The Frontstretch: What's The Call? Can D.E.I. Survive? by Vito Pugliese and S.D. Grady -- Thursday May 10, 2007

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What's The Call? Can D.E.I. Survive?

Vito Pugliese and S.D. Grady · Thursday May 10, 2007

 

Editor’s Note : The following is a special edition of Frontstretch’s What’s the Call? Occasionally throughout the season, two of your favorite Frontstretch writers will duke it out in a debate concerning one of NASCAR’s big controversies. Don’t let us be the only ones to speak our minds, though…be sure to read both sides and let us know what you think about the situation in the comment section below!

Today’s Question : Can D.E.I. Be Successful Without Dale Earnhardt, Jr.?

D.E.I. Can Weather This Storm
Vito Pugliese

With the departure of Dale Earnhardt, Jr., arguably THE “DE” in D.E.I., whether the organization can survive that type of structural change is a natural question to be asked. All you need to answer it, though, is to take a look at past history, not just of D.E.I. but of the sport as a whole. When you do, the answer is quite simple: as the company prepares for its future, D.E.I. should easily be able to weather this oncoming storm ahead.

While this is clearly the most definitive crisis this organization has ever faced, let’s remember it’s not the first time D.E.I. has run into problems with its drivers. Let's go back in time to 1998. D.E.I. was fielding its first car back then, the No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet for former Busch Grand National driver Steve Park. A promising rookie, Park was injured early in the season, breaking his leg during practice for the spring Atlanta event. At the time, D.E.I. was all of 3 races old in Cup; now, it was facing the prospects its lead driver was sitting in a hospital bed with a cast on his leg. Not a good way to start….that’s for sure. With its livelihood on the line, a substitute driver, some guy named Darrell Waltrip, took the helm of the program and steered it in the right direction, nearly winning the Pocono 500 with the No. 1 car that June. By the time Park came back in midsummer, the organization was in strong shape, with Waltrip integral in setting up a support system to help the team’s rookie slowly climb his way up the Cup ladder of success. It was a treacherous time…but D.E.I. emerged unscathed.

Growing stronger as the years went by, D.E.I.‘s first Cup win as an organization finally came in 2000 with then-rookie Dale Earnhardt, Jr. at the helm of its new second car; however, that wasn’t the only D.E.I. team to win that season. In August, Park outdueled Mark Martin in the closing laps of The Bud at The Glen to gain his first career victory; he would win a total of twice in D.E.I. equipment in his career. The following year, the No. 15 debuted as a third team with Michael Waltrip, and it took just one event for the car to find his way to Victory Lane, with Waltrip winning the Daytona 500 after going winless in 462 previous starts. See my point? D.E.I. won races with Junior, sure…but they’ve won races and enjoyed success with plenty of other drivers, too. Junior may have been the bulk of the company’s stat line…but he clearly wasn’t 100% of it.

Now, don't get me wrong: in the short term, D.E.I. will have its share of struggles. Not only are they losing a driver, they are going to bid a fond farewell to The King of Beers, and have a great deal of internal talent siphoned off in the process. The giant sucking sound you're hearing in Moorseville is a parade of talented people leaving D.E.I. and going to other teams, one of them most likely the one Junior ends up at next season.

But once the organization recovers from its initial loss, D.E.I. is in a position where it will be able to rebound due to the resources, capital, and talent that the company can attract. Factor in a proposed merger with Robert Yates Racing, and you've effectively doubled their talent pool immediately. David Gilliland is a driver with tremendous upside, and Stephen Leicht is another youngster with incredible potential Yates brings to the table with any potential deal. Add in current drivers Paul Menard and Martin Truex, Jr., both of which are expected to stay, and a four-car R.Y.R. / D.E.I. team would employ four drivers who were all under the age of 35.

In the grand scheme of things, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was only one part of a very complex equation. Lots of drivers come and go in this series, switch teams, or, more tragically, suffer an untimely passing. Take Robert Yates Racing. In 1993, the heart and soul of the organization, Davey Allison, was killed in a helicopter accident. While Yates took a week off to mourn and regroup, by 1994 he had signed Ernie Irvan to the program, putting the team in position to contend for a title once again. To draw an even closer parallel, how did Richard Childress Racing respond following the death of Dale Earnhardt, Sr. in 2001? If there was any team that had a right to throw in the towel, it was RCR; however, they went on to win a few races later at Atlanta, and again during the summer at Chicago; replacement driver Kevin Harvick wound up ninth in the standings, all despite missing a race. Since then, RCR has won The Brickyard 400 and Daytona 500, in the process helping to restore Jeff Burton to championship contender status once again.

