already. He's like, “Am I going to know when it's time to retire? I don't want to hang on till I'm pathetic. I don't want to hang on too long. I've watched Michael Jordan how he retired.”
Liz Clarke (48:57):
Anyway, he was speaking so thoughtfully about knowing that his end was coming, at least in this iteration. And he was starting to become a car owner. And I had the whole transcript of that day in my laptop.
Liz Clarke (49:11):
And so, when I was thinking, “Okay, how do I make this appreciation?” I'm like, “Go read your transcript.” I mean, I'm talking like, “Take five minutes and read this transcript.” And it was so poetic the way he was speaking about it. And then things that I knew about him just came to me.
Liz Clarke (49:30):
And that was more cathartic in a way. I'm the queen of missing deadlines, but I didn't miss either deadlines. I mean, these were the most important stories for me.
Todd Jones (49:47):
Yeah. And like you said, early in our conversation, like you owed it to the athlete and the audience to do a good job. Right?
Liz Clarke (49:57):
Yeah. And I can-
Todd Jones (49:59):
Even in that very emotional moment, you had a job to do. Yeah.
Todd Jones (50:05):
The next day, I think you took a walk across the grounds of Daytona Speedway, right?
Liz Clarke (50:09):
Culpepper, yeah. Then I spent the next day because NASCAR was going to have a press conference, I believe (I hope my sequence is right. I mean, I didn't leave) explaining was the seatbelt broken? Was it cut? Was it frayed? This, that, and the other.
Liz Clarke (50:26):
I remember asking who was the manufacturer of the seatbelt. There were only like two possibilities. And then being treated like a effing pariah to ask an obvious news question. But anyway, it was an obvious question, a small matter.
Liz Clarke (50:43):
But I started out walking to ... because I just cannot describe the outpouring of grief that had to be captured. And I felt myself, and as a reporter, that was my job. So, there was a memorial already. Flowers, teddy bears, tributes, signs, outside turn four where the crash had been outside the track.
Liz Clarke (51:14):
I think now, there's a statue up Dale, I believe, there. And I came across the wonderful Chuck Culpepper, who's now-
Todd Jones (51:24):
Right. Our mutual friend, the great Chuck Culpepper.
Liz Clarke (51:34):
And we just were like travelers, in this day of tears. And I remember Mike Vega being there too, from The Boston Globe.
Todd Jones (51:46):
Boston Globe. Right.
Liz Clarke (51:47):
And nobody had words. Nobody had words. And it was a long series of days of press conferences and questions, and then a funeral service in Charlotte. And then the next weekend's race was at Rockingham, North Carolina.
Liz Clarke (52:05):
And that was a hard thing to cover. It was a hard thing for everybody. I don't mean to make it sound like I had the hard time. I mean, my God, his son raced the next weekend and everybody in the garage, everybody was just ... there was the level of disbelief. It just took forever for it to sink in he was gone. I don't think NASCAR's ever recovered, and it's never been the same.
Todd Jones (52:36):
Well, I appreciate you sharing the emotion of that, because I do feel like we think of people like Earnhardt as they are icons, and then we think of them moments as not human. And then I think there's a tendency to think that the media is not human. That these aren't people, these are just the media.
Todd Jones (52:54):
But when you develop working relationships over years, you're a person, you get an understanding of someone. And then to have to do your work in that moment, it shows the humanity that's on the other side of the wall. That's the reporters.
Liz Clarke (53:09):
I mean, I've covered a lot of death in my time and shed a lot of tears. That was hardly the first set of stories I wrote through tears. I mean, writing about what happened to Simone Biles and the Olympic gymnasts at Larry Nassar’s. How these athletes were betrayed and exploited.
Liz Clarke (53:36):
And if you've ever covered a thoroughbred race and seen a horse breakdown. And it's just there's a lot of tragedy in sports.
Todd Jones (53:56):
That's the spectrum of emotion. I think that as a writer, you were dealing with all ends. You're dealing with the most difficult things. And then there were times in your career when you think about it, you're just overwhelmed with joy about witnessing something.
Liz Clarke (54:46):
I mean, the list of moments that I pinched myself like I cannot believe like I am witnessing this moment in history.
Todd Jones (54:59):
Okay. Give us a favorite.
Liz Clarke (55:00):
There's so many, there's so many.
Todd Jones (55:02):
Alright. Come on. Come on, Liz.
Liz Clarke (55:04):
So, I mean, my very first Olympics was the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. And my first event I covered was the triathlon, which started at the Sydney Opera House.
Liz Clarke (55:16):
And I believe I had like my first cell phone, and I broke every Washington Post rule so that I could call my mother right before it started. And as a kid, I loved the Olympics. I'm like, "Ah …”
Todd Jones (55:29):
That was my first Olympics. I remember those phones were like James Bond phones, these little tiny things, I couldn't believe it. They were so clear sounding.
