January 06, 2009
Elliott Sadler's Lawyer Says Sadler Wants to Keep Racing the #19
Elliott Sadler's lawyer says that Sadler plans on suing Gillett-Evernham Motorsports so that he can race the #19 through the end of his contract in 2010. John Buric said,
"Our objective is to get in the car and race for them. We have a contract with them. We intend to enforce that contract."
I find it hard to believe that Sadler has any desire to or intention of racing for the organization that he found out on Christmas Eve planned on dumping him as their driver. This is nothing more than posturing and maneuvering to help Sadler get a generous settlement in the amount he wants from GEM. His lawyer says that Sadler isn't interested in having the last two years of his contract bought out but that's exactly what will end up happening. If the management at GEM is smart they would just throw a bunch of money at Sadler, be done with it and move on with A.J. Allmendinger, if only to save themselves additional negative publicity. That would also be good for Sadler since he's receiving his own share of criticism.
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Posted by silverdsl at 03:13 PM | Comments (0)
Tommy Baldwin Racing to Field Full-Time Cup Team in 2009
Among those that were laid off from Bill Davis Racing recently, Tommy Baldwin didn't sit idle for long. Instead of looking for another crew chief or team management position with another organization, he's decided to field his own full-time Toyota Cup team in 2009. No driver, car number or perhaps most importantly, sponsor, was announced but Baldwin said,
"Being in the business as long as I have, I know how to cut costs but still remain as competitive as positive. We have a short list of three former Cup racers and hope to make an announcement soon."
While it's true that Baldwin is an experienced NASCAR veteran, I'd say the odds of this team being anywhere near competitive are somewhere between slim and none, particularly if they don't have much or any sponsorship. Single car teams struggle to race competitively to begin with but add into it that this is a new team that just formed a little over a month before the first race of the season only makes things more challenging.
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Posted by silverdsl at 02:15 PM | Comments (0)
The Team Formerly Known as Bill Davis Racing May Not Field Any Truck Teams in 2009
Jayski has an "I heard" item today that says that Triad Racing Technologies, the entity that purchased Bill Davis Racing, may not field any trucks next season and may focus all of their efforts on fielding a Cup car. Although BDR has struggled on the Cup level for years, their truck program has been extremely strong, with their most recent success being Johnny Benson winning the Truck Series Championship last season. If Triad doesn't field any trucks in 2009 it would be a major loss for a series that already has quite a few problems.
In addition, since the #22 Cup car has no sponsor and I don't think it's too likely that they'll find one by Daytona, I have to wonder how likely it is that Triad will field a full-time Cup car next season either. I can see them attempting the first five races to see what happens and to see if they can attract sponsorship based on good results but these days even a spot in the top 35 and racing competitively isn't enough to secure sponsorship. So it could end up that an organization that fielded three and sometimes four trucks and at times two Cup cars might not end up fielding any.
Posted by silverdsl at 11:29 AM | Comments (0)
January 05, 2009
Brendan Gaughan Will Race for Rusty Wallace, Inc in 2009
Rusty Wallace, Inc made it official that Brendan Gaughan will race full-time for them in the Nationwide Series in 2009. Partial sponsorship for the #62 car will come from the South Point Hotel and Spa, the Gaughan family business so apparently Brendan's father decided that buying him a Nationwide ride with RWI would bring the best return on their money. Usually I have no issues with drivers buying rides or otherwise bringing financial backing with them to a ride since drivers need to do whatever is necessary to get a ride and teams need to do whatever is necessary to ensure that they have the money to operate competitively. However, based on Brendan's comments in a recent Sirius interview, his preference seems to have been returning to the Truck Series in the #10 truck for Circle Bar Racing but that decision wasn't up to him - where Brendan raced was entirely up to his father based on where he wanted to spend his money and Brendan was just fine with that because it made the money flow freely from his father to himself.
Brendan's Sirius interview was unfortunate to me because I think he came off like a bit of a spoiled brat, but I think it was also unfortunate because of the negative connotation that many fans equate with ride buying. Some believe that drivers who bring sponsorship with them and buy their rides only do so because they don't have the ability to get a ride based on talent. In reality Brendan has a lot of talent behind the wheel. If he has a competitive car or truck he's very capable of racing up front and winning races. Although Brendan has only raced one Nationwide race and that was in 2001, I wouldn't at all be surprised if he won a race in 2009.
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Posted by silverdsl at 03:35 PM | Comments (0)
Not Much News of Note...
Although most teams are probably back at work today after a holiday break, there's still not much in the way of NASCAR news to discuss. Sorry, but as excited as I am about Steve Hallam joining Michael Waltrip Racing, it takes more than a press release about how he's settling into his new office at MWR to get me to blogging. I suppose I could talk about the Bodine Bobsled Challenge which is a pretty cool event or which NASCAR drivers will be taking part in the Rolex 24 or what Robby Gordon's up to in the Dakar Rally but... meh. Nothing's really grabbed me so far today, and I don't really want to blog just to fill space.
