Pete Rondeau said he signed a three-year contract when he agreed to be #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr.s crew chief before the Nextel Cup season that never was signed by owner Teresa Earnhardt. In the contract, according to Rondeau, there was a clause that stated he was to be given six weeks notice if performance was in question. I just show up on Monday, and Im out of a job, he said on Saturday. Richie Gilmore, the director of motorsports for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated, declined to comment on the contract or the clause. Rondeau, who was replaced on an interim basis by Steve Hmiel, said that wasnt the only promise the company failed to keep. He said Earnhardts former team, which is now with #15-Michael Waltrip, never shared information. There was probably a little bit of a sore spot between the old eight team and us, said Rondeau, who was Waltrips crew chief last season. Tony Eury Sr. (Earnhardts former crew chief), was supposed to be working amongst the two teams. I probably saw him once at Daytona and never saw him again after that. When youre a single-car team in a multi-car organization, thats not going to work. Rondeau said he wasnt aware of the communication problem Gilmore and Earnhardt cited as the reason for his dismissal. He reminded that the team was 11th in points and had five top-10s after a slow start. What he got during the race was what he asked for, said Rondeau, who does not plan to bring legal action against DEI. During the first two races I was giving too much, but he didnt want to know the changes (to the car). He just wanted to be the driver and let me be the crew chief, so I backed off. The latest thing I heard was he wasnt getting enough. Im not sure he knew what he wanted. Maybe he just wanted somebody to argue with on the radio, and I wasnt interested. Rondeau said Gilmore offered him a part-time job as the car chief for the #1 car the remainder of the season. Rondeau is supposed to make a decision by Monday, but because the car is scheduled for only four more races, he is leaning toward not accepting. Rondeau said he has talked to several other teams about a crew-chief job.(The State)(5-29-2005)
UPDATE: Former Budweiser Chevrolet crewchief Pete Rondeau told Sirius Speedway (MRN/Sirius Satellite Radio) host Dave Moody that he is baffled by his release from the team, saying he gave Dale Earnhardt, Jr., exactly what he asked for. “At the beginning, he said he wanted me to be the crewchief, and let him be the driver. I tried giving him information over the radio on race day, but he told me I was talking too much. I stopped giving him that information, and not long after, I was shown the door. Now they say I wasn’t communicating. I’m not sure they even know what they want.” Rondeau confirmed that a clause in his contract required him to be given six weeks notice in the event of any performance-related issues, but that Theresa Earnhardt never signed the contract. “I asked about it a couple of weeks into the season, and was told that `It fell through the cracks.’ I signed the contract, but I never got it back. Looking at the way things turned out, I guess I understand why.”
Rondeau said communication with Earnhardt was frequently a bone of contention, citing an incident at Talladega Superspeedway earlier this season. “We had some issues at Talladega, and some things got said that I wasn’t happy with. I told Junior that I wanted to talk with him about it after the race was over, but it never happened.” He also repeated his assertion that he spoke only once with DEI Director of Competition Tony Eury, Sr., with that conversation coming at Daytona in February. “I voiced my concerns about the lack of information being exchanged between the teams, but I ran into a stone wall. It became pretty clear to me that that’s the way it was going to be, and there wasn’t much I could do about it. I don’t know if those people were all in denial or what, but it’s interesting that last weekend at Charlotte, all three teams were int he trailer talking after every practice. Maybe it took me losing my job for them to figure that out.” Rondeau said he knew he was in for an uphill climb when he took the job, saying, “I wasn’t sure the `team swap’ deal was going to work from the start. There is a lot of competition between the teams, and the personalities of the two groups is completely different. I was afraid it was going to become an issue, and it did.” He said he would like to remain in a crewchief’s position, but does not consider the carchief’s job on the DEI #1 Chevy to be a viable option. “I’m out there talking to anyone who wants to listen,” he said. “We’ll see what happens.”(MRN/Sirius Satellite Radio)(6-1-2005)
