[wardfan]

NASCAR is certianly a strange animal. In what other sport do you drive against the team you own. Sr. drove for Childress, against himself as owner of DEI. Personally I don't think Jr. wants to go to another team. If it was simply about the money I'm sure there was tons thown at him in offers the last time his contract came up. I think he wants to stay with DEI as heir to the thrown. I also think Sr. probably thought that in a few years he would step out of his car and just continue as owner of DEI with Jr. as his prime driver. I think that like all people you "never think something is going to happen to me" and after another few years they would have restructured the company to bring Jr. in as having a bigger percentage of the pie. As I have said before being a good driver doesn't make you a good business owner and in this complex world I think Theresa has done a fine job of holding things together.

[PenelopePitStop]

Agreed. Last I heard, Sr. made $9M a year on the sale of novelty items before his death. I contributed to that ... trust me!

His trailors are still at Loudon. I even got to sign one of the trailors in 2001. The "business" of Sr. was and still is incredible.

I wonder if Jr. gets the profits of his own novelty sales. My friend and I get to the track very early so we can "shop" before the crowd gets there. We've gone back down about an hour before the race was about to start, and it was madness! There are so many people at the 3, 8, and 24 trucks, you literally have to push your way to the sales people.

The money isn't just earned on the track. It's also earned by the novelties purchased by us fans. I have t-shirts, sweatshirts, nightshirts, can coozies, hats, a chair, beach blankets, a cooler, stickers, stuffed animals, keychains, and much, much more.

I think I'm getting off topic here ... sorry.

[wardfan]

those "novalties" are exactly why the company gets so much money. From what I've heard Earnhardt got a percentage of stuff sold, even of different drivers because he was a part of the Chase brand stuff. So anybody that Gordon stuff was still putting money in Sr. pocket. That is exactly the genius of him and Theresa in running their company.

[tbalt]

Originally Posted by Quality88

I don't see the boy goin to Roush... as he absolutely hates Fords. Hendrick... no cause he wouldn't want to be second or third banana. I see him goin to RCR if anywhere.

I can also see him as a fourth car at Gibbs, JD Gibbs said a fourth team isn't out of the question.

[PenelopePitStop]

wardfan,

Really? That's awesome. A percentage of Gordon novelties going to Sr? How sweet is that?

Royalties are a funny thing. Several months ago, I was trying to find a sweater for my dog related to NASCAR. I searched and searched, and couldn't find anything. Then I went to the drivers. Still couldn't find anything.

I figured, hey, there's got to be a market for this! Perhaps this might be a good business for me. I filed for a NASCAR copyright. Easy enough to get, but, jeez, they take a huge chunk of your sales and you have to commit to a certain number of items to be sold. And that's just NASCAR ... no agreement with the drivers. I guess this market is very tightly protected.

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by tbalt

I can also see him as a fourth car at Gibbs, JD Gibbs said a fourth team isn't out of the question.

Very true... Tony is his unofficial teammate.