November 23, 2008
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
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Last Sunday’s race at Miami-Homestead Speedway was a farewell in many ways.
Not only was it the end of the 2008 season, but the end of an era for two teams, the end of the road with several drivers and their teams, the end of the job for potentially hundreds of employees, and the beginning of a new era for one of NASCAR’s most popular organizations.
Pre-race, it seemed that Tony Stewart was having a hard time holding back tears as he stood next to his #20 Home Depot Toyota Camry for the last time. Stewart, who has never driven a Cup car for anyone but Joe Gibbs Racing, is moving on to start his own race team in 2009. He has spent what has often been a tumultuous decade as the driver of the 20…but over that decade, Smoke, Crew Chief Greg Zippadelli, and the entire team have become like family. He says that “Zippy” is like the older brother he never had growing up and you could see the emotion not only in Stewart's face as the pre-race activities got underway, but in Zippadelli’s as well.
Photo Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR
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Stewart Moving To His Own Team
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During a pre-race interview, Stewart commented that he hoped that he had learned enough about how to run a team like his from Joe and J.D. Gibbs that he would be able to create the same sense of family at Stewart-Haas Racing as he had felt at JGR.
“I think we’re all emotional today. These guys have been family for ten years, and I hope they’ll be family for another ten years," Smoke said, emotion filling his voice. “If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it exactly the same way. Hopefully after today I can lead my own team the same way Joe and J.D. would do theirs, and hopefully I can have similar success. I’m not excited about not being with these guys. I’m excited about what I’m doing next year, but I’m not excited about leaving here.”
As the race began, Smoke came over the radio and told the team he would never be able to properly thank them for all they had done for him and that they meant the world to him. And then he went to work in an effort to ensure they would be able to go to the Champions Banquet in New York in two weeks as a team one last time. He was able to make that happen, moving up to 9th in points as he crossed the finish line. And then, as if wanting to keep the moment to themselves, Smokes team radio went silent, and whatever words were exchanged between driver and crew were kept just amongst themselves.
After the race, Tony talked with reporters behind his hauler and commented on his thoughts of the day. “It was awesome to be leading with 20 laps to go (before running out of fuel and having to stop in the final laps) and driving away from the field, you can’t ask for more than that. We all wanted to win this last race. I’m really proud of these guys. The biggest thing to me was we went out on a night where we were competitive…everybody knew we were here and they knew we were one of the fastest cars all day and we did what we needed to do.”
It was also the end of the road at Penske Racing for Stewart’s new teammate, Ryan Newman. Newman, who kicked off the season winning the Daytona 500 for car owner Roger Penske, has driven the #12 Alltell Dodge since he entered the Cup series in 2002, but had a less-than-stellar conclusion to his six year stint with the team, finishing Sunday's race in 21st position, one lap down.
The way we ran tonight, I'm glad that the season is over," said Newman after Sunday’s race. "Despite our run, I'm very, very grateful for the opportunity that Roger (Penske) has given me over the last several years."
It was also the end of the road for Paul Menard, who is leaving the #15 Dale Earnhardt Incorporated (DEI) team to move to Yates Racing’s #98 car in 2009.
Casey Mears ended his two year run with Hendrick Motorsports (HMS), leaving the #25/5 teams for the #07 team at Richard Childress Racing.
Reed Sorenson made his last laps with the #41 Chip Ganassi team, packing his bags for Gillette Evernham Racing’s #10 car.
Mark Martin is stepping back up to full-time racing in 2009, leaving the #8 car at DEI to replace Casey Mears at HMS.
Unfortunately, the end of the season also meant the delivery of pink slips in many of NASCAR’s garages on Monday. Before the race even began there were reports of more than 100 lay-offs at DEI.
Junior Motorsports has let employees go. Hendrick Motorsports, which has had the Championship team for the last three years, laid off as many as 100 people, including the spotter for Champion Jimmie Johnson. Bill Davis Racing, which produced this year’s Craftsman Truck Series Champion, Johnny Benson, isn’t sure what is in store for next year, and may be laying off employees and scaling back operations.
The Wood Brothers had to drastically reduce both their truck and Cup Series operations. Hall of Fame Racing is reportedly selling their shop. And even Stewart-Haas racing has laid people off this week.
In all, as many as 750 to 1000 people who started the season as part of a race team could be looking for work by the end of the week. It is the first time in NASCAR history that this many people have been laid off at one time.
Finally, it was moving day for Dale Earnhardt Incorporated. With the merger of DEI and Chip Ganassi Racing into Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, it was decided to house all of the teams in one location. DEI headquarters was nicknamed the “Garagemahal” when it was built a decade ago because at the time it was the most impressive shop in NASCAR. Now, it has become a relic of years gone by, and it was decided to move the teams to the newer, larger facility that Ganassi-Sabates Racing has been working in. The first loads of equipment were taken from DEI in Mooresville to EGR in Concord on Monday. No one has said yet what will happen with the Garagemahal.
It is unlikely this will be the end of the layoffs, mergers, and general downsizing. As Jimmie Johnson explained this week, “There's a dominos effect here and if one does fall, I don't really have an idea what the impact could be. You look at the worst-case scenario and it could really affect teams financially and put a lot of the smaller teams out of business."
As we close the book on the 2008 season, no one is really certain what 2009 will hold…except that the garage area will likely be much smaller than it was this weekend.
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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