Chevy, Ford & Toyota puts "NO VACANCY" signs up?

With the more than likely merger scheduled to be announced Nov 4 that GM will buyout Chrysler, the other manufacturers Chevy, Ford & Toyota are indicating they will not take on any new teams for factory support. This is likely to cause teams to quickly merge with other existing factory backed teams. Placing teams like DEI, Inc, Wood Bros Racing, Yates Racing at the top of the list for teams to think merger possibilities. Some teams are already moving forward. Petty Enterprise is set to merge it's two car operation with DEI, Inc. if necessary. Max Seigel with DEI, Inc was quoted at Atlanta saying, "We've been hunting for sponsors and partners all year with little luck, but suddenly we've become everyone's friend. I don't think anyone, including Nascar, knows what to expect with this. We'll wait and see how it plays out. You have to feel for those guys."

The merger would be a huge hit to Dodge's flagship teams Gillette Evernhamn Motorsports and Penske Racing, but the hardest hit may be Dodge's smaller teams like Ganassi Racing and Robby Gordon Motorsports. Without some type of alliance or merger these teams would get no factory support of any kind, making it impossible to compete at the same level. It's expected Ganassi and Gordon will allign their teams with somebody.

Chevy & Ford have already pulled it's sponsor dollars on other sporting events for 2009 and will likely pull it's Super Bowl ads. Even Tiger Woods deal is in jeopardy. MLB, NFL and NBA expect to see millions pulled next year from the automakers as they try to dig out of the economic troubles. Nascar expects to see more "satellite teams" or partial schedule teams, and expects only 30-35 full time teams competing at seasons end in 2009. "We expect most teams to survive these times, but some will scale back or move to our lower divisions," said Ryan Pemberton. It's expected one team owner Bill Davis Racing, will sell or move down his Cup team to Nascar's Nationwide Series.

One team not effected by the merger is making a move due to Nascar's new testing policy. HOF Racing will leave Toyota and head to Ford with an alliance with Wood Bros Racing. Wood Bros was on life support after loosing sponsor Little Debbie's, but seems to have secured sponsorship with Ford & Motorcraft.

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Permalink Reply by GrayAntiMatter on October 28, 2008 at 10:37pm

They'll step up to take on the straglers if Dodge is gone

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Permalink Reply by Mike/WC77 on October 29, 2008 at 1:19am

Now if Dodge IS leaving, I can't see a team like Penske NOT being offered factory backing from say...Ford. In my eyes at least motorsports are the biggest deals for auto manufactures. I'm not shocked about them scaling back, &/or pulling out of other sports. I mean the Tiger deal for example, thats a given. I've said for a while GM should move his deal to Caddy. Other than the golf sponsorships, Buick is all but out of sports anyway. Quite frankly it's sad, but I don't see the Buick division making it another 5 years....just like most of it's market demo. Baseball, well when was the last time you met somebody who bought a Chevy because it's the official car of their favorite baseball team? My money says they all start shifting sponsorship funds to where they get more bang for their buck. Not unlike us consumers, the auto manufactures are gonna start lookin for the most for their sponsorship dollar. Take for example formula d drift comp, & any off-road racing. These up,& coming promotions offer a younger mkt demo,& are reasonably affordable compared to nascar,& nhra.

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Permalink Reply by john mcglasson on October 29, 2008 at 9:40am

US Auto Industry RIP 2008. I'd like to welcome BMW, Honda and Audi to Nascar hahahahahahaha

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Permalink Reply by Turtle7 on October 29, 2008 at 12:11pm

So what high volumn autocompanies are spending big dollars on racing besides the little 3,- yes the were big at one time? Mercedes, Renault, Honda, BMW Toyota in F1. Honda in IRL for motors. So who is left out - Nissan and Volkswage but they are in Rally and Dakar. With the Porsche buy out of VW, do you think they would like to put a Jetta or a Passat on an oval? After all VW is trying to get a bigger foothold in the US market. How much would it take to drop a Porsche V8 with a Holly on it into a COT? Also they have enough grease for the France's.