ON THE SPONSOR FOR DALE EARNHARDT, JR. NEXT YEAR: "I don't know what is going to happen there. There's a lot of things to work out. Rick Hendrick's been heavy at it and I've been changing diapers. I wish I had more for you, I just don't. I've been pretty busy here lately and between family and my team, that's where my focus has been and haven't been involved with a lot of the conversations." [Translation: he's been involved in the key conversations -- especially if Pepsi sponsors Junior in some way. However, Kelloggs has been on the 5 car for years and still has a multi-year contract with HMS. They might go with a multi-sponsor arrangement, like Jeff has with DuPont, Pepsi and Nicorette. That might explain why Bud couldn't sign on -- beer and corn flakes don't mix.]
ON IF THERE IS STILL A LOT OF EXCITEMENT ABOUT DALE EARNHARDT, JR. JOINING HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS: "Very much so. I know I'm really looking forward to him being my teammate. I think Hendrick Motorsports obviously has a lot to offer. We're proving that year in and year out, and I think that's why Junior made the decision that that's where he'd like to be. We think the world of him and that's why the decision was made to bring him over there. All the sponsors and numbers and all that stuff, it'll all work itself out."
DALE EARNHARDT, JR. SAID HE HAS ALWAYS ENJOYED THE RIVALRY YOU HAD WITH HIS DAD AS WELL AS HIMSELF. CAN THAT CONTINUE AS TEAMMATES AND CAN TEAMMATES BE RIVALS? "Well we're competitors. Dale and I never really had a rivalry, and I don't feel like Junior and I have a rivalry, but we have competitiveness on the track that built a rivalry among our fans, and I don't see any reason why that can't continue. We're going to be sharing information, we're going to be working together to try to make our teams and our organization, but we all know like we've seen here recently, once you get out there on the race track it's all about winning for your team and you're going to do everything you can to win it. I don't see that changing in any way. It should be fun really."
DO YOU THINK THE TRANSITION CHANGES THE WAY HIS FANS SEE YOU? "I think some maybe. I think if there's any fans out there that maybe do have some kind of a respect for what we've done or what I've accomplished, then they might change their tune a little bit, but for the most part no. No, I don't expect there to be any change. I expect for the cheers and the boos pretty much stay the same way."
HOW DO YOU ACCEPT THE FACT THAT SOME PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND SOME PEOPLE DISLIKE YOU? "I smile and I wave and try to win races. When I win races and they throw things at me, I revel in it. It only makes it that much more rewarding. I'm not encouraging people to throw things, but I'm just saying that those things only motivate me that much more, the boos, because I know there's a lot of fans out there that do pull for me, and so if I didn't have that, it'd bother me but we have a great fanbase and a great support from those fans and so I'm very content with it all."
WILL YOUR FANS EMBRACE DALE MORE THAN THE OTHER WAY AROUND? "The thing about Earnhardt fans is that they are very committed and so those guys and gals are not going to sway, you're not going to be able to change them and we're not trying to and don't expect them too. I think that a lot of my fans, they look around and they respect other drivers and sometimes they pull for other drivers but I think they are also loyal when it comes to pulling for me, and I think that there's no stronger loyalty than an Earnhardt fan."
##
Personal note: I'm one JG fan that will never pull for any other driver.
Hi Kids, hope your day is good! I’m in Germany, near Koln (Cologne) for the entire week. It is very hot here, 35DegC. but the drive from Frankfurht was pretty good auf der Autobahn. We did about 150km/h (90+mph?) and the diesel Mercedes held the road nicely.
Got bumped up to first class on Air India, was an older 747-400 but I had seat 1A and my collegue and I had the row to ourselves.
The hotel has T-Mobil WiFi for 18Euro per 24 hours, good thing the company picks that up...so I MUST check email each day!
I’m 7 hours ahead and we just got back from dinner. Went to a restaurant that brings you a freakin’ hot stone with your food and you cook it yourself right on the stone. You order your meat by the 100gram incremements and I just had 100g of rumproast and shrimp...yummmy! I saw others getting HUGE 500g steaks, you just slice of pieces and lay them on the stone and it sizzles...combine a freakin’ hot rock with 90 degree heat and I’m just sweatin’ up a storm!
I won’t be staying up for the race, pure knackered so it’s off to the down bed! Ya’ll be good!
GRRRRR