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What's next?
Well folks, as you know, I have applauded NASCAR for suspending testing in hopes of saving these race teams a lot of money. I think they can work with that plan and still accomplish everything we have accomplished in the past. This new car has evolved pretty much into what it's going to be short of NASCAR coming in and making a change. I think the teams have pretty much worked out and massaged on this new car as much as they can.
I have to be honest. I always thought testing was overrated anyways. You can go test for two days and all you have learned is what not to do. You didn't learn a lot about what to do.
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So what else can NASCAR do in the short term to try and help these teams? Remember that these teams are classified as independent contractors — although I am not so sure about the independent part because NASCAR pretty well dictates what the teams can and can't do, so I am not sure where the independent part comes into play ... maybe they should be called sub-contractors? Anyway, I think they need to look next at big ticket items, and this is where I believe a competition committee could play a vital role. Owners and sponsors should be on this committee — you know, the folks that pay the actual bills to keep these teams going.
What are "big ticket" items?
- Tires are a big ticket item.
- We all know travel is a big ticket item.
- People are big ticket items.
All these race teams have been over-staffed. Certainly there are going to be folks on every race team that aren't as critical as others.
That again also goes back to travel, and I still believe NASCAR, the owners and community leaders need to work together to give fans and teams a NASCAR discount. Don't forget that we pump tons of money into the local community each weekend we race. Everyone from the fans to the teams that come into town for the race weekend need to be treated better now than they have in the past. There should be NASCAR discounts in every race community we go.
I also believe that in the short term, we need to take some drastic measures at least until these car manufacturers can get their wheels back up underneath them. Why couldn't we restructure the purse money? It's heavy at the top and light at the bottom. Don't get me wrong, it should be. The cat that wins the race should get the biggest piece of the pie. Maybe the TV money could be spread out more evenly? The point fund could be beefed up more at the bottom and less at the top. Earning $5.5 million dollars for a championship win is an exciting number, but right now maybe we need to have more of that money spread at the bottom and less at the top.
Sure, the drivers and owners at the top are going to be yelling that I am taking money out of their pockets. Folks, it's really simple. It's a drastic time, and it's going to take some drastic measures to keep everyone afloat and keep our sport healthy. The reason the point fund is so critical is that it would give them what they need to live on during the offseason. Remember, teams aren't racing from the middle of November until the middle of February. Payrolls have to be met, but there's no race money coming in. That's a tough time for car owners, especially when you add in that they have to also buy new equipment and get ready for a new season. So they could use a nice check from the point fund to help them get through the winter.
Time at the track is another area that I think we need to look at and improve upon. Robin Braig, who runs Daytona, and Marcus Smith, who runs Lowe's, aren't going to be fans of this, but why not trim back temporarily the time we spend there. For example, two weeks in Daytona is a lot of hotel rooms, rental cars, per diem, etc., so why not look at tightening that up? Again, these are just suggestions that could save the teams money immediately, and then as the economy gets better, we can look to possibly go back to some of our old ways. Who knows? Maybe if we implement some new plans now, we might find our old plans weren't so hot after all.
That's just some things that I know off the top of my head as a former car owner would have saved me a bunch of money back in the day. We don't need to sit back and see if it gets any better. It's not going to get better anytime soon. I am not trying to be gloom and doom here. We all have to tighten our belts if we are going to continue to enjoy the sport that we all love. If we want to see a lot of cars on the track and fans in the stands, we need to make that happen. It is not going to happen all by itself. We can't sit back. We have to be pro-active.
| Speed Mail DW |
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Oh, by the way
I write a lot of stories based on my personal experience. When I was writing about Jeff Gordon last week, I know what it is like to go through your first season without winning a race, and that was my point. Will he win in '09? He should. He is on a great team, so he should win next year. But things are going to have to change a little bit if he is going to be able to, and that was my point.
I write stories based on my experiences and how they relate to things now. I wrote a lot about Kyle Busch this year because I know how he feels. I won a lot of races when the fans didn't embrace me warmly, so I know what he is going through. So I know about these things, and I am just trying to use my experiences with their experiences and help you understand why things happen the way they do sometimes or what that driver is thinking or feeling.
I am a racecar driver first, a TV analyst-in-training second and a rookie blogger third. Just remember one thing: I write everything from my heart. It is not to be hypocritical or say, "Hey, look at me." It's things that I think are important that I write about, so I just wanted to share that with you.
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