Dale Earnhardt Jr
Rising Son:
Earnhardt Jr. Lets Own Personality Shine Through...HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) -- Dale
Earnhardt Jr. emerges from his disabled car in the final race of the Busch Grand National
season, scrambles onto its roof to salute the fans, slaps hands with crew members - then
swan-dives into the crew's arms.
Call it a mosh pit stop.
Not exactly the type of behavior ever shown
by his father, The Intimidator himself.
But that's been part of the fun in Dale
Jr.'s coming-out season, one in which the Busch title made the Earnhardts NASCAR's first
three-generation family of champions.
``A lot of the time, guys are really
surprised at how different we are personality-wise. It's cool that it's all finally coming
out,'' the family's newest champion said.
``All these years, I've raced under his
wing. We've never really had too much TV coverage on our races, never had too many quotes
in the paper. ... This year I've been able to tell people things about me. It's like
meeting somebody new.''
Dale Jr.'s resemblance to the seven-time
Winston Cup champion is clear. His hard stare behind the wheel - eyes straight ahead, lips
pursed into a tight line - needs only Dad's bushy mustache to be a carbon copy.
The son drives hard, too. Although he hasn't
developed Dad's reputation for trading paint, the 24-year-old Dale Jr. wastes no time
taking his No. 3 Chevrolet to the front of the pack.
Fans were quick to dub him Intimidator Jr.
That was fine, but it doesn't really fit his persona off the track.
Both father and son are soft-spoken, their
voices hard to hear if somebody's gunning an engine nearby. But whereas the elder
Earnhardt's shyness only added to his mystique, Dale Jr. is less afraid to open up to
others.
``He's been built into this image - The
Intimidator, the Man in Black. It's been built up over the past several years to sell some
merchandise and promote an image,'' Dale Jr. said of his father. ``I hope my personality
is what's going to sell me.''
Dale Jr. is easygoing, with a
self-deprecating wit that makes friends quickly. He's comfortable enough in public even to
turn some of that humor on his dad.
After wrecking his car during practice for
the season-ending Jiffy Lube Miami 300, he was asked what advice Dale Sr. had given him
about the Homestead track.
``Obviously, he didn't give me enough since
I'm sitting here with no more race car,'' Dale Jr. said with a smirk.
Not to worry. With barely two hours'
preparation, Dale Jr. took his backup car out cold and qualified 15th. On race day, he
took the lead 56 laps into the race and was in position for his eighth win of the season
before his engine blew on lap 89.
Race fans had heard Dale Earnhardt's
youngest son was special, but no one could be sure how much talent he had. He honed his
skills running street stocks at Concord (N.C.) Speedway for two years before moving up to
NASCAR's Late Model Stock division.
Even crew chief Tony Eury was surprised when
the decision was made to put Dale Jr. in the Earnhardt-owned Busch car formerly driven by
Steve Park.
``His daddy came to me in the middle of last
year and said, `You think you can make something out of Dale Jr.?''' Eury recalled. ``I
said, `I don't know. I'll do the best I can do.'
``Everybody looked at us like we were crazy.
They said there ain't no way we could take that kid and win a championship. He learned
faster than anybody I've ever worked with.''
Seven wins and 16 top-five finishes later,
the elder Earnhardt doesn't hide his pride.
``They've worked hard and really helped Dale
show himself,'' Dale Sr. said. ``It's a great team effort, but I'm surely proud of that
boy of mine.''
So much, in fact, that Dale Earnhardt Inc.
bought the rights to the No. 8 Winston Cup car and will have Dale Jr. run a limited
schedule next year before he joins full time in 2000. Eury and the rest of the crew will
move up, too.
No. 8, by the way, is what granddaddy Ralph
Earnhardt drove to the 1956 championship in the Sportsman division, Busch's predecessor.
It's a big leap, even for somebody with such
prominent racing genes. Kyle Petty, for example, is a third-generation driver who hasn't
come close to the success of his father or grandfather. Richard Petty is NASCAR's all-time
leader with 200 wins and seven championships; Lee Petty won three titles in the 1950s.
``I'm curious as to how I'm going to be
accepted in the Cup series and how I'll do in the Cup series,'' Dale Jr. acknowledged.
``Every time I make that comment, everybody goes, `It'll be all right.' But what if it
ain't all right? What if it don't happen? You worry about that.''
