DALE EARNHARDT, JR. PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
April 13, 2007
Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Monte Carlo SS and NASCAR’s four-time Most Popular Driver, with Budweiser are saluting the troops this NASCAR season with two military-themed paint schemes and collectible diecasts, the proceeds from which will provide college educations for surviving dependents of fallen Special Operations soldiers.
DALE EARNHARDT, JR. OPENING REMARKS: “This says a lot about what the Special Operations Warrior Foundation does. It is great way for Budweiser and myself to get involved. Obviously, we have had some relationships with the military in the past, most recently with the Navy and their sponsorship in the Busch Series on our JR Motorsports car. Budweiser works with the military in many different ways. We have come up with an opportunity to continue and further that relationship. I am really excited, I think the cars look great and hopefully we will see a lot of them and benefit the foundation. We are going to run the camouflage paint scheme at Charlotte.
“The other car (red, white and blue to run at Daytona in honor of Independence Day on July 7. 2007), a friend of mine actually helped me design. We thought that over the years there really hadn’t been a well-done red-white-blue patriotic race car, there has been a lot done, but none done well (laughs). So we came up with our idea and we are very proud of it. We think it is one of the best looking ones we have actually seen.
“The camouflage one speaks for itself. It is pretty radical and will look great on the race track in Charlotte.”
ON WHO HELPED WITH DESIGN OF RED-WHITE-BLUE PAINT SCHEME: “That car was designed by a friend of mine, his name is Kevin King, he does all of the designs for JR Motorsports, licensing, logos, race cars, t-shirts, whatever. I met him on the internet racing about five years ago. He has studied design and whatnot and we became pretty good friends. He always comes up with some pretty cool cars for the games so I thought I would give him a shot. He is pretty excited that his car is actually going to be on the race track. He is trying not to brag too much to the other guys”
ON EXPECTATIONS OF WHAT WILL BE RAISED FOR THE FOUNDATION: “I probably can’t speak in specific numbers but knowing how successful we have been in the past, it will be pretty significant. Again, I can’t speak in specifics, I would say that whenever we have done special paint schemes in the past, we are 70% of the sale in market, 60% on a bad day, none-the-less, we cover the Motorsports Authentics, what used to be Action, it should be pretty significant and with this being a combination here is really going to make a big difference.
“I don’t know if you guys find the facts and figures of the concert car, the Gossimer car, all those things, but it was pretty amazing what the special paint scheme stuff can do and especially if it has some meaning and substance to it like this one does. So I think this will have a huge impact on the foundation, as far as the amount we are able to raise.”
ON BEING SUPERSTITIOUS ABOUT SPECIAL PAINT SCHEME CARS AND WANTING TO RACE THEM AGAIN IF HAD GOOD LUCK: “Several times actually. Budweiser likes to be very consistent. They like to have the red car on the race track. They like to do special paint schemes when it has substance to it, some meaning. They just don’t just want to throw a silver car on the track just to be doing it. It is rare that we get to change it up in the shop. It really pumps the guys up and the team to be able to do something new and different. These cars I personally really like the paint schemes on these two cars. The car we ran on Father’s Day last year at Michigan was a favorite of mine; I would love to run it again. The original baseball car was also a favorite of mine I would like to run again.
“If you run good and finish good or win a race in a special paint scheme, that will impact the souvenir sales as well and it frames up an image of that scheme in your mind and plants it in a memory that is a good memory. You always have good thoughts about it.
“I could go back and talk about special paint schemes for ever. The Father’s Day car last year thought was pretty cool. I really enjoyed that car.”
ON IMPORTANCE OF THIS PROMOTION TO HIM: “Budweiser is very adamant and very serious about their relationship with the military and so am I. Very proud of it. I think that with the country at war and everything going on right now, we have to try to show not only that we are patriotic, but also show our support for the troops. The biggest thing right now, is trying help those guys’ morale any time we can. To have been in that situation for so many years and now cycling back through, every little bit of show of support helps those guys and makes them feel better. I am sure it isn’t an easy road over there like I said, to be over there and cycling back there. They have all been there longer that I think they anticipated. Any kind of show of support that we can give them from over here will hopefully make a little bit of difference.”