NASCAR Mergers Jeopardizes The Little Guy Who Historically Has Depended On A Passion For Racing
Aug 09, 2007
CIA Stock Photo
NASCAR teams are racing each other to combine assets and take on savvy investors in an effort to remain competitive.
Teams fielding or building toward four-car powerhouses that cost less per car to operate and generate high levels of technical information are becoming the standard. That’s fine for those with money to compete, but jeopardizes the little guy who historically has depended on a passion for racing as much as cash. Seth Livingstone, USA TODAY
Aug 08, 2007
One thing we keep hearing about NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow is that it is supposed to make racing more affordable.
Virtually no modifications are allowed, so teams shouldn’t need huge fleets of track-specific cars. They shouldn’t have to spend exorbitantly on engineering and technology.
Smaller or new teams ought to be able to compete on equal footing with the established powerhouses.
Aug 07, 2007
Certainly, George Gillett brings funding — which is important — to Evernham Motorsports. But, now the Gillett group can focus on the business and marketing side of promoting the race team while Ray Evernham gets his eye back on performance.
Aug 03, 2007
Some wealthy investors have entered NASCAR’s top series in the past year, with real estate developer Bobby Ginn buying MB2 Motorsports last year and John Henry and his Fenway Sports Group buying part of Roush Racing.
Robert Yates Racing finally took on a partner, announcing a deal recently with long-time racer Carl Haas and actor Paul Newman. And Ray Evernham is on the verge of selling part of his operation to George Gillett Jr., owner of the Montreal Canadiens hockey team.
Now Ginn, less than a year into his ownership role, has sold his team in a merger with Dale Earnhardt Inc.
Aug 03, 2007
In 1992, the late Alan Kulwicki won what was then the Winston Cup championship, and he did so while owning his own team.
That seems impossible today, and it was considered something of a miracle at the time.
One of the more notable characteristics of NASCAR is that there are more copycats than visionaries.
Aug 03, 2007
Why the rash of mergers? Why now? The reason is simple: just to keep up. With Hendrick Motorsports dominating the 2007 season it became clear to everyone involved in the sport: in order to stay alive you have to multiply. It’s a matter of survival.
NASCAR has mandated that teams must not exceed four cars by the 2009 season. So the battle for every respectable Nextel Cup operation is to get to four teams as quickly as possible. DEI Vice President of Global Operations Max Siegel told me as much in Chicago. “My job for this team is to get us to the maximum (four teams) as soon as I can. The rest of our picture (drivers and sponsors) will fall into place,” Siegel said.
July 28, 2007
It takes a big bundle of money to run a successful NASCAR Nextel Cup team.
So much green stuff, in fact, that some owners have figured out they can’t carry the bag of millions by themselves anymore. It’s just too heavy. Even the money generated from corporate sponsorships isn’t enough to handle all of the costs of racing.
It’s forced some teams to merge and others to find additional investors to keep from slipping out of contention – or spinning out of the sport completely. Richard Durrett, DallasNews.com
When it comes to NASCAR these days, it’s all about mergers and acquisitions.
It seemingly began at the season-opening Daytona 500 in February when Jack Roush entered into an equal partnership with Fenway Sports Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of New England Sports Ventures, which enabled Red Sox principal owner John W. Henry to join Roush at the drivers’ pre-race meeting in Daytona as a NASCAR car co-owner. Michael Vega, Globe Staff
Another day, another revamped NASCAR team. Just two days after Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Ginn Racing joined forces, Robert Yates Racing and open-wheel powerhouse Newman/Haas/Lanigan announced they intend to form a partnership.
Yates, whose team has struggled for several years after being one of NASCAR’s winningest teams, has actively sought a partner or buyer for more than a year. MIKE HARRIS, AP.org
“Racing today is engineer-based, engineering driven,” he said. “I found out [Friday] that this was happening, and I commend Robert. He could have ridden it into the ground, walked off into the sunset, shut his operation down and built motors. By doing this, he’s making a statement.”
Robert Yates said the team would continue to use the current RYR facilities, but wouldn’t specify exactly how many cars the new operation would have at the outset. SAM JACKSON, TriCities.com
On Tuesday, Dale Earnhardt Inc. merged with Ginn Racing to become a four-car Cup team. On Friday, Robert Yates Racing merged with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, a move Ford executive Dan Davis said will change the sport.
In about 14 days, Evernham Motorsports hopes to announce its partnership with Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillett Jr. Roush Racing already has formed a partnership with Fenway Sports Group.
“It’s a sign of the times,” said Kyle Petty, who drives the No. 45 Dodge for Petty Enterprises. “It’s all about alliances and partnerships now. It was never that way before. We all raced each other. David Newton, ESPN.com
July 28
NASCAR’s latest joint venture has all the signs of a merger, though the principals involved went to great lengths to call it a partnership.
Whatever it’s called, Nextel Cup team owner Robert Yates hopes the three partners he added on Friday can restore the luster to his struggling operation.
Yates announced a link with open wheel juggernaut Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, which has won 101 races and seven Champ Car World Series championships in 25 seasons, including the past three titles with French driver Sebastien Bourdais. Auto Racing Daily
July 27
NASCAR created its four-car team cap as a way of saving the little guy, but the rule might have become the benchmark for squeezing out the underdog from the Nextel Cup Series.
The point was driven home by the merger of Dale Earnhardt Inc., and Ginn Racing, which was unveiled during a news conference Thursday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The new four-car operation joins Roush Fenway Racing (five cars) and Hendrick Motorsports (four) as one of the circuit’s three largest teams. Auto Racing Daily