D.E.I. as a company still has more resources than many otber teams. Whatever your opinion of Teresa Earnhardt, this much is clear : she does have a competent core group of people on board. Probably the most underrated and unknown member of this group is Technical Director Steve Hmiel. Many new fans of the sport probably have no idea who he is, and that is a shame. In 1988, when Jack Roush and Ford decided to step up from Trans-Am racing to NASCAR, he tapped Steve Hmiel to be the general manager of Roush Racing. Sharing a leadership role with current NASCAR official Robin Pemberton, together they helped forge the foundation for a dynasty, helping produce the current five-car juggernaut Roush has today. Following his departure from that team, he helped mold D.E.I. into a championship contender by 2001. D.E.I. has one of the brightest and capable minds in the business with Hmiel, and need to desperately retain his services. Although it is hard to imagine Tony Eury, Jr. staying with the program, Tony Eury, Sr. would likely remain behind at D.E.I., at least for the time being; that’s another brilliant mind left to mold together high-quality cars in Junior’s absence.

With the No. 8 team in need of a driver for 2008, there are many people who would leap at the opportunity to be part of the flagship ride of a very capable Chevrolet team with tremendous resources at their disposal. Take Greg Biffle, for instance. The perennial malcontent at Roush Racing is up for contract renewal, and rumor has it he wants out. Why would he not entertain the offer to be the lead driver of a top Chevrolet team? He’s just one example of available talent D.E.I. can pursue; who knows what contracts will be broken and what dominos could fall as Earnhardt, Jr. inserts his name squarely into the free agent market?

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., in my opinion, is one of the Top 5 drivers in NASCAR today. While he is a tremendous talent and has an army of fans that rival that of many small nations, he is not the be-all/end-all of Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, or any other race team for that matter. While his departure is certainly going to be a shock to the company as a whole, they will be able to weather this storm; if Robert Yates and Richard Childress could do it, so too can D.E.I.

Is This The Death Knell For D.E.I.? You Betcha!
S.D. Grady

When Dale Earnhardt Jr. addressed the employees of D.E.I. Thursday morning, announcing his intention to leave the No. 8 Budweiser team at the end of the 2007 season, you can bet Teresa was more than a little upset behind the scenes. Her money making machine is leaving, and this time, there’s nothing she can do about it!

Since Lil' E arrived at D.E.I. in 1997, he has not only served as a successful driver in the Busch and Nextel Cup series, but he’s moonlighted as the cash cow for the racing team his father built. Junior brought with him his father's wry humor and familiar Carolinian accent; with his easygoing personality, fans both old and new flocked to his side in droves. Budweiser, his primary sponsor, leapt upon the natural media magnet and joined forces with the D.E.I. promotion machine, placing Junior's face every place imaginable for the better part of the past decade.

While marketing-savvy personnel had D.E.I. selling t-shirts and die-cast, Bud sold beer in record numbers, and millions of dollars in money poured in the door for both organizations as a result. They even won a few races…17 of them, in fact, in Junior’s No. 8. It appeared to be heaven on earth for this program…who could walk away from Midas' treasure?

Junior, that's who. He made it quite clear at his press conference that money was not at the crux of the impasse between him and D.E.I. He wants to win a Championship, and at least for right now, he claims D.E.I. is not set up to deliver.

However, you can bet that money is of primary importance to those remaining at D.E.I. In order to compete at the highest levels in this sport, a team needs to be able to field the best equipment, maintain the most knowledgeable and effective staff, attract a driver capable of putting their car in Victory Lane, and sign on a sponsor who is willing to fund this massive endeavor.

Last year, Michael Waltrip departed D.E.I. with NAPA, leaving Menard to fill in the monetary gap. When Bud inevitably follows Junior out the door, D.E.I. will be left with another empty driver's seat and an echoing bank account. While they work the Silly Season, searching for replacements to both problems, what will D.E.I. be capable of bringing to the bargaining table? What can they offer an interested party? A team capable of winning a Cup? Absolutely not; with zero championships in a decade of existence at the Cup level, the team has won a total of two races over the past two years, even with Junior remaining in their arsenal. With that type of record, some entry-level drivers might be tempted to join the team with a legendary name just for the promised random camera shot, but these drivers will not be capable of drawing a top-notch sponsor.

Make no mistake about it, the first domino has been tipped in D.E.I’s road to demise, and the outcome is now inevitable. Without Dale Jr. to serve as the poster boy for this team, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. is destined to fade into the obscurity of mediocrity.

Need to know what the next step is from here for Dale Earnhardt, Jr.? Want all the inside info on how this story played out? Check out Athlon Sports’ Inside Racing Podcast with Frontstretch’s Tom Bowles and Matt Taliaferro to find out all the answers.

If you didn’t get a scorecard this morning as to what’s true ans what’s false about the Dale Earnhardt, Jr. story, that’s because you’re not getting the Frontstretch newsletter. Don’t waste another minute; click here to sign up today for more exclusive FS content. And remember, the newsletter is FREE!

 

©2000 - 2008 Vito Pugliese and S.D. Grady and Frontstetch.com. Thanks for visiting the Frontstretch!

