Dale Earnhardt, Jr talks about his upcoming show, ‘Shifting Gears’
Quote selected text Published January 26th, 2008 in NASCAR News
Q – Will this documentary shed some insight on what went on behind the scenes between you and Teresa Earnhardt?
DALE EARNHARDT JR. – “I think everybody has a different idea of how things might have been. Whatever you’ll see, that’s what happened. I don’t think it’s really going to answer a lot of questions about my relationship with Teresa. Of course it may. We don’t touch on that point because it’s not necessarily up for discussion. That’s between me and her and that’s really where it’s going to stay.”
Q - Is this type of show a trend in sports?
JOHN SKIPPER, ESPN Executive Vice President, Content – “Increasingly fans want behind the scenes access. NASCAR is as good as it gets. These guys understand that and what the sport has to do for the fans and provide them. I think you’ll see more of it. You see a lot of it during our coverage with the access we have to the radios and the pit crews and the drivers. They are just terrific to work with in this regard.”
Q - What were the emotions you felt behind the scenes just prior to your departure from the team your father founded?
DALE EARNHARDT JR. — “Every time I watch that it brings back a lot of hard emotion. That’s what the show is about. I was fortunate enough to have the foresight to want to document this, knowing how big a change it was and how huge of an impact it was going to have on my life. All that footage and everything we’ve captured throughout that whole deal is pretty impressive and pretty powerful when you watch it.
“It’s going to let you into the office just minutes before we make the announcement to leave DEI, and then it’s going to bring you behind the curtain after we’ve made the announcement to join Rick’s and see the family and see everybody’s emotion and expression, and a lot of behind the scenes stuff like that that. We wouldn’t want that material to surface anywhere else.
“In the bubble that NASCAR is, it’s chronicling a big moment in the history of that sport. That’s really what it is. It’s not necessarily reality TV as much as it is embarking on trying to tell the story of that moment where this driver did this and chose to do this, and it just happened to be one of the biggest stories of the year in sports overall, not only just NASCAR.
“I’m just looking forward to public response on this show and seeing what everybody thinks about it.”
Q – John, your closing thoughts on Dale Jr. – Shifting Gears?
JOHN SKIPPER — “We’re just looking forward to getting things kicked off for our second season. We’ve recently announced some changes to our production. You heard Mr. (Brian) France talk about making sure we appeal to the NASCAR fans and remember the roots, and I think there’s no better way to start off than with a look at one of the more compelling sports stories of the year, one of the more compelling figures in all of sports with Dale Jr.”
- ‘Shifting Gears’ on ESPN goes behind scenes with Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. talks with Patrick Dempsey, Jay-Z, Burt Reynolds, and NASCAR’s Mike Helton on XM program
- Report: three to six weeks until Earnhart, Jr. sponsorship announcement
- Dale Earnhardt Jr. is a Busy Man this Week
- Earnhardt, Jr to host live call-in show on XM Satellite Radio on Sept. 4th
When will this show air?
What’s the line up? First guest is Tony Eury, Sr. Next guest is Tony, Jr. Then Kelly Earnhardt Elledge. Kerry Earnhardt. Jimmie and Jeffy together on one big show. Then they’ll have a game like ” Pin The Horns On The Devil”. It will be a giant board with the DEI logo and Teresa’s face in the middle. The guest will be blind folded and have to put horns on her head. That might be interesting. I like Junior but he’s not reinventing the wheel here.
I think if Jr would spend more time doing racing related stuff instead of all this TV crap he does, He might be better off.
The air schedule (all times Eastern):
Friday, Feb. 8 7-8 p.m. ESPN2
Friday, Feb. 15 6:30-8 p.m. ESPN2
Saturday, Feb. 16 4:30-6 p.m. ESPN2
Thursday, July 24 7-8 p.m. ESPN
Friday, July 25 7-8 p.m. ESPN
RE: I think if Jr would spend more time doing racing related stuff instead of all this TV crap he does, He might be better off.
You may be on to something there; focus on the matter at hand (racing and winning races) require no distractions. Only time will tell if he can do it.
All the drivers have media commitments.
Sam wrote:
There is a difference between Media commitments and hosting 2 or 3 shows and opening a nightclub, etc….
Fisha695 wrote:
I know of two shows and this one is for a limited time. They have already finished shooting on it as well. Oh, and the season has not started.
Do you really think he will have anything to do with the management of the night club? You know better.
Why are all the junior haters so worried about how busy JR is? You should be happy.
Why do people make such a big deal about what he does? so what if he does alittle show nobody says anything when gordon is doing regis&kelly twice a month,and opening a nightclub is no big deal its not like hes gonna be hanging out there get real hes human like everybody else I mean what exactly do people expect him to do.
It’s his life, and his prerogative!!
Who cares how he spends his time and money as long as he’s happy.
Is that not what life’s about?
Wake up people. It’s 2008. We multi-task this day and age!!
Besides, if he didn’t go to the lengths of things like this, the majority of everyone here would be lost without being able to make the exact same comment every other week. Then where would you be?….. Chugging a beer in your Lazy Boy and watching repeats of Family Guy?
come on we all know that the jr haters are his BIGGEST FANS!!!! who else would spend that much time and breath if they dident love him?
hot rod todd wrote:
I think your right!
Jr. haters should spend as much time thinking about the driver they like as they do Jr.