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Thinking about starting a NASCAR team? There is a lot to consider. You need sponsors, the right driver, a good crew chief, and the best equipment and personnel you can get. But, as history shows, if you screw up the name on the sign out front, you might as well kiss any success goodbye.
This week’s reports about the possible return of Foster Gillett to NASCAR with driver Kimi Raikkonen and ICE 1 Racing got Journo and me talking about NASCAR team names. Think about the current powerhouse teams. What names come to mind? Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Roush Fenway Racing. What do all of these teams have in common? They are all named after their owner.
What’s my point with all this? When you look back over the recent history of the sport, arbitrarily named teams often struggle to find any measure of success. Why? Who knows?
Think about some of the current and defunct teams that were not named in some form or another after their owner(s): Phoenix, Front Row, Red Bull, 2nd Chance, Faith, Go Green, Furniture Row, Red Horse, Panhandle, Green Light, Turn One, Competitive Edge, Eel River, PPI, Bang!, Diamond Ridge, Innovative, and the list goes on. For most of these teams, success has and was difficult to come by. Some have scattered wins, or a few top fives and top tens here and there, but not much more than that.
When was the last time a team not named for it’s owner won a Cup Series championship? You’ve got to go back more than 20 years to 1989. Rusty Wallace won the Winston Cup championship that year driving for Raymond Beadle’s Blue Max Racing team. Since then, the Cup Series has been dominated by team owner named organizations.
After Blue Max, only one other non-owner named team has won a national series NASCAR championship. Driving for Jim Smith’s Ultra Motorsports, Ted Musgrave won the 2005 Truck Series championship. As a sidenote, Ultra was closed a short time after they were crowned champions.
The reasons why these teams often struggle to succeed or even survive are completely inexplicable. Many have had top flight drivers and sponsors. Maybe it’s some sort of weird psychological phenomenon holding them back. Or maybe it’s just a really strange coincidence. Either way, it appears it may be all in the name.
So to you future NASCAR team owners out there, let me caution you. When it comes to naming your team, choose wisely…
At certain races throughout the season, race teams with major sponsors will get visited by that company’s big wigs. It may be that certain races are close to their corporate headquarters, maybe the team is running a special paint scheme, or maybe that company is making a big announcement. Whatever the reason, when these folks make an appearance at the track, it’s always a big deal.
Most companies who sponsor a race team at the highest levels are represented at each race. They either have a marketing company who looks after the sponsor program for them, or they have their own rep who comes to the track. These folks make sure the company is represented as it should be, and they are busy with things like driver appearances and hospitality.
When people from a company’s executive team are planning on showing up at the track however, it’s always easy to tell.
For whatever reason in racing, the important people for a team always seem to wear pressed white shirts at the track. The next time you’re at a race and walking around the infield, pay attention to this. Many team owners and their business people will be wearing this uniform.
These pressed white shirts are always the first clue. When XYZ Co.’s CEO is at the track, there always seems to be a big conglomeration of white shirted folks hanging around the hauler and the pit.
Another clue is often the disappearance of the driver and sponsor rep/PR person for any duration of the day. Often times the driver will head out to a company’s hospitality tent or trackside suite to meet with the people who pay big money for them to race. They will do everything from Q&A sessions with company guests, to private sit down meetings.
One last clue can be seen right before the race. There are always a gazillion people on pit road before the race starts. Everybody from crew guys, media folks, fans and the like will crowd around the cars before the drivers climb in. When the execs are at the race, there will always be a much bigger crowd around that particular car. Company employees will meet with the driver, get a chance to see the car, and pose for photo ops.
For Fortune 500 companies that spend $15-25 million a year to sponsor a race team, it’s always good when these people get a chance to come to the track. Watching on TV or seeing still photos is one thing, but seeing their dollars at work, in front of a hundred thousand fans, is hopefully all they need to keep cutting those checks.
Working in racing is unlike anything I’ve ever done previously. It seems like all the rules that apply to normal jobs and job searching are completely irrelevant. Resumes aren’t as important as your reputation. There are no job boards or websites. Sometimes you can get hired without ever even meeting a crew chief. What your past experience and achievements are don’t matter as much as what you can do right now, today. And job offers are sometimes only valid for a few hours.
Movement and turnover happen in every business and industry in this country, and racing is no different. Some guys are able to find a home and stay there for many years, while others seem to work for a new team every season. But at some point, we all come to that crossroads.
As a young tire changer, all you are looking for is a chance. And if you are smart, you will pit anything and everything you can. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Cup car or a go cart; or if you are making a few hundred bucks or doing it for free. The only way to advance is to learn on the fly and make a ton of connections. But as you move along in your career, the priorities change. Is winning more important then money? Can I have both? What is best for my family? Is there any semblance of job security with a new team (there never really is)?
And as we move along, we all get to that point where we’ve got to take a chance and make a move. Just like anything else, sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t. And it doesn’t matter whether you are working for a team currently and a better opportunity comes along, or if you lost your job and are mulling a few different options. In racing, you better not mull too long. Because if you wait and hope to maybe get more offers, or you aren’t sure what is the best path, you might get left behind.
I think for most folks, having somebody offer you a job out of the blue isn’t usually realistic. I know before I worked in racing, nobody ever called me up one day and said “hey, you want to come to work for me?” The only jobs I was ever offered were those I applied for. Racing is different though. All it takes is one phone call to change everything.
But just like every other decision in life, you’ve got to think on your feet, weigh your options, and make the best possible choice with the information you have to work with. Beyond that, all we can do is hope for a little luck.
2010 Just as a little side note, I want to say that I’ve been blessed and am really excited to be heading out for another year in racing. The season officially kicks off this weekend, and both myself and Journo are excited about bringing you along for the ride in 2010. We think we offer something you can’t find anywhere else in the NASCAR media, and we will keep bringing you the best in inside information and insight. Enjoy the races!
You may not realize it, but while the 2009 season still isn’t officially over yet, preparations for 2010 have already begun. One area that teams will spend the last few races working on, is changes to their pit crews.
To the untrained eye, it may appear to be business as usual for your favorite driver on pit road. The car comes in, four tires go on, the car leaves. But many teams take the opportunity to use these last couple of races to plug some new crew guys into their teams and see how they fare. Do they gel with the existing crew guys? Are they rattled by the pressure? Could they make it next year? These are all questions teams are trying to answer.
You won’t usually see this from the Chasers, but many teams outside the Chase will tinker. It is inevitable that some guys will stay with their current teams, while others are looking to move on. And some will be looking for a new spot involuntarily. Either way, the teams need to find new guys to fill those holes. These races can give them that chance to see what a guy, or guys, has.
Besides lateral movement within a series, these races also give teams a chance to see some younger guys in action. Maybe a guy is brought up from the Truck Series to the Nationwide Series, or from the Nationwide Series to the Cup Series. Crew chiefs and pit crew coaches can see first hand if a younger, inexperienced guy might be ready to move up the ranks. Some will thrive, while others will need more time to mature.
When you watch any of the races this weekend, the Cup race in particular, be on the lookout for helmets on pit crew guys that don’t match the rest of the crew. Often times, a gray helmet on a team means a new guy is involved. And if you really know your favorite driver’s team well, take a look at each crew member. Do you recognize every face? In many cases, I’ll bet you will be able to spot some fresh faces. It’s just another example of how teams are always working to be better for the future.