General Motors asked a bankruptcy judge this week to be allowed out of the contracts they had with sports teams and athletes. The personal services contracts of several drivers including Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer were terminated and the support to tracks and teams has been pulled as well.
The GM moves come less then a month after GM said they were pulling their support from the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series and on the heels of Dodge’s withdrawal from those series at the end of the season and although nothing has been said publicly Toyota and Ford have no doubt significantly scaled back their financial support in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series as well.
But can NASCAR survive without factory support? Have the teams become so dependant on the money, parts and engineering from the factories that the withdrawal of their support will tear the sport apart?
On the one side, NASCAR teams have competed with little or no factory support during the history of the sport. In fact there have been at least two periods in NASCAR’s history when there was no factory support at all. And according to some, without factory support the smaller teams who don’t get a lot now will be able to better compete with the large teams that do.
Some will point out however that this is a different era in NASCAR. In order for teams to remain competitive they say, teams need every bit of an edge they can and that edge can only come from the support provided by the automakers.
So what do you think? Does the loss of factory support spell the end of NASCAR? Or will it be merely a blip on the radar? Or could the smaller teams now be better able to compete with the larger ones?
Comments
If every team lost its factory support, it would make for a better NASCAR.
We race every weekend at our local dirttrack with NO factory support. I agree with the Old Guy. Take away factory support and the teams would even up a little. However, the team owners with money will still out perform the budget teams. I've always thought there's too much money involved in professional sports, including NASCAR, and a little "trimming" won't hurt the sport at all. The one thing it will do is cut down on car count. The start and park fellas won't have enough money to even start. Let's even the playing field a bit and see what happens.
LOSE THE BIG BUCKS AND GET BACK TO RACING
NASCAR Racing, as we know it, will survive in one form...or another. More than likely...another form. It will still be mostly road and have left turns. NASCAR, the corporation, will change dramtically. As will the makes, madels, sponsors. A more F1 like model likely emerge. And, local car builders, short tracks operations and the "core" fan, will emerge stronger. Look to the divisions for afforable competition, classic and affordable entertainment. Let's see oer the next 2 years....
Get rid of these ugly truck cars and make them use a real hood roof and decklid like they did back in late 80's early 90's. Drafting was perfect then.
They are running spec cars and nearly-spec engines, yet the top teams still run through $25M to $30M a season.
I don't really understand what the auto manufacturers gain from NASCAR. The engines and cars are nothing like they sell to the consumers. Very little NASCAR engineering is applicable can be applied to their street cars. Even the lowest-functioning NASCAR fan knows that Kyle Busch's "Camry" is nothing like what is in the dealer's lot.
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