The Petty decline

By Mark Young

In these days of financial unrest the racing world has taken a beating.  Sure Pope Brian France and the NASCAR juggernaut is still raking in the dough while at the same time turning a blind eye to empty seats each week at the track. ...Oh wait, they aren’t empty, they are just covered with big advertisements.

Other than the fans who can’t afford to go to the races the second biggest hit on the racing economy has been on the car owners.  Now don’t go jumping on me, because I realize that Rick, Jack, Richard, and the Joe are all doing very well.  I am talking about the Ganassis, Davises, Earnhardts, Yates and Pettys.  Lost sponsors, mergers, and perhaps lost manufacturers have placed the future of these teams in peril.

The one that will hurt the worst and put a mighty large black eye on the sport will be the loss of or merger of the Petty organization.

Petty.  It all started with Lee, then Richard, on to Kyle, and should now be Adam.  The longest running NASCAR team in history (I think) is in trouble, big trouble.  It began when the company had to move their shop from Level Cross, NC to Mooresville, NC in order to entice potential employees (a 67 mile difference in drive).  The organization’s troubles came to a boil when they had to sell majority ownership to an outside company in order to stay financially competitive.  Then they lost their primary sponsor for their primary driver, a former Cup champion, no less.  Compounded with the fact that Kyle was making races and we all saw the writing on the wall: The Petty’s are in trouble.

Now we are reading and hearing everyone report how the Petty operation is once again evolving, this time pursuing other teams to partner with.  As of today they have been rumored to be joining forces with Dale Earnhardt Inc. as well as Chip Ganassi and Gillette Evernham.  Regardless of what team they are talking to or wherever these discussions lead, it is a sad day in NASCAR.

But it isn’t just the Pettys who need to do something or face peril.  The Wood Brothers have been around almost as long (if not just as long) as the Petty family and if they don’t figure something out will be closing their doors as well.

Look at Bill Davis Racing.  Bill took Toyota on his back and carried the load during the development of the manufacturer and is looking for a merger or will be gone also.  Can’t NASCAR see that this is an epidemic?

When is Brian France going to WAKE UP and realize that if he doesn’t start helping the little guys there won’t be a Chase for the Sprint Cup we will just have a 36 race season with cars being driven by four or five car owners with less than 30 cars on the track.

Brian might not care about the little guy but when the Pettys have to close up because they can’t survive something is very, very wrong.  Is he going to wait until ALL of the seats are empty, HALF of the race cars have no sponsors because NASCAR has taken all of them to become the official “place company product here” of NASCAR, and two-thirds of the car owners, including U.S. racing history’s greatest family, are gone?  What will he do then?  Probably sell it off or try to merge with F1.