NASCAR’s most popular driver already sells cars and jeans among other products. Now, the iconic driver with the legendary last name was standing in front of reporters explaining why the colour orange dominates his new bar. The mechanical bull was directly behind him, and the giant dance floor and stage were to his right.
Earnhardt’s handlers were all around him. Fans had paid several hundred dollars for access to VIP areas during the private grand opening earlier this week of Whisky River, which is across the street from Charlotte’s downtown arena.
For the moment, Earnhardt the brand had moved ahead of Earnhardt the driver. And the whispers were there, too. Why would Earnhardt be opening a bar when he hasn’t won in 70 races?
“There’s a stigma about how drivers can’t do anything,” Earnhardt said. “They have to focus, and this, that and the other.
“Anytime you do anything or want to do anything or talk about anything, people want to question your focus or whatever.”
While his move to Hendrick Motorsports this year has him third in the Sprint Cup standings, he’s yet to win this year. His last victory was in 2006.
“It doesn’t bother me if somebody comes up and says what you’re doing isn’t right, you should focus here,” Earnhardt said. “That doesn’t bother me. I could care less.
“People think I’m on the phone wheeling and dealing, ordering the beer and liquor and positioning everything like I want it. I’m not the one doing that. I’m racing in Phoenix for crying out loud.”
Earnhardt finished seventh there last weekend. He thinks he’s close to winning, and he doesn’t care if critics wonder if Whisky River is a distraction.
“We wanted the bar to have a Carolina, country feel to it, but we didn’t want to be known strictly as a country bar. Number one, I didn’t want to compete with Coyote Joe’s. That’s a place I’ve been to before, and I enjoy it. I didn’t want to compete with those guys. I wanted to kind of ‘weasel’ myself into a spot that was available, that nobody had covered.
“We play a little rock ‘n’ roll, more rock ‘n’ roll than country. It’s old rock ‘n’ roll and Southern rock early in the evening. Of course later in the evening, you get into dance music. ... We’re just trying to give people a fun place to go.”
It just sort of fits the surrounding landscape.” Later he added that “it doesn’t give you a shady feel.”
The bar is by no means NASCAR-themed. It was named after a Willie Nelson song and designed with the influence, Earnhardt said, of Clint Eastwood movies and Lonesome Dove.
Asked if other NASCAR drivers would be dropping in, Earnhardt quipped: “There’s no one who’s not allowed. There are just some we might not invite.”
