GRAYSON: Dale Jr. media coverage “much ado about nothing?”

By Dave Grayson

How could we possibly begin a brand new NASCAR Nextel Cup season without some off track soap opera to entertain us and leave us in awe struck wonder? I really don’t think it’s possible and the 2007 season has already begun to entertain us from a rather surprising source: Dale Earnhardt’s contract negotiations.

First off, it’s common knowledge that Junior’s contract with Dale Earnhadt Incorporated, DEI, expires at the end of this year and so does the Budweiser sponsorship for his number 8 Chevrolet. Renegotiating these contracts are often a lengthy process that includes a lot of meetings to hammer out agreements on a lot of clauses that includes everything from paychecks to personal appearance schedules.But the basic premise of this particular contract should be rather simple: give this driver whatever he wants and sign him as soon as possible. After all he’s a major commodity on and off the track not to mention the Nextel Cup’s most popular driver for the last four years running. The sponsorship opportunity for this driver is unlimited and one would be hard pressed to find a major corporation that wouldn’t want to be connected to him.

So far, contract negotiations between Dale Earnhardt Jr and his step mother Teresa Earnhardt, CEO of DEI, has now entered into month number five which made a lot of us wonder what’s the problem? One would think that family loyalty alone, to the racing house built by the late Dale Earnhardt Sr, would have sped up the contract process. It is a big factor but the negotiations hit a stumbling block last December that would, over the next six weeks, lead to a lot of public comments and a rather large off track story that should have never become a story to begin with. The time line for this story is as follows:
DECEMBER 14, 2006. The “Wall Street Journal” publishes an interview with Teresa Earnhardt that includes the topic of Dale Jr’s contract status. Teresa Earnhardt raised more than a few eyebrows when she said she was uncertain about his future with the company and further stated “right now the ball is in his court to decide on whether he wants to be a NASCAR driver or whether he wants to be a public personality.” Dale Jr had no immediate comment but everyone else did and soon the story became a media obsession.

JANUARY 4, 2007. Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, Dale Jr’s sister and an executive with his NASCAR Busch Series team JR Motorsports, appeared on the “Sirius NASCAR Radio Network” and said she and her brother were surprised by Teresa Earnhardt’s comments but had not spoken with her about them. When asked if the story had launched a flood of telephone calls from other team owners seeking her brother’s services, Elledge said that, surprisingly, there were very few calls and she felt that many of the other team owners had assumed that all of the drama would be eventually straightened out and Dale Jr would resign with DEI. She also pointed out that her brother’s number one desire and passion was driving and he was not nearly as interested in the business and personality aspect of the sport as he is with driving a race car. Elledge further pointed out that JR Motorsports has a strong staff to handle business so he can concentrate on driving and added “his number one focus is being competitive in the race car. If he’s not doing that then he’s not having fun and the rest of it doesn’t matter to him.”

JANUARY 8,2007. In some comments made to “ESPN.Com” Richie Gilmore, DEI Director of Motorsports, said that the contract negotiations are on the fast track and would likely be finalized by the month of May if not sooner. He also said that “losing the services of the NASCAR Nextel Cup’s most popular driver, and the son of Dale Earnhardt Sr, was never a consideration at DEI including Teresa.” However, Gilmore again raised the eyebrows of the racing media when he said that Teresa has tried to remove herself from the contract negotiations because “she thinks it will go faster is she takes the personal side out of it.” The eyebrows shot up even higher when Gilmore further stated that he was not surprised that Teresa and Dale Jr has not discussed her comments from the “Wall Street Journal” interview and noted that “they sometimes goes two to three months without talking to each other.” Then, as if realizing what he just said outloud, Gilmore quickly added “their relationship isn’t as tumultous as it sounds and sometimes a lot of stuff gets blown out of porportion that makes for good stories.”

All of this was said by Gilmore at the Daytona Speedway during the Pre Season Thunder test sessions. Needless to say, the racing media beat feet to Dale Earnhardt Jr’s portion of the garage area looking for a rebuttal and the always candid driver didn’t let them down. Dale Jr clearly indicated that he wanted to return to DEI, and the Budweiser Chevrolet, but also indicated that the tumultous relationship with his stepmother would be a factor in the negotiations. He further indicated that some form or ownership of DEI might prove to be a stumbling block towards a new contract and added “I want to be very involved with the company. Aside from DEI, I have no real interest in ownership.” When the inevitable question of the “Wall Street Journal” came up he said “I haven’t talked to Teresa about what she said. I figured if anything needed to be said she would call me up and say it.” When asked exactly where their relationship stood at the moment, Earnhardt flashed his famous grin and said “it ain’t a bed of roses.” Turning more serious, he said that he found it distracting and frustrating to have to deal with contract negotiations at the start of a brand new racing season.

JANUARY 11, 2007. In what was perceived to be a keep it all in the family move, DEI announced that Kerry Earnhardt, Junior’s 37 year old brother, has joined the family business as a liason between DEI’s NASCAR Busch Series and Nextel Cup teams. Earnhardt took over the position from Tony Eury Sr who was named as the crew chief for DEI’s third Nextel Cup team and driver Paul Menard. The announcement also hinted at the possibility that the elder Earnhardt might be driving for the family team in some selected Busch and Cup events.

