Dale Earnhardt Jr. #8 Post Earrings - 14 kt gold

LADIES LEATHER NASCAR JACKETS

May 7,2003

There's a strange twist, too. Jeff Green, fired Monday by Richard Childress Racing, was named Park's replacement.

Park, one of the few NASCAR drivers to come out of the New York City area (East Northport, on Long Island), was the late Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s pick to start DEI's Winston Cup program in late 1996.

"Steve was instrumental in DEI's first NASCAR Winston Cup program," said Earnhardt's widow, Teresa. "Our loyalty to each other was hard to overcome. However, the time came where we simply had to make a change."

The team hired Jeff Green on an interim basis. He was fired Monday by Richard Childress Racing. Green drove a Busch Series car for Earnhardt in 1995, the first year Earnhardt stopped driving it himself.

"We feel Jeff can bring a fresh perspective to this team," Teresa Earnhardt said. "He's worked with our teams in the past and knows that we're dedicated to winning."

Park said he recognized his release was a business decision.

"I wanted to let everyone know that there are no hard feelings between myself and DEI — companies make decisions like this since that is the nature of the racing business," he said. "I will always look back on my years of driving for DEI with much happiness.

"It will always be an honor for me that I was the first Winston Cup driver for owner Dale Earnhardt."

Park has had a tumultuous two years since Earnhardt's 2001 death. Six months after Earnhardt was killed in a wreck during the Daytona 500, Park was seriously injured in an accident at Darlington.

Park bruised his brain and was sidelined seven months. After he returned to the No. 1 Chevrolet in March 2002, he struggled through poor performances while ignoring speculation he wasn't healthy enough to be back in the car.

There was a brief upswing for Park on April 25, when he won the pole for the Auto Club 500 at California Speedway. At that time, Park threatened paybacks for media types who had been reporting that his job was in jeopardy, saying he wouldn't be accommodating to them when he got things turned around.

"Amid all the media rumors about me losing my job ... our contract's up at the end of the year," he said. "I guarantee you I plan being in that car until the end of the year."

Two days later, Park crashed on the first lap and finished 40th. Last Saturday night, he crashed again at Richmond and finished last.

While teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip are second and seventh in the standings with a combined two victories, Park is 33rd with one top-10 finish.

Earnhardt put Park in the first Winston Cup car he ever fielded in 1998. He eventually expanded to a three-car operation, hiring son Dale Jr., and Michael Waltrip, and made DEI one of the top teams in NASCAR.

When he hired Park, a relatively unknown driver from NASCAR's modified series, Earnhardt bragged that his new protege would win a race before his 15th start in the Busch Series.

Park did, leading the final 71 laps at Nashville Speedway and winning in only his 12th start.

The victory was the first for DEI in more than three years - dating to when Earnhardt drove the car himself.

Park was the 1997 Busch Series Rookie of the Year for Earnhardt, then made his Winston Cup debut the next season. He ran just 17 events, though, because he was badly injured in a crash.

But he came back to give Earnhardt his first win as a Winston Cup car owner with a victory at Watkins Glenn, N.Y., in 2000.

Park's only other victory came in 2001 at North Carolina Speedway - a week after Earnhardt's death.

Green was fired after lashing out at boss Richard Childress after the Richmond race. The former Busch champion was angry that teammate Kevin Harvick took him out and accused Childress of playing favorites within his organization.

Earnhardt Jr. referred to infighting at RCR in February at Daytona, saying the three drivers didn't get along and that the team might not stay intact. Green fired back the next day.

``If it wasn't for his dad, he wouldn't be here either,'' Green said.

Jeff Green was quoted as yesterday as saying:

"I guess the truth come out. I told some people what I thought about the situation, and Richard didn't like that. He said it took away from his race teams and what he was trying to do. I understand that, but again, the truth hurts sometimes. He's got three Winston Cup teams up there that kind of act as one sometimes, but for the most part, they act as three. That's really not what teammates are for."

"I don't blame it on Richard. I don't blame it on the crew chiefs. I blame it on the drivers a lot. Some people don't see eye-to-eye, and never did before. It worked probably longer than I figured it would, and a lot longer than some people thought it would. For the most part, it was just a bad situation."

"Kevin turned me around. He says he didn't mean to do it, but I haven't talked to him since so if he really didn't mean to do it, he would have called and apologized. That's the kind of man Kevin Harvick is I guess, but I'm still going to race him as hard as I can whether he's my teammate or not. I know we're going to run across each other again. We're two very hard-headed guys, and we both want to win so when that runs together, it seems to make tempers flare. But, again, it's hard for me to swallow when it's your own teammate doing things like that to you. It shouldn't happen

Dale Earnhardt Jr. #8 Post Earrings - 14 kt gold