|
Posted on 05/08/2007 2:17:24 PM PDT by WestCoastGal
|
Super link! Thanks so much!
The writing was on the wall. It’s been on the wall for quite some time. After that tragic day in February of 2001, it was only a matter of time. Someone had to give. In the end, it didn’t need to come to this, and it shouldn’t have had to come to this, but it has come to this.
Give Teresa Earnhardt credit where credit is due. Her and Dale Earnhardt Sr. created Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI), and cultivated it, and if he were still here today, you wouldn’t be talking about the Hendrick juggernaut; it would be the DEI juggernaut. Teresa was good at the start-up of DEI when she had the racing advice of the best in the business. After Dale Sr. was gone, who did she turn to? One by one, the pieces put in place by her and Dale Sr. slowly came unraveled. Many times these went by quietly and un-noticed. Ty Norris, Don Hawk, and many others loyal to Dale Earnhardt for so long, were leaving. The alliance was dissolving. The fierce loyalty and respect to the memory of Dale Earnhardt will likely keep the real reasons for the unraveling buried forever.
One could only speculate, but maybe it was Teresa’s management style. The three year bleed resulted in the 2005 disaster, when Teresa decided to shake things up with the #15/#8 mega-swap debacles. This brought to the forefront Teresa’s management style. This style was a great asset when starting up the company with Dale Sr. However Teresa’s style would simply never work with Dale Jr. in a role that Dale Sr. once filled. Think about it for a minute. It would be awkward for them both for Dale Jr. to be acting in the role of his father. And let’s recall those comments made by Jr. about how he feels about her now that he did when he was 6-years old and she moved into his Daddy’s house.
Any of you who know or have 6 year olds need to contemplate those words for a minute.
So in her best passive aggressive style, Teresa did what all passive-aggressive executives do. She slowly created a situation that would force Jr. to leave. First, the stupid comments to the WSJ. She follows this up by hiring a second in command whose knowledge of racing operations is at best limited. This forced Jr. to want the 51% ownership. He knew that the only way to put to an end to this ruination of his Father’s dream was to get control of it. And now, five months of bad-faith negotiations later, here we are. The trouble is Teresa is just too stubborn, proud, and arrogant to see just what she has done.
And now here this very clearly…DEI was not about Teresa, it was Dale Sr.’s dream for Dale Jr. A-HA, the ultimate manifestation of Teresa’s jealousy!
http://www.stockcarreview.com/id215.html
Well, I just wish Dale the best. He will always be my Idol. He will be number 1 for me as long as he is in NASCAR.
I wonder how this will affect Nascar? I can't find it, but in the past this Cerebus has mentioned something to the effect that it was a waste of money.
As a side note....In Greek mythology, Cerberus was a three headed dog with a snake for a tail that guarded the entrance to Hades.
 |
That pretty well describes my Dodge. |
Marty Smith just said on Nascar Now that he expects Junior and team to get a penalty and may be the biggest in Nascar history.
Oh no!
As far as Hendrick goes, Nascar did keep JJ’s winning COT a few days longer than normal tearing it apart under the guise of it being a new car and all. They didn’t find anything, at least not that they reported, so I guess all was ok.
Silly season is just starting a touch earlier this year.
From Speed Network.....
GORDON, ‘CHOCOLATE’ MYERS CONFIRMED FOR WIND TUNNEL SPECIAL: Four-time NASCAR Nextel Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon and former Dale Earnhardt crew member Danny “Chocolate” Myers have confirmed their participation in Wednesday night’s Wind Tunnel All-Star special which aims to answer:” Wonderboy or The Intimidator ... Who’s Better?” Gordon and Myers will join host Dave Despain, team owner Rick Hendrick and former racers Rusty Wallace and Darrell Waltrip for the 90-minute program scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. ET.
One of the most recognized crew members on Earnhardt’s famous No. 3 race team, Myers spent 17 years as Earnhardt’s gasman, winning six Cup championships for Richard Childress Racing. At the end of the 2002 season, Myers retired from the road and currently is in charge of RCR’s Museum in Welcome, N.C.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - Joe Gibbs Racing officials met Monday to discuss personnel changes after a pit road mishap cost Denny Hamlin a victory at Darlington Raceway.
Hamlin was critical of his crew after a pair of dropped lug nuts during a late pit stop cost him the race. Hamlin, who led a race-high 179 laps, was in second when he went into the pits but plummeted to 16th after the error.
Although he rallied to finish second, he was furious after Sunday’s race.
“If we lose by 20-30 points when it comes down to the championship, we know exactly where we lost it, and that’s on pit road,” said Hamlin, who could have won three or four races this season if not for mechanical problems or mistakes on pit road.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/6810484
UPDATE 2: Hearing from sources that the Tony Eury Jr. will be fined $100,000 and be suspended for 6 weeks. In addition, the team will lose 100 owner and driver points. Eury is expected to appeal only the severity of the fine. Tony Gibson will take Eury Jr’s place as crew chief during the suspesion.(5-15-2007)
Done deal!!
100 driver points? That’s a raw deal for Jr. considering he didn’t have anything to do with it.
This is the first COT penalty. Nascar said this is what it would be. Jr will pay the penalty for TJ. That’s probably a first also.
Tony Jr insists that the brackets were old ones used in testing the COT for Nascar that were inadvertantly put on the car. Funny part is it passed inspection twice before they caught it. More training required for the room of doom guys.
Also.........
Dale Earnhardt, Inc. issued the following statement:“The car in question was a brand new car for the #8 team and the brackets that were found to be nonconforming were built as test pieces before the final design was established by NASCAR. They should not have been on the car and with Tony Eury Jr. away from the track Thursday during inspection, the error was not caught. We do not question the infraction which is clearly spelled out in the NASCAR rule book. However, we have appealed the severity of the penalty.”
I correct myself, I think Biffle had a COT penalty.
I wondered at first if there was sabotage considering Jr leaving DEI and all.
“After a little research, Eury said he discovered that the unapproved brackets were previously used during a wind-tunnel test and had not been replaced before the car came to the track. Eury said with the wing lowered to 18-degrees, the car’s downforce was 20 counts less than had it been mounted to specifications.
“They did us a favor by putting on the other brackets,” said Eury, who mailed the wind-tunnel report to Nextel Cup Series director John Darby.
WOWOW - HARSH, way too harsh of a penalty!!
NASCAR is nuts...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
