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Earnhardt’s sister act
By Lawrence Keech, WDN Contributer
With the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season nearly a month away, drivers are turning their attention to rules changes, new cars and new engines. With all the changes taking place, Dale Earnhardt Jr. surrounded himself with less confusion in the form of some familiar faces.
Earnhardt begins his quest with basically the same team he had at the end of last season. But, during a teleconference Monday, he has obviously been getting help from another source as well — his sister, Kelly. Earnhardt says she has been a big part of contract negotiations between he and his stepmother, Teresa, who owns Dale Earnhardt Inc., the company his father founded.
Kelly has been more involved since comments made by Earnhardt’s stepmother, comments that Earnhardt said he has been trying to avoid.
“Well, my sister said that in this sport they go hand in hand and I sort of agree with that,” Earnhardt said of Teresa’s remarks concerning him being a TV personality or a race car driver. “I think that it’s probably an advantage to have a decent personality as a race car driver, one that can garner to several sponsors that you might have on any given race team.
“I think it’s important to be well liked and be marketable. I think it’s any owner’s dream to have a driver that’s succeeded. I don’t know, she might have just been having a bad day or something when she said that. I really don’t know where that was coming from.”
Earnhardt was later hit with a similar question from a reporter, who asked “have you talked with Teresa about her comments directly, and what’s your relationship factor in your decision to stay in DEI?”
“Absolutely, any relationship with the car owner is definitely going to factor into my decision to drive,” Earnhardt said. “I haven’t talked to Teresa about what she said in the paper. I figured if anything needed to be said, she’d call me up and say it. But you know, my and her relationship definitely factor into my decision to drive there.”
That spurred questions about his personal relationship.
“Well, I don’t want to really get too personal, but Teresa is my stepmother, and I have a mother at home that I have a very good relationship with,” Earnhardt said. ”Mine and Teresa’s relationship has always been very black and white, very strict and in your face. It is what it is, not necessarily, it ain’t a bed of roses, but there’s really, you know, it’s not — I don’t know how to explain it honestly.”
But, he said, it’s something he is accustomed to.
“The relationship that we have today is the same relationship we had when I was six years old when I moved into that house with dad and her,” he explained. “It’s always been the same. It hasn’t gotten worse over the last couple years or last couple months. It’s always been the same; the way I felt about her then is the way I feel about her now.”
That’s where his sister took a big role in the team.
“Like I said, Kelly is a big part of my contract negotiations and in no way, shape or form will she not be a part of that and not be a big part of that,” Earnhardt said. “So I don’t know if what Richie (Gilmore) said is exactly the case. Teresa, didn’t come to the last — we did have a meeting probably several months ago and then we had one with everybody present.
“And then we had one a couple of months ago that Teresa decided that it best that she wasn’t part of that meeting and that these other two guys do the negotiating. You know, my sister and me, we’re a team when it comes to those type of things.”
Earnhardt said the pending contract was one of his biggest concerns in the off season.
“I think, you know, you guys know there’s really nothing being hidden or pushed under the rug here,” he explained. “I don’t have the answers no more than I can give them to y’all. That’s probably bothering me the most. You know if I’m sitting at home on weekends, I don’t want to spend time worrying about it, thinking about it figuring it out.
“And my sister and I spend quite a bit of time talking about it and trying to figure out, you know, because really, when you’re dealing with contracts, you sign the deal and I think I’ve had two now with DEI; two, three-year deals; I might be wrong. But I signed the first one, I was really happy to do it. I’ve never had a contract and so it was nice.”
But, he said, things have gotten more complicated over time.
“Actually, come to find out after six years, it’s kind of nicer for that one because I never got all of these questions and never got badgered about what about this, what about that; I just drove. I just drove; it was way simpler back then,” he said. “You know, once we started dealing with the contracts, it got a little more difficult. Me and my sister, we learned over the last couple of years, the last couple of contracts that we have to do a better job on our end to make a contract as favorable as possible.”
He said when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of the contract, it had nothing to do with money, but a lot to do with the future.
“I don’t need any more money,” he said. “I make good money.”
More important to him, Earnhardt said, was making life simple while still being as successful as possible.
“I don’t want to come here if I can’t compete well and run well and I just get by,” he said. “I want the best; I want the best cars (and) I want the best people. As individuals, me, Richie, everybody at the company, we want that and we see other companies doing it and you see other teams doing what it takes and making the right moves, and I just want it to be — I want to be in the same situation as I see other drivers in. I know I’m a good enough race car driver and I deserve it. We’re just trying to, you know, get it all settled and make it right.”
