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Black Monday, Is The Worst Yet To Come?

An Opinion



January 29, 2009

By Doug Demmons


Doug Demmons
At the end of last week’s NASCAR Sprint Media Tour, NASCAR Chairman Brian France addressed the obvious -- the shrinking economy. He spoke from a podium positioned between two large screens emblazoned with the slogan “NASCAR: Strong Through the Turns.”

You could look at that a number of ways. It’s either whistling past the graveyard, deep denial or bravado in the face of crisis. My vote is for deep denial -- especially after France went on to point out that 15 new teams had applied for licensing for the Sprint Cup Series.

There may very well be 15 new teams looking to crack the field in the Cup Series. Or there may just be 15 new teams hoping to cash in on a big payday at Daytona -- with a few of them hoping to scrounge up enough cash to stick around for the rest of the season.

But even with the best of intentions the vast majority of them can charitably be referred to as field fillers. The chances that any of the Fabulous Fifteen will win a race or even pull down a top 10 are as good as the chances that Keith Richards will finally retire and I’ll be the new lead guitarist for the Stones.

So why would France take the opportunity of his big annual address to the media to cite this as progress? Because there’s nothing else. That’s how bad it is out there. In fact, it’s even worse.

Fifteen teams are not jumping into the sport because they all stumbled across suitcases stuffed with cash. They aren’t geniuses who figured out how to sway recalcitrant sponsors. They don’t have a crystal ball that sees happy days around the next turn.

They see an opening. It’s the kind of opening that Kyle Busch likes to try to squeeze through but it’s an opening nonetheless. With so many teams from last year gone the competition for starting spots is vastly reduced. That dreaded top 35 rule is less intimidating when there might only be a handful of cars competing for the rest of the 43 spots. If you can make the field, you can cross your fingers and hope that a sponsor takes notice.

I prefer to think that France’s rosy scenario of last week -- like his earlier assertion that NASCAR would get along just fine without the manufacturers -- is simply for public consumption, that behind closed doors there is gnashing of teeth, rending of clothing and widespread panic.

Yes, it’s hard to imagine that the economic flash flood that has swept so many teams and crew members into the river could possibly get any worse. But it not only could, it very well might.

If you think the economy has already hit bottom the news on Monday should have been a cold slap in the face. For thousands, it was Black Monday -- the day that more than 65,000 working men and women were declared surplus and unaffordable.

It was the day that Home Depot, Caterpillar, General Motors, Sprint all announced massive layoffs. What those companies have in common are major sponsor relationships with NASCAR and/or NASCAR teams.

But the more plants you close, the more workers you put on the street, the more you look to government to bail you out, the harder it gets to justify to shareholders and taxpayers spending millions on racing.

You can make a good case -- or at least a surreal one -- for spending millions on NASCAR while you’re laying off thousands of workers. After all, if you’re Home Depot you still have to sell stuff and you still have to advertise and market your brand.

But at some point it becomes a public relations nightmare and you cut your losses. There are a lot more losses to be cut this year. It’s going to get darker before the dawn.




Doug Demmons is a writer and editor for the Birmingham News ~ he writes daily and weekly auto racing columns ranging from NASCAR to open wheel to Formula One, local tracks and more... you can read Doug's columns online at Blog of Tommorow


You can contact Doug Demmons at .... Birmingham News

You Can Read Other Articles By Doug Demmons


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.

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