What Would Dale Sr. Think?
Monday, June 16th, 2008 Write a comment
Not long after Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his first points race for Hendrick Motorsports at Michigan, I put in a call to one of my friends in High Places and asked a favor. I needed to talk to Dale Earnhardt Sr. and could he please put me in touch? Within a miraculous minute or two, the phone rang. It was Dale.
‘Dale,’ I said, ‘Thanks for calling. Did you see June Bug win that race at Michigan today driving for Hendrick Motorsports?’
There was a long pause. “Yeah, I saw it,” he said. Then you could almost see that big grin breaking out on his face. “Pretty darned good, wadn’t it? I was really proud of the way Junior and Tony Eury Jr. worked together to win it on fuel mileage. Kind of reminded me of beating Bill Elliott on the last lap at Darlington one year.”
‘But Dale,’ I said, ‘He left Dale Earnhardt Inc. and now he’s winning for Rick Hendrick, never one of your closest friends in the garage, especially back in the days when you used to hammer on Geoff Bodine.’
‘Yeah, well,” said Dale after another pause, “Whenever your son wins a race, it’s a big deal. It don’t matter who he’s driving for. A father has to be happy when a son wins a big race, especially one at Michigan on Father’s Day. Chevy really needed a win there and it will probably help sell some cars at Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet.”
‘Well jeez,’ I replied. ‘It’s not like I’m fishing for a controversial quote. I mean who’s going to believe me, anyway? It just doesn’t seem like you would cotton to the idea of Little E and his sister Kelly splitting from DEI to move to Hendrick. Pardon the expression, but as the Intimidator you’ve always been pretty black and white about such things.’
“I guess it looks like two choices,” said Dale. “But the way the situation is now, I don’t have to pick sides. I’m pulling for everybody to win, including DEI. I mean, how do you think I got admitted to this place up here, anyway?”
‘OK, OK, I get it,’ I said. ‘But you don’t mean you’re pulling for everybody literally. Jack Roush is still a peckerhead in your book, right?’
“Man,” said Dale, “You don’t get it. Once you’re up here, giving driving lessons to the Big Guy, the perspective changes. Things start rubbing off on you, and I’m not talking about fender and door paint. Some days, though, even He thinks He’s Dale Earnhardt and I have to straighten Him out about that.”
‘Speaking of getting things straight,’ I said, trying to regain the momentum, ‘Did you hear how Dale Jr. said he had you whupped at Michigan in the IROC race back in 2000 on the last lap until Rusty Wallace gave you a bump draft?’
Just then a bolt of lightning came out of nowhere and landed just outside the window to my office. Funny thing, though, it didn’t affect the phone connection.
“I had his ass whupped at the finish line, didn’t I?” thundered Dale.
‘I see,’ I said, now getting warmed up. ‘As long as you’re not on the track, everything’s OK, because you’re not getting beat. Is that it?’
“What makes you think I’m not out there?” said Dale. And once again I could sense that sly grin begin to uncurl at the corners of his mouth. “I mighta even been there the day my son Kerry won at Michigan in the ARCA race back in 2001, too.”
‘Well Dale,’ I said. ‘You’ve never failed to amaze me, so I guess anything’s possible, including this phone call.’ I decided to tuck into the draft at this point. ‘So what do you think about Little E winning this year’s championship?’
“I don’t like talking about the Chase, even though Bill France Jr. and I finally worked that out once he got up here. I think Dale Jr.’s got a good chance, if Hendrick can get its act together on the Car of Tomorrow. It looks like they’ve turned the corner. Jimmy Johnson had a pretty good race at Michigan. I think Dale Jr.’s really been carrying the car a lot up until now. You can’t win the championship on fuel mileage. But if they really catch up, maybe ol’ DW’s prediction of six race victories ain’t too bad.”
‘He’s already got three if you include the two prelims from Daytona,’ I said. ‘And four if you include Brad Keselowski’s first Nationwide win for JR Motorsports. How do you think Dale Jr.’s doing as a team owner?’
“He’s getting there, ain’t he?” said Dale. “I honestly think that comment Teresa made about him having to choose between being a celebrity and a race car driver got his attention. She prayed a lot about it beforehand, so I can’t fault her for that. It’s too bad the rest of it didn’t work out. But I really couldn’t see Dale Jr. running the team and the rest of the DEI stuff better than her at this point in his life. He’s better off sticking to driving.”
