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July 08, 2008
Now She Wants To Sell!!!
By Mark Young
At this time last year NASCAR
was watching the turmoil and inner-family power play between Dale Earnhardt
Junior and Theresa Earnhardt over control of Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, the
family business that the late Dale Earnhardt created. Junior said he wanted more control of the
team, the ability to be involved in the decision making process to help make
DEI more competitive. Theresa refused to
budge and the rest is now history.
Dale Junior is second in NASCAR Sprint Cup points and DEI is floundering in mediocrity. Mark Martin will be gone next year to make a final full court press attempt to win his first ever Cup Series Title. Martin Truex is in the center of rumors to be leaving for either RCR or the new Tony Stewart team, and long-time sponsor Bass Pro Shops is rumored to be leaving as well.
Then yesterday word got out
that DEI was for sale…………..Why now?
U WANTS SOME?
Is Theresa Earnhardt finally
realizing that her greed got the best of her? Did her pride cause her rose tinted glasses to create a vision that she
didn’t need Junior?
Granted, in this day and age
of NASCAR where teams like the venerable Petty Enterprises sell majority
ownership to become more competitive I am not surprised to see DEI looking for
investors. But what has me just shaking
my head is that she had the chance to have it all. She could have had the most popular driver in
the sport and the merchandise dollars he generates. She could have had control of the business
side of the organization. She could have
had someone embedded into the sport that relies on being competitive making
decisions to make the team run well.
I have read on other sites
that she just wants to walk away from it all……..all of it except the licensing
rights and merchandise sales of the #3 and the Intimidator logos, not a bad
retirement plan if you ask me.
What absolutely makes me
shake my head is the question Why Now? I
know hind-sight is always 20-20 but was she that nieve to think that she didn’t
need Junior? If she would have budged
just a little bit a year ago she would still have Budweiser as a major sponsor,
the most popular driver in the sport driving for her, and more importantly Dale
Earnhardt Inc. would mean something other than a memory of something her late
husband created.
July 8, 2008 | Permalink
Comments
"Ain't No Sunshine, When You're Gone"...
Hindsight pays no dividends. Her problem was attitude and having the wrong people giving her input on DEI. A successful race team needs a balance of business decision makers, a fan accepted driver, and lots of racing experience and know-how. Then, can they go out into the very competitive world of seeking sponsorship. There will be many race teams making some pretty astounding adjustments and changes over the next couple of years. Last year would have been a great time and opportunity to solidify DEI rather than fragment it into oblivion and also a good time to have sold any GM, Ford, Chrysler or Toyota stock that one had accumulated. "Too Late Baby".
Posted by: jim | Jul 8, 2008 8:21:32 AM
i hope the ship sinks. because of what she did to jr
Posted by: ron house | Jul 8, 2008 8:49:07 AM
GREAT POST MARK !
I am shaking my head too.
IMO
Why sell now, she has realised that MM is leaving, along with sponsors, U.S.ARMY, Bass Pro Shops, along with PM and his daddy's company and as a result MTjr is likely to leave and thus leaving EA and RS
as drivers and weak sponsorship deals. We saw what happens when "owners" with out "sponsors" start paying the bills, out of their own pocket.
Ron
Posted by: Trucker | Jul 8, 2008 9:35:26 AM
Why would she sell now?
Does she now understand that no driver worth his salt wants to to work for her?
Posted by: Clance' McClannahan | Jul 8, 2008 11:28:30 AM
Mark...
DEI may be another opportunity that Tony Stewart could explore as an owner/driver, but with absolutely no partnerships. It would put him back in the Chevrolet camp. He might be able to retain Truex at DEI and he will take with him the sponsorship needed to fund DEI back to life. This is may very well be the only hope of selling that organization....and then again, Tony may have already etched an agreement to purchase in concret with someone else.
Posted by: jim | Jul 8, 2008 12:09:14 PM
I never engaged in trash-talking on the old man's wife, as I know you haven't, but you outlined here the terrible decisions she has made regarding the company that Sr. created. Big E handed her the reins on the business side of the house some years back and she was like "the lawyer in the family" (as it was put in a documentary about Dale Sr.) because she was sharp and savvy. Greed got the better of her. It's a shame. I don't feel bad for her, but DEI was pretty good once, and could have been great under the right leadership. I do often wonder what the Man thinks of all this.
