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CUP: Cuts Heaviest At The Bottom
Written by: Tom Jensen   
11/19/2008
Charlotte, North Carolina
 
Well funded owners such as Joe Gibbs will most likely not have to make any huge cuts. (Photo: LAT) ยป More Photos

Despite the dire U.S. economic conditions, NASCAR Sprint Cup teams with ample sponsorship are not making major personnel reductions, while those without proper funding are cutting deeply in what could be described as a case of NASCAR’s poorest getting poorer.

At Hendrick Motorsports, which employs more than 550 people, about a dozen jobs were cut in the past month, with no further reductions planned, according to team officials.

Roush Fenway Racing is keeping its Sprint Cup employment levels consistent, although team President Geoff Smith told scenedaily.com that the organization has eliminated about 30 positions related to NASCAR Camping World and ARCA teams it operated this season but won’t next year.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s only cutbacks, according to a team spokesman, were among engine builders who built powerplants for Hall of Fame Racing, which is no longer buying engines from JGR.

A team representative of Richard Childress Racing said that team had minimal cuts as well. “RCR let go fewer than 15 which, with 400+ employees, can be attributed more to natural
end-of-the-year attrition than anything,” said RCR’s David Hart.

Some well-sponsored mid-pack teams are holding onto people, too. Gillett Evernham Motorsports and Red Bull Racing have no cuts planned and on Wednesday morning, team owner Michael Waltrip told his employees that “he was proud to be moving into the 2009 season the same size” as the team was when it began 2008.

Stewart-Hass Racing released about 15 people this week, but is hiring others and plans a net increase in personnel from 120 at the start of this season to 130 by the time the team hits Daytona in 2009, said team spokesman Mike Arning.

So despite the highly publicized cutbacks in the sport, they are far from universal among Sprint Cup teams.

But where sponsors are scarce, jobs are, too. Last week, Dale Earnhardt Inc. eliminated 116 jobs, with another two dozen or so eliminated at Earnhardt-Childress Racing Technologies, the company that builds engines for DEI and RCR. More could occur as the merger between Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and Dale Earnhardt Inc. moves forward.

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