Lasting legacy

[irish_blue69]

Can Dale Earnhardt Jr. win a championship at DEI?
This question goes to the heart of his contract negotiations with his stepmother Teresa Earnhardt, the owner of Dale Earnhardt Inc. Junior, who has never finished higher than third in the final standings in his seven years on the Cup circuit, wants to take control of the company that his father founded in 1996, because he believes that he'll have a better chance of winning it all if he's calling the shots.
What's Teresa's track record as an owner? Well, not great. Under her stewardship since Dale Earnhardt died in February 2001, DEI drivers have made a collective 579 starts. They've won 20 races (or 3.4 percent of their starts), had 97 top-five runs (16.7 percent) and had 184 top 10s (31.7 percent). Over that same time, for comparison, drivers from Hendrick Motorsports have made 891 starts. In those events, Hendrick Chevys have accounted for 57 wins (or 6.3 percent of their starts), 207 top fives (23.2 percent) and 350 top 10s (39.2 percent). The numbers back up what everyone in the garage will tell you: DEI is nowhere near the organization that Hendrick Motorsports is.
But it certainly could be one day -- if DEI has the right leadership. One of the lasting legacies of Big E is that he handpicked all of the important people who now surround his youngest son. Richie Gilmore, who's the director of motorsports at DEI, was one of Earnhardt's closest confidants, and Gilmore has a well-deserved reputation for being one of the top engine builders in NASCAR. Steve Hmiel, the technical director at DEI, used to race against Earnhardt in his early days, and Hmiel's racing acumen is second to none. Two other key personnel at DEI, Tony Eury Sr. (DEI's director of competition) and Tony Eury Jr. (Junior's crew chief), also were selected by Dale Sr. to guide his son's racing team, and both Eurys have a wealth of experience.
Without question, there's plenty of talented personnel at DEI. That's never been the problem. What's been holding Little E back, in my view, is that DEI (read: Teresa) simply hasn't committed the resources to winning that rival teams such as Hendrick have.
Little E has been complaining about a lack of horsepower in his engines for more than two years, and this is a direct reflection of the hard truth that DEI simply doesn't have as many people working on its engines as other teams. Junior, after all, hasn't won a pole since Sept. 27, '02 at Kansas Speedway. That's nearly five years, race fans, and it illustrates the mechanical disadvantage that Junior faces.
If Little E were given ownership of the company, I'm guessing the priorities of DEI would change overnight. Junior is sponsorship gold, and he would pour whatever money it took into building a championship racing organization. He'd keep all of the personnel that was handpicked by his father in place, and they all would be emboldened because they wouldn't be looking over their shoulder and wondering what Teresa -- perhaps the most mysterious, enigmatic figure in NASCAR -- was thinking.
Could DEI someday become the fifth superpower team in NASCAR and join the ruling class of Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Richard Childress Racing, and Roush Fenway Racing? Absolutely. Will it happen? Well, only if Teresa finally hands Junior the keys to the family kingdom.



SI.com - Writers - Lars Anderson: Only piece missing from Intimidator's plan is Little E - Thursday April 26, 2007 11:27AM

[Woodmonkey]

I never knew there was so much involved in racing.