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Post by robinh on Dec 31, 2008 12:50:22 GMT -5
With Nascar growing to become a money show rather than a racing show, this latest news spells the impending end of what was once a "good ole boys" sport. Ticket prices have gone up year after year, the teams have moved further back from being completely open to the public, and this latest news shows that the bottom line is now more important than pleasing their fans. This is truly the end of an era.From the Mooresville Tribune today - Sources: Petty to close shop, merge with Gillett by Lee Spencer Lee Spencer is senior NASCAR writer for FOXSports.com. She also is a correspondent for "Around the Track" on FOX Sports Net. Updated: December 31, 2008, 1:05 AM EST DAVIDSON, N.C. - As 2008 comes to an end, so will the Petty Enterprises that NASCAR fans and racers came to admire. Multiple sources have confirmed that after 60 seasons of stock car racing and 10 championships, America's first family of stock car racing will shut its doors and merge with the team currently known as Gillett Evernham Motorsports. A deal was inked between Petty Enterprises and team owner George Gillett on Christmas Eve, but the terms of that agreement have yet to be divulged. A formal announcement is expected early next week. The venerable No. 43 Dodge covered with the trademarked Petty blue glaze will become part of the Gillett stable with Reed Sorenson expected to be behind the wheel. Bobby Labonte, who finished 21st in the point standings, parted ways with the Pettys on Dec. 11 following a three-year stint in the No. 43 car. Most of the remaining 39 employees at Petty Enterprises will conclude their duties at the Mooresville-based shop on Wednesday. The company moved from its original shop adjacent to the Petty homestead in Level Cross, N.C., in January to what was formerly the Yates Racing complex. Robbie Loomis, Petty Executive VP of Racing Operations, is expected to assume a managerial role under the new partnership, which will likely be rebranded under the Petty banner. Former car chief Ray Fox Jr. will assume a similar role at JTG-Daugherty Racing with the No. 47 team. David Zucker, who was named CEO of the team when private equity firm Boston Ventures purchased controlling interest in June, is expected to be reassigned to the Petty Driving Experience. Source FoxSports |
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Post by FlowRW on Dec 31, 2008 20:17:03 GMT -5
Yep...an end of an era. What a shame.
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Post by pttom on Jan 1, 2009 8:14:38 GMT -5
Agreed, sad  |
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Post by Stoke on Jan 1, 2009 8:42:36 GMT -5
I am of the opinion that while the team. equipment, personnel, etc may merge, there should not be a "bogus" 43 car on the track next this time around... It was bad enough seeing it out there in other colors other than the standard blue and red and with other sponsors besides STP.... The number, along with the long accepted image of what the car *should* look like ought to be retired.
I actually thought long ago that once Richard retired, and the car initially changed to (I think 44 with Rick Wilson driving), it should have never gone back top being 43. Just like Richard Childress keeps saying there won't be a black 3, RP should have just parked 43 and stuck with 44 and 45....
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Post by WA2COOL on Jan 1, 2009 15:00:40 GMT -5
Check out www.jayski.com site for lots of Nascar news. Nascar is in trouble and it's been coming for the last few years and Brian France put about every spin on it he could and now it's biting him hard in the ass. Lots of empty seats at just about every race except for Bristol and Richmond but no, lets give another race to a mile and a half track or a 2 mile track so everyone can get a good snooze while at the race. Lets have 20-25 Cup guys run the Nationwide series every week, fly them in in helicopters and private jets, win almost every race, win the title and see Nationwide teams up for auction/sale one or two a year. The Nationwide series is no longer a developmental series, it's a Cup guys payday....period. As far as I'm concerned if you're a full time Cup guy, you don't race Nationwide, you hire someone to drive for you and make them an up and coming new star. Once they let them have multi-car teams with wives and aunts and uncles the "owners" of the cars was the start, and it's just gone downhill from there. I remember back maybe 5 or 6 years ago that you NEVER saw race tickets advertised for sale during a broadcast except for Talladega being advertised during the Pepsi 400 at Daytona. Now every week they advertise tickets for upcoming races. Heck, they started advertising for Las Vegas before the season even ended. Charlotte was a ghost town for the October race even though they got the hotels to drop rates and offered great package prices, but the price of gas already had sealed their demise of that plan. We had been in town for the NHRA race and gas was short even then, do you think people that would usually drive maybe 400 or more miles were going to take a chance of getting there and there being no gas? I read the other day that are only 37 full teams for next year and of those only 27 or 29 are fully funded. What's that tell you? Dodge already has cut factory sponsorship for the Truck Series in 09. And what do you think the Big 3 going to Congress for a bailout is going to do for racing? Win on Sunday, bailout on Monday? Is there a potential tire war on the horizon? Read that Firestone was testing "no brand name" tires at some point recently. Will they come in and undercut Goodyear? Time will tell. I think they would have a better shot at it then Hoosier did, but Hoosier is still around in the other series. 