Mike Wallace of CBS' 60 Minutes once did an interview about a man who had been homeless. In that interview, I remember a quote by Wallace that went something like this: "... after all, most of us are just four paychecks away from being homeless."
"Homelessness" in the racing world to me is a team without a sponsor, and there have been more than a few homeless teams this year. Brett Bodine suffered without a sponsor until March; Andy Petree Racing shut down the No. 33 team; and both Hass-Carter cars parked in March when Kmart halted payments because of financial problems.
It has been said many times by motorsports insiders and outsiders that the price to play in Winston Cup racing has gotten out of hand. Spiraling labor and travel costs, not to mention new technology in the never ending search for speed, has driven budgets for a single-car team to $10 million, $15 million, and even upwards of $20 million. But that cat is out of the bag now. It is what it is.
The human toll on race teams without a sponsor is tremendous. There aren't too many owners in the garage area like Jack Roush who can foot the bill of an unsponsored car. Even "JR" can't do it for very long.
The last half of 2001 and the first half of 2002 have been difficult for many team owners. Darwin's theory about "only the strong survive" is alive and well in Cup racing. Teams face a Catch-22 when trying to land or maintain a big corporate sponsor. Companies like Miller, Budweiser, Kodak, Procter & Gamble (Tide), Sprint, etc., usually make commitments in their sponsorship dollars a year or more in advance. The Catch-22 comes when a sponsor either can't or doesn't notify a team early enough in the process so that team can go fishing elsewhere for a sponsor.
For instance, any ongoing or new Winston Cup sponsorship for 2003 will likely be solidified-at least in principle-this summer. Most companies begin their budget process by the summer and get final approval by early fall for the next year. If a totally new sponsor is coming into Winston Cup, then the process can be much longer.
Haas-Carter leader Travis Carter had to give up what had taken over a decade to build: a two-car team. Carter's problems were particularly severe because both of his teams were sponsored by Kmart. Carter was a crew chief for such drivers as Bobby Allison, Harry Gant, Cale Yarborough and Benny Parsons. As an owner he fielded cars for Darrell Waltrip, Jimmy Spencer, Rick Mast, Joe Nemechek and Todd Bodine. Over three dozen people lost their jobs at Hass-Carter.
But Carter isn't giving up. "I've been in this sport for more than 30 years, and racing is what I do," Carter said. And as Andy Petree said about his situation earlier this year, "nothing is tougher on a racer than having a race and not being there." Petree was seeking sponsorship for one of his teams when Oakwood homes pulled out after the 2001 season. Ironically, Joe Nemechek left Petree's unsponsored team at the end of 2001 to go to the Hass Carter team for this season. Life can be cruel.