GM Trims NASCAR Support: Teams combing through budgets

The latest GM bankruptcy trickle-down spilled across Piedmont North Carolina Wednesday, as company officials visited their four major NASCAR teams - Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing. The message from GM - cuts in financial support - was expected but nonetheless sobering news.

Team co-owner/driver Tony Stewart was both realistic and upbeat. "While this cutback will force us to review our budget," said Stewart, "it will not impact our preparation for the track or the return on investment we provide to our partners. We're racers and racers find a way to make things work."

Neither the teams nor GM would discuss details. A statement from GM Wednesday said, "Chevrolet's involvement in racing is a sound business decision that translates directly into the sale of cars and trucks. It is essential, however, that we continue to look at every penny we spend as General Motors takes the necessary steps to become a leaner company with a significantly stronger balance sheet.

"While Chevy Racing is talking to its business partners about ways to reduce cost and maximize the return on investment, it is our policy to not talk about the details of business relationships with our partners." The company's current annual budget for racing is said to exceed $125m.

Rick Hendrick, a major Chevrolet dealer and owner of Hendrick Motorsports, said, "We had very productive conversations this week with the folks at General Motors, and it's clear they are committed to racing and committed to our organization. They've asked us for some help, and we're going to give it to them. We're proud to be a Chevy team, and we will do our part to support the new GM both on and off the racetrack."

There was a hint of new directions in a statement by NASCAR President Brian France, as he pledged the organization's support to its teams by looking to new companies, new technologies and, particularly, to the burgeoning green industries for solutions in moving forward.


Commentary: Some Thoughts On NASCAR's Future

NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow concept was a golden opportunity to break into the 21st century and establish a platform for the innovative technologies being advanced by the auto industry. Instead, the CoT proved a poorly executed attempt by NASCAR's techno-dinosaurs to further control both current and future automotive technology.

Unconfirmed rumblings emanating from NASCAR's Daytona Beach headquarters suggest that upper management is divided on the subject. Witness Mr. France's reference to green technologies above. As NASCAR became more entrenched in mandating cars with highly developed 1960s mechanical systems underneath spec bodywork differentiated make-to-make by decals, the automakers further stretched the limits of creativity in justifying huge budgets to support a form of racing that had virtually nothing to do with the products rolling off assembly lines.

NASCAR had stretched its iconic marketing mantra - Win on Sunday. Sell on Monday - to the breaking point. And that breaking point came with the near collapse of the auto industry worldwide.

Now the budgets at GM and Chrysler are being picked over by bureaucrats with unknown attitudes toward the commercial juggernaut that has been NASCAR racing. That very success led to the if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it approach to advanced technology.

Retooling to produce a fleet of relevant racing cars for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will be akin to turning around an aircraft carrier in a creek. And that is particularly true now that manufacturer support for such an undertaking is being squeezed.

Tony Stewart's comment above that racers will find a way to make things work will prevail. Whether Cup racing retains the success it has so recently enjoyed, however, depends very much on how the sanctioning body reacts. The auto industry is undergoing a permanent change. For stock car racing is to remain an integral piece of the new industry's marketing landscape will depend entirely on what a stock car is.

To configure a relevant stock car for competition, NASCAR must listen to its racing teams who are the strongest technical link to the automakers. As this has never before been done on big issues, the future of NASCAR will be decided behind closed doors at Daytona Beach. The side that emerges less bloodied will set the course.

No bets from this corner.