Talk:Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

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[edit] New Contract Rumors

Please refrain from adding rumors and hearsay about new contracts.--STS01 13:15, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] POV

Before i make any changes i first want to see if anyone else agrees that the following statement might be POV influenced.

"So far Junior has had a successful 2006 season, with crew chief, Tony Eury, Jr., including numerous top 10's and a win at Richmond International Speedway. Many analysts predict Earnhardt will be a legitimate contender for the 2006 Nextel Cup. " --Killakane24 14:11, 16 June 2006 (UTC)


This article is getting a bit long, is it alright if we break it up into sections like Pre-Cup or Busch Series, 2001, and Sponsors or something to that effect.


[edit] Birthname

I can't find a source that says his true birthname. Wasn't he named "Dale Earnhardt" NOT Jr., and his father's true birthname was Ralph Dale Earnhardt, Jr.? And his father took the nickname Dale to avoid confusion with his father Ralph Earnhardt? I know everyone calls him Junior, so that needs to be reflected here. There's gotta be numerous Earnhardt family experts here, but I know I'm not one of the them. Royalbroil 06:13, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

See [1] or [2] for #8's full name. #3 is listed as RDE Sr. Simishag 06:45, 29 March 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for the reply. I see where I was wrong: the key is the middle name. Jr.'s grandfather's middle name was Lee, not Dale. I see why I was confused!
SO: Ralph Lee (grandfather) -> Ralph Dale (Dale Sr.) -> Ralph Dale (Dale Jr.) Royalbroil 21:23, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Team Ownership

I dont really know but dont his mom own the team he is a co-owner isnt he?

Junior owns at least 1 Busch team (#88) through JR Motorsports. Not sure about the true ownership structure of that, but it is considered "his" company. I'll add a note about that. DEI owns the #8 NEXTEL team and other teams. I don't know who the shareholders of DEI are, but even if Teresa owns 100%, the "owner" should be listed as DEI, not her. Simishag 23:01, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
Dale Earnhardt Jr. co-owns Chance 2 with his step-mother Theresa Earnhardt. That is the team that provided cars to Martin Truex Jr., who won 2 Busch Series championships in the 8 Busch car. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wholly owns JR Motorsports. Earnhardt Jr. does not even use DEI engines in this car, but are bought from RCR (Richard Childress Racing).Kf4mgz 14:26, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
I thought Chance 2 closed down/merged with DEI and Junior now just runs JR? --D-Day I'm all ears 15:53, 18 June 2006 (UTC)
Chance 2 is only running a very limited schedule in 2006, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Martin Truex Jr. sharing driving duties for the few races the car will be running. DEI's apparent focus in the Busch series is the #11 car driven by Paul Menard, who will most likely be driving in the Cup series in 2007 in the #15 car with Menards sponsorship.Kf4mgz 09:53, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

No Dale jr is not a co-owner because he does not meet w? the team in team meetings. I am sure though that he will take over the team when he retires but that wont be for some years. - I No evry thing about nascar


According to Nascar.com, Junior's team is DEI (which he supposedly is a co-owner of) but Teresa Earnhardt is his #8 car's owner of record. (That basically means she goes to the Big yellow Trailer when something goes wrong.) DEI & RCR have interlocking ownership. TimothyHorrigan20:23, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

I don't know where the interlocking ownership comes from. DEI is wholly owned by Theresa Earnhardt (though I'm sure Dale Jr. owns some "stock" in the company) and RCR is wholly owned by Richard Childress. Theresa and Richard have a relationship, in that Dale Earnhardt drove for Richard, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. uses Richard Childress Racing engines for his JR Motorsports team in the 88 US Navy car, but other than that, DEI and RCR are separate entities. Theresa and Richard do not co-own anything.Kf4mgz 14:18, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Deleted Contribution

Who deleted my contribution to the fact that Dale Jr is highly overrated. It is a fact. He has yet to do anything worthy of the great praise given to him.--Ledlaxman24 01:31, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

While I may agree with you, this is not a discussion board but an encyclopedia! Everything must be written without a point of view, and you certainly are presenting a point of view. Please read WP:POV for Wikipedia's policy. Point of view goes both ways, both in praising and dissing someone. Edits about him being overrated with be considered vandalism by all editors, including myself, and will be reverted (see Wikipedia:Three-revert rule). Royalbroil 02:11, 21 April 2006 (UTC)
I have to agree with Royalbroil. Dale Earnhardt Jr.is one of the most popular drivers in Nascar, and has to date won 17 Cup races, as well as 2 Busch series championships. That's not as many as some other drivers, but is more than a lot of other drivers.Kf4mgz 15:44, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

The statement that he is overated is also only an opinion. Depending on one's level of "fanaticism," many may consider him "underrated."

Maybe a better way to phrase the statement is, "After winning two Busch Series Championships, Dale Earnhardt. Jr was speculated to follow in the footsteps of his father, who won multiple NEXTEL Cup Championships. Through 2006, Dale Earnhardt Jr. has yet to produce a NEXTEL Cup Championship." - Althouh this is common knowledge, I am sure we could still find a reference stating Junior was speculated to win a NEXTEL Cup Championship some time in the future (2000ish). Penciljunk 13:15, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Right now Jr. doesn't have the good side of luck such as Jimmy Johnson and others to win a championship, he usually is a front runner but never finishes where his car is capable of running, because of fluke finishes by drivers on fuel strategy such as Kyle Petty, or because of flat tires, pit road problems, however he is usally decent about not wrecking. But thats Jr. ever since all these dang Nascar races end under night now. Car always falls off at the end.

