Source:Variety

February 15, 2008

Producers Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher have brought on board their Red Wagon production company to a biopic on NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt.

Wick and Fisher have made a deal to tell the life story of the stock car driver, who was killed in a crash in the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. The deal comes just as Dale Earnhardt Jr. rolls into Sunday's Daytona 500 for the first time since leaving DEI, the racing empire built by his dad.

Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, and son Dale Jr. have both pledged their cooperation on the biopic even though their relationship is strained -- he left DEI after his stepmother refused his request for majority control.

Earnhardt, who drove the famous No. 3 black Chevy, won seven NASCAR Winston Cup titles, 76 career races and more than $40 million in purses, finally winning Daytona in 1998 after losing the prestigious race 20 times. Earnhardt's daring driving and charisma made him so popular that, right before his death, 25% of NASCAR's $1.1 billion in merchandise sales were devoted to him.