NASCAR waves red flag amid ailing economy
With financial firestorms clouding the world economy, the money problems in NASCAR are so dire that Teresa Earnhardt has agreed to merge Dale Earnhardt Inc. with Chip Ganassi Racing.
The move last week came a year after she rejected stepson Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s bid to buy half interest in the racing company founded by his late father. She must have felt it was more worthwhile to await a deal like the one with Ganassi — and his stable of Juan Pablo Montoya and a driver to be named — instead of keeping the country’s most popular racer from leaving the family team.
The only silver lining to the darkening cloud is the irony of the merger following Teresa Earnhardt’s initial decision.
There’s no reason that motor sports should be insulated from the troubled economic climate or that NASCAR, as the nation’s leader in racing, should be exempt from making headlines when it has team layoffs and cutbacks.
NASCAR announced last week that it has banned testing for its three national and two regional touring series at any track that hosts a race in any of those divisions.
Some Cup team officials said a multiday test at tracks from Daytona Beach to Las Vegas to California could cost about $100,000 per car, per trip. NASCAR president Mike Helton estimates the change will save “in the range of tens of millions (of dollars) to the industry.”
Saving money apparently has become more important than driver safety, the need for rookies to gain on-track experience and improving the product that fans pay dearly to watch.
Teams will continue testing, especially the best-funded ones, but where?
Modern facilities in Iowa and Kentucky were popular venues for Cup teams because the series didn’t compete there. Now those tracks are off the list of potential sites because they host Nationwide and/or Truck series events.
The only intermediate oval that comes to mind is Pikes Peak International Raceway near Colorado Springs, Colo. There are shorter half-mile tracks in the Southeast that do not host any of NASCAR’s top series.
The problem with these tracks is they aren’t up to modern standards — no SAFER guardwalls, and on-site rescue crews are subpar compared to those at top-tier tracks.
Tracks off the beaten path are not where young drivers will get proper experience before being thrown into the fire of million-dollar races.
Goodyear apparently will be able to conduct tire testing at Cup tracks with a few teams, and that’s certain to become a political football. Which teams get invited? Do they send a rookie to gain experience or veteran to provide better feedback?
The racing forecast — like our economy — isn’t for doom but certainly calls for more gloom before clouds clear.
The new testing policy means Cup and Nationwide teams will not converge on Las Vegas Motor Speedway in late January.
Although it is believed the four-day testing session was not profitable for the speedway, it stimulated interest for the track’s annual Cup race about a month later.
Free promotional opportunities also will be lost in Daytona Beach and at the track in Fontana, Calif. Along with Las Vegas, they were part of the NASCAR Preseason Thunder testing tour.
Team owners have a lot to worry about; sponsors are harder to find, and those looking for teams realize it’s a “sponsor’s market” as they hold the edge in negotiations.
Souvenir sales should dip along with ticket sales.
What’s hardest to swallow, though, has been the many layoffs at NASCAR teams shops. The men and women — mostly behind the scenes — are without jobs in a market with declining opportunities.
Don’t pity team and track owners; they don’t have to worry about paying a mortgage or car payment or the price of groceries.
At least no cries for a bailout are wailing from team headquarters.
• OPINIONS — Visit lvrj.com/blogs/heavypedal to learn what drivers, crew chiefs and officials have said about the test ban.
Jeff Wolf’s motor sports column is published Friday. He can be reached at 383-0247 or jwolf@reviewjournal.com.
