The season long saga involving Dale Earnhardt Jr and his stepmother Teresa Earnhardt has continued on despite the fact that Earnhardt Jr has made his decision to leave the organization following the 2007 season.
In December, Teresa Earnhardt opened fire during an exclusive interview with the Wall Street Journal with a controversial statement which basically stated that Earnhardt Jr needed to decide whether he wanted to be a racecar driver or a public personality. Since that notorious quote, the battle lines have been drawn and the tension between the late Dale Earnhardt’s widow and his youngest son has been cast into the limelight.
Throughout contract negotiations, Earnhardt Jr made demands of majority ownership and Teresa was averse to just rolling over and handing the company to the 32 year old driver.
Eventually, Earnhardt Jr told the media and world that he would no longer drive under the DEI umbrella in 2008. A month later, Earnhardt Jr announced that he was joining Hendrick Motorsports, much to the chagrin of many hardcore Earnhardt fans. However, the majority of his fans have accepted his decision, and held out hope that the red Budweiser number 8 would join him on the darkside.
Unfortunately, Budweiser has already ‘been there and done that’ when it comes to endorsing a Hendrick Motorsports car; so that idea was squashed. Fans continued to hold out hope that Earnhardt Jr be allowed to keep his identity as driver number eight, but it was made clear that the 8 will remain with DEI.
Earnhardt Jr expressed his disappointment with the outcome of the negotiations, as well as his discontentment towards Teresa.
"I've been in these negotiations with the same person before, and they've never worked out in our favor. I knew this was the way it was going to be…The personal stuff is way far away from the racetrack…Because when I walk away from DEI, I wanted no ties whatsoever. If I was to get the 8, and allow Teresa to have limited control of it, I'd still have to deal with her, and that wasn't what I wanted. We have to let the 8 go, and we have to get something new," said a frustrated Earnhardt Jr.
Earnhardt Jr’s dissatisfaction towards Teresa is manifest, and most of his countless fans echo his sentiments. In fact, his fans are furious. Fans and members of the media have blasted Teresa, calling her the ‘wicked stepmother’, and referring to her as greedy and vicious. It is easy for people to forget that she owns DEI, and has been the sole owner since 2001, and before that, she pretty much ran the business while Dale was out winning races and championships.
Many fans feel as if Teresa has no business running DEI, but Dale Earnhardt did not make that a successful company by his lonesome. He had a savvy business partner who was also his wife. She never had any obligation to just hand over the number eight to whoever Dale Earnhardt Jr drives for in 2008.
Mark Martin, one of the newest drivers in the DEI stable made several good points. He said, "In this business, the standard has always been that the number stays with the owner. The driver has his superstardom to carry wherever he may go…It should matter to a lot of Dale Earnhardt Sr. fans that the number stays with the owner, just as the 6 did (stay with Roush Fenway Racing)."
When asked if he tried to take the number 6 with him when he left Roush Fenway Racing last year, Martin clearly said that he already knew the answer.
"I understand how it works, so I never asked. Why would you ask when you know the answer is no? Roush Racing had equity in that number. It meant something to them. It had significance to their organization.”
Earnhardt Jr fans need to let go of their anger towards Teresa Earnhardt and be practical when considering that it is not unusual for a driver to switch numbers when they switch teams. It is a part of being in the sport. What makes Dale Earnhardt Jr more deserving to keep his number than Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, or even his own father?
Only once can I recall a driver keeping his number when he left his original team. Richard Petty carried the number 43 over from Petty Enterprises to Mike Curb’s team in the early 1980’s, and that is only because Richard was a majority owner of Petty Enterprises.