Dale Jr. gets his first taste this weekend,
driving in NASCAR's Winston Cup exhibition in Japan. Dale Sr. is entered, too, marking the
first time they will run the same race.
Would Dale Jr. dare rub fenders with Dad?
His eyes give off a mischievous glint as he slips into Intimidator Jr. mode.
``The opportunity's there,'' he
said.(11-20-98)(By JEFF SHAIN, AP Sports Writer - WRAL5 Online)
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In Daddy's
Eyes......When Dale Earnhardt Jr. starts his #3 AC Delco Chevy at the Jiffy
Lube Miami 300, on Sunday, November the 15th, he will officially become the Busch Grand
National Champion for 1998. In only his first full season, the 24-year-old
third-generation stock car driver has begun to carve his own place in history. The
man-in-black's boy-in-blue has impressed everyone by winning seven races, not only on
tracks that he has been on before but also on venues he has never raced a lap on. He
started out the season by flipping end-over-end and many people felt that the success he
had the year before may have been a fluke, but as the races went on, he matured a little
more each week.
Yes, this young man from North Carolina has
impressed many, many people but it is obvious to me that there is one and only one person
that he really cares about impressing -- his father. Dale Earnhardt was criticized early
in his career because he was aloof, serious and aggressive, but what many people don't
know is that he was the one that found his father's lifeless body under a car he had been
working on for Dale. I can't even imagine how that must have affected him because Dale
idolized his father Ralph more than anyone else in the world. Just as Dale had such a
reverence for his father, it is touching to see that same awe in Dale Jr.(11-16-98)(Susan Coyle - Woman Motorist)
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Dale Earnhardt Jr to drive his
grandfather's, Ralph Earnhardt, #8...Dale Earnhardt, Inc.
acquired the rights to the number 8 from the Stavolo Brothers. Dale Earnhardt Jr will
drive the #8, Budweiser sponsored, Monte Carlo in a limited five-race Winston Cup Schedule
next year. Dale Jr's grandfather, Ralph Earnhardt, drove the #8 to the 1956 NASCAR
Sportsman Division Championship. Dale Earnhardt Jr will go to Winston Cup full time in the
year 2000.(11-15-98)
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Earnhardt Sponsor: Dale Earnhardt Jr
and The Outlaw... Dale Earnhardt Inc. has signed "The
Outlaw," Pennzoil's engine additive, as an associate sponsor for Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s
Winston Cup car for the next four years. "Man, I can't imagine why a product named
'The Outlaw.' whose motto is 'additives with an attitude' would ever pick me," joked
Dale Jr. "They don't think me and my Dad have an attitude or anything do they?
"This is a cool deal. I haven't even run my first Winston Cup race yet and my car is
already branded as 'The Outlaw.' But, that's OK. I guess outlaws are used to people
chasing them all the time just like I hope it will be on the racetrack in the coming years
when everyone is chasing us."
Earnhardt Jr.'s car will feature the black,
yellow and orange "Outlaw" logo on its rear quarter panels when he runs five
Winston Cup races in 1999 and a full schedule the following season. The four-year
agreement calls for Earnhardt Jr. to make personal appearances on behalf of the product as
well as play a role in the print and electronic advertising of the products.
The deal also strengthens the bond between
Pennzoil and DEI, which fields the No. 1 Pennzoil Monte Carlo driven by Steve Park. Tom
Floyd, Pennzoil's chief marketing officer, said jumping on the Earnhardt Jr. bandwagon was
an easy decision.
"Dale Jr. is probably the biggest name
to come into this sport," said Floyd. "For Pennzoil to pair him with Steve Park,
who we feel will one day be in victory lane, gives us two of the youngest guns in NASCAR,
and will pay dividends in the future. As they make their presence felt on the race track,
we will make both of these drivers a presence in advertising and in the media. Fans and
Pennzoil customers better get used to seeing Steve and Dale Jr. because they are here for
a long time."
Park said joining with Dale Jr. as teammates
at DEI as well as sharing Pennzoil joins the two teams together. (Pennzoil, Park and DEI
are finishing the first year of a three-year agreement.)
"Dale Jr. and I will not only be
teammates at DEI but share Pennzoil sponsorship as well which is a good deal for us and I
hope makes the folks at Pennzoil and 'The Outlaw' happy," said Park. "I hope
this is a relationship that continues for a very long time."