Liz Clarke (55:40):
Yeah. And the first time I walked through the gates at Wimbledon, I just couldn't believe like I am here at Wimbledon. The first Olympics I got to cover gymnastics. It wasn't my first Olympics, someone else was covering it. But when the beat came to me, that was my favorite sport.
Liz Clarke (56:01):
When they started marching in that arena, I cried. I mean, I cried because as a kid, the Washington Post was my favorite newspaper, my revered newspaper, and gymnastics was my favorite sport.
Liz Clarke (56:14):
And I'm like, “This paper has not only hired me, they've sent me to Athens, Greece. And I have the job of describing this for Washington Post readers. This most beautiful thing.” I just couldn't believe it. Oh my God, the-
Todd Jones (56:39):
Weren't you at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa?
Liz Clarke (56:40):
I was just then thinking about Nelson Mandela, the six weeks in South Africa. I'd never been in Africa. It was my second World Cup which I covered with Steve Goff, like the awesome, most incredibly kind coworker and brilliant soccer writer.
Liz Clarke (57:01):
But that 2010 World Cup, the time in South Africa, I learned so much. I mean, obviously, I had studied apartheid in college. Anyone who lived and read newspapers knew the apartheid-
Todd Jones (57:18):
You were a history major. Right?
Liz Clarke (57:19):
I hope we all knew the horrors of apartheid and the fight to dismantle it. And for South Africa to host the World Cup, it was just 20 years after Nelson Mandela had been freed from prison. And I was so overwhelmed in so many settings.
Liz Clarke (57:40):
I mean, the first thing I did in breaking away from the scripted US Press Corps where you're ferried to practice back and forth, which is a great, great thing. But as a reporter you need to break away and report your own stories.
Liz Clarke (57:57):
I got a driver to take me into Soweto because I wanted to see the township. And I went to Nelson Mandela's home where he lived. I just could not believe the warmth and welcome of the South African people, what this event meant in terms of reconciliation.
Liz Clarke (58:18):
I thought so much about how can this country just 20 years removed from the horrors of their apartheid system. It seemingly be so much farther down the road to racial reconciliation than our own country after 200 years. And it was just a lot to reflect on.
Liz Clarke (58:48):
And the sound of the vuvuzela is just a great sound. There's so much culturally that was different and singular about that place.
Todd Jones (59:00):
Yeah. That horn sound is so unique.
Liz Clarke (59:03):
I was thinking actually I've taken pictures of these 33 years in sports, but I so wish I had made an audio diary, like audio, because I was thinking earlier, like the great sounds of my career, that there's nothing like it.
Liz Clarke (59:21):
Like the pinch me moment, if you are standing inside turn one of the Daytona 500 on lap one, like 43 race cars going into turn one, it's a completely — there's nothing like that sound.
Liz Clarke (59:39):
I mean, the sound in the same spot at the Indy 500 of an IndyCar race in the old IndyCar days, completely different sound. But that too was unique.
Liz Clarke (59:50):
The sound of the vuvuzela was unique. The sound of the way the tennis ball hits on clay at The French Open, it's like this sort of thud, and the sound of the players skidding.
Liz Clarke (60:04):
It's just these moments that you wish ... I mean, to my credit, even as I lived it, I knew like, “Please remember this moment. You're so lucky. You're so lucky.” And there are so many of those lucky moments. I mean, lucky is such an inadequate word.
Liz Clarke (60:26):
And not to mention the learning you try to do in the middle of your job. I mean, The Post, in my 25 years, they sent me to cover sporting events on six continents, six out of seven.
Liz Clarke (60:42):
And it's not to say I've mastered the world, but I was able to scoot away and see the Parthenon, and see the Great Wall of China, and the Eiffel Tower, and Christ The Redeemer, the statue in Rio. I mean, what a privilege. What an incredible privilege.
Todd Jones (61:11):
Yeah. I think I have a much greater appreciation now, that I'm out of the business and older. But I always felt an obligation when I was in places like that to take the reader with me. That, “I'm here, you are not, here's what it's like to be here.”
Liz Clarke (61:28):
Yes. And to tour Robben Island in Cape Town, which is where Mandela was imprisoned. I mean, one of the most profound tours I've ever taken of that island, the colony where-
Todd Jones (61:45):
When you were in the press box at that World Cup and Mandela comes in to the stadium, what was that moment like?
Liz Clarke (61:53):
Oh, I take that to my grave to have been able to be in that press box with Steve Goff at that final. And I don't believe we knew that Mandela was going to be there, but he was quite elderly. He died not long after that.
