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Posted on June
15, 2007
Smokescreen....JR to Hendrick may have
been planned months ago
Ok, you race fans who aren't
completely blinded by the Earnhardt
Mystique, or even if you are, gather
around and I'll tell you a little tale.
This story involves intrigue, smoke
filled rooms, greed and an outright
hoodwinking of the NASCAR Nation. Even
I, with no particular interest in for
whom Earnhardt JR raced for was taken
in. But after putting the pieces of what
I've read over the past few months and
Tuesday's announcement together, I
believe that I know the truth. I think
that the Dale Earnhardt JR-Rick Hendrick
merger was a handshake agreement as
early as the 2006-07 offseason. Note,
this is all conjecture as I have no
written proof.
Kelley (Earnhardt) Elledge, the
brains behind the JR phenomenon, knew
before going into negotiations with DEI
that demanding 51% ownership of the race
team for free would never fly.
Considering the value of only the team's
assets, a 51% gift to two stepchildren
would have been insane on Theresa's
part. If Elledge have been truly
negotiating with sincerity, Kerry and
Taylor Earnhardt would have been
included in the gift as they were her
dad's children also. You Red Army
members can talk all that you want about
"entitlements", but there is no such
thing. If Big E had wanted to give DEI
to his 4 kids outright, he would have
willed it to them. He didn't.
Meanwhile over at the
Hendrick stable, Kyle Busch did a
creditable job of driving, but was a
handful otherwise. Not being popular
with his fellow drivers for crashing
them was a small factor, but more
importantly he had a small fan base.
Remember, in "modern" NASCAR, it's not
so much about being a talented racer as
it about pimping to-shirts, toy cars and
attracting money laden sponsors. I've
seen very few Kyle Busch clad fans
walking the streets of my area and his
sponsors likely weren't happy with the
negative publicity he generated. I have
little doubt Hendrick was looking for a
way to gracefully dump him when JR's
disenchantment with DEI was publicly
coming to light. Unless you first became
a 'Cup fan in the past few years, you
had to know that JR and Thresea had
never gotten along. A little known
factoid is that when E obtained custody
of Kelly and Dale in the early '80s,
Theresa had them whisked off to private
schools until their senior years in HS.
Rick Hendrick is a man with a huge
ego and suspect integrity, in my
opinion. I also believe that his "Mr.
Clean" image is a joke. He lost my
respect when he stole BGN rookie Jeff
Gordon from Bill Davis and Ford in 1992.
Hendrick's stock dropped even further
with me when he allegedly evaded Federal
bribery charges of a certain auto
manufacturer's reps. So it stands to
reason that concocting a "deal" with
Elledge in her's and her brother's
behalf before DEI negotiations even
began is more than a possibility.
Hendrick's "No Room at the Inn" quote
about a driver with a huge fan following
is an excellent ploy to keep everyone
off-balance until the public announcment
time is right, no?
For the real conspiracy
theorists reading this, I'll present you
with a goodie. I wouldn't put it past
King Brian and the Boyz from Daytona to
have had a rather large hand in the
deal. Again remember, it's a small step
from manipulating races with suspect
cautions, stealing team sponsors and
such misdeeds to steering a very popular
driver to the race team with the deepest
pockets. 'Nuff said about that or NASCAR
may open a trap door and I'll never be
seen again.
Lest you think I'm anti-Dale Jr, I'm
not. I have no feelings about him one
way or the other. I honestly hope he
does well and pleases his Red Army. Wins
will come as may a Championship or two.
Since NASCAR left me behind with the
rest of it's early supporters, my
favorite driver besides myself is Jeff
Foose. If you haven't heard the name
before, he drives a '32 Chevy coupe
quite well on the short tracks for our
vintage racing team.
Til next time...... Jan, the
Tbirdchick
You
can contact Jan at
custom64@neo.rr.com
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