NASCAR continues to have contact with foreign-based carmakers who are not yet involved in stock car racing but have manufacturing plants in the United States and may want to market through NASCAR, sanctioning body chairman Brian France said Sunday.
“Clearly there are some companies that are going to look at opportunities that may not have been there in the past,” France said.
Of NASCAR’s four current manufacturers, Chrysler and General Motors are in bankruptcy and Ford has reduced its expenditures on racing. ESPN
France spoke at Michigan International Speedway ahead of Sunday’s Sprint Cup race. He was asked about the likelihood of companies like Japanese manufacturer Honda and some German automakers eventually competing in NASCAR.
“Well, obviously ... every (GM) program is affected and we’re no different,” he said. “We were hoping to have the most minimal of the impact with their decision to restructure their business. The details aren’t all out yet and exactly what that will mean to us, but, obviously, we are affected.
“I think our job now is to figure out how to be good partners with them. They’re trying to restructure their entire company to be a different company on the other side (of bankruptcy) and for us to be a part of that. And I think we will. I’m very confident that they’ll be in the sport for many, many years because it works well.”
“We have been talking to people for off and on for a long time,” he said. “These are decisions in terms of the new manufacturers joining the sport that would take a long time to evaluate and actually enter. So those aren’t something that we turn the light switch on tomorrow morning and it would happen.
Under NASCAR rules, only cars manufactured in the U.S. are eligible to compete. Toyota joined the truck series in 2004 and, in 2007, became the first foreign manufacturers to compete NASCAR’s the elite Cup series in 50 years.
“We’ll have our philosophical approach to that in terms of welcoming new companies in as we did with Toyota,” France added. “It is under a very clear set of circumstances that the manufacturers come to NASCAR to compete. And that will not change.” The Associated Press
| 
|