Statement from Teresa Earnhardt on Dale Earnhardt, Jr’s departure from DEI
Quote selected text Published May 10th, 2007 in NASCAR News
In response to today’s announcement by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., that he will be leaving DEI, Teresa Earnhardt, CEO of Dale Earnhardt, Inc. issued the following statement.
“While we are very disappointed that Dale Jr. has chosen to leave the family business, we remain excited about our company’s future. Our aggressive expansion and diversification plans have not changed. This company has continued to thrive since Dale left us in 2001, and it will thrive following today’s announcement. Dale and I built this company to be a championship-contender, and those principles still apply. Dale Earnhardt, Inc. will win, and we have other extremely talented drivers and hundreds of employees that are dedicated to the programs we founded. This company has a great legacy and a bright future, built on loyalty, integrity, and commitment.”
[DEI]
Bookmark to:
- Teresa Earnhardt questions Dale Earnhardt, Jr’s commitment to team, racing
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- Teresa Earnhardt wants Dale Jr to stay at DEI
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- GM Statement on Dale Jr./DEI
She just made the biggest mistake of DEI’s future to be a contender for a championship. That is bull that they are still contender for it without Jr. She didn’t support him enough to even get him the best of everything for his cars and made fatal decisions that ruined his chances when he was close. I hope she is happy now she won’t have to worry about him being more of a “public image”.
I actually feel kinda sad for Theresa now, but this was almost entirely her doing…
DEI doesn’t have much to look forward to other than Junior buying them in the future.
Axel I have to agree. She did this on her own and now she has to find one popular driver to fill his shoes. Im sorry to say but Paul just isn’t Dale Jr. She made a HUGE mistake by not giving Dale Jr ownership of the company.
Wow, Theresa really dropped the ball on this situation that she could have fixed. She should have invested her money back into the teams like Henderick has done. Then maybe Jr would have more wins, or even a championship already.
I THINK THAT JR SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN DEI FOR WHATEVER THE PERCENT. 100 PERCENT IN MY BOOK, THE COMPANY WAS BASED ON DALE EARNHARDT HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR IT AND JR IS THE ONE THAT IS ON THE TRACK AT 200 MPH IN ORDER TO KEEP DEI IN BUSINESS JUST LIKE HIS FATHER NOT TERESA!!!!!IF HE CHOOSES TO DRIVE FOR HIMSELF I THINK ITS GREAT HE HAS EARNED THE RIGHT TO MAKE IT WITH HIS NAME EARNHARDT — WHAT EVER HE DRIVES I WILL BUY THE MERCHANDISE BUT ONLY TO SUPPORT JR AND THE MEMORY OF DALE SR ,I COULD ONLY WISH THAT SR WAS HERE SO THAT HE COULD SET SOME PEOPLE STAIGHT ON THIS MATTER!!!!!!!!!THE NAME IS BASED ON THE MEN THAT WAS BORN WITH IT NOT THE NUMBER THEY WERE GIVEN 3 ,8 OR 148 IT DOES NOT MATTER TO ME JR WILL MAKE IT WITH WHATEVER HE DRIVES BECAUSE HE HAS IT IN HIS SOUL TO STRIVE FOR SUCCESS
Nancy that is a great point. It doesnt matter what number he runs. I will support him and buy his merchandise. He loves racing and you can see it ever week at the track!
I hope Teresa believes that load of crap she just said , cause the rest of us arent buying it. She is letting her #1 asset (Jr.) leave and probably most of the sponsers , most of the merchandise sales , most of thier fans and I believe in the end alot of the workers will leave for other teams or to go to work at Jr. Motorsports. I bet life isnt nearly so sweet for Teresa now that she has let her ego make decisions that she will end up regretting. I hope Jr. ends up being a success on whichever team he drives for…my personal opinion is he would make Denny Hamlin and Tony Stewart a great team mate.
JR will continue the legacy his dad started and when Teresa is down and out Jr will be there and buy DEI for little or nothing or he will build JR motorsports into it’s own Empire. Teresa has Manard a loser so I hope she’s happy. I think Junior will get plenty of backing and it may take a year or two to get on the right track but he will be up there sooner or later. Good luck and best wishes JR.
Teresa talks about loyalty.. well where is the loyalty to Jr. Its not like he wanted the whole 100%. He just wanted the controlling interest of what his father built. He built it for his kids and Teresa.. so why fight over it now.