Posted by silverdsl at 01:40 PM | Comments (0)
January 02, 2009
Elliott Sadler Files Notice That he May Sue for Breach of Contract
Paperwork was filed today by Elliott Sadler's attorney indicating that he may sue Gillett-Evernham Motorsports for breach of contract as a result of their decision to replace him in the #19 with A.J. Allmendinger in spite of the fact that two years remained on a contract extension that Sadler had signed with GEM during the 2008 season. Elliott has until January 20 to decide whether he'll actually sue for damages or not and I would assume the final decision will be made based on what GEM does for him between now and then. It may be that GEM is hesitating on buying out the last two years of his contract or isn't offering as much money as Elliott thinks he's entitled to. Filing notice to sue sends a message to GEM that Elliott is very serious about getting what he thinks is owed to him.
I say good for Elliott. It used to be frowned upon for a driver to sue when they were released by a team even if they thought they were owed money to the point where some said that teams wouldn't give a ride to a driver who threated to sue but those days are over. Now if a driver isn't happy with the way they're released or feel they're owed money they don't hesitate to sue and I can't blame them. More and more it seems that contracts don't mean much - there are so many "out" clauses in contracts that allow drivers, teams and sponsors to part ways with each other very easily. Those "out" clauses are in place to protect each party in case things don't work out and I think drivers, teams and sponsors are entitled to make use of the "out" clauses as they feel necessary. However, I also think that the drivers need to be able to stand up for themselves, particularly when they feel that they're owed money or otherwise been done wrong.
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Posted by silverdsl at 06:34 PM | Comments (1)
January 01, 2009
Photo of the Day - Bubbly
Got to playing around with taking some (very) abstract photos of my Champagne glass last night...
Posted by silverdsl at 11:22 PM | Comments (0)
December 31, 2008
Happy New Year!
May everyone have a very happy and wonderful New Year!
Posted by silverdsl at 03:46 PM | Comments (0)
Done Deal Between Petty Enterprises and Gillett-Evernham Motorsports?
According to Lee Spencer from FoxSports.com, Petty Enterprises and Gillett-Evernham Motorsports agreed on a deal to merge on Christmas Eve, the details of which will be made public next week. However, sources have told Spencer that the Petty Enterprises shop will close with most employees losing their jobs as of today. Apparently the new name of these two organizations will likely somehow feature the Petty name, though in reality it appears that as of this week, PE has ceased to exist. Reed Sorenson will race the #43 in 2009, something that may upset some fans who will probably not feel that he's worthy of racing a number with so much history.
One of the few PE employees making the move to GEM is Robbie Loomis who will continue to have a managerial role with the newly merged organizations. What's interesting to me is that David Zucker, who became CEO of PE when Boston Ventures bought into it earlier this year is apparently going to become involved with the Petty Driving Experience. I wonder whether that means that the Petty Driving Experience wasn't included in the merger deal and whether Boston Ventures is going to retain control of it? Some had speculated that when Boston Ventures bought into PE they were more interested in the Driving Experience since they saw that as a greater potential source of revenue and they are likely correct.
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Posted by silverdsl at 11:50 AM | Comments (2)
The Strange Case of Phil Parsons and MSRP Motorsports
Start and Parking, when a team enters a race with no intention of racing for more than just a few laps before going to the garage due to a "vibration" or some other excuse, is one of NASCAR's dirty secrets. Most fans can't stand the practice but teams can sometimes make a lot of money start and parking, either to fund an additional legitimate team, in the hopes of one day being able to race full races or in the case of a team like MSRP Motorsports, apparently just to make a profit. Few of the regular media members who cover NASCAR regularly would likely dare to upset those in the garage area by doing any in-depth reporting on the practice of start and parking, particularly since popular veterans like Morgan Shepherd and Phil Parsons are involved with start and park teams. However, Car and Driver magazine has no such qualms and has a feature article in their February issue on start and parking which is very revealing, particularly as it relates to Phil Parsons and MSRP.
Almost everyone who is part of a start and park operation including Jay Robinson, Derrike Cope and Morgan Shepherd were willing to speak openly and honestly about start and parking and their reasons for doing so. Not Phil Parsons. What's pretty amazing is that initially Parsons denied even having any involvement with MSRP even though the team's name reportedly comes from the initials of the first names of himself, his co-owner and their wives - Marcia, Stacy, Randy, Phil - and his wife is listed as the owner of one of the cars. Later when the writer encounters Parsons again, he refers to the team as "we" saying that there is no one to talk to about the team and that they're "trying to stay under the radar." Under the radar is an understatement.
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Posted by silverdsl at 10:31 AM | Comments (2)