Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? Ask Michael Uribe just how furious a bunch of NASCAR fans can get. Death threats, for example.

Uribe is the only private citizen who has petitioned the court for access to the autopsy photos of NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt, who was killed in a February crash at Daytona Raceway. Uribe has joined the University of Florida's campus newspaper and the Orlando Sentinel in requesting some degree of access.

In late April, Uribe, the owner of the Deland, Fla.-based Web site, websitecity.com, launched a special investigation into the crash that killed Earnhardt, and he hasn't heard the end of it.

Just days before the bill was signed by Florida Governor Jeb Bush Uribe took a trip to the medical examiner's office to seek autopsy photos of Rodney Orr and Neil Bonnett — two other NASCAR drivers killed in crashes similar to Earnhardt's. He took photographs of the documents presented him and posted them on his site.

Uribe figured he was doing a public service. The deaths of Earnhardt, Orr and Bonnett compelled him to exercise "his right to inspect."

"All these drivers are dying ... All suffered the same head injuries. This is something I think other people would be interested in looking into in order to make sense of everything," he said in a recent telephone interview.

Earnhardt's wife has another opinion as does the man who left a threatening message on Uribe's machine calling him a "scumbag" for posting the autopsy photos on the site.

"The photographs are humiliating, disgusting and negative," Teresa Earnhardt told the Associated Press last week. "That could be nothing but harmful and painful to anyone involved with my family, my company, our fans, anyone."

A Florida judge agreed, ruling that media access to the autopsy photos would constitute an invasion of privacy.

Launched in 1998, websitecity.com serves mostly as an index to other sites. The feature "Earnhardt Investigation" is the only part of the site with original content. News stories profiling the fight for access to Earnhardt's autopsy photos figure prominently. The homepage gives users access to an archive of legal documents, as well as graphic autopsy photos of Orr and Bonnett.

Since its late March launch, the Earnhardt feature has drawn at least 50,000 hits, according to Uribe. The increased popularity has brought Uribe a lot of attention and controversy. Web site buy.com cut ties with websitecity.com after a complaint about the Earnhardt feature. But that negative feedback pales compared with Uribe's life-threatening phone messages, which are posted on his site for users to download.

"Here we have people demoralizing me," Uribe said, "but when I get these hate mail, lynch mob mentalities wanting to kill me, what are we saying here, guys?"