CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- When doctors told Kelley Earnhardt Elledge she might have cancer and needed emergency surgery, her first thoughts were not about her health.
Instead, she found herself worrying about her kid brother -- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
"Please don't tell me anything is terminally wrong with me
because I don't want my brother to have to go through losing
someone again," she fretted before a March operation to have a tumor removed from her pancreas.
Elledge has spent her entire life looking out for Junior, who
has grown from a shy little boy often picked on at school into
NASCAR's biggest star. Years ago, she made sure he had his lunch
money for school; today, she's one of the most powerful people in
the sport and the chief negotiator of Junior's free agency.
It's a full-time job as Elledge evaluates daily contract offers,
sponsorship considerations, licensing concerns and everything else
that surrounds Earnhardt and his estimated $20 million annual
worth. Although she set an end of June deadline to get a new deal
done, Elledge said Friday she'd like to get it wrapped up sooner.
Wife of Nextel Cup crew chief Jimmy Elledge and the mother of
two young daughters, the 34-year-old acknowledged sleepless nights
as the contract situation has consumed her life. Besides handling
Earnhardt's personal affairs, she's also business manager for his
race team, JR Motorsports.
It's a full plate, but those inside the industry believe Elledge
is the best person to handle the job.
"The hardest part about a venture like this is knowing exactly
what the driver wants and trying to find the right fit for him,"
said car owner Rick Hendrick. "It's even more important for
Junior, because it's not about money for him. It's about feeling
comfortable, and she's the only person who can truly know what that is.
"She knows him better than anybody, and she's got a lot of her
daddy in her."
Those who knew the late Dale Earnhardt, killed on the final lap
of the 2001 Daytona 500, believe Elledge is most like him out of his four children.
One of the first drivers to organize licensing and merchandise,
the elder Earnhardt formed a management company called Sports
Images and put his daughter to work there. Armed with a business
degree from UNC-Charlotte -- she started college at UNC-Wilmington,
but he coaxed her back home -- Elledge rose through the company
ranks and stayed on when it merged into Action Performance.
"She has a fiery business sense, is quick to respond; and when
she has her mind made up, she is just like her dad," said Chris Williams, who worked with Elledge at both companies and now runs trackside sales for Motorsports Authentic.
"She has that killer instinct. Dale was the same way, and
Kelley inherited his tenacity."
For the past five years, she's applied most of the skills toward
managing her brother's career. Dale Sr. made most of Junior's
business decisions before his death. With him gone, Elledge found
her brother in immediate need of a caretaker.
She's always held that role for him, dating back to when they
were young children and their single mother often left them alone
while she worked the third shift. Two years older than Earnhardt,
Elledge cooked and cleaned, made sure he had lunch money and helped
him finish his chores.
When they were later sent to live with their famous father and
new stepmother, she helped Junior adjust and was his companion when
they were left in the care of nannies.
Elledge has been the only constant in Junior's 32 years and
remains the one person he knows he can count on unconditionally.
"All of our life, it's been he and I," she said. "The
struggles we went through early. ... We just really grew close. I
was always the one looking out for him. It was like, 'Pick up your
cereal bowl off the floor. Take the trash out. If you'll just do
these few things, you can get along here.'
"He knows that I've always had his back. We just have a bond
that I don't hear a lot of other people describe, in terms of
trusting each other."
After working for his father on a handshake agreement, Junior
leaned on his sister when stepmother Teresa put together his
first official contract in 2002. Determined to grab some control of
his demanding schedule, he let Elledge do his bargaining, and she
ironed out a five-year deal that capped the number of personal appearances.
The stakes are considerably higher this time around, and Elledge
has more control than ever. When she needed time to recover from
her surgery this spring, all negotiations were put on hold.
But she jumped back into work within weeks and was by Junior's
side May 10, when he announced he would leave Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Elledge has fielded all inquiries in the weeks since.
Some might think the job is better suited for a sports agent,
but Elledge can hold her own. Just last week, she and her brother
were jointly ranked No. 2 on The Charlotte Observer's annual list
of the 43 most powerful people in NASCAR.
"She's been a hidden hero in this sport for a long time,
because she has so much knowledge about so many different aspects
of this business," said husband Jimmy Elledge, the crew chief for
Reed Sorenson. "Her father recognized that sense in her long
before any of us knew she had it, and she's just flourished with it.
"Dale Jr. doesn't have the patience to look into all the
details, but Kelley, she just studies it all. And she does it
without any of the agendas that an agent might have. She just
really, really cares about what's best for his career in every
aspect."
Richard Childress, who fielded cars for six of the elder
Earnhardt's seven championships, has watched the brother-sister
combo from afar the past few years and marvels at what they've
accomplished. Childress, who has known both since they were
children, knows the two enter into every venture careful to
preserve their father's legacy.
He's confident Earnhardt would be proud of them today.
"Dale Junior is an icon in this sport, and Kelley, being the
leader that she is, will protect that," Childress said. "She's
got the hottest property in our sport today, and she's managing it.
I know it's her brother, but she's doing it with the realization
that you are only as healthy as the sport.
"I think they'll make the right decision that it takes to keep
the sport healthy. She's got it under control."