Country music extraordinaire John Rich had it about right when he recently started singing the tune "Shuttin' Detroit Down," as the latest installment of Auto Makers in Trouble has sparked a chain reaction that has a lot more than just Detroit facing monetary executions. General Motors recently declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, putting the entire NASCAR realm at risk for closures, and this week has been one of the toughest for the racing circuit, as NASCAR has been sitting in limbo while GM made the announcement that it will most certainly be cutting back on sponsorships it has had for years with various NASCAR teams, a shocking and saddening issue for stock car racing.
Confirming that upcoming GM cuts are "indeed NASCAR-wide," Chevrolet spokesman Terry Rhadigan recently dropped the bomb that has shell-shocked the racing league in a panic full of questions and concerns, as NASCAR heavily depends on the automaker for cash, engine and part support.
Coming to terms with the GM loss, NASCAR has already seen a glimpse of the disaster to come, as both Kevin Harvick Inc. and JR Motorsports (co-owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Rick Hendrick) have already experienced a cutback, with GM nixing its funding of the teams' Nationwide programs.
Kelley Earnhardt, the vice president and general manager of JRM, recently made a statement backing the teams' ongoing support of Chevrolet and, ultimately, GM, saying, "We have been proud supporters of the Chevrolet brand our entire lives, and don't anticipate that ever changing. We are fully capable of adjusting our business model to accommodate this change, and with the backing of Hendrick Motorsports, we will continue to lend our full support to Chevrolet. The manufacturer support GM provides at the Cup level is more critical in nature than in the Nationwide Series, and I hope Chevy is able to continue supporting that level, as the promotion of NASCAR works well for its demographics."
NASCAR team owners and drivers who haven't already will undoubtedly feel the pinch of the economic crisis on the auto industry in the upcoming months as sponsorships become harder to find and teams are forced to let go of some cars. But for the Sprint Cup Series, at least, the NASCAR-Chevrolet partnership is much too valuable to release completely. Team owners and drivers both have continued expressing support for Chevrolet, and while owner Rick Hendrick recently summed up NASCAR's stance on the GM bankruptcy as "my Plan A is Chevrolet. My Plan B is Chevrolet. And my Plan C is Chevrolet," it's hard to ignore the squeeze as this year's Sprint Cup Series gets more intense than ever.
Still, as ESPN's Ed Hinton sees it, "The government, no matter how recalcitrant, will have no choices but to understand that if GM wants to sell cars it must race," and so it seems that NASCAR, America's favorite motorsports thrill, will live on and continue to thrive even despite the ripple effect of the ailing economy. The field might be less-stocked with cars around the tracks in next year's Nationwide races, but so far it's still game on for the Sprint Cup Series. No matter what's going on behind the scenes, fans are still coming out to watch Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Truck Series races in 2009, and NASCAR tickets are still available online.
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