Wednesday, January 28, 2009
What would Dale Earnhardt think of what’s happened to DEI?
By Jerry Bonkowski
It was about two years ago this week that Kevin Harvick caused quite a stir in the NASCAR world when he called Teresa Earnhardt a “deadbeat owner.”
Harvick’s assessment was based upon a number of things, particularly the fact that the widow of the late Dale Earnhardt rarely made appearances at races, never spoke to the media, was hardly ever around to congratulate the team’s drivers in victory lane or for an otherwise job well done, and seemed to have little visible participation in day-to-day operations of Dale Earnhardt Inc.
And don’t forget what was still to come in the months after Harvick’s comments: the power struggle for control of DEI between Teresa Earnhardt and her stepson and the company’s franchise star, Dale Earnhardt Jr.
It was a battle that would play out in the media for several months before Junior begrudgingly threw in the towel, gave up hopes of wrestling away controlling interest and decided to move to Hendrick Motorsports to begin the next phase of his racing career.
While the loss of Junior was significant, the party line trotted out by Teresa and company executives was that DEI would rebuild without its star, the most popular driver in the sport now six years running, and grow to become stronger than ever.
A few months later, reporters gathered at DEI last January for a lunch soiree thrown by widow Earnhardt. She was as hospitable and sociable as she could be, smiling almost constantly.
But one thing was so stark in its conspicuous absence that many reporters didn’t realize it at first until some of their fellow peers asked, “Where’s Junior?”
That’s right, just two months after he had competed in his last race for DEI, virtually every vestige of Junior’s 12-year tenure with his father’s company had been wiped away … albeit for a couple of souvenirs still for sale in the company gift shop.
Gone were photos, trophies, race cars and virtually any other reminder that Junior was ever there. When first informed, Junior was as shocked as anyone, even lamenting how DEI wouldn’t even sell him a few prized helmets that he wanted to buy.
Much more here..........
http://jerrybonkowski.com/2009/01/what-would-earnhardt-think-of-what-has.html
I think that little article reflected a lot of our sentiments out here in fan-land. I tried real hard to give Theresa the benefit of the doubt when she refused to sell to Junior. But, she's repeatedly proven in the last 2 years that I wasted my effort.