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ESPN: Robby Gordon faces 8-race season
Uh-oh. From ESPN.com
AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Robby Gordon, who has run a full Sprint Cup schedule as a driver/owner since 2006, says he has enough sponsorship for only eight races in 2010.
"I'm looking at a lot of weekends off,'' a frustrated Gordon told ESPN.com on Friday at Phoenix International Raceway.
Gordon said he has two four-race commitments from sponsors for next season. One of his major sponsors, Jim Beam, announced earlier in the year that it would not return to the sport.
"Nobody is spending money,'' Gordon said. "Everybody is cutting the fat out of everything. To be in racing you have to be a pretty big company.''
Gordon said many of the larger teams are making deals for well less than the market value because they can afford to, but that runs teams like his out of business.
"It's sponsorship suicide,'' said Gordon, who is 34th in points.
Gordon said NASCAR needs to create a unified marketing plan so every team is on a level playing field. He said there are so many different plans now that sponsors are confused.
He expects to see more start-and-park teams next season than ever, adding he doesn't plan to be one.
"I don't know what we're going to do,'' Gordon said. "We're going to continue to work hard to sell races through March of next year. After that I'm looking at a lot of weekends off.''
David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.
AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Robby Gordon, who has run a full Sprint Cup schedule as a driver/owner since 2006, says he has enough sponsorship for only eight races in 2010.
"I'm looking at a lot of weekends off,'' a frustrated Gordon told ESPN.com on Friday at Phoenix International Raceway.
Gordon said he has two four-race commitments from sponsors for next season. One of his major sponsors, Jim Beam, announced earlier in the year that it would not return to the sport.
"Nobody is spending money,'' Gordon said. "Everybody is cutting the fat out of everything. To be in racing you have to be a pretty big company.''
Gordon said many of the larger teams are making deals for well less than the market value because they can afford to, but that runs teams like his out of business.
"It's sponsorship suicide,'' said Gordon, who is 34th in points.
Gordon said NASCAR needs to create a unified marketing plan so every team is on a level playing field. He said there are so many different plans now that sponsors are confused.
He expects to see more start-and-park teams next season than ever, adding he doesn't plan to be one.
"I don't know what we're going to do,'' Gordon said. "We're going to continue to work hard to sell races through March of next year. After that I'm looking at a lot of weekends off.''
David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by nickspeed on
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So who is the eight race sponsor? Is hard rock coming back for any races? What about Feightliner?
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Permalink Reply by MartyP on
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If RGM builds their own chassis and hangs their own bodies,can they not sell to other teams such as Nemecheck?
After all ,they are starting to show signs of being competative.
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Permalink Reply by Christopher Lutz on
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Wow - I gotta hand it to Fastback73 above. There are actually a few FANTASTIC ideas in that group.
Someone else posted it earlier in this thread: RG has an opportunity to market himself, and therefore a brand globally. there must be a few international companies looking to increase their footprint in the U.S. given the weak U.S. dollar situation.
Our ideas aside - I'm QUITE certain RG and his company are all over this. One thing I can say for sure...RG is fun to watch, regardless of the venue.
I'm not sure how the current team owners can influence NASCAR; however, they need to....from a business side, here are a few issues:
1) TV money doesn't go to teams. WTF? It does in every other sport. (note: interesting analogy here between NFL and MLB - one divides evenly, producing parity - the other has a different approach)
2) Nascar should mandate minimum coverage for every car (and therefore sponsor) to help teams with "selling". Sure 4 hours of Jimmie is great for Lowes (he earns it) but, it's hard to have an exciting series top to bottom if you don't spread the wealth a bit.
3) Nascar needs to simplify and eliminate more engineering advantages. I read this year that Gibbs has spent 10 Million engineering his oil. How in "the hell" are teams like RGM supposed to compete with that? Sadly, the engineering side is one of the most interesting to me personally; however, by choosing a specific "oil" that is mass produced, they could really cut team costs (as an example)
4) the CHASE needs to be redefined. I think the formula is working for the top 12 - and it's pretty good TV - the rest of the field is F'd for 10 races. That's nearly 1/3 of the season off the table for marketing opps for teams outside the chase.
You guys are great fans - lots can happen in a few months. This drama adds interest.
PS: I LOVE the idea of a reality show - maybe start very low budget and do web broadcast only...RGM could actually count the # of views and sell thta to potential sponsors. If done well, one of the cable channels will surely pick it up.
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Permalink Reply by xcmtb on
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*** Not saying things aren't extremely tight, but ***
RG's so damned smart, I've been thinking since I saw this story that its all about addressing #1 above (TV Money does not go to teams). Here's a top 35 team, a driver with a solid following, and we're running stories about how he may have to fold it up if something big doesn't happen. And everyone's running the story - like it was "leaked" on purpose to maximize headlines. Hell, he's probably got drivers for other small teams on the same page with him regarding "potential solutions" - you know past champions that now drive for small teams. Once the story is in the headlines for a solid week, then NASCAR should be more willing to listen to alternatives.
I think our guy is taking NASCAR head-on, the angle being that they need to help him and the other teams if they want to have a product next year. If they don't, he'll just "turn the lights off". This guy is the only guy in the garage that will take on NASCAR on this point and I'm pretty stoked about it. What an angle!
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You're right, 8 races in the bag at this point. I was thinking of RG talking about how he would rather just shut the lights off than merge with another team.
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Permalink Reply by 7gason7 on
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Just don't want the lurkers to get the wrong idea. Hey look on the bright side maybe he can run Indy this year no matter what the starting time is.
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Permalink Reply by alan4s on
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He also called out NASCAR the other day in the radio interview about how only the big teams get invited to the tire tests, and how it gives those teams an additional advantage.
Keep making noise Robby, and stir up some of the other teams to make the noise with you.
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Permalink Reply by Bigzoom on
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Nascar needs to stop all this stupid "Official Sponsor of Nascar" crap! Forcing competing compaines out and not allowing any rival companies to enter the sport is plain stupid!
Sprint spends enough money being the title sponsor to sponsor 10+ cars for the whole season! AT&T was forced out, Alltel was forced out, Motorola wasn't allowed, T-mobile & Boost aren't allowed.
Nascar needs to take a hard look at what they're doing. TV ratings are falling, attendance is falling. The COT sucks! The only good thing Nascar has done is double-file restarts "Shootout Style" and limit testing. Like Robbys said, let the teams outside the Top 25 do all the tire tesing (throw them a bone). If these are the Top 43 drivers in the world they should have faith in any of them conducting the test. I remember when Dave Marcis use to be the main tire tesing guy. Tire test should be allowed to drivers outside the Top 25 and Rookies only!
Make the sport better...we're tired of the Jimmie Johnson Reality Show by Nascar!
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Permalink Reply by Brinton Hester on
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Boost is owned by Sprint IIRC
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