Posted by: Joe | Jul 8, 2008 12:39:42 PM
maybe dei needs a real racing oriented guy to lead it into the next decade like...
hmmmm
max siegel for instance.
she made some bonehead decisions to keep her step-son down, and in the process made dei an also ran 4th tier org.
hey, Jr had a great year, let's teach him a lesson military school couldn't... (i AM the boss here and at home) switch his complete team with the 15 lol take that boy.
hey, Jr wants to be a part of his dad's company (what kid doesn't). i'll teach him a lesson he will never forget. see ya boy.
overall real sad.
Posted by: exile | Jul 8, 2008 1:02:27 PM
Mark,
Did she ever seem to really embrace NASCAR? Not in my opinion. She was an excellent NASCAR wife/companion, with a great business sense of what Sr. needed to do, business-wise, but, when Sr. left she had no NASCAR sense for what she needed to do NASCAR-wise to be a NASCAR team owner. She never fit in, nor seemed to want to, with the NASCAR fans, or even other team owners. She's aloof, and has had her own agenda. She's made good business decisions that were terrible NASCAR decisions.
Selling is her best option. She has no interest in the sport. It's the only way DEI will survive.
Posted by: Keith | Jul 8, 2008 1:34:24 PM
All I can say is speculation...I'll wait till the all the I's are dotted and the T's crossed...other than that it's nothing more than sensationalized journalism...which alot of outlets are
Posted by: Fan #5 | Jul 8, 2008 1:56:12 PM
There are no fights like family fights. I suspect that it was more pride than greed involved.
Posted by: Richard | Jul 8, 2008 1:59:52 PM
Keith is mostly right; the one area I disagree with him is that Teresa is aloof. I think in the end the sport priced her out of contention like it did Petty, the Woods, the McClures, even Ganassi. I doubt Junior staying with DEI would have saved the company.
It all shows several things, and one of the things this shows is that NASCAR had better get off this "independent contractor" illusion and step in with a spending cap and revenue sharing between these race teams.
Posted by: Mike Daly | Jul 8, 2008 3:03:09 PM
Last year's contract negotations with Jr. and this latest news of a sale have more to do with the mythical legacy of Dale Earnhardt than anything. He has become a John Wayne, Kennedy, or Elvis. His faults and mistakes aren't so big, and his accomplishments and character are larger than life. And hey that's fine, heroes are good for the spirit. But, it's people making decisions based upon these "personnas" is where things go wrong. Theresa's goal is to preserve that "legend" and makes every business decision around it. Dale Jr. thought it was his birth right to be given that legend with ownership of the company. Those worlds collided. Now Jr. probably realizes that being majority owner of DEI was not what he really wanted and would not have been good for him. Theresa is surprised that people questioned her decisions and turned their back on her. I'm sure she sees it as people turning their back on Sr. And so it goes...legends have to live on their own...and the people the legends leave behind can't live through them.
Posted by: Michael | Jul 8, 2008 3:24:49 PM
Mike Daly,
I meant to type, "seemingly aloof," but, the facts are that she was seldom in the garage or pit areas, or at the track, on race day, and it seemed she didn't care.
As far as the sport pricing her out, nah, she did that herself. I agree that the sport needs to get over it's "Fairgrounds" and "Independent Contractor" mentality. NASCAR, as you say, likes to control everything monetary until it affects their bottom line i.e. a spending cap and revenue sharing. That would mean they weren't independent and unions and retirement plans would evolve...oh my, welcome to the real world NASCAR.
Posted by: Keith | Jul 8, 2008 3:45:58 PM
Michael,
You've read too many sappy articles on this. Teresa's goal from the beginning at DEI, with Sr., was management and profit. She loved the man, and the business, but could have cared less about the sport. In time, the #3 would have been Juniors ride with Dale Sr. guiding the company, much like the Petty's, but things didn't work out. Junior didn't realize anything nor step out of that responsibility. He wanted control of DEI, and, to be honest, what's DEI without an Earnhardt in the lead car?
Posted by: Keith | Jul 8, 2008 4:01:24 PM
Keith,
What are you talking about? The #3 would have been Jr's ride? You think Dale would have ever let Jr. jump to RCR and take money out of his pocket at DEI? That's ludicrous. Also, DEI ran 4 years in Cup with an Earnhardt in the car and did just fine. You are sadly mistaken if you believe Dale and Teresa started that company for the sake of Jr. and the other kids. They started it to make money and for Sr. to have a job after he got out of the car.
Posted by: Michael | Jul 8, 2008 4:24:28 PM
Michael,
Mikey, RCR rents the number from NASCAR, and, were he still around and retired, I could have seen Childress handing it over. But, regardless of whatever number, Sr. wanted Jr. to be the company driver. Teresa could care less about NASCAR or "Preserving the Legend." The legend would survive because of his on track deeds regardless of what she did. Stop making a big soap opera out of her motives. John Wayne, birth rights, come on...