Budweiser signed on in September as primary
sponsor for Earnhardt Jr.'s car through 2004.(10-30-98)(SpeedNet Staff Writer)
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Earnhardt Jr becoming major enterprise...The sports phenomenon known as
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has grown so large so swiftly that even Don Hawk, the man who manages
Dale Sr.'s affairs as well, is suddenly struggling to keep Dale Jr.'s career -- even his
life -- under some control.
''We'd be lying if we said this isn't a
whole lot more than what we expected at this stage. We knew Dale Jr. was good. But we
didn't know he was this good,'' Hawk said.
''Seven wins now, he didn't back into any of
them. In fact, he really left a couple on the table. South Boston, Nazareth.''
In a little over a year, the son of the
stock-car racing legend has exploded from an obscure footnote into a major-league business
in his own right. The business Dale Earnhardt Inc. has become a NASCAR giant over the past
few years, under Hawk. Now the business subsidiary DE2 is become quite large as well.
With all this, and seven Busch tour wins,
and the prospect of the Busch tour championship at hand, not to mention a new six-year
sponsorship deal with Anheuser-Busch, one of the sports' world's most important marketers,
and a major deal with Coca-Cola, one of the world's most important marketers period, it's
easy to ask the questions, 'Is this kid getting too much too soon?' and 'Is DE1 going to
push Junior too hard too fast?'
Hawk says he and Sr. are both acutely aware
of the potential problems. And the basic issue here is, is this kid really as good on the
track as he appears to be. The Busch tour is not exactly jammed with Winston Cup caliber
competition.
So, perhaps Motegi will provide us all with
a clue. Motegi? Pairing the two Earnhardts on a Charlotte-type high-banked track somewhere
north of Tokyo sounds like a great marketing gimmick -- for NASCAR, certainly, whose
entire Japanese venture has been clouded with more than a little suspicion and skepticism.
But is a 23-year-old kid from North Carolina really ready for something like this? It does
sound a bit strange, and more than a bit forced upon him by those who stand to make a
bunch of money over a long period of time if Junior does pan out.
There are some signs that Junior would just
like to be himself, and not this sudden sports megastar, a stock-car version of the
classic 14-year-old gymnast or tennis problem child. The incredible media frenzy building
around him has been perhaps even more daunting than the competition he faces on the track.
''Dale Jr. has confided in me that, not that
he doesn't like it, but that he didn't realize that this much attention would come this
fast,'' Hawk said. ''Hey, you've got all these wins, all these poles, you're leading in
money, you're leading in laps led, they've got to talk to you.
''He told me, 'Well, I want to talk to 'em,
but I just didn't know there were this many people who wanted to talk to me.'
''I think it's a little overwhelming. It
hasn't stressed him, but he simply didn't believe that many people really cared about Dale
Earnhardt Jr. Sports Illustrated is flirting with doing a story on him. And there are some
other publications that are looking, waiting to see how this Busch championship unfolds.''
The last race of the season is on Nov. 15 at
Homestead, Fla.
Then again Junior, who has had less than a
year to try to digest all that is going on around him, also shows signs of having fun with
his new celebrity status.
Right now, Hawk says he and Senior are
trying to put the brakes on this train, to ensure it doesn't get out of control.
''We've already tried to slow the pace
down,'' Hawk said.
''We had numerous offers to take Junior
Winston Cup next year, and we chose not to. He's only driving five Cup races next year.
He's only had one full year of Busch, and he needs seat time. So whether he wins the
championship or not, we want to give him more seat time, to get more familiar with these
race tracks.
''The emotions, the adrenaline, the
sponsors, all that says, 'Go! Go! Go!' The sponsors are willing to pay, and they're saying
they're willing to throw away the first season as a learning curve. But we didn't want to
go there.
''We've seen too many guys come out of one
championship series in to this and fall flat on their face. We don't want to do that. We
want to be ready, we want the equipment to be ready. We're going to test next year.
''So I think we're already starting to hold
back a little.
''There could have been that error. . . .
there was the want to do that. But Teresa, Dale and I all talked with Dale Jr., and he's
content to sit and wait another year.''
