End of season means unemployment for many
As the 2011 NASCAR season ends, more focus shifts to “silly season,” when a number of drivers and crew chiefs either leave or are fired from rides and end up finding racing homes elsewhere. In an economy where race teams continue to either merge or fade away, several in the racing community—and not just drivers and crew chiefs—find themselves out of work and scrambling to find new jobs before the 2012 season gets underway in February.
Earlier this week, Roush Fenway Racing reportedly laid off approximately 100 employees, mostly from the No. 6 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team with driver David Ragan. Car owner Jack Roush doesn’t expect to field the No. 6 car in 2012, and according to a report on NASCAR.com, there’s only about a 40 percent chance that Ragan will be with the organization in 2012.
Due to difficulty in finding sponsorship for some of RFR’s teams in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide series, the organization is expected to scale back its Sprint Cup efforts from four to three cars and its Nationwide Series activity from three full-time entries to one full-time car and a part-time one in 2012.
In 2011, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and David Ragan all drove Sprint Cup cars full-time for Roush, and Ragan, who claimed his first-career win in 2011, looks to be the odd man out.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr, the 2011 Nationwide Series champion, Trevor Bayne and Edwards all campaigned Nationwide entries for RFR this past season. The No. 60 car, driven by Edwards, claimed the Nationwide Series owner championship for 2011.
Edwards plans to scale back to a part-time Nationwide schedule in 2012. One of the other two Roush Fenway Nationwide drivers is expected to move to Sprint Cup next season, and Roush has acknowledged speaking to corporate teammates, like Wood Brothers Racing, in attempts to try to get a Cup ride for one of his drivers.
While nothing is certain at this point, as the organization continues its search for sponsorship dollars, and no official announcement has come from Roush Fenway Racing, the team looks prepared to make drastic cutbacks for 2012 and Ragan looks to be the driver most in danger of losing his ride.
Richard Childress Racing is also scaling back its Sprint Cup Series program for next year, going from four to three teams. But at the same time, the Nationwide Series program of the former Kevin Harvick Inc. has merged into RCR, so at least some of the dissolved No. 33 Sprint Cup program may be moved to the new Richard Childress Racing two-car Nationwide program.
But then, where does that leave the KHI employees who worked on those two cars in 2011? KHI did also have a Truck Series program, the assets of which were purchased by Eddie Sharp Racing. As a result, Eddie Sharp Racing expects to expand from its one truck entry operation in 2011 to three full-time trucks in 2012. Some of the KHI employees may go there, but probably not all. Kevin Harvick Inc. fielded three trucks full-time in 2011, and ESR is only expanding by two.
There are job opportunities available with ThorSport Racing, an organization that competes in the Camping World Truck Series. That team is expanding to field three trucks full-time in 2012 after running two full-time in 2011. The organization’s official Twitter account has even been used this week to let out of work crew personnel know that they’re hiring.
While some car owners have found it necessary to make cutbacks in a slow economy, because companies just aren’t just aren’t spending the advertising dollars they used to, there is at least somewhat of a silver lining. There are a few jobs out there.
But in the racing community, as with the general public, the number of laid off racing personnel looks like its going to be significantly larger than the number of new jobs available.
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