Childress, DEI partner for engine-building program (cont'd)

This is not the first time RCR and DEI have worked together in a technology partnership. RAD, an acronym for the three teams owned by Richard Childress,

Andy Petree and Dale Earnhardt, was formed in the mid-1990s as an aerodynamic consortium between the programs. The partnership was considered wildly successful with the three teams dominating the aerodynamically sensitive restrictor-plate tracks Daytona and Talladega for the next few years.

"It is a great day for us to be able to work closely again with Richard and

Junior leaving DEI

Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced he will leave Dale Earnhardt Inc. at the end of this season.

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RCR," Teresa Earnhardt said. "Both of us are in the middle of developing and building Chevrolet's new R07 engine, so this is a perfect time to establish this company to combine resources and work together to get the most [possible] out of this package. Richard and I both have committed substantial resources to this new company and we share the No. 1 priority to win championships."

Dale Earnhardt and Childress earned six of Earnhardt's seven Cup Series championships together at RCR. Over a 20-year span that began when Earnhardt replaced Childress behind the wheel of RCR's No. 3 Chevrolet for the final 10 races of the 1981 season, they paired together to earn 67 of Earnhardt's 76 career victories.

Construction of a permanent stand-alone facility located between RCR and DEI will begin later this summer with completion expected by mid-2008. A specific site has not been announced, although a location has been identified pending zoning approval. Until that facility is complete, all work will be divided between RCR's engine shop in Welcome, N.C., and DEI's shop in Mooresville, N.C.

It is anticipated that all six RCR and DEI cars will run the first common engine at Daytona in July. Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technologies will develop and build engines for the Nextel Cup Series and Busch Series teams campaigned by the two companies, all of which run Chevrolets. A long-term goal of the joint venture will include an engine leasing program for teams in NASCAR's top three divisions.

The partnership also has long-term plans to diversify and expand beyond NASCAR by providing race engines to teams competing in series such as the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series, various off-road and stock-car series, and sports-car series.

Sources confirmed that talks of the merger were under way long before Earnhardt announced he was leaving DEI. And Steve Hmiel, technical director of DEI, said that it is important to remember that life at DEI will proceed forward regardless of where Junior ends up.

"We love Dale Earnhardt Jr. We wish he'd have never gone away. But it's not all about Dale Earnhardt Jr.," Hmiel said. "We're putting two companies together that have like ideas that are going to spend a fortune on development [and] are going to end up in the same place anyway.

"If you imagine racecars like a Boston Marathon, if two of you are running alongside each other and you look over at the other guy and say, 'Man, why don't you run half and I'll run half, we'll both end up at the same place holding hands at the end?' That's basically what it's all about.

"The basic premise of it all is we don't think we're going to rule the world, but we're trying to work together to become a stronger company and also better utilize the financial assets that we have."