JANUARY 19, 2007. In a report from the “Associated Press”, Teresa Earnhardt was in Los Angeles doing some promotion for the documentary film “Dale” and, during the course of an interview, said she was “more than willing to discuss a larger role at DEI for Dale Jr.” She also said “we are moving full speed ahead with negotiations as we normally would.” She also indicated that she had spoken with her stepson about the comments from the “Wall Street Journal” but did not elaborate on it.

JANUARY 20, 2007. In yet another perceived keep it all in the family move, DEI announced that it has signed a driver development contract with 17 year old Jeffrey Earnhardt, Kerry’s son and Dale Sr’s grandson. The newest member of the famed racing family will drive a DEI prepared car in the NASCAR Grand National Division Busch East Series which is a feeder system for NASCAR’s three national touring divisions.

JANUARY 23, 2007. At this point in time the racing media were doing impromptu surveys on the relationship between the Earnhardts and, surprisingly, a couple of NASCAR drivers took the bait.One of them was four time Nextel Cup Champion Jeff Gordon whose comments were published in “The Napa Valley Register” while in the midst of a northern California personal appearance. In that article Gordon said that it might be hard for Dale Jr to stay at DEI after a public feud with Teresa and added “trying to keep his contracts talks in house may be too late. I think that if he’s smart, he’ll do what’s best for him and I hope that’s at DEI, I really do. But is that reality? I think it’s gone too far. When these things get ugly in the media, it’s usually very difficult to rebound from that. Junior can write his own ticket. If she, (Teresa), doesn’t recognize that then shame on her. If she doesn’t recognize that DEI will have a tough time surviving without Junior then she’s making a big mistake.”

JANUARY 24, 2007. As surprising as Jeff Gordon’s comments were, they paled in comparison to the remarks, supplied to “ESPN.Com”, from Kevin Harvick. As usual, the always candid Harvick pulled no punches with his comments and one could almost visualize that tight lipped wry grin on his face when he said “it’s hard when you have what I call a deadbeat owner who doesn’t come to the race track. Richard Childress, (the owner’s of Harvick’s car), is one of the best owners in the garage. You always see Richard Childress, you always see Chip Ganassi. All of these owners, they come to the race track. It’s not just a money pit where somebody says I can make money off of Dale Earnhardt Jr or I can make money off of Dale Earnhardt Sr. You have to be at the race track and you have to play the politics of the sport. You have to be part of your team and you have to understand what’s going on. To me, from the outside looking in, it doesn’t look like that’s happening.”

Later that same evening the racing media, once again, beat feet to find Dale Jr hoping for a response to Harvick’s comments and, once again, they were not disappointed. An incredulous Earnhardt now found himself in a position of having to defend his stepmother and said “you’re killing me. That’s ridiculous. I don’t think there’s even a comment for those remarks.” But he did indeed find a comment and pointed out that with everything Teresa has had to deal with, since the death of his father in 2001, she has had a full plate and added “we’re successful on the race track and the people we need are in the right place.” He also reiterated that he hoped to sign a new contract within the next couple of months.

JANUARY 25,2007. Teresa Earnhardt’s next line of defense came from a surprising source: famed Nextel Cup team owner Rick Hendrick who felt Harvick’s attack, regarding her presence at the race track, was unfair and that she has good people at the track to take care of any business situation. Hendrick also pointed out fellow team owner Joe Gibbs as an example and noted that when Gibbs returned to the National Football League, as coach of the Washington Redskins, his racing teams did not suffer due to his absence because his son, J D Gibbs, was on hand to step up and take care of the family racing business.

That knows brings this story to the present where the contract negotiations are, presumably, going on a full steam ahead basis. First off, I don’t believe for a moment that Teresa Earnhardt’s comments to the “Wall Street Journal” were intended to be aggressive or vindictive. This is someone who is not known for doing a lot of interviews and I suspect that media inexperience led to a comment that she preceived to be harmless. I also give her credit for being smart enough to know that keeping Dale Jr at DEI is mandatory for the company even if it means giving him a percentage of DEI ownership.

It’s also clearly evident that Dale Jr is absolutely in the driver’s seat in terms of the contract negotiations. When you combine his natural driving talent with the marketing potential of his immense popularity, then one has to assume that he can literally write his own ticket with any team he chooses.

I also believe that he’s sincere when he says he wants to return to DEI and that, likely, is due to a strong sense of loyalty to the family name and the racing legacy of his father.A piece of the ownership of the family company will also cement his prominence in the sport long after he hangs up his driving helmet.

But, for these negotiations to proceed in the timely manner everyone would like to see, both Earnhardts need to adress the overall state of their personal and professional relationships. For a high profile driver and team owner to go three months at a time without speaking just isn’t feasible.In this day and age it’s hard to imagine a NASCAR team owner and driver going more than three days without some form of contact.

The bottom line is: expect an announcement, sometime between now and May, that a new contract has been signed and when NASCAR begins its 2008 season the names Dale Earnhardt Jr and Budweiser will be painted on DEI’s #8 Chevrolet and that’s the way it should be.

Was the media blitz, on Earnhardt’s contract, much ado about nothing? I’m inclined to think that it was but, you have to admit, it was entertaining and it gave us all something to talk about while waiting for the green flag to drop on the new NASCAR racing season.