|
Posted on 05/08/2007 2:17:24 PM PDT by WestCoastGal
|
I thought it was great that Darrel Waltrip flew in, when Dale asked him too, to give him moral support for this emotional announcement.
Good friends are hard to come by.
Yes I am very happy that he did that.
There have been times when us Jr fans have been annoyed with DW for things he appears to be down on Jr for during his broadcast in the past. We e-mail him with our complaints/thoughts..... then the next week he calls him June Bug and all is forgiven. Or at least we think he’s making up to us and not for ratings. The core Earnhardt Nation fans carry a lot of weight. Who do you think votes MPD everyday? lol
But after yesterday all is forgiven. :)
Gibbs=no alcoholic beverage sponsors.
I’m off to work but check this out and be in your seat tonight. :)
Reports: Dale Jr. may be headed to RCR
FOXSports.com
Posted: 6 hours ago
Junior may not be a free agent for long.
BlogJam...
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is out at DEI after this season and now the obvious question is where he’s headed next. Weigh in with your thoughts here.
Spencer: Honoring Sr.’s legacy
Waltrip: Emotional decision
McReynolds: Intrigue ahead
Spencer: Earnhardt leaving
Byrnes: Split had to happen
Spencer: Q&A with Junior
Teresa Earnhardt’s statement
Video: Junior’s announcement
Race Trax: Darlington Preview
After announcing Thursday that he would leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of the year, Dale Earnhardt Jr. could announce Friday that he will join Richard Childress Racing in 2008, according to FOX8 WGHP in Greensboro/High Point, N.C.
Childress has scheduled a news conference Friday at Darlington Raceway, site of the Nextel Cup Dodge Avenger 500 (Saturday, 7 p.m. ET on FOX).
Rather than drive the No. 3 car that his father, Dale Earnhardt, made famous for RCR, Earnhardt Jr. would drive the No. 33 car, according to the report. Budweiser would follow Junior from DEI to the new team.
Another FOX affiliate, FOX25 in Boston, reported that Earnhardt Jr. finalized a deal with RCR on Thursday night and that an announcement would come soon.
If the reports are accurate, NASCAR’s most popular driver will partner up with Richard Childress, the same man for whom Dale Earnhardt Sr. starting driving in 1981.
Childress and Earnhardt Sr. won six Nextel Cup championships before Earnhardt was killed on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
Good article........
At least one bond will never be broken
By JOHN ROMANO
Published May 11, 2007
“Our blood contract has been good for 23 years, and that will always be the most important contract I have with him.”
Dale Earnhardt Sr., on the first contract his son signed with DEI in 1998
Remember that today. Remember those words as Dale Earnhardt Jr. sadly walks away from the company built by his father and bearing his name.
It appears as if the link between team and driver will forever be severed, but never forget that the bond between father and son should outlive them all.
For it was never about Chevy. It was never about the red Budweiser logo, nor the No. 8 on the hood. And it was certainly never because his paychecks were coming from the corporate offices of Dale Earnhardt Inc.
No, the initial allure of Junior was in the legacy.
He was the heir to his father’s popularity. He was the bridge between yesterday’s ovation and tomorrow’s hope. You may take away the scepter and crown, but the prince is still the king’s son.
And so it is for Junior. His car may not look the same, but his appeal has not changed. Which means the balance of power in NASCAR is officially up for grabs.
Perhaps I’m wrong, but I think Teresa Earnhardt may have just discovered a new path to inconsequential. She took a team worth tens of millions and reduced its value and potential in exchange for having the last word in a family spat.
And if she had any hope of claiming the higher ground, she has a lot of climbing to do. In an ESPN.com poll, about 80 percent of more than 50,000 respondents blamed her for Junior’s departure. And more than 90 percent said Junior was not out of line in seeking a controlling interest in DEI.
So how did it get to this point? How did it reach such a divide when Junior wanted to stay and Teresa needed him to stay?
There is no simple answer.
It has a lot to do with strained relations between Teresa and Junior since the time she became his stepmom more than 25 years ago. It has something to do with the relative lack of success at DEI in recent seasons.
