The Cost of Racing

[Gfaules]

At one point or another it is going to effect us all in one way or another. We can be thankful we are members on an organization that helps keep it more affordable to enjoy what it is we all love so much.

 

Detroit woes hit racing

 

CONCORD (AP) When asked about Ford Motor Co.'s announcement that it lost a record $12.7 billion last year, the direc­tor of Dodge's racing pro­gram cringes as if he just swallowed a swig of motor oil.

 

These aren't the best of times for the U.S. auto industry, and the effects are starting to trickle down to NASCAR. Folks in the race team shops sprinkled throughout sub­urban Charlotte are wor­ried about tightening their belts and not just the ones on their engines.

 

Mike Accavitti, director of Dodge Motorsports and SRT Product Planning, said teams must start finding ways to become more efficient.

 

"I've always contended that if it's a money-burn­ing contest, you've got the wrong partner," Accavitti said. "I don't want to say we're cheap, but we never really had a lot of money to just throw at things."

 

In an attempt to stop long-standing rumors that Dodge was considering pulling out of NASCAR entirely, Accavitti made a firm public commitment to the sport during NAS­CAR's preseason media tour Thursday. "Dodge is here to stay," he said. But not here to go on a wild spending spree.

 

At a time when NASCAR teams are making major increases to their research and development budgets to deal with changes in the sport, asking auto­makers to chip in even more money is a tough sell.

"It's hard to get more, because let's face it: Right now, business is not great," said Dodge team owner Ray Evernham. Evernham certainly could use the money. He and other teams are devel­oping the so-called Car of Tomorrow, NASCAR's new chassis design that could be more cost- effective for teams in the long run but is costing them millions to design and build now. Evernham also must keep an eye on Toyota, which is entering its first year in the Nextel Cup and has caused widespread concern that they will drive up the cost of racing. In response, Evernham said Dodge has redistri­buted some of its racing budget, spending less on advertising and more on research and develop­ment.

 

Dodge also offers teams technical help, including wind tunnel time and manufacturing expertise. They hope to help teams improve their perfor­mance without boosting their budgets ¿ much like the automakers them­selves are trying to do.

 

Contracts between automakers and teams are closely held secrets, but run well into the millions and can make up close to 20 percent of a team's rac­ing budget. Without that money, a team wouldn't be able to survive in the long term. Roush Racing president Geoff Smith said despite Ford's overall financial dif­ficulties, he has never heard anything from the company¿s senior manage­ment that would indicate that the company is wav­ering in its commitment to NASCAR. In fact, team owner Jack Roush talked Ford into increasing its support of the team this year. Smith sees that as an indication that Ford won't pull out of NASCAR just because times are tough. "Absolutely," Smith said. "They'd be foolish to be investing and helping us shore up our engineering infrastructure if they weren't committed to being in NASCAR."

 

But Ford also announced Wednesday that it was pulling the plug on its sponsorship of the Champ Car racing series an indication that the compa­ny might have chosen to help Roush at a lesser series expense. Despite the tough times, Smith said he is confident that Ford will recover. You're going to have these unfortunate fluxes in who's on top with their product, Smith said.

 

Gary Faules

Nasa Mentor Director

[zuperdave]

Particpating in this sport at our level is a great hands-on learning lab in "value engineering," or what most of would commonly refer to as getting "bang for the buck."

[Gfaules]

You are correct and when you get right down to it, even the greats started out exactly the same way.

 

Gary Faules