Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog
O.K., so most of you know about Dale Jr’s new business, he’s a bar owner now. He has moved up considerably from his days with “Club E” in his basement.
“Whisky River” is the bar’s name. Dale came about the name through the Willie Nelson song of the same name. Here is Whisky River’s official web presence.
Why am I writing about this? Why not, is my reply.
Alright, the reason why I’m writing this is not to promote the bar, I think being linked to Dale Jr is promotion enough, it is because there is an interesting interview with Dale Jr about the bar and racing at nascar.com.
The best part about the interview, for me anyway, had nothing to do with the bar really. It had more to do with about Jr’s keen sense of himself and how much this man has really matured over the last few years.
Case in point;
Q: Some people are still going to say, ‘Oh he’s too involved in his bar now.’ How do you address that?
Earnhardt: I don’t have to. I think people underestimate my drive and determination. They always have. It’s followed me around just like the pressure has, just like the name has. It’s always there. It’s OK. I’ve got to do things that might work out for me in my life. I might not always be driving that car. I would like to think that I could just race that car and at 50 I could quit and be all right, but I don’t trust that. I don’t know what the dollar is going to be worth when I’m 50.
I don’t think he has shown more maturity in a simple statement before than he did with this one, especially the “just like the name has” part. I mean everyone knows it, but for him to come out and actually say it, that is powerful.
To be honest with you, I did question Jr’s drive and determination at one point, but I certainly haven’t since he decided to move from DEI to Hendrick Motorsports. In fact, I have become more of a fan of his since he made that difficult decision to leave DEI.
I don’t question his drive or determination anymore.