The relationship between Sr. and Jr. is
perhaps more private than might be suspected. Sr. doesn't feel that comfortable talking
much about Jr. And Jr. is still trying to figure out just where he fits into this huge
NASCAR jigsaw puzzle, this billion-dollar monster.
A baggy Intimidator ''Jr. is riding a wave,
but he's independent,'' Hawk said. ''Dale Sr. wears Wrangler boot-cut jeans; Dale Jr.
wears more of a baggy fit. Dale Sr. will wear a Chase shirt with button-down collar; Dale
Jr. will wear a Chase shirt that's loose, long-sleeve, baggy fit.
''Dale Sr. wears these standard Gargoyle
sunglasses that he's worn for years. Dale Jr. is having his own design, because he wants
some funk.
''Dale Jr. wants to be different. He doesn't
want to look just like his dad. That's OK, if that's what he wants. And I think the sport
right now could a new image, a new look.
''We're not downgrading anything that's out
there, but Jr. won't be afraid to go out there and race with a Gordon or a Burton or a
Labonte or a Wallace . . . or his dad. Look at some of these Busch races he's been in this
year; they've had eight to 12 Winston Cup drivers in 'em, and Jr. has been right up there
dicing with 'em.''
So has Jr. gotten beyond the point of trying
to earn his father's approval?
''He's gotten his father's approval, and
I've got a nice photo of him when he won Dover, and Dale Jr. is looking at Dale Sr. -- and
you've got to see this photo, so you can read their eyes. Jr. is looking at Dad like,
'Dad, do you approve? Did I do OK?' And Dale Sr. has the most sincere smile on his face,
like a proud father, looking at him like, 'You're the man.'
''And then Dale Sr. reached out and pulled
Jr.'s head real close and whispered something in his ear . . . that to this day they
haven't told what he said. And I don't know if they ever will.''
Sr.'s reluctance to talk about his son? ''He
doesn't want to pump his stock too soon,'' Hawk says. ''I think he's just measuring his
words wisely.
''I mean, we figured Dale Jr. would win a
race or two, but nobody knew he'd win seven. Just won at St. Louis, No. 7, home of the new
sponsor. ''And nobody knew we'd be leading the championship.''
"My Fair Racer' Junior's official Cup
debut appears, logically, set for Charlotte next May in the 600. But Hawk won't say
specifically which five tracks will have the marketing honors.
''We're looking at going from May on, and
let the sponsor work with us on what markets,'' Hawk said. ''We want to run the new Monte
Carlo (which probably will debut at Charlotte next spring). Ty Norris is working with
Chevrolet to get a closer feel for that date."(10-30-98)(Mike
Mulhern - Journal Now)
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Earnhardt Jr plans to run "as hard as we can go"..."It would
be nice to win the championship at Homestead -- if not sooner," said Earnhardt, who
leads the series with seven victories and three pole positions in 28 races, in only his
first full season in the division. The 24-year-old driver is quick to give credit to his
team.
"These guys are excellent,"
Earnhardt said of his crew, led by Tony Eury Sr. "They were a race-winning team last
year, and they pieced a few more things together to improve their performance this year. I
just feel lucky to be a part of it."
Steve Park was the team's regular driver
last season, winning three races. Earnhardt had eight starts, including a 13th place
finish at Homestead. "He showed a lot of talent last year in the Busch car,"
said Park, who now drives the Dale Earnhardt Inc. Pennzoil Chevrolet in the Winston Cup
Series. "We had a good team and we showed we can win some races, and he's picked up
where we left off and has taken it to the next level. He's got a lot of his father in
him."
Regardless of how the points shape up
entering the finale, Earnhardt said he plans to run "as hard as we can go."
"You've got to be smart, but being too
conservative can get you in trouble," he explained. "So we're going to run
hard."(10-30-98)(IRace)
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HOMESTEAD, Fla. (Oct. 23,
1998) - Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be looking to make NASCAR history when he returns to
the Miami-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex for the Nov. 13-15 Jiffy Lube Miami 300, the
final event of the 1998 NASCAR Busch Series championship. Earnhardt can become the
first third-generation champion in NASCAR's 50-year history.
His grandfather, Ralph Earnhardt, won the
1956 title in the NASCAR Sportsman division, the predecessor of the Busch Series, while
Dale Earnhardt Sr. won seven Winston Cup championships (1980, 1986-87, 1990-91, 1993-94).