Okay I know everyone is upset about Teresa’s boneheaded move…but come on dont pick on Menard. How many races has been able to run this year? But I go agree, DEI is screwed.
Although we truly admired Dale Sr and his accomplishments. Teresa just showed how greedy, unappreciative, and unsupportive she is to Dale’s memories as well as his children. This family will never buy a piece of merchandise until she does give control of DEI to his children where it rightfully belongs. I was glad to see that Grandma Earnhardt was at the news conference to support Dale Jr. I imagine she isn’t much liking her daughter in law much these days. We were never Dale Sr fans or Dale Jr fans because of Teresa Earnhardt (Earnhardt in name only - not by blood). I’ve always heard what a great business person she was. She just proved all that wrong today. As far as her statement that DEI is all about loyalty. Not by her actions they are not.
GO Jr we are behind you no matter where you go. You made the only decision you could have made under the circumstances.
Dale Jr. is doing what’s best for his career. He’s got his fans behind him, he’s got Budweiser backing him, and he’ll have a top-rate team backing him. He’s better off.
the question is.. is he joining another team or is he creating his own? its not a good idea to start a new team because look what happened to michael.. im hoping he joins joe gibbs but who knows.. i love stewart and jr… it would be awesome if they were in the same team together.. anyone agree?
I agree that Teresa made a HUGE mistake. She should have given Kerry, Kelly, Dale Jr and Taylor controlling interest in the team Dale Sr built for his children. He said so more than once. It was Sr.’s wish to leave it for his children….not her. Yes, she helped to build Dale Sr into what he was…but she had nothing to do with his driving. Dale Sr. made mistakes with his children but I believe he was trying to make it up to them by building DEI for them….not her. My heart bleds for the whole family. This will cause a split that nothing can repair. Too bad…for ALL of the Earnhardts.
Yeah, so Theresa’s an idiot, what else is new? It’s not like anybody
was expecting her to handle this correctly;; would’ve been to much
of a change of pace. And she’s shoveling more shit than my Grandpa
on the farm in the mornings. She’ll end up swallowing it down the
line.
ok nascarsbstjr. ican change to any screen name and follow dale jr were evr he gows no matter what AND NOW JR. I THINK NOWS A GOOD TIME TO put a nother JR in your famly so you can gve him the empier you create on your own ya think
About what RedDevil said, I too would be a little worried if he drove for JR motorsports. Not that he wont succeed, but it’s so hard to be competetive when opening your own race teams these days. Most people refer to MWR, however..It’s a Toyota team for one, and second nothing against him but, Waltrip wasn’t exactly the greatest driver out there. However, I will be happy if he goes to Hendricks (48 fan as well) or RCR. I wouldn’t mind Gibbs either.
If anyone learns anything from this, I hope its that this is not how to manage a business. She has successfully ran off every driver Senior hand picked. Atleast she’s good at something…
all i can say is that jr will be good wherever he goes…and theresa will
find another driver, and life will just go on! But I am proud of Jr. for making
this move, shows how mature he really has become in racing…..
im trying to figure out if shes just stupid, or thinks that everybody else around her is dumb. Of possibly the women is in denial.
shes prolly just not aware of what she has, but i guarantee she will see
when he isnt there next season!
well,jr is leaving we all saw this coming.personaly i hope he goes to rcr.there is alot of fans that would love to see a red #3bud car on the track.maaybe jr motorsports would be good.yes mickey isnt doing to good but you have to thinkits a new preogram ,team, and car for toyota.dei uses jr motorsports equipment for there cars because tereasa wouldnt but any any.well it will be a new ball game next season and who ever he drives for,whatever number he has(hopefully #3)the real fans will be there.i will.so will my family!good luck jr and we got your back!
…as I said before—Theresa needs to get her pretty head OUT of her ass!
yep raceguy, no matter where he goes!! and yes, a red number 3 would be
awesome!!!!
Wasn’t it Dale Sr.who helped Dale Jr. & Michael Waltrip to the front of the last race of his life In that race he pushed and blocked other driver’s from getting anywhere near dale jr and michael waltrip.Micheal came in first place,his first daytona 500 win ,dale jr was second and i think dale would have came in #3,he was a great man and will never be forgotten,he was a great father to his kids.I think Theresa is an idiot for what she has done.She has broken dale jr heart everyone knows that company was for the earnhardt kids,why would Dale Sr. name his son dale?I have my own answer to that and i bet alot of other Dale Earnhardt Sr. fans know why.
