kelloggs5TLfan
Team Owner
http://blogs.courant.com/autoracing/2010/08/is-dale-earnhardt-jr-true-comp.html
During his less than spectacular two and a half seasons competing for Hendrick Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series, many have questioned whether Dale Earnhardt Jr. still has the drive to be a competitive force in NASCAR.
A just released New York Times magazine profile on Earnhardt would have one wondering if he is a man trapped in the sport of racing because of the amazing legacy of his late father.
For us, in a lot of ways, it reads as a sad portrait of a man. It's hard not to feel some compassion for Earnhardt after reading it.
"I didn't want to work for a living," Earnhardt told writer Pat Jordan for the New York Times Magazine piece. "What the hell am I gonna do with my life as Dale Earnhardt's son if I don't race? I was a mechanic in Dad's dealership at 18, and those were some of my happiest days.
"But my name was Dale Earnhardt Jr., man. Working as a mechanic would've been a real pain. People saying: 'What happened to you? You're Dale Earnhardt's son.'"
But it was also a story that had us wondering, because of Earnhardt's own words, if a champion's drive for the ultimate success truly lives in Earnhardt.
On the topic of the intensity of his four-time Sprint Cup Series championship winning teammate Jimmie Johnson Earnhardt told the author: "Jimmie hardly ever makes a step without thinking how it's gonna affect his racing. But I don't believe in living like that. I'd have to become a different person. I'm not willing to devote that much to it."
It's hard not question the true drive for success of Earnhardt after reading a statement like that one.