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Sprint Cup
CUP: RPM’s Future Still Dire
RPM majority owner George Gillett was nowhere to be seen at Martinsville...
Richard Petty says he often raced when he was hurt. (Photo: Getty Images)
Anyone looking for affirmation about the future of Richard Petty Motorsports and what it looks like would have been sorely disappointed Friday at Martinsville Speedway.
RPM majority owner George Gillett was nowhere to be found.
Neither was his son, Foster Gillett, the most visible Gillett family member in the three years or so since his father took bought controlling interest in the team from founder Ray Evernham.
Point man Richard Petty was also absent.
No one in any position of authority with the team was around to talk Friday, leaving the handling of the persistent rumors of the team’s imminent collapse and shutdown to RPM’s public relations person, who told a handful a reporters, “It’s our plan to run the rest of the season.”
Beyond that, nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
It was not an encouraging sign.
The bottom line was that team owner George Gillett was expecting that the sale of his Liverpool, England, soccer team would bring in enough money to settle his debts for both the soccer team and his NASCAR operation. But after losing a heated legal battle over the sale of the club, Gillett got far less than expected in the sale. That could spell doom for RPM.
And if RPM goes down, the ripple effects will be sent all the way through the garage.
For one, Australian expatriate Marcos Ambrose, who signed to drive for RPM next year, could be out of a ride in NASCAR. Ambrose said Friday he knew that his new job for 2011 was contingent on the outcome of Gillett’s soccer club deal.
“I knew what was happening and the risk that I took when I signed on, knowing the exposure, I guess, from the pending Liverpool sale and the consequences whichever way it went,” Ambrose said Friday. “So I was aware of it, I took the risks, I knew it. It’s not like I jumped in naively, I understood the risks. It is what it is today and I hope they work it out.”
So does Roush Fenway Racing, which sells cars and parts to RPM, as well as Roush Yates Engines, which builds the Ford powerplants RPM uses. Jack Roush, who co-owns both Roush Fenway and Roush Yates, said Friday that RPM is on a newly renegotiated payment plan with his companies. But, Roush said, RPM has to keep paying if it wants to keep racing.
Roush has a vested interest in seeing RPM succeed in addition to its roles as supplier and creditor: Roush Fenway’s own program improved when RPM switched to Fords prior to the start of the 2010 season. The four-car RPM operation shared setups and technology with Roush Fenway, which helped both teams.
“When we sit down in our competition meetings and are able to use things not only the drivers say but the crew chiefs and their strategies and things they’ve learned over the years, it’s been hugely helpful to me,” said Carl Edwards, one of three Roush Fenway drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. “I feel like it’s a big help. I feel like if they were to go away or that relationship were to dissolve that it would be bad for our Aflac team’s performance. So I think we need to do everything we can from the performance side to keep them going.”
“It’s important for them to survive because (of) the relationship between our company and their company,” said Edwards’ teammate and fellow Chaser, Greg Biffle. “They can bring information to the table that we can learn at the race track, and it helps us, I think, to be able to manufacture parts and pieces for them, similar to what Hendrick does for other people, and Gibbs, so I think it’s important they survive, and for Ford. We’re the only Ford team – the two of us – so I think it’s important we keep their presence in the sport.”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.
RPM majority owner George Gillett was nowhere to be found.
Neither was his son, Foster Gillett, the most visible Gillett family member in the three years or so since his father took bought controlling interest in the team from founder Ray Evernham.
Point man Richard Petty was also absent.
No one in any position of authority with the team was around to talk Friday, leaving the handling of the persistent rumors of the team’s imminent collapse and shutdown to RPM’s public relations person, who told a handful a reporters, “It’s our plan to run the rest of the season.”
Beyond that, nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.
It was not an encouraging sign.
The bottom line was that team owner George Gillett was expecting that the sale of his Liverpool, England, soccer team would bring in enough money to settle his debts for both the soccer team and his NASCAR operation. But after losing a heated legal battle over the sale of the club, Gillett got far less than expected in the sale. That could spell doom for RPM.
And if RPM goes down, the ripple effects will be sent all the way through the garage.
For one, Australian expatriate Marcos Ambrose, who signed to drive for RPM next year, could be out of a ride in NASCAR. Ambrose said Friday he knew that his new job for 2011 was contingent on the outcome of Gillett’s soccer club deal.
“I knew what was happening and the risk that I took when I signed on, knowing the exposure, I guess, from the pending Liverpool sale and the consequences whichever way it went,” Ambrose said Friday. “So I was aware of it, I took the risks, I knew it. It’s not like I jumped in naively, I understood the risks. It is what it is today and I hope they work it out.”
So does Roush Fenway Racing, which sells cars and parts to RPM, as well as Roush Yates Engines, which builds the Ford powerplants RPM uses. Jack Roush, who co-owns both Roush Fenway and Roush Yates, said Friday that RPM is on a newly renegotiated payment plan with his companies. But, Roush said, RPM has to keep paying if it wants to keep racing.
Roush has a vested interest in seeing RPM succeed in addition to its roles as supplier and creditor: Roush Fenway’s own program improved when RPM switched to Fords prior to the start of the 2010 season. The four-car RPM operation shared setups and technology with Roush Fenway, which helped both teams.
“When we sit down in our competition meetings and are able to use things not only the drivers say but the crew chiefs and their strategies and things they’ve learned over the years, it’s been hugely helpful to me,” said Carl Edwards, one of three Roush Fenway drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. “I feel like it’s a big help. I feel like if they were to go away or that relationship were to dissolve that it would be bad for our Aflac team’s performance. So I think we need to do everything we can from the performance side to keep them going.”
“It’s important for them to survive because (of) the relationship between our company and their company,” said Edwards’ teammate and fellow Chaser, Greg Biffle. “They can bring information to the table that we can learn at the race track, and it helps us, I think, to be able to manufacture parts and pieces for them, similar to what Hendrick does for other people, and Gibbs, so I think it’s important they survive, and for Ford. We’re the only Ford team – the two of us – so I think it’s important we keep their presence in the sport.”
Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.
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