East Tennessean

Issue date: 9/27/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: sxc.hu Cars speed by on the track in front of a packed house in Richmond. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has changed his number and sponsorship. This could mean some interesting reactions from fans with memorabilia.

So this week it was finally revealed that Dale Earnhardt's new number will be 88.
But what about all those people with a No. 8 tattoo? Will they just add another eight to it?
I, for one, think this is messed up. Earnhardt's car is now being sponsored by Mountain Dew, Amp Energy Drink and The National Guard. Budweiser is now sponsoring Kasey Kahne's red No. 9.
I'm not even an Earnhardt fan, but if I was, I would be pissed. Because I know for my driver, I buy tons of merchandise and shirts with the number on it.
Now I haven't gone as far as to get a tattoo, but if I did, and they changed the number, this would upset me greatly.
I just feel sorry for all the people that will have to get laser tattoo removal and repaint their garage doors.
And what about those people that decorated a whole room in red and the No. 8 in honor of Dale?
I once wanted to make a Jeff Gordon room in my house (don't laugh) and the furniture is really expensive.
Now I know some of you might be thinking why someone would want a NASCAR-themed room.
But, I'm sure there are some of you that have baseball or football memorabilia in a whole room, so cut me some slack. (And I never did it, just thought about it.)
So I think there should be some kind of exchange policy for all the No. 8 merchandise. These people should be able to exchange their No. 8 merchandise for No. 88. Don't you think?
Actually, who really cares? It's just a number. And these fans should have just gotten a temporary tattoo for the race anyway. But if they ever mess with the No. 24, then we have a problem.

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