| | | | | | PROBABLY A GOOD THING | Earnhardt Jr. more focused on racing than outside ventures | |
| | By Kenny Bruce / SceneDaily.com Dale Earnhardt Jr. may not be winning on the race track, but it’s clear that he is maturing away from it.
Don’t get me wrong, NASCAR’s most popular driver hasn’t exactly been awful since casting his lot with Hendrick Motorsports, and the reality of it is that it’s only been seven races. There are a number of drivers – including two others at Hendrick – who are 0-for-2008 as well.
During the Sprint Cup Series latest off week, Earnhardt Jr. took the time to give the media an inside look at his latest venture – Whisky River. The nightclub is located in uptown Charlotte, and is the brainchild of Earnhardt Jr. and longtime associate J.R. Rhodes.
To some, the decision to open a bar or nightclub might seem anything but mature. They see it as just one more thing that can divert his attention from the race track.
For Earnhardt Jr., though, it’s the culmination of a dream and approximately five years of planning.
“I want it to be done safely. I don’t want to jump in with a bunch of hooligans and do it just to be doing it,” he said. “I want it to be a good situation, a solid situation. I want it to represent itself well. I want it to fit me. I don’t want [people] to come in here and say, ‘Why would you own this place?’”
Earnhardt describes the 10,000 square-foot property as “Carolina country ... but we don’t want it to be known as strictly just a country bar.”
He wants it to be a place where folks can kick back and have a good time. And he wants it to succeed because it’s Whisky River, not simply because it’s a Dale Earnhardt Jr. endeavor.
As for those who might get the notion that the 33-year-old could be a bit more successful on the track if his focus wasn’t elsewhere, Earnhardt Jr. says he’s heard that tune before.
“I’ve got to do things that might work out for me in my life. I might not always be driving that car, you know? I would like to think that I could just race that car and at 50 I could quit and I would be all right. But I don’t trust that. I don’t know what the dollar’s going to be worth when I’m 50.”
His fans expected him to win from day one because he was an Earnhardt.
They expected him to win because his father won, and won often. They expected him to carry his father’s race team, Dale Earnhardt Inc., on his shoulders after his father died in 2001. And they expected him to win when he made the offseason move to Hendrick Motorsports.
He says he understands the questions, the comments and the concern. But what some folks don’t realize, he said, is that a new business venture such as Whisky River doesn’t require tremendous amounts of his own time. Successful people often continue to succeed because of those surrounding them. And Earnhardt Jr. has built himself quite a supporting cast.
“What bothers me is they don’t appreciate or understand the people that actually are ... pulling the levers here,” he said. “J.R. is the guy that has worked to put everything like it is here. They come to me and ask me [about stuff] like decor and things like that, but mainly it’s J.R. [who] comes up and says ‘Here’s the bar, got any problems with it?’ He just takes it from there.
“He has been here every day – I’ve been here four times. And people just don’t understand that. People think I’m on the phone wheeling and dealing, ordering the beer, the liquor, positioning everything like I want it. I’m not doing all that. I’m racing in Phoenix for crying out loud.”
On the track, Earnhardt Jr. has gone 70 races since his last victory (in 2006), and he’s coming off a season in which he failed to qualify for the series’ 10-race Chase.
But he’s currently third in the point standings, his best start since the 2004 season when he was the points leader after the first eight races. And he’s the leading driver for Hendrick, which boasts four-time champion Jeff Gordon and two-time defending champ Jimmie Johnson.
His focus, he insists, is right where it needs to be.
“People underestimate my drive and determination,” he said. “They always have. That’s followed me around, just like the pressure has, just like the [Earnhardt] name has. There’s a big old group of it ... it’s always there. That’s OK.” | | Posted April 20, 2008 , 7:00 pm EST
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