Earnhardt begins his quest with basically the same team he had at the end of last season. But, during a teleconference Monday, he has obviously been getting help from another source as well — his sister, Kelly. Earnhardt says she has been a big part of contract negotiations between he and his stepmother, Teresa, who owns Dale Earnhardt Inc., the company his father founded.
Kelly has been more involved since comments made by Earnhardt’s stepmother, comments that Earnhardt said he has been trying to avoid.
“Well, my sister said that in this sport they go hand in hand and I sort of agree with that,” Earnhardt said of Teresa’s remarks concerning him being a TV personality or a race car driver. “I think that it’s probably an advantage to have a decent personality as a race car driver, one that can garner to several sponsors that you might have on any given race team.
“I think it’s important to be well liked and be marketable. I think it’s any owner’s dream to have a driver that’s succeeded. I don’t know, she might have just been having a bad day or something when she said that. I really don’t know where that was coming from.”
Earnhardt was later hit with a similar question from a reporter, who asked “have you talked with Teresa about her comments directly, and what’s your relationship factor in your decision to stay in DEI?”
“Absolutely, any relationship with the car owner is definitely going to factor into my decision to drive,” Earnhardt said. “I haven’t talked to Teresa about what she said in the paper. I figured if anything needed to be said, she’d call me up and say it. But you know, my and her relationship definitely factor into my decision to drive there.”
That spurred questions about his personal relationship.
“Well, I don’t want to really get too personal, but Teresa is my stepmother, and I have a mother at home that I have a very good relationship with,” Earnhardt said. ”Mine and Teresa’s relationship has always been very black and white, very strict and in your face. It is what it is, not necessarily, it ain’t a bed of roses, but there’s really, you know, it’s not — I don’t know how to explain it honestly.”
But, he said, it’s something he is accustomed to.
“The relationship that we have today is the same relationship we had when I was six years old when I moved into that house with dad and her,” he explained. “It’s always been the same. It hasn’t gotten worse over the last couple years or last couple months. It’s always been the same; the way I felt about her then is the way I feel about her now.”
That’s where his sister took a big role in the team.
“Like I said, Kelly is a big part of my contract negotiations and in no way, shape or form will she not be a part of that and not be a big part of that,” Earnhardt said. “So I don’t know if what Richie (Gilmore) said is exactly the case. Teresa, didn’t come to the last — we did have a meeting probably several months ago and then we had one with everybody present.
“And then we had one a couple of months ago that Teresa decided that it best that she wasn’t part of that meeting and that these other two guys do the negotiating. You know, my sister and me, we’re a team when it comes to those type of things.”
Earnhardt said the pending contract was one of his biggest concerns in the off season.
“I think, you know, you guys know there’s really nothing being hidden or pushed under the rug here,” he explained. “I don’t have the answers no more than I can give them to y’all. That’s probably bothering me the most. You know if I’m sitting at home on weekends, I don’t want to spend time worrying about it, thinking about it figuring it out.
“And my sister and I spend quite a bit of time talking about it and trying to figure out, you know, because really, when you’re dealing with contracts, you sign the deal and I think I’ve had two now with DEI; two, three-year deals; I might be wrong. But I signed the first one, I was really happy to do it. I’ve never had a contract and so it was nice.”
But, he said, things have gotten more complicated over time.
“Actually, come to find out after six years, it’s kind of nicer for that one because I never got all of these questions and never got badgered about what about this, what about that; I just drove. I just drove; it was way simpler back then,” he said. “You know, once we started dealing with the contracts, it got a little more difficult. Me and my sister, we learned over the last couple of years, the last couple of contracts that we have to do a better job on our end to make a contract as favorable as possible.”
He said when it comes down to the nuts and bolts of the contract, it had nothing to do with money, but a lot to do with the future.
“I don’t need any more money,” he said. “I make good money.”
More important to him, Earnhardt said, was making life simple while still being as successful as possible.
“I don’t want to come here if I can’t compete well and run well and I just get by,” he said. “I want the best; I want the best cars (and) I want the best people. As individuals, me, Richie, everybody at the company, we want that and we see other companies doing it and you see other teams doing what it takes and making the right moves, and I just want it to be — I want to be in the same situation as I see other drivers in. I know I’m a good enough race car driver and I deserve it. We’re just trying to, you know, get it all settled and make it right.”
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