[edit] Plate Tracks

Somewhere around the paragraphs on the 2002 or 2003 season, there is a mention of "plate tracks". I think it would be a good idea to define the term "plate track" or provide a link to another page that describes a plate track, in order to make the article more accessible to non-diehards like myself.Davemcarlson 06:09, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

That's an excellent idea, and wish I had the expertise to do so. I hope someone with more knowledge of exactly how a restrictor plate works, and with a good understanding of the rules will contribute to this definition.Kf4mgz 10:19, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia

I changed the trivia...Teresa is NOT Dale Jr's Mother. Dale Jr's Mother is Brenda Earnhardt (divorced from Dale before he married Teresa). --Gorkon 03:04, 4 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Chevy Ad Controversy

I don't know why caster23 sees deleting my contribution as cleanup as it is relevant to Jr.'s career:

His career has been successful enough to allow Jr. to purchase a Learjet. A Lear 60 ferries Jr. and his associates to NASCAR races. [3] However, he has been recently seen in a Chevrolet commercial singing the 1974 song by George Jones and Tammy Wynette, entitled "(We're Not) The Jet Set". The lyrics refer to a couple as being "the old Chevrolet set," as opposed to leading a glamorous, jet-setting lifestyle.

Ironic, as after he drives his Chevy he hops into his jet to go home. Walkerson

Please tell me what you think is wrong with that contribution before you delete it again caster23 and lets see what others have to say as well. Walkerson

Fist of all, the cleanup i did was to the entire article. The controversy that you seem to want to repeatedly add was in a random place the first time i deleted it (in my cleanup edit). You then added it again under its own section. It is not important to this article at all, so I removed it once again. --Caster23 00:52, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Funny, the first two Learjet sentences have been up on the main article for a while, but as soon as I mention that he is singing a song about not being part of the jet set (while driving a Chevy which he drives for a living) in a television commercial it is immediately deleted. Walkerson

Those sentences were spam. I have deleted many links to that website that is referenced above. Please understand that i did not delete just what you added. I have been working on cleaning up this article. Caster23 01:13, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
  • Does anyone believe that this is important enough to be in this article? It has its own section yet I believe it's not at all notable. At the risk of getting into a revert war with Walkerson I thought I would ask here and let someone else deal with this user (who thinks that it is relevant to Jr.'s career). Caster23 16:20, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't see how it is notable. Dionyseus 22:09, 15 April 2007 (UTC) During one of his races his father Dale Earnhardt Sr. was killed right in front of him.

[edit] Trivia Section -> Accomplishments

After seeing the deletion of the trivia section (not that I'm objecting, I understand and support the policy against), I was just wondering if other editors also thought that some of that information might be worth keeping in a "Notable Accomplishments"-type section? Looking over the removed material, if people were in favor, I'd propose some or all of the following to be listed:

  • First Rookie to win "The Winston" All-Star Event
  • First driver since Bill Elliott at Michigan 1985-6 to win four straight races on one superspeedway, doing so at Talladega October 2001 through April 2003
  • Joins the Allisons (Bobby and Davey Allison) and the Pettys (Lee and Richard Petty) as the third father and son combination to win the Daytona 500
  • Only driver in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup history to pull off a Bristol Sweep in one weekend (won both busch and cup race). [August 2004]

Just a thought, would appreciate other opinions. --Umrguy42 (talk) 01:04, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Sorry to take so long to respond, but yes, I think that each of these is a notable accomplishment, and should be integrated into the text of the article. In fact, thinking about the father/son combination, there is almost too *little* mention of the fact that Jr and Sr are both quality race car drivers. Perhaps this is an attempt on the part of the editors, and the media, to let Jr. stand on his own, but this may be worth mentioning more clearly. Edhubbard (talk) 14:46, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Infobox pic replacement

The new picture at the top is a much clearer and more current pic---used because it is a work of the US Army...and thus public domain as a work of the United States Federal Government. --AEMoreira042281 (talk) 14:31, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Great pic. Would cropping to focus more on his torso and head violate the copyright? Would it be desirable to focus more clearly on his face? Edhubbard (talk) 14:48, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
This photo, however, would probably look best unedited. --AEMoreira042281 (talk) 00:00, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Hendrick Motorsports box

Hey, is anybody else noticing that the HendrickMotorsports box at the bottom of the page seems to be seriously to the right-of-center of the page layout? I've checked this in IE7 *and* Firefox 2.0.0.12, and it looks the same in both. I don't know what's causing it, and it doesn't seem to show up in say, Casey Mears or Jimmie Johnson or on Hendrick Motorsports itself, but it does here on Dale Jr. and on Jeff Gordon. Can somebody better at wiki-markup take a look, and see if they can spot what's going on? --Umrguy42 (talk) 21:54, 25 March 2008 (UTC)