Merge to Create Powerful Four-Car Team
Dale Earnhardt Inc., already one of theworld's premier racing organizations, has become even stronger through a merger withGinn Racing.
Effective immediately, the team will feature the Chevrolets of Paul Menard,Martin Truex Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin and Aric Almirola. Martin and Almirolawill combine to drive the No. 01 Army Chevrolet for the remainder of the 2007 seasonas well as the entire 2008 season. Menard drives the Menards Chevrolet, Truex drivesthe Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet and Earnhardt handles driving duties of the BudweiserChevrolet. All four entries are inside the coveted top 35 in Nextel Cup points headinginto this weekend's Brickyard 400.
Regan Smith, who was originally slated to drive the Ginn Clubs and ResortsChevrolet in the Brickyard 400, will instead compete in the NASCAR Craftsman TruckSeries race at Indianapolis Raceway Park Friday night in the Ginn Resorts ChevySilverado. Specific schedules for Martin, Smith and Almirola will be announced later.
In addition to NASCAR Nextel Cup Series competition, the company will continueto field entries in the NASCAR Busch Series, the NASCAR Busch East Series and willanalyze its future involvement in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
"This merger is great for both companies," said Max Siegel, president of globaloperations for DEI. "Our stated goals included an expansion to four cars as quickly aspossible and, in order to do that, we had to acquire more shop space. This relationshipwith Bobby Ginn and his company allows us to accomplish both which makes this aperfect transaction."
The numerous teams of Dale Earnhardt Inc. will operate from both the originalfacility built by Dale and Teresa Earnhardt as well as the nearly 180,000-square-footfacility currently housing Ginn Racing's teams. The buildings are less than five milesapart in Mooresville, N.C.
"When I purchased Ginn Racing last year it was done with a goal of fielding amulti-car effort capable of winning races and championships," said Bobby Ginn. "Wecame very close to winning the season's biggest race earlier this year with Mark(Martin) and today we feel as if we have done one better by partnering with a companywith the legacy of Dale Earnhardt Inc.
"Our performance has been strong, as evidenced by our top-10 position inowner's points with the 01 car, but we know that having the opportunity to be part of afour-car effort provides significant benefits."
Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s current management team will be responsible for all day-to-day activities and transition plans have already begun to develop.
John Story, vice president of motorsports operations for DEI will oversee theexpansion of the company's racing efforts.
"The combined resources of the companies are tremendous," Story said. "GinnRacing just completed the installation of a seven-post rig. With our recently formedR&D team, as well as the combined efforts of two strong engineering programs, we willbe able to accelerate our learning curve. Both companies have many smart andtalented people. All of our teams will undoubtedly become stronger."
In completing this merger, points on Ginn Racing's No. 13 car, which was 34th inNASCAR Nextel Cup owner's points, have been eliminated.
"NASCAR's cap of four teams per company meant we had to give something up,"said Ginn. We felt so strongly about this merger that we surrendered the intangiblevalue of the 13 car. We all were completely comfortable that the benefits of workingtogether far outweighed the value of points."
"There are three huge benefits to us - the real estate, Mark Martin and an abilityto work with Bobby Ginn on strategic development projects that Teresa has beenplanning for years," Siegel said. "The value of additional square footage is easy to see,but the value that Mark will bring to our company is harder to measure and may be evenmore impactful. Mark has pledged his complete support to our young drivers and ourentire company in an effort to make us all better. Given his stature in the sport, this typeof benefit cannot be quantified.
"Teresa and Bobby have discussed some very high level strategies concerningher development objectives and who would be better to partner with than Bobby? Thisis a win-win relationship in its truest form."
