January 7, 2009
By Chuck Abrams
The last time I wrote for you all, the off season seemed to be ending on an extremely silly note with Evernham announcing his retirement -- and GEM and Petty were talking merger, although there were plenty of denials of that merger.
Who was I kidding? Now it has gotten even sillier.
Not only have GEM and Petty continued to drag things out, they have released Elliott Sadler and hired A.J. Allmendinger – “Wallmenginger” as he is known on these pages.
The reasoning I have seen for this move was based on the fact that Allmendinger finished well ahead of Sadler in his few races with GEM in 2008, 16.4 for Allmendinger vs. 31.8 for Sadler.
Ouch.
Elliott Sadler has certainly under-performed in his tenure at GEM. Allmendinger was up and down as a driver in his tenure at Red Bull but has never given up after he being released from the Red Bull team in favor of Scott Speed.
On top of that, Sadler has lawyered up and is now suing GEM for breach of contract. Maybe he should call Jeremy Mayfield for a little advice.
With Bobby Labonte still sitting on the sidelines, I was very surprised to see A.J. in the seat of the #19 for 2009. GEM seems to be favoring former open wheel/Indy car drivers and that leaves Bobby Labonte on the sidelines.
We have also heard from Jeff Gordon with his shout out in favor of the new car, also formerly known as the Car of Tomorrow. Granted, his announcement little to nothing to do with how the car drives, but more about the timing of the car and the recent economic turmoil and the sucking wind sound that we now hear out of Detroit.
With all three major U.S. automakers cutting back on racing support, the fact that the new car looks nothing like the current stock cars being produced, Gordon maintains that NASCAR could operate without major support from the Big Three if necessary. Having a car that looks nothing like a street car helps NASCAR more easily distance itself from Detroit.
Tony Stewart and Clint Bowyer disagree with Gordon's assessment.
In Gordon’s defense, NASCAR could survive. Racing might look more like it did in the 1950s and 60s but it could survive. Without major manufacturer support, NASCAR will have to downsize as smaller teams would evaporate after sponsor support runs out. Even the major teams might have to reduce staff to remain competitive. NASCAR has already said that they will not support the teams, they are on their own.
And who wants to watch four or five major teams chase each other around while the field is filled with, well, field-fillers -- just to keep your interest? You’ll have the field-fillers running as best as they can, collecting smaller paychecks, it will still be worth their while to run a race from time to time.
If all the teams are hurt financially and we wind up with racing like the fans keep whining about, then maybe something good might come out of this. If the super teams fall apart and we are back to one and two car operations, the field might actually be a bit more even.
If that scenario doesn’t come to play, the only other option is an IROC-like series.
But in the end, smaller teams will beget larger teams as the economy returns over the years. And maybe the Big Three might actually survive and get back in the sport the way they did years ago.
Bailout or not, the Big Three have to start producing street cars that are far more different than what NASCAR is racing right now. If they do not, they will fail. We were given notice of this day back in 1973 and Detroit did nothing. Now the Japanese car makers are eating our lunch and may soon be dominating our American sport.
Talk about silliness…..
Happy New Year and keep the shiny side up!
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.
Feel free to send Chuck your thoughts on this and other race topics at 
