The Dale Jr. Effect could be huge in NASCAR

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - As a top analyst in the sports marketing sector, Shawn Bradley lives both the racing and business sides of auto racing.

Thursday afternoon he was asked to offer an opinion on the importance of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s decision to, in effect, become a free agent.

"This," said Bradley, the vice president and chief operating officer at the Denver-based Bonham Group, "is massive."

In a business sense or a racing sense?

Both, Bradley said.

Earlier on Thursday, Earnhardt rocked the NASCAR universe by announcing that he has decided to leave Dale Earnhardt Inc., the team that his late father founded and that his stepmother has taken over.

Earnhardt will take his driving talents and his status as the most popular driver in the sport and, quite probably his sponsor, and head to another team next season.

"At 32 years of age, the same age as my father was when he made his final and most important career decision," Earnhardt said, "it is time for me to compete on a consistent basis and contend for championships."

Earnhardt said he wishes his old team well. He said it is important that the team continues on for the sake of his father's legacy. And he said he hopes his fans and his father's fans understand the decision.

"It is time for me to continue his legacy and the way I only know I can," Earnhardt said, "by taking the life lessons that he taught me: Be a man, race hard, and contend for championships. Since that is what I plan to do, I feel strongly that I would have my father's blessing."

So why did a team allow its namesake and cash cow to leave? Some cite intrafamily friction as the starting point for events leading up to Thursday's announcement.

The company was founded by Dale Earnhardt Sr. back in 1996. It ran partial schedules in Nextel Cup until 1999 with Steve Park as its driver. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Earnhardt Sr.'s son by his second wife, drove five Cup races that year.

In 2000, Earnhardt Jr. ran his first full Cup schedule. He won two races, and the team's future looked secure.

But in 2001, Earnhardt Sr. died in a wreck at the season-opening Daytona 500. Teresa Earnhardt, Junior's stepmother, assumed leadership of Dale Earnhardt Inc.

Some contend that Earnhardt Sr.'s plan was for his son to eventually assume leadership of the team, but that fate played a hand when he died at Daytona.

"The idea is that the company would be left to the children, and we want to make sure that there is a formidable business left there," Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, Earnhardt Jr.'s sister and financial adviser, told reporters in April.

Junior clearly thought that way, too _ that he should ease into that leadership role. Several months ago, he said, he wanted to become majority owner of the team as part of a new contract.

"My father has been gone for five, six years now," he said at Daytona early this year. "I want majority ownership."

It is also evident that the relationship between Earnhardt and Teresa Earnhardt has been cool at best. Earnhardt told reporters that he is closer with his own mother than his stepmother earlier this year. Much closer.

Earnhardt and Elledge tried to negotiate majority ownership, and with it, leadership of the team for months. In the end, they could not extract what they wanted.

"We worked really hard to come to an agreement with DEI, and that was what we focused on throughout the entire negotiations, Earhhardt said Thursday. "Me and her haven't had a moment to really sit down and talk about what our opportunities are. We will certainly start to seek those out and see where we feel we would be most comfortable. But I've never been in this position before, so I don't know what to expect."

Bradley said he was shocked by Earnhardt Jr.'s decision to bolt. Not shocked that it happened, but shocked that Teresa Earnhardt would not consent to an acceptable deal in the end.

"He," Bradley said of Earnhardt, "is why their bread gets buttered. It's certainly going to damage them in the near future. They are going to have a difficult time finding a replacement. In the long term, time will tell.

"In the short term, it appears (DEI) lost sight that he was their widget, their product."

What Dale Earnhardt Inc. lost was one of the most marketable drivers in auto racing.

"He is big," Bradley said. "Wherever he lands, that team is going to be one of the biggest in Nextel Cup."

Especially if Earnhardt's primary sponsor, Budweiser, comes with the deal. Earnhardt said in his news conference Thursday that he will speak to Bud about their future with each other.

On the track, the lucky team will also get a great driver, many think.

"He's one of the best there is," said Jay Frye, the general manager and chief executive officer for Ginn Racing. "Everybody wants him."

Frye said he will be a good fit wherever he goes, which Earnhardt said will probably be a team using Chevrolets.

Unfortunately for Frye, Earnhardt will probably not put Ginn on his short list.

Richard Childress Racing, the team for which his father drove and won six championships, is likely on that list. Childress is scheduled to meet with reporters in Darlington, S.C., the site of this weekend's Cup race.

Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing, two other strong Chevy teams, are also likely in the running.

Wherever Earnhardt goes, the impact on the sport will be huge. Eddie Gossage, the president of Texas Motor Speedway, said it could have a long-term effect on the way teams do business with their drivers.

"A new paradigm has just been established in American motor sports," Gossage said. "Just as Andy Messersmith ushered in the era of modern-day free-agency in major-league baseball, Dale Jr. is establishing modern-day free-agency in NASCAR."

NASCAR vice president Jim Hunter agreed that Thursday was a significant day in NASCAR history. But, he said, it is a positive day for his series.

"I can't think of a better person to represent our sport as far as free agency than Junior," Hunter said. "This will increase focus on our sport. This will continue to be water-cooler talk for some time."