Driving the No. 3 AC Delco Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Earnhardt currently holds a 102-point
lead over Matt Kenseth in the battle for the championship. Only three races remain, with
events at Rockingham, N.C., and Atlanta preceding the season finale.
"It would be nice to win the
championship at Homestead - if not sooner," said Earnhardt, who leads the series with
seven victories and three pole positions in 28 races, in only his first full season in the
division. The 24-year-old driver is quick to give credit to his team. "These guys are
excellent," Earnhardt said of his crew, led by Tony Eury Sr. "They were a
race-winning team last year, and they pieced a few more things together to improve their
performance this year. I just feel lucky to be a part of it."
Steve Park was the team's regular driver
last season, winning three races. Earnhardt had eight starts, including a 13th place
finish at Homestead, "He showed a lot of talent last year in the Busch car,"
said Park, who now drives the Dale Earnhardt Inc. Pennzoil Chevrolet in the Winston Cup
Series. "We had a good team and we showed we can win some races, and he's picked up
where we left off and has taken it to the next level. He's got a lot of his father in
him."
Regardless of how the points shape up
entering the finale, Earnhardt said he plans to run "as hard as we can go."
"You've got to be smart, but being too conservative can get you in trouble," he
explained. "So we're going to run hard."
Practice and qualifying for the Jiffy Lube
Miami 300, the final event of the year at the Miami-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex,
begins on Friday, Nov. 13. The weekend also includes races for NASCAR's Slim Jim All Pro
and Goody's Dash series. The fourth annual Jiffy Lube Miami 300 takes the green flag at 1
p.m. on Sunday. A limited number of grandstand seats are still available for therace
weekend. Advance ticket buyers are also eligible to reserve tickets for Homestead's
inaugural Winston Cup race, the 1999 Jiffy Lube Miami 400. For additional information or
to place credit card orders, call (305) 230-RACE (7223). (story sent to me by J. T.
Tunnicliff)(10-24-98)(from
StockCar Fans Newsletter)
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"He never
gives you an inch to breathe in," says Dale, Jr. "And he won't ever
tell me I'm good. But it's his car I'm driving and I consider that a pat on the back.
Don't get me wrong, he's been a great father, but he's earned everything he's got by hard
work and he's very stern. He knows what you're capable of doing and he expects that every
time, 100 percent of the time."
As I sat with Dale Jr. for more than an hour
in Charlotte, N.C., recently, he went out of his way to paint a picture of his dad as the
tough taskmaster. He said that while his dad can well afford to put a silver spoon in his
mouth, he hasn't shown any inclination to do so.
"So far," the son said, laughing,
"it's been nothing but plastic."
No one put any spoons in Dale Earnhardt's
mouth, either, and as I sat there that day in Charlotte, looking at and listening to this
23-year-old, I found myself recalling a lot of interviews I'd shared with his
father.(10-22-98)(Sandra
McKee, MCI Racing)
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Dale Earnhardt
Jr. goes into Saturday's Quest Auto Parts 250 at Gateway International Raceway in
Madison, Ill., with a 97-point lead over Matt Kenseth in the Busch Grand National
standings.
With only two races remaining after Gateway,
Earnhardt knows that keeping his lead intact is vital.
"Everyone wants to know how I feel
about the championship," said Earnhardt, who turned 24 last Saturday. "We're
taking it one race at a time. That's how I truly feel. I am still learning, and this team
is the greatest bunch of guys in the world, and I am just having a good time."
Earnhardt, who drives for his father's Dale
Earnhardt Inc., team, leads the Busch Series in just about every important category. He
has six wins to Kenseth's three. Earnhardt has led 1,390 laps to 441 by runner-up Jeff
Burton. The youngster has led 15 of 28 races, while Burton is second with seven. In miles
led, Earnhardt tops Winston Cup regular Burton by 1,325.5 to 567.35. Earnhardt also has
three poles.(10-14-98)(WRAL5 Online)
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Earnhardt Jr.
won't fit into NASCAR's cookie cutter...''Dale Jr. is completely different''
Norris said. ''And nobody is going to cookie-cut or mold him into something else. He's
going to be Dale Jr., and he's just a little bit different.
''Dale Earnhardt Jr. is making the Earnhardt name proud. But he doesn't come across as a
small-town chicken farmer who wears Wrangler jeans and cowboy boots all the time. Dale Sr.
is a county-western, Brooks and Dunn, CMA Awards presenter-type person.''