Larry Burton
05/11/2007 02:55 AM
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I think DEI will have and awfully hard time making it in Nascar without Jr. I too agree that Teresa should have done everything in her power to retain Jr. even if it mean’t giving him 51% of the company. As I have seen written several times, better to have 49% of something than 100% of nothing and that’s just about what they have now! I believe this will go down in Nascar History as one of the biggest blunders ever by a team. I think there was an ego problem at DEI and I don’t believe it was Jr. I believe it was Teresa and i believe she has just put the nail in the coffin of DEI. How in the world could she not see that Jr. was DEI! Jr. made the right decision. He’ll get hooked up with a descend team and win a lot more races and maybe a championship or two!

Brad
05/11/2007 11:34 AM
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in reponse to Vito Pugliese, the one thing you failed to address in your comparisons of DEI to Yates/RCR is the fact that the person at top who led them to success in the first place was still there to resurrect the teams. Sr. was that leader and Teresa is not. If the deaths you speak of were Richard or Robert death’s, those teams would not be around today unless someone with a great racing mind stepped up to run them. DEI has been on a slow downhill slide in Sr. left us and Teresa has no understanding of what it takes to win on the race track. Regardless of who she employes in the company, if she does not give them the tools they need, to give the crewchiefs the tools they need, to give the drivers the tools they need, then neither Hmiel or Eury, Sr can save the race team. DEI will however live on as a marketing machine for Sr.‘s name; Teresa did make an excellent hire in Max Seigel for that purpose and that is all she cares about.

mike
05/11/2007 01:05 PM
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after this year,dei will never win another race. you heard it here. mike

Vito Pugliese FS-Staff
05/11/2007 01:40 PM
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Brad-

I see where you’re coming from, and that was something that I had considered when drawing those parallels. However, Dale Sr. was lost in 2001; DEI was worlds stronger in 2004 than 2001, and had they not messed with success and swap teams with the #15 bunch, I’m confident that they would have picked up where they left off in 2005. The telling point for me early on was at California when he blew 3 left front tires in 10 laps early in the race.

My feelings were with regards to Davey Allison and Dale Earnhardt Sr., those were two drivers entire organizations were built around, as DEI is (well, WAS...) with Jr. With regards to Yates, Ernie Irvan was almost lost less than a year later at Michigan, and the team continued to be successful.

With Jr. leaving and most likely taking talent with him, DEI will be probably be in a position to get the checkbook out, and hire some of the best from other teams to attract a new driver.

Another interesting angle to this is, it wasn’t that long ago that Dale Jr. finally got the rights to his NAME.

Robert Eastman
05/13/2007 07:05 AM
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Another factor concerning DEI’s survival is how $RICH$ Paul Menard’s father John Menard is and how much John Menard loves racing. When you are in the top 200 RICHEST with a net worth north of $5 Billion (close to 3 times Roger Penske’s wealth) the ability to BUY anything, talent, equipment, or any other resources is not an issue. The only issue is one of CHEMISTRY. The GREAT TEAMS somehow always find the right combinations. Crew Chiefs and Drivers MUST BE in Harmony. It could be argued that the crew chief is the most critical. The greatest drivers say that 90% of winning is having a great car and that having a positive, can-do, “we can fix it” crew chief is so critical to success!
As much as the JUNIOR nation is going to hate this, DEI may succeed more without Jr than with him. This is NOT a SLAM on Jr’s talent, I’m sure he will succeed were ever he ends up. Winning in NASCAR is STRICTLY about TEAM and TEAMWORK, not about 1 person. One person CANNOT WIN by themself; this is not Golf or Tennis. Eliminate CONFLICT and promote HARMONY and you can WIN!
The “BAD VIBES” between Teresa and Junior will never go away, so one of them had to go away. I believe that BOTH Jr. and DEI will have more success apart than together.

Mark
05/15/2007 08:17 PM
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1. Teresa Earnhardt ran and built DEI while Dale raced for RCR (Dale Sr said this himself many times). She grew up in racing too.

2. Dale left DEI to Teresa in his will (matter of public record).

3. Why should Dale Jr. get a bigger slice of the pie than Kerry, Taylor, or Kelly?

4. Dale Jr. should talk to some others to see how well the owner-driver thing worked out for DW, Rudd, etc.

5. It’s clear that Dale Sr. was alot smarter than Jr. The fact that Jr is owned and operated by Kelly does not make him the man his father was.

6. Jr. has a championship caliber team now. The accident (while he was running second) wasn’t the team’s fault. Agreed he blew two engines. He’s still in the chase with 3 DNF’s. Not too shabby.

7. If Dale Jr. gave a rat’s patootie about DEI, he would get over the “magnitude of me” (his words not mine), and work with the team. I’m sure he could have a more creative role if he wasn’t busy doing his own thing. That could be what Teresa meant with her much maligned quote earlier in the season.

More Side by Sides!