Man's Father Says Son's Wife Has Run Off With Dale Jr.

There was a time not long ago that anything printed in the National Enquirer was automatically assumed to be at best an intentional misinterpretation of the facts, or at worst a lie. But after breaking the John Edwards and Tiger Woods stories, it's much more difficult to summarily dismiss every report the Enquirer publishes.

With that in mind, consider the latest: NASCAR's Dale Earnhardt Jr. has been accused of stealing another man's wife. To the details:

The hard-partying 35-year-old bachelor got involved with gorgeous interior decorator Amy Reimann, and broke up her marriage to a college football coach, insiders say.

"Dale Earnhardt stole my wife!" Amy's ex-husband Tommy Cook, an assistant defensive line coach at the University of Kentucky, told a pal.

And Cook's father confirmed as much: "My son's not talking about this. No one in the family is. All I can say is your story's true. ... Amy and Dale have been involved for a while," Tommy Cook Sr., of Bullard, Texas, told the Enquirer.

UPDATE (5:26 PM ET): Dale Jr. met with the media Friday at Richmond International Raceway and answered questions about the Enquirer report. Here's what he had to say:

Your name was mentioned in the National Enquirer, any comment on that story?
"We've been in there a lot. I don't know why we keep popping up in there. I guess we are relevant in some realm. You learn a lot of new stuff about yourself that you never knew before."

Do you want to set the record straight about it? Is there any truth to it?
"There is no truth to that particular story or any of the other ones for that matter if we want to set the record straight."

No one ever sees you out and about. You are very guarded about your life and low key.
"The Enquirer is pretty creative. I have to hand it to them."