And it obviously has much to do with Earnhardt Sr.’s death in 2001 before a more definitive line of succession could be established at DEI.
“His vision, and he said it himself, was for me to have a huge role in the company,” Junior said Thursday. “And I feel like me and Kelley (Junior’s sister) came to the understanding that that was not in the cards.”
So, yes, it is a crying shame that dysfunction has replaced affection in the family, but it does not mean the Earnhardt name will unduly suffer.
DEI may be in trouble, but Junior is in a better position than ever. Perhaps the best bargaining position a NASCAR driver has ever known.
He can name his price. He can name his conditions. He can probably name an owner’s first-born child if it came to that.
The heavyweights in Chevy racing will entice him, and the upstarts will likely chase him, too.
At 32, Junior is the same age his father was when he left Bud Moore for Richard Childress racing in 1984. The move jump-started Earnhardt Sr.’s career, leading to six of his seven Cup championships and 67 of 76 career victories.
“Hopefully I can accomplish the things I want to accomplish and put on the show that I think I can put on,” Junior said. “I feel like over the last year or two I have shortchanged my fans. They have been very loyal in sticking behind me when we haven’t put up the results we’re capable of doing.
“I’m hoping to win some races and win some championships to give those guys what they pay all that money to see us for.”
Junior hit all the right notes Thursday. Although many of his fans would have approved, he declined to take shots at Teresa.
He could have been smug but instead seemed genuinely disappointed. He acknowledged his unique bargaining power but did not give the impression that he would wield it like a club.
All in all, it was a performance that would have made his father proud.
For the amount of talk over the years of his outside interests and lack of dedication, Junior seems to have grown into his role as the face of a sport.
He may not yet have a Cup championship, but he has won nearly twice as many races (17) as Earnhardt Sr. did at this age, and he has finished the season in the top 10 four times. And still, he is not close to being satisfied.
It’s ironic because the rift between Teresa and Junior grew wider in December when she told a newspaper that it was time for him to decide whether he was more interested in being a NASCAR driver or a celebrity.
From the looks of it, she got her answer Thursday.
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/05/11/Sports/At_least_one_bond_wil.shtml
One last thing before I go...................
Scratch everything/news I posted this morning, this is from a note from JRM.
(5/11/07)
With the smoke still clearing from the biggest announcement we’ve ever had, let me now address an issue that needs to be clear and precise. If you haven’t noticed already, there is a serious media fetish to report Junior’s next move before anyone else, and in the process, it has become a collective and classic example of lazy, gossipy, tabloid-esque reporting that I’ve ever seen. My problem isn’t with the “little men” who start crazy rumors in a self-absorbed attempt to feel important. My problem is with the college-educated news guys who get paid to write, broadcast, and report the news. But in an attempt to beat others to the punch, they run on rumors, put it out there for you, the fans, to digest, and hope they were accurate.
So far, most have not been. Take for instance Dave Moody on Sirius Satellite Radio... or Jerry Bonkowsi on Yahoo! Sports... or the folks at NASCAR.com... or many, many others, who reported the reason for our Thursday press conference would be to announce that Dale Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. were leaving DEI to start a two-team Cup program here at JR Motorsports. If that wasn’t bad enough, people like Terry Blount on ESPN’s “NASCAR Now” proceeded to ridicule Junior for even thinking of doing such a thing.
It made for humorous conversations between myself, Dale Jr., and Martin Jr., but in the grand scheme of things, it’s pitiful when these journalists refuse accountability by saying, “I was only going on what my sources told me.”
Time to check your sources, guys. It’s bad journalism, bad reporting, and bad ethics. The same applies for the Hickory, N.C. television station who is reporting today that we are announcing a deal with Richard Childress Racing to drive a No. 33 Budweiser car.
Huh?.
You can take this to the bank: We’re not even close to announcing where he’s going, because we don’t know. There are many meetings with many teams forthcoming. Dale Jr. wants to contend. He wants resources. He wants equipment. He wants to give his fans wins and championships. A decision like that doesn’t come overnight, no matter what you read on Yahoo! Sports.
