Max Siegel: Back To Indy

It's official: Dale Earnhardt Inc. has lost yet another valuable commodity from their team.

Max Siegel, now former president of global operations at the newly formed Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, has stepped down from his role, according to ESPN.com.

ESPN is reporting that Siegel will move on to run NASCAR's diversity program. He is expected to continue to consult EGR on "strategic initiatives on the business and marketing side through the new company he has started in conjunction with his former law firm, Baker and Daniels, which has offices worldwide."

According to an Indianapolis Star report, Siegel will lead an expansion of the law firm's sports and entertainment practice.

In the report Baker and Daniels said, "Siegel's experience as an industry insider makes him 'ideally suited' to head the team."

Siegel is a native of Indianapolis, and represents a variety of entertainers and athletes. While at DEI, he became the highest ranking African-American executive in the NASCAR industry.

According to the Star, "Siegel served on the executive team that produced pop artists like Briney Spears, Usher and Justin Timberlake."

He has also worked with gospel stars Kirk Franklin and Donnie McClurkin, and has represented sports athletes like Tony Gwynn and Reggie White.

So how critical is this a loss for DEI? It's bad.

Siegel led the way for a struggling organization and helped spearhead the merger with Ganassi to keep the team alive.

Ever since Dale Earnhardt Jr. left the team, it has been on a downward spiral. It's already merged twice (well following the 2007 season, it was called an "acquire" of Ginn Racing) to try and keep competitive teams.

In all, the mergers have resulted in the closing of four teams to date. (The No. 13 and No. 14 were closed with the acquiring of Ginn and the No. 15 and No. 01 were closed with the most recent merger).

The team is still struggling to find sponsorship and drivers to fill its empty seats for the 2009 campaign.

With only two cars fully sponsored (No. 1 of Martin Truex Jr. and No. 41 Target that has no driver listed), it appears the organization will have to do some reshuffling to fill the seats.

Rumors were that Bobby Labonte would be taking over the No. 41 and then the No. 8, but he announced yesterday that he would be in the No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing Ford, so things are getting interesting for EGR.

B-Blog