Posted by: Keith | Jul 8, 2008 5:45:52 PM
I said at this time last year that Teresa would make more money by selling 51% to Jr. and maintaining a 49% stake in DEI, than she would by letting Jr. leave and keeping a 100% stake in DEI.
Whethere you like Jr. or not(and I'm anything but a Jr. fan) you have to admit the man is a cash cow. Without him, what does DEI have? Martin Truex is a good driver but he's never going to be the celebrity that Jr. is. He can't transcend the sport the way Jr. does and bring in the type of money from sponsors that wouldn't normally have an interest in NASCAR the way that Jr. can. Almirola may turn out to be a good driver but again, neither him, nor Regan Smith nor Paul Menard combined can do for DEI what Jr. could.
Once Teresa made her decision not to give Jr. what he wanted I knew that this was going to happen. It was only a matter of time. Without Jr., DEI has no marketability whatsoever. They are an average organization with no star driver to attract sponsors. It's hard enough to make money as an owner in NASCAR having someone like Jr. in your organization and it's 10 times as difficult without someone like him.
That's why she should have given Jr. what he wanted because she would have come out of this much better financially than she is now. Now she's lucky if DEI doesn't close down altogether.
Posted by: Ken | Jul 8, 2008 6:12:22 PM
"A Museum". HaHaHaHaHa! NO WAY Smoke would get involved in DEI.
Posted by: JWSmoke | Jul 8, 2008 6:42:34 PM
How many of you would give away your deceased husbands business, to only one of the children. Does anybody really think that was Dale Sr's plan , to give it all to Jr. I doubt it. Teresa is prabaly just following his wishes. She could however put him in charge of all motorsport decisions, so he wouldnt have nobody to blame for his poor performance. But to turn over everything to the spoiled child, and screw over the other three children. I don't think so.
Posted by: clay | Jul 8, 2008 7:01:57 PM
clay - Do you really think Jr. is the kind of guy who would have taken all the money from DEI and kept it for him and Kelley? I don't think so. I've not heard anything from him or about him that would indicate that. Surely he would have shared everything with Kerry and Taylor.
Posted by: Diane | Jul 8, 2008 7:12:24 PM
Diane
I agree with you about Jr.
"I've not heard anything from him or about him that would indicate that. Surely he would have shared everything with Kerry and Taylor."
In the infamous interview last year that started all this 51%- HE even stated in a perfect world that all 4 Children would have a part - say in the company. HOW MANY of his family does he have on his payroll currently over a JR Motorsports- there you have it- Kelley plus Uncles, Aunts, and Cousins from boht sides of his family ties
and its even been stated he has put in a couple milions of his earnings into that company to get it and keep it going.
He is about racing - just look at the program "Back in the Day" that was out of his love for this sport not to make money.
Posted by: Frances | Jul 8, 2008 9:19:12 PM
She had a chance to let Dale's legacy live on through her step-son......but her greed and pride got the best of her. Now there will be nothing left but the millions gained by the people who buy the #3 gear each year.
She made a mistake but won't lose any money out of the deal and will fade away quietly into NASCAR lore.......
Posted by: Mark Young | Jul 8, 2008 10:04:50 PM
OMG Y'all have bought into the "Wicked Step Mother" fairy tale...I'd say that the Jr nation got played like a cheap fiddle
Posted by: Fan #5 | Jul 8, 2008 11:47:58 PM
It was interesting seeing Kerry in the 8 car this weekend...and hearing all the talk that went along with that...
Somebody said something on here about sponsors leaving. We've all heard about where all the big sponsors are supposedly headed for next season...absolutely nothing about DEI obtaining any new major sponsorship whatsoever. When you look at what those sponsors are willing to do for Tony wherever he ends up, it just shows one thing. It was a poor decision not to have a "name" in the fold.
And imho, I think most of the big "free agent" names are a little gun-shy about DEI because of the natural negative response that would ensue.
I'd hate to be in that pickle.
I guess it's not about hindsight...it's about having no foresight. At all.
Posted by: the6and9 | Jul 9, 2008 12:05:28 AM
How many of you would give away your deceased husbands business, to only one of the children.
But to turn over everything to the spoiled child, and screw over the other three children. I don't think so.
Posted by: clay
although it's completely none of my business, i think that's exactly what will happen.
taylor gets everything the other 3, not her kids, get jackshit.
Posted by: exile | Jul 9, 2008 12:19:45 AM
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