Given the sponsorship DEI
has and the resources they can tap, the team should be better than they are. Not just Junior, but the other team drivers as
well. Instead of hiring someone like John Story to “manage sales, marketing, and communications activities at DEI and
assist in strategic development of DEI”, perhaps DEI should hire someone who can garner the technical expertise needed
to produce a championship team. A quick look at the sea of Budweiser Red blanketing every
NASCAR track on race day would suggest the marketing department seems to be doing quite well as it now stands. Who is it that
seems to be lacking the necessary focus a race team needs to win a championship, Junior or Teresa? What wins races and championships,
building better cars or the marketing department? Junior just drives the cars;
Teresa decides who will build them and/or market them.
Other stories have now come
out of the original Teresa knock on Dale Jr. Harvick called Teresa a “deadbeat owner” prompting Junior to speak
up and defend his step mother.
Four-time Cup Champion
Jeff Gordon, a 75 time race winner uncharacteristically spoke out on the matter saying, “I think it's gone too far.
When it gets ugly in the media, it's usually very, very difficult to rebound from that.” Gordon went on to add “I
think that you've got a little stubbornness going on there. Junior is in the seat to be able to write his own ticket, he can
do whatever he wants. He can go to any team, he can start his own team, he's got the sponsors who are going to back him, the
fans that are going to back him. He's really in the power position, and if Teresa is not recognizing that, then shame on her
... if she doesn't recognize that DEI will have a tough time surviving without Junior, I think she's making a big mistake."
To answer Harvick, one
might suggest that not only is Teresa Earnhardt a team owner but she was the wife and soul mate of Dale Earnhardt. To think
that watching him die on the track (the worst nightmare and fear of every racecar drivers’ wife, mother, sister, etc.),
had no effect on her desire to ever set foot on a racetrack again, race team owner or not, what Harvick said was not just
heartless and unfeeling, but down right stupid. To call Teresa Earnhardt a deadbeat owner is just the kind of unthinking comments
that Kevin Harvick is infamous for. Bless his heart, Harvick means well and probably wishes he could have a do over for some
of the things he says, but he can not. We all have said things that we wish we could have a “do over” on and one
would think in this situation both Harvick and Teresa fall into that category. Harvick, an extremely talented driver, has
the reputation of putting his foot in his mouth. Some despise it; some find it an endearing quality, while some exploit it.
In defense of Harvick, his charitable actions have shown that he is not an unfeeling dolt, which leads to the thought that
someone exploited it, as it were. One would think that he was first and foremost supporting a fellow driver in a tough situation,
not getting a dig in on another team’s owner.
According to a recent Associated
Press report; Teresa Earnhardt answered “Absolutely” when asked about how committed she was to keeping Junior
behind the wheel of the No. 8 Chevrolet.
What Teresa’s motivation
was in her first interview, there is no way of knowing. She is neither stupid (as her original statement would suggest) nor
is she given to offhand comments. One can only speculate as to what the desired results of her comments were. Perhaps she
wanted publicity for the team and the upcoming Dale Earnhardt movie. Perhaps she wanted to spark a fire under Junior to get
him signed faster. If it was the first idea presented it worked. If it was the second, there are serious doubts. Her comment(s)
and subsequent hiring of three new marketing personnel, Max Siegel, John Story, and Andrew Campagnone, instead of a few racing
technical experts, did nothing but highlight her failure to see the race team as something that is as important to DEI as
the marketing of Dale Earnhart’s legacy. To the majority of race fans, furthering the race team IS the most important
legacy of Dale Earnhardt and DEI. The bottom line however, is that as a race team, DEI is nothing without Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Questions,
Comments;
Email Everett
The views and opinions in this article are that of the writer(s) and not necessarily that of SCR
2006 StockCar Review.
