DEI's Insensitivity Training

(Originally published on Feb. 7, 2008)

Before we finally get back to racing, I want to share something. I debated long and hard about disclosing this, because it may initially seem like a personal issue. But what happened to me may be part of a trend that relates to performance at the track, and that makes it fair game for the public.

Immediately following the Dover Chase race last year, while showing my credential at the entrance to the garage, a DEI employee put his hands on me and shoved me six feet to my left before running into the garage. I know those crew guys are in quite a hurry to load their cars up and get out of town, since they don't have the luxury of helicopters and private jets like drivers do and often have to deal with the same race-day traffic disasters that every NASCAR fan has experienced. Still, it was unacceptable.

That said, I had a column to finish and a haul back to Long Island that night. In all the postrace chaos it seemed prudent to wait until the next day when I was calmer, so I could place a civil call to the DEI PR department and voice my displeasure.

Let me say that I was a hell of a lot madder after that phone call than I was after getting roughed up. The rep I spoke to was downright pompous, basically saying that it couldn't have been any of the DEI guys because, well, he said so. He then said halfheartedly that he would ask around and ran me off the phone.

The whole incident was disappointing but not newsworthy to me until the flap about how mementos of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s stint were missing from DEI during the preseason media tour. The excuse about moving Junior's cars out of the way to make room for lunch tables didn't cut it: How can you have nothing up on the walls?

More importantly, how does all of this factor into the thing that really matters, on-track performance? Well, the NASCAR fraternity is always praising Rick Hendrick for how well he works with people, creating a focused and professional organization that is still family-like. He sets an example that is followed from the champion driver all the way down to the guy who sweeps the floor.

If we can all conclude that those qualities help him win, then you can't say that a seemingly institutional lack of tact, judgment and thoughtfulness at DEI can't handicap that company's progress as it moves into the post-Junior era.

Nobody should feel the need to pull against the DEI guys in '08, though. If they are still the fractured bunch that many believe they are, they'll do more than enough to undercut themselves without anyone's prodding.