November 14, 2009
By Brenda Benedict
We are short on good news here in Michigan. Our state made a list yesterday that identifies us as one of the states with the worst financial condition. We are in the top ten states on the brink of financial collapse.
The Pew Center on the States published a list of those states where the wolf is not only at the door but he has one foot in the house.
But there has been some good news this week. Yesterday Ford Motor Company announced that the Ford Fusion set sales records. The Fusion topped the car’s best-ever sales numbers set in 2007.
Through early November, Ford had sold 151,137 Fusions, topping their previous full-year total sales of 149,552 in 2007.
How much did the fact that the Ford Fusion runs in NASCAR contribute to sales record? I believe there is a direct connection. And Ford Motor Company seems to agree.
"The main selling point in all of motorsports is marketing. We have a couple of different metrics we use," Brian Wolfe, director of Ford North America Motorsports stated. "J.D. Powers has a survey and we also have an internal survey. What we find in both is somewhere between 45 and 50 percent of people that are market-active are race fans."So, if you want to appeal to a large portion of the car-buying public, racing is a great way to do that. NASCAR works for us."
And that works for NASCAR. Since we are regularly hearing about loss of sponsorship troubles in even strong teams in NASCAR, it is refreshing to learn about a sponsor that is benefiting from their NASCAR association.
There is even a website for displaced employees of NASCAR teams. It is called www.www.dontcheckup.com. Their motto is “Helping NASCAR families weather the storm.”
The web site title refers to the racing term for braking and the site has been very busy. The site developer states that, “The recession continues to wreak havoc on many racing careers and lives. The site is a place to post resumes and find support, even the occasional job.”
“DontCheckUp.com was launched in December of 2008 to reach out and provide assistance to workers displaced from area NASCAR teams due to the recent economic downturn," the web site states. "This site and the organization behind it are committed to assisting these workers in finding new employment.”
Don Gemmel, the site developer, estimates that 1,500 racing industry employees have lost their jobs in the past year.
“A pretty good number have left (the Charlotte area),” Gemmell said. “A lot of them have hung on for a year. Some have taken what they can find, for less money, but the majority are still unemployed.”
We here in Michigan feel their pain. The racing industry may be a microcosm of Michigan because we are both experiencing similar fates.
I work part-time for the State of Michigan. The Michigan Legislature has been battling with Governor Granholm over a budget. As a result, I have not been paid for my work for the past four weeks.
“Not until the Governor signs the budget,” I’m told. “We’ll send the check as soon as the budget bill is signed.”
I think they are telling me that the check is in the mail but I haven’t seen any money since the beginning of October. Tell that to my bill collectors!
We have to grab hold of good news, no matter how small.
Ford’s sales peak may be a faint glimmer of the light at the end of the tunnel or it may be a momentary blip on the sales chart. Either way, we can use this new data to create hope and give hope both to Michigan residents and also to NASCAR industry employees.
You can follow me at Twitter @nascarfaithful
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
