NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: GEM Changes Names
Richard Petty Motorsports is now the name of the unified Gillett Evernham Motorsports-Petty Enterprises union...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted January 19, 2009   Charlotte NC
Richard Petty said he wasn’t sad that Petty Enterprises, the race team founded by his father, Lee, in 1948, is no longer in business. (Photo: Tom Jensen)

Richard Petty Motorsports is now the name of the unified Gillett Evernham Motorsports-Petty Enterprises union, although Petty’s title is largely ceremonial, as he will be the team’s spokesperson but will not run it.

AJ Allmendinger has been signed to drive the team’s fourth car, though sponsorship is only guaranteed for the first five races and a couple more races later in the season. That car will carry the No. 44, one of PE’s old numbers, and be raced alongside the No. 9 of Kasey Kahne, the No. 19 of Elliott Sadler and the No. 43 of Reed Sorenson.

The new change was unveiled at Tuesday’s kickoff to the Lowe’s Motor Speedway Media Tour in Concord, N.C. GEM and PE announced their intentions to merge earlier this month, but Tuesday was the first confirmation that Allmendinger would drive for the team and that the fourth car would carry the No. 44.

Richard Petty said Tuesday that the investment firm Boston Ventures, which purchased majority interest in PE last June, would be a minor stockholder in the newly merged race team, but would have no management or operational responsibilities with RPM.

Foster Gillett, son of GEM owner George Gillett, said his family’s business was privately held and would not disclose how the ownership was structured at RPM.

Petty said he wasn’t sad that Petty Enterprises, the race team founded by his father, Lee, in 1948, is no longer in business or that Dale Earnhardt Inc. had to merge to survive. Instead, Petty said he felt the spate of new deals and unions was a natural outcome of the sport’s expansion and cost expansion.

“I’ll just say that the sport has grown,” Richard Petty said Tuesday. “You’ve got to look at the Earnhardt deal, look at the Petty deal. We did all our stuff from the inside out, OK? Now, you’ve got companies from outside, businesses from outside and looking at it from a financial aspect. All these two teams ever did was try to get up in the morning and try to go racing. They didn’t look at it that far in the future.”


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