100% of the people who left comments on this one story are 100% convinced that Teresa made a big mistake. If we all can see it…why can’t she? Is she that blind or just that money hungry? Sure wish Sr would come to her in a dream and say…hey goofy…open you eyes!
money hungry is right…shes forgotten what racing is truly about..and
thats family…you see it in the Labonte’s, the Sadler’s, the Jarrets, and
so many more…DEI was establishes for the family, which includes Dale JR!!
Teresa has gotten a taste of the riches, and cant turn it loose now..
DEI will be nothing more than a museum now. Jr prolly did make the right
decision to leave. I am sure of it.
So sad that he has to leave the co. his Dad built for the kids. It’s also sad that she can’t come to terms of giving up the co. Maybe she is money hungry, or maybe she’s just is hanging on to the only thing she has left of Dale. Who knows. But one thing is for certain, she talks about loalty. She just made it clear she has no loalty to Jr. or any of Dale Sr. kids other than her own.
Like they say “do the math” Teresa. 49 % of 100 Million is 49 million. 100% of going out of business is 0. Maybe you can steal Paul Menards inheritance too.
I could really care less what that shrew Theresa has to say. She screwed up, and she did it for greed and spite. Let’s be real here for a second. Dale Sr. is deceased. Dale Jr. is out of there at the end of the season.
Kelly is going with herbrother and perhaps Tony Eury Jr, Martin Truex Jr., and Budwiser. The pit crew may leave too, and all that shrew will have left is Menard, and a name. Like I have stated before, I give it two years.
Do you think JR has already made a deal and is not telling anyone about it yet. I think that he has. He would not jump ship this soon without somewhere to land. He has shown confidence and maturity and he was very bussiness like during his statement. DEI will have a hard row to hoe without JR and I’m not sure if they will be around but so long. THeresa’s lover boy Menard shore wont fill JR’s shoes she needs to find a buyer for DEI and in a hurry. Unless she plans on shinnong shoe’s on the corner to make money. Whose equipment is she going to borrow now that she sent JR packing??? Oh THERSA have you screwed up!!!!! Girl you are down the tubes now!!!!! And I’m not sure their’s anyone to throw you a lifeline. Got a lot to greedy there didnt we !!!! Well now you can sit back and watch the races and eat hotdogs like the rest of us poor souls because you be in our boat now.
axel makes a good point about runnin off all of SR’s picks. Waltrip (he has talent just never had the equipment until DEI and still theresa screwed him over there), steve park and now JR. she has no idea what she is doing and should have listened to JR and given in. If I the kids id go start a new company and name it something like Earnhardt Racing Inc. or something and have the REAL Earnhardts run it…not some idiot Dale married who has no business running anything! She drove everyone away
She claims that she’s doing it for the sake of carrying on the legacy. NEWSFLASH, STUPID! Legacy is done! Dale set it up for his kids, not just the ones he had with her. I still contest to the theory that she did this whole thing out of pure spite, greed and control issues. They have OCD clinics for that. I’m placing bets on how fast DEI is gonna hit the skids. I still say two years.
I don’t wish fir it to happen, but with Shrewella Theresa at the helm, it’s gonna happen, and fast.
AMEN
Poor baby. Gosh I feel so bad for her…..NOT!
whatever happens, happens, and like I said, JR will suceed no matter
what, Teresa..so sorry darlin, but Dale SR, for sure is looking down at you
unhappily. What goes around comes around.
Like I always say, “Karma is Daytona, and I can’t wait for turn 4!”
You know, in the movie “3″ Teresa was portrayed as knowing something about this sport -
I guess it’s now classified as “fiction”
ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry all you Earnhardt fans, Theresa was the brains behind the business and if not for her business savvy Sr.wouldn;t have any money. Jr. Said he feels today the same as he felt as a 6 year old when she moved into their house. nothing needs to be added to that statement. I could care less where Jr. goes and who he drives for. Why isn;t there discussion about how much of the busniess percentage would go to Dale, Sr and Theresas daughter, how about Jr’s brother Kerry?
Because Nina…anyone who knows anything about Dale Jr knows that what is his is his families and that includes Kerry, Kelly, and Taylor. Jr is a good man and always will be. He has passion for racing and a heart for his family. Which is why he gave teresa any chance at all at keeping some of the company. His Daddy would be proud of him no matter what Teresa thinks!
I agree with everyone.Theresha is in it for the money.She don’t care about JR.or any os the kids only her own.Dale will get her in the end you wait and see.She will end up with nothing .Just what she deserves.