Dale Earnhardt Jr. Goes His Seperate Way

[Guess I should learn how to spell before I post]

Unfortunately for Dale Earnhardt Inc. (DEI), the son who would be King has left the palace. There are a hundred reasons to say so what, but if you've been a NASCAR fan for any length of time you know how important the Earnhardt name is to the sport. After losing Dale Sr. to a wreck at the Daytona 500 in February 2001, fans have been looking for their next ambassador. Everyone wanted Dale Jr. to carry the torch, live up to the hype and the expectations. I truly believe he wanted to do that and really can, but it won't be as a driver with the company his Father started.

It's debatable the feud between Dale Jr. and his Mother Teresa (oops, no pun intended), denying him majority ownership in DEI, is the real reason he left. It could be that he's just tired of fighting her over it and wanted to focus on racing. Because results speak louder than words and the DEI teams performance has been deteriorating all season. It could also be positive for the DEI team that Dale Jr. leaves, giving the whole team a breather and allow them to refocus their attentions, on winning.

But let's look at it from a fan perspective. I'll give you mine. I attended a NASCAR race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway a few years ago. The track seats about 120,000 (more now I think), but that's a lot of fans. On the second lap of the race Dale Jr. was involved in a wreck that took him out of the race. I was completely shocked to see a majority of the fans get up and leave. The mere fact Dale Jr. was out of the race was enough to cause people who had just sunk $100 to see a 500 lap race, leave before it had even begun. Stupidity or fan loyalty? I thought it was stupid, but then I've struggled to keep my cool watching Tony Stewart's up and down season this year.

I respect everyones opinion, even this guys, and yeah, it probably won't hurt the team and Dale Jr. will undoubtedly land on his feet. But it's sort of like seeing Micheal Jordan wear any other basketball jersey number but 23. It just isn't right. I think it's a shame that Teresa Earnhardt is so out of touch with fans. She has no idea how big this thing is. If she succeeds, good for her, if not, she ruined a life time of work.