Column: Jr. draws line in the sand

Published 6:07 am Tuesday, February 13, 2007

By Staff
The line has been drawn in the sand.
The future of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. depends heavily on decisions that will be made over the next several months. The current contract between DEI and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. expires at the end of the 2007 season. Negotiations to renew that contract are ongoing, but took a wild twist this week.
Teresa Earnhardt, widow of the company founder and best race car driver ever, Dale Earnhardt, owns the company now and happens to be Dale Jr.'s step-mother. The relationship between the two has been "rocky" over the years according to Junior.
Earlier this week during media gatherings in Daytona, Dale Jr. finally indicated what he wanted—ownership in the company. Not just a percentage, Junior wants majority ownership of the company. That means that he wants to be Teresa's boss, if she sticks around or agrees to Junior's desires.
I am afraid this could be a deal breaker and lead to what many people thought would never happen, Junior leaving DEI to drive for another team. I have a hard time believing that Teresa would give up control of the company, especially after Junior has gone public with the demand, however, Teresa would be wise to strongly consider the demand; the future of DEI depends on it.
Much was made that the leadership of DEI, minus Teresa, met with Junior a few days to ago for discussions. Teresa was asked, presumably by Max Siegel and Richie Gilmore, to step away from the negotiations. Siegel is the newly appointed President of Global Operations for DEI and Gilmore is Vice President of Competition. I think Teresa's absence speaks volumes.
One thing is for sure, Junior holds all the cards in this situation. Either Teresa relents or Junior leaves. The former still makes DEI a very viable team with a bright future, the latter leaves them nowhere. One very important point-Budweiser's contract with the team also expires at the end of the season. Where Junior goes, Budweiser goes. Whether that ends up being Richard Childress Racing, the most likely destination if things don't work out, Ginn Racing, or Junior's own JR Motorsports, Budweiser follows Junior.
I don't have a clue how this thing will be resolved. I can say, however, with a high level of confidence that this is not what Dale Earnhardt had in mind when he started this company back in the mid 1980s. Makes you wonder what he would have thought of the whole situation. Junior commented that, in a perfect world, the company would be split between the four Earnhardt children. I would think that's what any father would want.
It has been said that Teresa is a very astute businesswoman. If that is true, the decision shouldn't be very difficult.