‘I see,’ I replied, this time really mystified. Was I really talking to my old friend Dale? Could he be this mellow? So I gave it one more try.
‘You probably saw where Dale Jarrett and Bill Elliott are hanging up their helmets. Sterling Marlin’s almost done. So I guess your career in NASCAR would be over about now. Otherwise, I’d ask you whether you could beat Junior to the championship if you were still driving for Richard Childress.’
“Well, I guess you already know who did the better job the last time we drove the same equipment, that Corvette in the Daytona 24-hour,” said Dale calmly, not missing a beat.
‘OK, OK,’ I replied, on the short end yet again in a conversation with the seven-time champion. ‘You got me there. Too bad you never had a chance to get your Corvette team together. I know how much you wanted to race at Le Mans. By the way, did you see the Le Mans race this weekend? Allan McNish was incredible when he ran that quadruple stint against the Peugeots at the start and put the Audi into the lead.’
“Did I see it?” said Dale. “I was right there on his shoulder.”
Jonathan can be reached at jonathan@jingrambooks.com.
Led By Stepneygate, 2007 Had More Thunderclaps Than Usual
Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 Write a CommentOne writer’s Top Ten list of the biggest stories in the 2007 motor racing season.
1. Stepney Trips On His, Um, Gate — Stepneygate had it all: intrigue, espionage, an incredible $100 million fine, a bearing on the F1 championships, internecine warfare among teammates and between teams. If I’m ever in jail, I’m calling Ferrari’s smooth-talking lawyer.
2. Little E Leaves DEI — How can you top a most popular son leaving the team of his late father, a seven-time champion? Easy. It’ll be the No. 1 story if Dale Earnhardt Jr. ever returns to Dale Earnhardt Inc., which won’t happen until he can afford to buy it from stepmother Teresa Earnhardt. Little E would need several championships at Hendrick Motorsports to pull that off. One title would be enough to finally convince those other than his fans that he can drive.
3. Johnson Repeats As Nextel Cup Champ — Just when folks started believing nobody will ever tie Cale Yarborough’s mark of three straight under the Chase format, Johnson wins his second in a row by taking four victories on the trot down the stretch. Who says the point system, which now rewards winners, needs further revamping?
4. John Force Breaks A Leg — He’s in show biz, but this accident was a little hairy. (As far as this writer’s concerned, until proven otherwise it was the equipment in the timing pylon that cut the rear tire.)
5. Porsche Beats Audi — The hefty all-conquering Audi diesel, the one with a V-12 twin turbo and two straight Le Mans victories, got beat eight times in the American Le Mans Series by Porsche’s little Spyder that could. Oh yes. Roger Penske was involved.
6. Joe Gibbs To Race Toyotas — Nimble enough to get re-hired as coach of the Washington Redskins, Gibbs required no heavy breathing to accept Toyota’s offer of $25 million per year versus coffee and doughnuts from ailing GM.
7. Rallying’s Colin McRae Killed — It’s a terrible tragedy to lose a retired world champion, family and friends in a helicopter crash. It’s also a watchword for all race car drivers who fancy flying whirlybirds.
8. Raikkonen Wins On Final Day — OK, so he sounds like a one-note kazu. A helluva driver finally gets his chance, then makes good on it to win F1’s world championship. It turns out Lewis Hamilton walks on Fleet Street, but not on water.
9. Three Indy 500 Champs Start At Homestead — This list doesn’t even include Dario Franchitti, who next year will join Juan Pablo Montoya, Jacques Villeneuve and Sam Hornish, Jr. in the attempt to crossover into NASCAR, the world’s richest souvenir market. Gentlemen, start your wallets.
10. The U.S. Grand Prix Leaves Town. Again — The price for Indianapolis to get back on the schedule, the same one paid by Singapore, is now $30 million for the pleasure of F1’s company. (Indianapolis paid roughly $12 million annually through 2007.) Yes, this is the same F1 company whose TV/marketing rights have been bought and sold several times at exhorbitant prices. The loans/bonds for the original defaulted deal carry over $200 million in annual interest. So who’s the guy fixing the problem? Bernie Ecclestone, the same guy who sold the rights for real cash at an exhorbitant price in the first place.
