They have yet to update the Web site at Dale Earnhardt Inc., perhaps because no one is quite sure yet what to put on it.

Click on the "Company History" icon, and you are treated to the rich and storied timeline of the company founded in 1980 by the legendary Dale Earnhardt and his wife, Teresa Earnhardt. But the timeline ends in 2006 and makes no mention of what transpired in 2007 to transform the company, when heir apparent-to-power Dale Earnhardt Jr. left to drive for Hendrick Motorsports. There also is no mention of what more recently transpired less than one month ago -- when DEI agreed to merge its NASCAR operations with Chip Ganassi Racing, beginning in 2009 (read more).

The DEI Web site does list its top executives. There are two. Just below Teresa Earnhardt, who is winding down her days as chief executive officer and president of DEI, is Max Siegel.

Siegel came on board as its director of global operations in January 2007, so he hasn't been around long. He has, however, seen a whole lot.

"I feel like I've been in the sport 25 years," Siegel said recently.

That's because so much has happened at DEI in his nearly two years on the job. The first black man to graduate with honors from the University of Notre Dame Law School, Siegel came to NASCAR after working 15 years in the music industry.

His last job out of racing was as senior vice president of Zomba Label Group and president of Zomba Gospel -- one of the most profitable properties owned by the giant Sony BMG.

In some ways, it prepared him for what he was to face as a NASCAR executive. In others, he now admits it left him woefully unprepared for what he was about to experience.

Siegel's first and foremost job was to try to retain the services of Earnhardt Jr. He won the younger Earnhardt's respect during negotiations, but eventually lost out on the war when Earnhardt bolted DEI for Hendrick Motorsports.

Earnhardt Jr. remembered meeting Siegel for the first time.

"My first thought was, 'Why would he want to come over here?' But I was pleasantly surprised when I finally met him," he said.

Earnhardt's eventual departure and a national economic slump of proportions no one could have predicted led to the demise of DEI as an autonomous operation, according to Siegel. He said he regretted having to lay off 116 employees to make the merger with Ganassi happen, but that it was necessary if DEI was to survive at all in the post-Junior world and bleak economic times. (Continued)