If Jr can convince another established driver to bolt from his team, he will move JR Motorsports up to Cup and become a Hendrick satellite. Even with the best equipment money can buy, a 1-car team doesn't have a chance of contending; indeed, only two 1-car teams are in the top 35 right now.
If he can't create a 2-car team, he'll move to RCR. They've got the second-best equipment in Cup, Childress still has first refusal on the #3, and most-importantly (and the reason why he can't join Hendrick directly), they've got room.
I really would like to see him and Kenseth be JR Motorsports, but Robot, DeWalt, and Reiser are all locked up at Roush Fenway through at least 2009. Besides, I don't think Brainless would like the idea of Kenseth and the Bees getting their hands on the best equipment all that much.
Jayski’s trying to track down confirmation on Richard Childress denying he signed Jr at his presser this morning.
Jarrett going home already. Ends a string of 36 starts at Darlington.
Here’s the second page of an exclusive interview from SI [interesting]
The ties that unbind (cont.)
Posted: Friday May 11, 2007 11:24AM; Updated: Friday May 11, 2007 12:31PM
The smiles Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Teresa shared for the cameras masked an uneasy relationship the two have had for years.
AP
Here’s one thing about Dale Jr.: When he looks you in the eye, he is simply incapable of concealing how he truly feels (he’s a bit like Tony Stewart in this regard). “I was laying in bed last night worrying about what everyone was going to think today,” he said. “I didn’t want any of my words to sound rehearsed; I really wanted to speak from the heart. I know some people at DEI are really, really mad at me right now, and I feel so bad about that, man, I really, really do. This whole thing is just so hard for me to wrap my head around.”
We continued to talk, discussing whether or not this was a good move. He spoke in a hushed, serious voice — a tone that he normally doesn’t employ. I eventually asked him why, really, he’s leaving DEI.
“Not many people know the real story here,” Junior said.
“I think I do,” I replied.
“I think you do, too,” Earnhardt said.
The reason Earnhardt is leaving DEI can be summed up in two words: Teresa Earnhardt. Little E and his stepmother have a long and complicated history, just like any son and his stepmother. They’ve had their share of good moments, but they’ve also been waging a power struggle that goes back deep into Earnhardt’s childhood. One example: When Junior was a teenager it was largely Teresa’s decision to send Earnhardt to military school for a year. “Sure as hell wasn’t my decision,” Earnhardt said with a laugh.
If Teresa would have handed operational control of DEI over to Junior and given him majority ownership of the company — two things, in fact, that Dale Sr. told me in ‘00 that he wanted Junior to have, which I wrote about in SI about a month ago — Earnhardt would have signed a contract extension. I have not met a single person in NASCAR who thought these were unreasonable demands by Junior. After all, his father built the company specifically for his children, not his wife. But Teresa, who rarely speaks to the media, obviously felt like her stepson, who happens to be the most popular driver in the history of auto racing in America, was asking for too much. Why? Well, that’s a question only she can answer as she guides DEI straight into racing obscurity.
“Me and Teresa do not see eye to eye,” Earnhardt said. “I wish we did, but we don’t. In a weird way, our relationship might get better now that I’m moving on.
“I really thought that we’d get something done, contract-wise. But as the negotiations went on, the writing was on the wall that I was going to have to leave. What she wanted was specific to me. They’ll get another driver in there and she’ll give him a normal contract. But that wasn’t going to happen with me. And my decision to leave was solely based on my relationship with my car owner.”
Earnhardt continued. “Man, I look at the fun that other drivers have with their owners. I want a guy who’s going to be at the track and give me feedback. I want to feel really part of an entire organization. That’s a big part of racing, and I want that.
“I’ll catch myself looking ahead and thinking about the options, but I’ve got to slow down, listen to everyone, try to get to know each group, and make a solid decision. I can’t come back a year later and change my mind. This is the last time I’m going to do something like this.”
While we talked, lunch was delivered to Earnhardt’s office. It was his first meal as a free agent, and while he’s very anxious about his future, leaving DEI was clearly the right play by Earnhardt. There was symmetry to the move as well. His father was Little E’s age — 32 — when he signed to drive for Richard Childress Racing, where he went on to win six championships.
