Permalink Reply by Zane on January 8, 2010 at 2:07am
The #07 (Old No. 7, at least the Madison Ave. folks didn't have to hurt themselves too much with that stretch) only ever existed because Robby (and I suspect Jim Beam as part of the deal) got to #7 first when the hard liquor ad restrictions were relaxed. The #07 doesn't mean anything to anyone who's writing checks anymore and should quietly go away. It's also not a coincidence that once Jack Daniels chose to not to renew their deal with RCR that Jim Beam had no reason to continue their support of RGM or anyone else in NASCAR. When your main competitor steps out of the arena why fight?
Anyway, that's water under the bridge & hopefully this will be a step forward, no matter how small. Lets get back to worrying about Dakar for now!
Keeping team off the unemployment line if the first thing I thought of.
Met Beth Ann a while back, she's a good people person and much like Robby, can run a team on a shoestring budget. The Schwans deal wasn't huge by any means, but they knew what they were buying (30th place car) and when a little more performance was wanted, they popped more for better engines. Not sure what all she has for equipment now, but know she had a car rotisserie at the time from an company/sponsor intro tape I got to view.
I just hope the checks are cashable and it's a real deal for the whole season. Might free up Robby to look for sponsors if Beth Ann takes over some of the admin stuff.
I've got to say I am really surprised by this announcement, and the fact that Robby is not here to speak for RGM. Personally I never thought BAM would be the team that shares RGM. I figured some team would as bringing in a team is a very good way to help cover the daily costs of RGM. Also with bringing another team RGM does not have to let go of any of their staff as they will be working on both cars, even if the #7 does not race the whole season. I really thought someone like HOF or TRG would be the team to share RGM.
But in my gut and knowing how Robby operates my guess is this technical partnership will probably only last one season. if you look at RGM's past most relationships seem to last one season.