Liz Clarke (62:14):
He was in a golf cart and ridden around, and it was just the most ear splitting ... if ear splitting in reverence can be in the same sound, it's what that was. It wasn't ear splitting like mania of like wild. It was just complete awe and appreciation.
Liz Clarke (62:41):
And how many people can say they saw Nelson Mandela and have had the chance to learn a little bit more deeply about what he meant to a nation and what the meaning of forgiveness is, and reconciliation is. And which is not to say that country has solved, its legacy, its problems.
Liz Clarke (63:10):
But I guess what I'm saying is what is to be in the presence of greatness. And here the world is gathering, here the world has gathered literally by TVs to honor the greatest soccer players in the world, the greatest event.
Liz Clarke (63:31):
But the real champion is this miniature ancient man. That's the champion we are honoring. It's Nelson Mandela. And champions take many forms, but there's no sporting champion like him.
I would say these for me, it was almost always the international events that I loved so much because they're so, I don't want to say scary, but they just strip you down into the most humble level.
Liz Clarke (65:20):
Like I need to master this transit system, do the best I can with this language, get out what I need, figure out the time difference, figure out when I can sleep, what I can eat. Like so many challenges before you even type the first word. I love that crushing challenge.
Liz Clarke (65:40):
So, there was something about the glorious rush of Olympics every two years, once in a while World Cups, maybe two slams a year-
Todd Jones (65:56):
Tennis, right.
Liz Clarke (65:58):
… that like was sustaining. It's like, “Oh my God. This year, maybe I'll get to cover that. And whatever's required to get to that point I'm going to do.” But then the real connective tissue, what's truly sustaining are the friends.
Liz Clarke (66:15):
And that's not simply your coworkers, like the fabulous Sally Jenkins or Barry Svrluga, or Steven Goff. The people you like sweat through the assignments, Mike Jones.
Liz Clarke (66:30):
As you and I know, sometimes your tribe, your family, it's people others would say are your competitors. Reporters from other papers, maybe reporters from other countries. You get to know each other on the road.
Liz Clarke (66:50):
I mean, for the South Africa World Cup, for several Wimbledon's, I was a roommate with Michelle Kaufman of the Miami Herald.
Todd Jones (67:00):
Right. Miami Herald.
Liz Clarke (67:00):
So, just this dearest friend, the most wonderful person to share highs and lows with you could ever ask for. And Bonnie Ford, getting to know her on the road, getting to know you just a wee bit, getting to know Chuck Culpepper on the road before we were coworkers.
Liz Clarke (67:17):
And I have friends, reporters in Japan, in Belgium, that I'm thinking of, who like help me with translations or help explain to me what does Yuzuru Hanyu? Why are people so crazy about him in Japan? And what is this concept that's like childlike, but adoration and respect? And it's a whole thing that I need decoded for me.
Liz Clarke (67:44):
Just the most open-hearted reporters who would help you. And then you try to figure out can I help them? Like what can I do that's helpful to them? It's a wonderful community.
Todd Jones (67:53):
Yeah. It was very relatable in the tribe to show up at a major event or even just a big game and try to figure out what are the challenges and how am I going to deal with this?
Todd Jones (68:03):
But the best feeling was that you were among other reporters, other writers who were also, facing all that, also, facing their own insecurities. And you were able to somehow then ultimately, take the reader with you because that was your job.
Liz Clarke (68:19):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. And especially so before the internet, before 24/7, and blogging, and tweeting and this, that, and the other. When it really mattered, the quality of your work and the way you could present it to people, because the-
Todd Jones (68:46):
The words mattered.
Liz Clarke (68:47):
Yeah. The balance mattered, the fairness mattered.
Todd Jones (69:16):
Well, I always admired your work A, because it was so stellar, but B, because it was so obvious, the passion you brought to whether it was the depth of the offensive line, or a profile of Earnhardt, or being in South Africa for the World Cup, and obviously, all the great tennis you wrote.
Todd Jones (69:36):
You were always there, you were always present in the moment. And I always felt like that was the way I strived to be, was to like there's an obligation there to do your job because you have this privileged opportunity to be somewhere where you never thought you were going to be.
Liz Clarke (69:54):
That's so well put. And I certainly regarded you in that same vein.
Todd Jones (70:03):
And you know what, we didn't even talk about Dan Snyder.
Liz Clarke (70:05):
That's just … hmm. Many words have been written and said.
Todd Jones (70:12):
Oh, well, Liz, I really appreciate you taking the time to look back at the highlights of your career, especially your insight about Earnhardt.
Todd Jones (70:43):
Liz, thank you so much. And I wish you all the best in retirement.
Liz Clarke (70:46):
You as well. Well, you're not retired, but thank you, Todd. Thanks for having me.
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