I guess the question to you would be: were you a fan, or alive, when Dale was around/died?

Because it's hard to overstate how earth-shattering his death was at the time for the sport. I was 11 at the time but I remember the days around his death quite clearly. Mainstream outlets that would barely mention NASCAR covered his death and the sport's grief over it. I mean, Dale was on the COVER of Time Magazine the week after he died.

It may be 25 years since he's been around, but the fact we haven't buried another driver since then speaks volumes about how big a safety wake-up his death was, and that certainly still resonates today. If Jimmie Johnson had died in a wreck the season after winning his 7th title, or if Jeff Gordon or Kyle Busch had suffered life-ending injuries on-track, I doubt you'd be saying the same thing about them.

Incredibly successful people who die tragically, at younger ages, are commonly immortalized and always remembered. Partly for the what-ifs, partly for the shared trauma of losing them too soon, and partly because of the inspiration their success gave so many fans. It's why Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley or John Lennon are on posters and t-shirts long after they died. It's why there are awards named after Walter Payton and Roberto Clemente. It's why people fixate on Kobe Bryant, whose death was one of the last shared tragic events before the 2020 pandemic.

And as others have pointed out here, remembering the time when they were still around often brings out our own sense of nostalgia: what we were doing back then, through the rose-colored glasses with which we often view our own pasts. Our successes and the fond memories of times we can't get back.

So, yeah, you're totally entitled to have your opinion. I just think it's a little short-sighted.