[vincesanity82]

I know everyone has read or seen the interview of Dale jr. leaving DEI, and though Nascar analysts have said DEI will be just fine without jr., I tend to disagree, I think jr. leaving has to have some negative effects on the company, I see DEI trending downward.. anyone else agree?

[Mike24]

Originally Posted by vincesanity82

I know everyone has read or seen the interview of Dale jr. leaving DEI, and though Nascar analysts have said DEI will be just fine without jr., I tend to disagree, I think jr. leaving has to have some negative effects on the company, I see DEI trending downward.. anyone else agree?

I disagree. I think DEI's future looks good. Truex may go to the 8, Menard may go to the 1. That way, both are locked into the top 35. Truex has been running well lately, and Menard needs a full time ride, and locked in to the top 35. If that doesn't work, then I will agree that DEI is taking a downward trend. DEI has some development drivers as well, so they are focusing on the future.

[Quality88]

It's gonna be a rough time for DEI for a period of time. They will bounce back.... but not anytime soon.

[mnlatemodelfan]

How many BUDWEISERS'S are out there? Think it will be easy to replace a sponsor like that?

[vincesanity82]

Originally Posted by mnlatemodelfan

How many BUDWIESERS'S are out there? Think it will be easy to replace a sponsor like that?

Budweiser will still be his sponser, they said they will follow Dale Jr. wherever he goes.. It doesnt make sense to stop being sponser to nascars most popular driver..

[jks812]

They will be alright in a few years. Maybe sooner if they can pull off signing one heck of a good driver, which with the equipment they;ve been having, won't be to easy to do. If the weight of the company is put on Truex and Menard, then I feel sorry for DEI. Truex is good, but not quite that good yet. Menard I think needs more than a full time ride.
This will hurt them pretty bad but I don't guess it'll destroy them.

[Souporscotty]

Will this affect DEI? Well, of course it will. Will DEI go 'belly-up'? Not hardly. I think alot of people underestimate Teresa. She is a very smart woman who has surrounded herself with very smart people. Has anybody thought that MAYBE she has had a 'plan' just in case this happened? I mean, let's face it. DEI hasn't exactly 'floundered' under her leadership. Granted, Jr should probably have had better finishes, but has the company been losing money? I don't think so. Sr is like Elvis. He'll make as much money dead as he did alive. And as we've we discussed many times here, she's not really interested in the actual 'racin' part of it, but sales are good. And because of Sr's ongoing popularity she'll always be able to atract sponsors. And because of the cash cow, she'll always be able to get REASONABLY decent drivers. DEI won't be going anyplace soon. Of course this is all MSVHO.

[Racer Duck]

DEI won't go belly up .. but it's focus may change over the next few years.

Remember, DEI is more than souvenirs and race teams. They also have a pretty good engine shop and chassis shop. Both are businesses that can survive without souvenir dollars (but it wouldn't hurt to have a few wins every year to keep the interest in their product up.)

Without a "star" driver, they'll be relegated to "top 20 team" status and it'll be much more difficult to secure sponsor $$$... Good thing thing they have Menard right now 'cause that's dedicated $$$... Truex doesn't have that advantage. Besides, I expect Truex to be gone by the end of 2008.

[hacksaw]

I must say this is the start of the downfall of DEI ....DEI will not get a big name driver to replace Jr...With no big name there will be no big money

[Souporscotty]

Like I keep saying; People underestimate Teresa.

[LSC9901]

Originally Posted by Souporscotty

Like I keep saying; People underestimate Teresa.

I agree. She is not some dummy. She may not be the owner that many expect her to be but they will survive.

[Racer X]

Hey everyone! I'm new here so bear with me.... I agree with the majority on this - DEI will survive, but it won't be "the" DEI of the recent past. Will they continue to sell "3" souvenirs? Absolutely! But they have sold the future of the organization. This happens all the time in sports. It happened to the Red Sox when they lost Babe Ruth. It happened to the Bulls when they lost Michael Jordan. And it happened to the 49'ers when they lost Joe Montana. Most have rebounded, but it took each of them a long time to do it (Sorry Boston!).

I agree that Theresa is probably a great business person, IMO she just let pride get in the way of her decisions. But I think that it would have been hard not to. By giving Jr. majority control of the entire organization, she would basically have been agreeing that she could not run the organization, but her child (or step-child) could. Forget that her step-child is by far the most popular driver competing today. If she could have gotten over this, maybe she could have gotten Jr. to agree to accept control over the racing and competition while she maintained overall control. Again, Dale said that he did not like where DEI was going in terms of the racing. I may be wrong, but I don't think he was overly concerned with how DEI was being marketed.

So again, I think DEI will survive. Just don't expect them to be the DEI of old. That could take some time…

[LSC9901]

Hi Racer X and welcome to GTG's NASCAR Forum. We do enjoy our racing discussions. We have a prediction thread which we encourage you to check out and we also have a weekly "Live Chat" session during each weeks race.

No doubt DEI will survive but it will just be a different DEI after it all gets sorted out. Hard to tell how long that will take.

[Racer Duck]

Hi Racer X. Glad you joined us. And I agree completely with your points.

I hope you enjoy your time here as much as I do.