Can Junior find similar success on another team? Who knows, but here’s one guess: He’ll be driving the No. 33 Chevy for RCR next season.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/lars_anderson/05/11/dale-earnhardt-exclusive/
Thanks for the lineup :)
Wouldn’t that be a fabulous combination! Robot and Junebug :) Has to be Chevy’s though.
I don’t know which team will be lucky enough to get him, but I know he can get along with anyone so personalities of other drivers shouldn’t be a problem.
It would be funny at Gibbs with Tony. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. :) Or the odd couple. :) But Gibbs is not an option unless he changes his philosophy for $$. I read somewhere CHip Ganassi listed his phone number in a news article. lol
Kelley is against JRM as a Cup operation for now anyway unless they can’t get a deal done with someone else which I doubt.
August is now D-Day for souvenir production. I have to delete my midnight get-r-done tagline and the vote no on BOD which I think was one of the deal breakers.
I am keeping the Earnhardt-Elledge though just for Jimmy Spencer!!
Behind the hauler with Matt
MATT KENSETH – No. 17 DeWalt Ford Fusion – WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ALL THIS DALE JR. STUFF? “I honestly didn’t watch any of it yesterday. I talked to Dale Jr. a little about it, although he hasn’t really told me totally what’s going on. I’m proud of him. I think if his dad was still alive and he couldn’t provide him with the stuff that he thought he needed to win a championship, he’d do the same thing and I think his dad would give him his blessing. Dale Jr. is Dale Jr. He’s really talented. He’s really good. He’s got a big name, so you know that he’s always gonna be able to get a ride, but he’s 32 or 33 years old and it’s time for him. If he doesn’t feel like he’s in the best equipment, he needs to go find the best equipment and go out there and try to win championships and do those things. He’s close to my age and we’re not old by any means, but yet in this sport today, he’s 10 years older than the youngest guys. It’s time and I think it’s a good decision. I think it’s time to go see if there’s better stuff out there and a better opportunity to win one.”
DO YOU SEE ANY LIKELY LANDING SPOT FOR HIM? “I haven’t really paid much attention. I’m sure it wouldn’t be that hard to figure out if we really sat and thought about it, but I really, honestly have no idea. If he did tell me, I wouldn’t tell you anyway, but he didn’t and I really have no idea.”
WERE YOU SURPRISED THEY WEREN’T ABLE TO GET SOMETHING WORKED OUT? “No, not at all. I was actually surprised the last time that they did work it out. The last time they did a three-year deal two-and-a-half years ago I was honestly surprised. I really thought he maybe would have tried something else, but I know he’s put 100 percent into making it work there. He’s got a lot of family and friends there that work on the team. He’s given it everything he’s got and he’s raced there for 10 or 11 years or whatever it is and has done a lot of great things there. I think it’s cool that if he wants to go do something different he does it, and he doesn’t stay there if he’s not happy doing it.”
WILL THIS CHANGE THE SALARY STRUCTURE? “I have no idea.”
WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE THAT? “Is there a structure? Is there something I don’t know about? I don’t know what the structure is. I don’t know what everybody else’s deal is. I have no idea.”
HOW WAS YOUR CAR IN PRACTICE? “To be honest with you, my car drove way better than I thought it would drive here. I haven’t been a huge fan of these cars because they’ve been a struggle for me. I don’t think they drove very good at the tracks we’ve been to so far, but here, to me, it drove surprisingly good. I don’t think we’re near as good as we need to be to run for a win or anything like that, but just as far as the car and controlling it and how it felt, I thought it drove surprisingly good. There are gonna be a lot of guys that are gonna flat side the cars because it does not have a ton of grip, but, like I said, surprisingly to me, they drove pretty good here.”
MAN...that is some UGLY qualifying for the Grimey Pits Team...
Unnngghhh...Running Tony, Kurt, Kyle and Green...
That it would have to be Chevys is part of what would make it impossible. Robot is, for what it’s worth, the face of Ford right now, even though the Busch operation didn’t switch to Fords until either 2002 or 2003 (can’t remember which) when Reiser Enterprises was finally bought out by Roush.
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.
