Another One Bites the Dust
|
On
Tuesday of this week, it was announced that Furniture Row Racing had decided
that after the final race of the year at Homestead, they will close the doors
on their garage and end their time in NASCAR's top series, just a year after
winning the Championship. This is also
just one year after trimming their operation from a two-care team down to one
car. This leaves a lot of people who are making their living in NASCAR without
a job. Don't worry about Cole Pearn,
Martin Truex Jr., or anyone else currently on the Furniture Row team. Anyone on a team winning races on a regular
basis and a year from winning a championship should be able to land a position
on another team with relative ease. And the person who they will replace is
probably okay as well, but as team members continue to be replaced and trickle
down to available positions on lower tiered teams, eventually there will be
some folks without seats when the music stops.
That is truly an unfortunate effect of losing one of the top teams on
the track.
But
how does this happen? A year away from a title, multiple wins for the past few
years, and decent sponsorship money should be enough, correct? Sure, but only until a piece of that changes,
and in the case of Furniture Row, the "decent" sponsorship is no
longer there, and team brass Barney Visser and Joe Garone
decide that if they cannot replace a departing sponsor, it's time to get the
mothballs. The fact is that the sport
has just become too expensive, and the days of a sponsor's ability to cover the
entire season are all but gone. Teams
need millions of dollars from multiple sponsors now, instead of a single
source. This all goes back to the
increasing cost of the sport, and needing $35 million dollars per year to cover
what used to be done with $5 million, and it is driving teams out of the sport,
such as BK Racing, which filed for bankruptcy, and now Furniture Row. NASCAR could have, and should have, nipped
this a while ago.
So,
what's the answer? NASCAR MUST control the spending levels
of the teams. This is going to have to
be attacked on two fronts.
First,
NASCAR needs to initiate a spending cap.
What this number would be is up to NASCAR to determine, but it needs to
be well under $35 million dollars. Like
$20 million. This includes parts to
build the cars, tools and supplies, labor for all team members, wind tunnel
time, and with the exception of food and refreshments, every other dime and
dollar that goes into the operation of that race team. To back this up, NASCAR will need, as a
condition of competing, the owners to (gasp!) open up the books. Sorry, but it is long overdue. It is the only way to ensure that teams are
remaining under the cap.
The
second piece of the puzzle is that in order to control spending, NASCAR needs
to control the products the teams are purchasing to the furthest extent. It may take a few years to implement based on
research, but no longer will Joe Gibbs Racing, or Hendrick Motorsports, or
Roush-Fenway or any other team be allowed to spend $300.00 for something that
is available for half the price. That
$100,000.00 engine is going to start costing $50,000.00… or less. That over-priced jack is nice. Use it as long as you can, but the next one
will only cost half as much. You're
welcome. NASCAR needs to research
everything, from sheet metal to shop rags, and from tie-rods to tape
rolls. And they need to source it all,
and supply it to the teams. But we're
not talking about the top of the line stuff anymore. We're going economy, and at Crazy NASCAR's
Parts and Supplies, we're passing that savings onto the customer!
Everyone
pays the same thing for everything. What
it costs Richard Childress or Chip Ganassi in parts to build a Chevrolet
engine, it will cost Bob Leavine the same. The price
tag, however, will probably look a little more familiar to Leavine
than Childress or Ganassi. Do not
misunderstand; we're not creating a new IROC series. Once those parts are delivered to the various
teams, they can do whatever they want to and with them as long as it is within
the rule book and within the spending cap.
The
first argument is going to be that lower quality parts means less durability
and things may break more often, costing teams better finishes. So what?
It's even across the board. What
kicks Jimmie Johnson out of a race this week might be what Clint Bowyer
complains about next week, but it helps control the cost. And who knows, it might get all of the big
teams in one race, heaven forbid, Cole Whitt, Matt DiBenedetto or Michael
McDowell could win a race. You know what
broken race cars do? They make cautions. You know what cautions do? They make restarts. Fans love restarts.
The
second argument is that people don't want the referees handing out the
parts. Really? It works for the air guns, even though the
teams tried to screw it up by using things other than air. Additionally, the last thing NASCAR needs is
a scandal in which a disgruntled whistleblower destroys the sport.
This
will help level the playing field. Of
course, those who are behind now will remain behind until they are able to
catch up, and those who are top of the sport will remain there until the others
do catch up. Everyone is always yearning
for the old days of NASCAR, right? Well,
let's turn back the clock on everything, and start with the wallet… the rest
will fall into place.