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Nascar and Racing

In The Driver's Seat: Kelley Earnhardt Elledge

Posted Apr 11, 2007 3:33AM By tallglassofmilk (RSS feed)

Filed Under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Earnhardt Inc., Nextel Cup

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The daughter of the late legend Dale Earnhardt wears many a hat.

She's a wife, to crew chief Jimmy Elledge, and a mother, to Karsyn and Kennedy.

She's a patient, still recovering from a surgical operation removing a growth from her pancreas last month.

She is her brother's business partner, advisor and confidant.

Kelley Earnhardt Elledge is also playing one of the biggest roles of her life right now as chief negotiator for NASCAR's most popular driver in this season's face-off between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Dale Earnhardt Inc.

She has quietly become one of NASCAR's most powerful women and she's going head-to-head with another--also an Earnhardt--who just happens to be her stepmother.

Well, almost head-to-head. Teresa Earnhardt has a go-between to do the negotiating on behalf DEI. I imagine that having Max Siegel around is good for family relations.

The Kids Have Spoken

What's at stake is their father's legacy. This time, Kelley isn't negotiating just on behalf of Junior, but also herself. She didn't spare her thoughts Tuesday when she reiterated that they want control of what their late father's company because they're not satisfied with the way it's going:
"Fifty-one is the right number because that gives us control. We'll take 75 or 95 or whatever we work out, but 51 gives you control. The biggest reason we want ownership in the Cup program is so that we can direct it to where we feel like it needs to go.

"It is no secret that that business has not been at its maximum potential. There hasn't been someone solid in the business putting the resources back into the race team.

"The business is not where it could be over the last several years. It's going to take something to get that back and we're in a position of time. We want Dale to drive 10 or 12 more years. We've got to get on the race track and win and get competitive and win championships. We have to have a situation that provides that for him."

Will Teresa Face The Music?

I really feel for Teresa. If not for her, there would be no DEI. She was a pioneer in the marketing of drivers and there is no question of what she has accomplished with the branding of the Earnhardt name. But all of that doesn't make her an owner who knows what's needed to be successful on the track. DEI can't live forever on the name alone--not as a competitive race team.

It's sweet to say that they need each other, but they don't. Junior and Kelley have got this marketing thing down. In addition to licensed merchandise everywhere, Junior's name, which he now owns, can also be found on a racetrack, a PBR event, and on his company, JR Motorsports, which has just expanded into a new shop, added another driver to its stable and suddenly isn't ruling out a Cup team of his own--one day.

Marketing is not what they need, which is what puts Kelley in the driver's seat.

The priority for Junior's Cup career is the racing and she intends to see that he is put in the best equipment either at DEI or elsewhere.

She'll get what she wants for them--in the next 30-45 days--or they'll walk.

Tags: earnhardt, elledge, kelley+earnhardt+elledge, KelleyEarnhardtElledge, max+siegel, MaxSiegel, nascar, NASCAR+WAGs, NascarWags, PBR, pbr+clash, PbrClash, professional+bull+riders, ProfessionalBullRiders

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