Jonathan Ingram can be reached at jonathan@jingrambooks.com.
The F1 Rogues Gallery Bowling Tournament
Monday, December 10th, 2007 Write a CommentWe bowled them over on Saturday night and I, for one, feel a bit better now that the weekend is gone and the F1 season with it.
My annual year-ending bash among the local fantasy Grand Prix members has always evolved in different directions to keep it interesting. This year, in no small part due to the remodeling of the house, I decided to set up a bowling alley on the hardwood floor in the living room between a set of 2 x 4’s.
My next immediate thought was to put a theme on the plastic pins purchased at the local toy store. Instead of cars, which only occurred to me in retrospect, I put one photo of a driver, team owner or FIA official on each of the ten pins using clear plastic tape.
Identifying photos are called “head shots” in the journalistic trade and in this case there was little irony. In the year of Stepheygate, it wouldn’t take much guessing to figure out who comprised the ten pins in this “F1 Rogues Gallery Bowling Tournament.”
Since this is a fun-loving and creative group of hardy survivors, a great evening was enjoyed by all. We ended up with blind-folded bowling and bank-shot bowling to maintain tight competition among the leaders. Roger Penske dropped by, as usual, to hand out prizes. Or at least it was a vague resemblance of “The Captain” — a guy wearing one of those old-fashioned racing caps from the 1980’s with the three-story-high space in front for the sponsor’s logo, in this case Marlboro.
What surprised me was the lack of discussion about the F1 season relative to years past. In a year of disparate directions among the fantasy Grand Prix participants, we did not have as many race mornings in front of the TV together as usual, so maybe it was a matter of catching up on the latest developments in our lives.
Or perhaps everybody’s on the same page when it comes to F1, ready to move on from the disapointment and betrayals of Stepneygate. It was, after all, a season in which it was difficult to hail the champion or commiserate with the runners-up. Even the admirers of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen offered that the late-season success was justice for bad luck in seasons past as opposed to an exuberant display of virtuosity comprising one of the greatest comebacks in F1 history.
I believe the long view of history will confirm that a decision by the World Motor Sport Council to aggressively pursue the matter of design documents stolen from Ferrari. But the same cast of time will find the FIA was in part to blame by not imposing stiff penalties in response to incidents in the previous seasons, albeit relatively minor by comparison.
Participants had not fully received the prior message from the international judicial system that such illegal activities carry serious consequences. For its part, the FIA had not made it clear industrial espionage was outside the realm of sports competition, much less the creed of self-built solutions sustained over the long haul by F1. So there was no choice but to go forward and prosecute this case aggressively.
I’ve come to this conclusion in part due to a long conversation with Nick Craw, the U.S. representative at the FIA. As an elected member of the WMSC for several years, Craw provided a window on the efforts to get to the bottom of what went on in the case of Stepneygate. In sum, there was just too much evidence to ignore.
Perhaps the best evidence were the digital photos of a distraught Ron Dennis during the debacle. The McLaren team owner has been betrayed by the usual cut-and-thrust politics that are the price of admission in F1 over the years, this case included, without ever appearing so disintegrated. He’s had feuding drivers before and in-house intrigues. But this, documents stolen from a rival?
From Ferrari to McLaren, from doomed Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney to McLaren’s Fernando Alonso (who behaved in less than champion form), from Max Moseley and Bernie Ecclestone to the members of the WMSC — they all made their choices in this tawdry tale.
As for the Renault case, once again the FIA’s inaction in the past means the sport needs to go forward from the McLaren case, already an ongoing can of worms, as the standard when it comes to copying rivals instead of turning over rocks throughout the entire neighborhood looking for past misdeeds to punish.
We bowled them all over for good measure, casting the characters to various manner of fates and associations. Now it’s the morning after instead of the mourning before.
Oh yes. We had a toast as usual at the end of the evening. I suggested a “Quaker meeting” variety in which any of us could speak up as we raised our glasses and then found myself strangely silent.
So here’s to 2008. With Raikkonen, the departed Alonso and McLaren’s second-year man Lewis Hamilton on different teams and everybody out for blood, it should be one helluva year.
Jonathan Ingram can be reached at jonathan@jingrambooks.com