''And Dale Jr. is a whole new wave. He's not part of the new wave where you've got to have
your hair cut perfect and parted on the side and be the perfect cardboard cutout. When we
sat there with Mr. Busch the other day, the first thing we asked him was 'Do not, please,
do not stand him up in a regular standup pose with his helmet in hand and smiling, like
everybody else. Do something different. Be a little more risky.''
''When we went out for lunch the other day with all Anheuser-Busch's creative marketing
folks, they took us to a little outdoor bar to meet and greet everybody,'' Norris said.
''So Dale Jr. met everybody and spoke. And when we all got done, we were standing there,
and they had a little band, and some drums, some funky psychedelic drums. So Dale Jr.
jumped up there and played drums for 'em.''(Mike
Mulhern, Journal Now 10-2-98)
"He reminds me more of Ralph
Earnhardt than he does Dale," Wheeler said. President and General Manager
H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler has seen a lot of young hotshot drivers come and go during
his years with NASCAR. He says the latest, Dale Earnhardt Jr., has come along at just the
right time to keep the sport healthy and strong.
"I've got a theory that great race
drivers are good fast, they're not great fast. Good race drivers that never become great
-- it takes them a while to become good. I think Earnhardt Jr. has become good fast, and I
think that there's something genetically that is handed down -- we've seen examples of
that with Richard Petty, with Davey Allison, with Buddy Baker, that not always -- it might
skip a generation or two -- but genes play a lot in the ability to drive a race car, and
Dale Jr. seems to have picked up those genes because he's doing things on the race track
right now that normally would take a couple of guys a couple of more years to
master." - Humpy Wheeler
(9-30-98 Brett Borden Story NASCAR Online)
Contract stipulations bar
rising star Dale Earnhardt Jr. from appearing in a racing machine at next month's Dura
Lube/Kmart 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.Earnhardt Jr., however, won't become a
full-time Winston Cup driver until the year 2000. In addition to fulfilling the final year
of his Busch contract next season, the younger Earnhardt will compete in five Winston Cup
races, one of which could be at PIR. (Speednet 9-28-98)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will NOT compete
at this Sunday's Cup race in Charlotte and per That's Racin', who broke the initial story:
Scratch the possibility of a Winston Cup debut for Dale Earnhardt Jr. next weekend at
Charlotte Motor Speedway. Don Hawk, president of Dale Earnhardt Inc., said that there's no
longer a possibility the son of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt will drive
in next Sunday's UAW-GM 500 at CMS.
(Jayski's 9-28-98)
Our speculation is that Dale Jr is too close to winning the Busch Grand National Series
Championship that it would be better to concentrate all efforts on the Busch Race and
secure the Championship. Earhardt Sr mentioned in the Budweiser Press Conference (9-21)
that it is a possibility that you may see Dale Jr in a Winston Cup car at the Phoenix race
this year. The Busch Series is off the weekend of the Phoenix race.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. might not make
his first Winston Cup appearance on the other side of the world after all. It could come,
in fact, next Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Don Hawk, president of Dale Earnhardt Inc., said Saturday it's possible the team might
enter Earnhardt Jr., the Grand National circuit's points leader, in next Sunday's UAW-GM
500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
But Hawk said Saturday that, depending on
how well things go in Sunday's NAPA 500 for Steve Park in the DEI-owned car, the team
could have a car in which Earnhardt Jr. could race next weekend. "It might be too
late for us to make it, but it could happen,'' Hawk said.
A late entry for Earnhardt Jr. could still
be filed this week even though the official deadline for entries in the Charlotte race was
5 p.m. Friday. The late entry would mean only that Earnhardt Jr. would not be eligible to
collect Winston Cup points in the race.(Racin' Bob & That's Racin 9-26-98)
Tony Eury's Mother dies...Tony
Eury, crew chief of the #3 ACDelco Busch car owned by Dale Earnhardt, and his son, Tony
Eury Jr, could not show up for the MBNA 200 Busch Race until the morning of the race. Tony
Eury's mother passed away earlier in the week. The whole weekend was difficult for the
Earnhardts and Eurys. They are like family. Dale Jr mentioned this in a post race
interview as a "family matter".(TNN race coverage)(9-18-98)
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