8 Ain’t Great Anymore
Yesterday it hit me, the whole finality of it.
“It” being the fact that when NASCAR resumes next week there will be no #8 car on the track.
I heard during the race broadcast last weekend that Earnhardt Ganassi will be parking the #8 car until a sponsor can be found, but it didn’t bother me then - not much anyway - I mean the #44 car managed to find a sponsor or two until the end of May so why not the 8 right?
Wrong.
Apparently Earnhardt Ganassi isn’t interested in securing one and two race deals, it is too distracting to the rest of the organization, they want at least a 10 race deal before the 8 car can get back on to the track.
So that really means no #8 car on the track next week.
Reality meets wall head on.
No #8 car?
Really?
Certainly not!?
But still here we are.
Back when Dale Earnhardt secured the number for his son it seemed that the #8 would be destined for greatness, maybe as much as the #3 itself, but then Dale Sr died and the house that he worked so hard to build became divided and fell.
Dale Jr left Dale Earnhardt Incorporated for Rick Hendrick Motorsports and tried to bring the #8 with him, after all his Daddy did get it for him and it is as much of a part of the Earnhardt legacy as his given name but it didn’t happen because DEI had a vested interest in the number and it was a valued commodity with its own fan base.
But tell me how can a number that is a valued commodity and has its own fan base be parked indefinitely?
Because the number does not make the driver, it is the driver that makes the number and that is something those pinheads at DEI either didn’t recognize or knew and kept the number away from Dale Jr like a vindictive spoiled child does to another child purely out of spite.
For the true fan of the sport next Saturday’s race with no #8 in it will be a sad day because it will symbolize the final blow to the once strong Earnhardt Legacy.
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