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.

"We looked at a number of different options, and it was very necessary to do for a whole lot of reasons -- but especially to sustain the multi-car racing program and move forward," Siegel said. "I hate to use that as an excuse, but the economy is really tough. We've got really, really good people, but I'm pretty sure it's affecting just about every team out there."

With only one of the four race teams that finished the 2008 season under the DEI banner fully funded for next season, Siegel said he saw the writing on the wall when it came to executing what had to be done.

More with Max

Max Siegel has lived a fascinating life, and his path to NASCAR is an even more interesting story.

• Part 1: Siegel's history
• Part 2: Siegel on diversity

"I think there are lot of changes that have been going on in the sport generally. There just has been more visibility on our company, obviously, after losing Dale Jr.," Siegel said. "But I think if you talk around the garage, period, when marketing budgets get impacted and the sponsorship packages change, everyone is trying to be more efficient.

"I think we've gone through more in the last two years than most companies go through in their entire existence. We've gone through quite a bit. Some of it has been very, very positive."

Siegel said he is most proud of the alliance he helped DEI form with Richard Childress Racing -- the result being Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technologies, in which the two companies have shared engine-building responsibilities.

"The ECR joint venture with the engines, we've benefitted greatly from that -- more focus, more durability, a stronger package this year, more efficiencies," Siegel said.

Based on that and the fact Ganassi reportedly has been unhappy with the performance of the Dodge engines his operation had been running, it has been widely assumed that the new DEI-Ganassi venture will align itself with Chevrolet. But Siegel insisted all that is still being worked out, as are other details about which shop will house the new joint team's headquarters, whether the engine alliance with ECR can continue as is or in expanded fashion, and so forth.

"We're going to work through all the details -- location, manufacturer, all those things -- very soon. We haven't made any firm decisions on any of that so far," Siegel said. "The reality of the situation is that it's way early in the process. One [shop] may be more convenient location-wise; you might have more equipment and technology in another one. Our operations managers are working through those details."

Another assumption most have made is that Ganassi will, in effect, head up the new organization. But Siegel insisted that he plans on having a huge role, and that he intends to stay in racing for the long haul.

"To date, my role hasn't changed. We're gonna bring two good management teams together to oversee the venture," Siegel said. "I love the sport. I would love to stay in it long term. It's been a fantastic experience overall; it's also been a very steep learning curve the last two years.

"You know what? I think very few people can say -- right, wrong, good or bad -- that they've been involved with and helped manage through joint ventures, a couple mergers, those types of things. But everyone has been awesome in terms of opening up and embracing us and sharing information. I've just learned so much about every single aspect of the business.

"I won't profess to know how to make the car go faster. But I can tell you that you have to learn the nuts and bolts of the entire company to go through this kind of stuff."

Siegel paused before answering when he was asked if reality has met perception in the two years since he came to racing from the music business.

"In many ways, it has exceeded my expectations. And in a lot of ways, there is no way to describe the impact of everything we've been through -- what affect it would have on a company, how you would manage it and the impact it would have on people's lives," Siegel said. "But by and large, it's been a real fulfilling experience with a lot of challenges. At the same time, on the human level, when you have to do something that has a negative impact on somebody's lives like laying people off, it's gut-wrenching, to be honest with you."