Team owner’s decision may be sign of things to come

By Mike Mulhern
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE
Published: July 3, 2008

Car owner Doug Yates may be prophetic. He warned last week that the economic climate is so tough right now for NASCAR team owners that as many as six teams might not make it to 2009.
Tuesday, fellow NASCAR owner Chip Ganassi pulled the plug on one of his three teams, closing the doors on the Dario Franchitti team, leaving Franchitti, a former Indy-car star, sidelined.
Ganassi cited lack of sponsorship. But he said he hoped that Franchitti would continue to run his Nationwide cars.
Ganassi, one of the top IndyCar team owners for many years (winning this year’s Indy 500 with Scott Dixon), has struggled to gain a decent foothold in NASCAR, despite spending millions since joining the stock-car tour in 2001 by teaming with Felix Sabates.
Ganassi’s lead driver the past two years has been Juan Pablo Montoya, a former Formula One star who won last summer at Sonoma—Ganassi’s first NASCAR win since Jamie McMurray’s win at Charlotte in 2002.
Still, for a man the caliber of Ganassi to have to call it quits, so suddenly, has to be a warning call for NASCAR executives, who, despite rising TV ratings, are fighting sluggish ticket sales and drivers displeased with the handling characteristics of the sport’s winged race car.
Ganassi called it “a difficult decision for Felix and me, that did not come without its share of anguish.
“In this tough business environment, continuing to run the car without proper funding has become increasingly difficult.”
Ray Evernham, a fellow Dodge team owner who last season was forced to bring in a new business partner because of the increasing cost of NASCAR racing, said that at least six NASCAR teams this season are running on budgets of $30 million or more. That’s almost $800,000 a race for the 38-race tour.
Among the other team owners struggling with sponsorship: Bill Davis, Len and Eddie Wood, Richard and Kyle Petty, Robby Gordon and Doug Yates. Beth Ann and Tony Morgenthau shut down their Cup operation earlier this year.
Ganassi’s first two seasons in NASCAR were quite promising, with Sterling Marlin leading the 2002 championship race until breaking his neck in a crash late in the season. Ganassi has fielded three Cup teams since 2003.
But since then, Ganassi’s operation has been mired.
McMurray bailed out at the end of 2005; Casey Mears left at the end of 2006. At the end of 2007 Ganassi dropped David Stremme and hired Franchitti, an Indy 500 winner and IndyCar series champion. But the loss of Coors Light as sponsor at the end of 2007 (the brewer moved to the NASCAR side of sponsorship, taking over marketing pole awards) proved costly for Ganassi.
And Franchitti, 35, didn’t quite catch fire in NASCAR this season. After an impressive IndyCar career (18 wins, 65 top fives in 11 years), Franchitti was expected to be much more impressive in NASCAR than he has been.
Franchitti’s NASCAR season: a 33rd at Daytona, 32nd at Fontana, 33rd at Las Vegas, 33rd at Atlanta, 36th at Bristol, 22nd at Martinsville, 32nd at Phoenix, 41st at Pocono, 43rd at Michigan, and 38th at New Hampshire. Franchitti failed to qualify at Texas, then broke his ankle in a Saturday crash at Talladega and missed Cup races at Talladega, Richmond, Darlington, Charlotte and Dover. And he failed to qualify at Sonoma.
So the Franchitti team has been stuck in 41st in the standings. Montoya is 20th in the standings, Reed Sorenson 31st.
There has been considerable speculation all season about what changes Ganassi might be planning, including possible sale of the operation.
Montoya is on his third crew chief of the season; he is rumored to be under consideration by Joe and J.D. Gibbs to take Tony Stewart’s ride, if Stewart decides to leave at the end of the season.
Sorenson is in the final year of his contract.