(from autosport) Petty Enterprises officials have admitted to be considering a possible merger with another Sprint Cup team given the current financial outlook in the United States. The team has reportedly been in talks with other outfits, which are still seeking to complete their budgets for next season. Chip Ganassi Racing have held talks with Petty and more recently DEI has been said to be in negotiations with the oldest team in NASCAR. Robbie Loomis, the team's Vice President for Racing Operations, said that a merger is one of the possibilities they are pondering for the future in order to stay afloat and be more competitive in the Sprint Cup series, although he stresses that they remain committed to Dodge as their manufacturer. "We're very committed to Dodge at Petty Enterprises," Loomis said. "If you read the news out there, everybody is talking to everyone about our merger. I've banked with Wachovia all my life when they were First Union before they become Wachovia. "As the future unfolds, we all have to be smart on how we pay attention to how we operate and is there ways that we can be more efficient as we grow. That's what will drive the decision of the future." Petty Enterprises currently field cars for former Cup and Nationwide Series champion Bobby Labonte and a second entry that has been shared by Kyle Petty, Chad McCumbee and Terry Labonte during the year. The team has lost their main sponsor for Labonte's car for next year and they have yet to announce a replacement. The future of the team's second car is still uncertain, as is Kyle Petty's permanence with the team. This year the team announced a deal with Boston Ventures, which brought with it changes in the squad's management. Loomis admits that the current tendency of finding new allies may be one that they continue to pursue. "We have been looking at things," Loomis added. "I know as I have the last couple years... we kind of saw that we were two cars and we wanted to get to four because years ago, NASCAR said there needs to be a four-car team. "Then all of a sudden the landscaping is kind of changing and there are a lot of alliances. Before, a one or two-car team was trying to hook on another two-car team. Now, you're seeing a four-car team and two-car team that want to attach to them and maybe grow to a four-car team to attach to that. "The competition level is just raising the bar quicker and quicker." While Bobby Labonte is 20th in the championship, the team's second entry is currently outside of the top-35 in the car-owner standing after ending the last two seasons in 35th place with Kyle Petty behind the wheel.
I just wonder how long the NASCAR Racing Organisation, and F1, will be, as we now know it? The Detroit automakers, are barely hanging on these days. What monies will be available for Racing and other promotional events, in the "New Economy?" If Detroit and others, close their wallet, what will happen? It could be a shut-down for ALL of Racing, as we know it. Ciao...Paolo
Much of USA racing has gone through financial turmoil and survived. I think that American car manufacturers have realized that racing does sell cars. Chrysler will likely be the barometer. So far, they have weathered being dumped by Mercedes and remain heavy into racing, NASCAR and drifting. As for F1, not all markets have tanked, so advertisers still have new markets to enter. They key will be ticket sales, will the public be able to afford the $150+ USD price of tickets to attend a race they could watch on TV? Or will F1 go the route of Pay-TV to continue revenue?
Now with the news that Ford is mostly withdrawing support for the Craftsman Truck Series, soon to be Camping World Series, it is not suprising given the financial climate that all the manufacturers are tightening their belts. GM has repeatedly put on hold any sports prototype effort, the Cadillac LMP being the last and it suffered from a stunted growth. Now with Corvette switching to GT2, after being told no prototype class for Corvette, the racing may well be better in this hotly contested class. I have my own theories why Nextel Cup is the way it is, but I always thought, why don't they model the car of the future on the German DTM championship? Beef the cars up a little more, but they handle well and stop and turn, things the Cup boys seem to have constant trouble with. And these cup cars are hardly inexpensive any more. I think it is strictly political these days as far as car development, not technically based, despite all their research centers, ect. I don't know about you, but I am tired of loose in, tight in the middle, ect. All the time the drivers are fighting the cars, the tires are constantly behind in technology for the tracks, ect. There is too much control for the sake of the show. Gone are the days of the genius car builders like Smokey Yunich, Junior Johnson, any of the top teams in the mid sixties to mid seventies, the golden years of Nascar, imo. Also the concept of one body style is redundant as well. They need to loosen up some aspects of all this, instead of tightening control even more. The show could be so much better and certainly there is a more sophisticated method of speed limiting than a restrictor plate??