2009 is going to be interesting to say the least. Here's a tidbit of news from Jayski site: Gillette/Evernham I think is going to be another Bobby Ginn deal if you ask me..........read on...........read update #2 real well......... Sadler replaced by Allmendinger? AJ Allmendinger is set to replace Elliott Sadler in the #19 Dodge in 2009, multiple Gillett Evernham Motorsports team sources told ESPN.com on Saturday. GEM CEO Tom Reddin told team employees and sponsors the news just before Christmas, causing some sponsors to consider leaving, according to team sources. Reached for comment Saturday, GEM spokesman Drew Brown chose not to comment. Sources also said Ray Evernham, who founded the team and sold majority ownership to George Gillett, cleared out all personal possessions from the team's shop, including the 2002 Brickyard 400 trophy he won as owner of Bill Elliott's #9 Dodge. Calls placed to Evernham and Sadler's representation were not immediately returned.(ESPN.com)(12-27-2008) UPDATE: Allmendinger will join Kasey Kahne in the flagship #9 GEM Dodge and newcomer Reed Sorenson, who will pilot the #43 Dodge following the imminent announcement of the merger between owner George Gillett and Richard Petty. AND Sadler? Sadler's possibilities are rumored to include the #41 Chevy at Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing or the #77 Dodge at Penske Racing should Sam Hornish Jr. replace Helio Castroneves in the IRL IndyCar Series [who faces a trial and possible jail over IRS charges].(FoxSports), no word on who would drive the #10 Dodge of GEM in 2009.(12-28-2008) UPDATE 2: Sadler signed a two-year contract extension with GEM in May, and sources say team owner George Gillett will now be forced to buy out those additional two years. Sadler has already begun making calls to try and find a ride for next season. Sources tell Sirius Speedway that Gillett is heavily leveraged from the original Evernham buyout, as well as from a number of automobile dealerships he purchased earlier this year. He reportedly faces a major payment on his Liverpool Football Club, which plays in the English Premier League, as well. A deal that would have merged GEM with Bill Davis Racing fell by the wayside a few weeks ago, reportedly after Gillett was unable to obtain financing to complete the transaction. Gillett has recently been involved in negotiations to merge GEM with Petty Enterprises. Sirius Speedway reported two weeks ago that the merger had stalled, and while that report was immediately denied by a GEM spokesman, Sadler’s release appears to indicate that the deal is indeed in jeopardy. A combined GEM/Petty operation was expected to field four cars in 2009; enough to retain Kasey Kahne, Reed Sorenson, Sadler and Allmendinger. (Sirius Speedway)(12-29-2008) Comment here |
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Post by FlowRW on Jan 1, 2009 21:34:36 GMT -5
Local TV stations in Charlotte are pretty much saying the GEM/Petty merger is a done deal and will be renamed Petty. They are also taking over the 1-800-BE-PETTY driving schools.
They're not saying it's a rumor, they are saying it has happened.
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Post by robinh on Jan 2, 2009 12:37:59 GMT -5
I don't see how they can even use the moniker NASCAR, there's nothing stock about these cars anymore.
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Post by WA2COOL on Jan 8, 2009 10:12:50 GMT -5
Latest News on Petty deal from Jayski site:
NO news on the GEM-Petty merger UPDATE: The expected Petty Enterprises-Gillett Evernham Motorsports merger likely won’t be announced Monday, and the Petty Enterprises shop was fairly quiet. There were only about 15 cars parked in the Petty parking lot Monday morning. Sources have indicated that the team has laid off most of its employees. It is expected that the two teams will merge, with Petty’s famed #43 car joining the GEM stable. With the #43 car guaranteed a spot in the first five races of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and GEM’s #10 not guaranteed a position [but could move up with 2-3 others teams dropping out due to the Ganassi-DEI merger and BDR sell], the #43 could be driven by Reed Sorenson, who has already signed to drive for GEM. GEM also could face a lawsuit over its driver stable. Elliott Sadler, who reportedly has been dropped in favor of AJ Allmendinger, has filed a notice with North Carolina Superior Court in Statesville, N.C., that claims that GEM breached its contract with Sadler. GEM spokesman Drew Brown said Monday the company has no comment on the legal filing and that no announcements were planned for today [Monday].(SceneDaily)(1-6-2009)
UPDATE: Petty Enterprises cars were in the wind tunnel just a week before the organization’s officials told employees they would be laid off and that the team shop was shutting down, according to crew chief Stewart Cooper. Cooper, who was crew chief for the organization’s #45 Sprint Cup car for much of last season, said he wasn’t bitter with the way things ended at Petty. He said virtually all of the remaining 38 employees were laid off, with only Petty Enterprises Executive Vice President Robbie Loomis and a couple of others remaining. The organization is expected to merge with Gillett Evernham Motorsports, with an announcement expected as early as this week. “As of [early] last week we were working as if we were going to Daytona. … I really feel like it’s nobody’s fault,” Cooper said Tuesday night. “It’s just the way the dice fell this time. [Those of us laid off] will have to work through it and move on.” Cooper said he didn’t expect himself nor many of the former Petty employees to get hired by the new team, which is expected to work out of the Gillett Evernham shop in Statesville, N.C. “I left [my status] up to Robbie Loomis,” Cooper said. “I didn’t have any major conversations with Robbie about it. I really don’t think they’re going to take too many people up there. They had a full staff anyway [at GEM]."(SceneDaily)(1-7-2009)
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Post by WA2COOL on Jan 15, 2009 14:40:45 GMT -5
Read today that B. Labonte is going to drive for HOF Racing in 09. (Hall of Fame) Racing. Turned down going to GEM (Ganassi-Earnhardt Motorsports) You think there aren't problems there? The article basically said HOF was the worst ride in Nascar...wow that's nice of the media........and it appears that the 'no testing' ban is only at Nascar tracks and not the outsider tracks. Not seeing where that is going to save any money like they intended it to.
Mike Skinner also out of a truck ride for now. Basically got dumped by the new owners of the team after New Years even after they said he had a job in 09.
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guess who