PAPosse Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 While appearing innocent enough now, this could get interesting in the next year or two.....Curtis Turner is probably rolling over in his grave about now... http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/nascar-s-top-team-owners-form-business-alliance-070714 The top nine teams in NASCAR have for the first time formed a single entity to collaborate on initiatives and issues facing their sport. The Race Team Alliance was announced Monday, and Michael Waltrip Racing co-owner Rob Kauffman was elected chairman. The goals of the RTA include lowering costs for NASCAR teams and creating one voice on issues facing the teams. Kauffman insisted the RTA is not a union. "Calling it a union would be incorrect. A union would be for employees," Kauffman said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "The right way to characterize it would be a `business alliance.' Unions are about employees directly trying to negotiate something. The RTA is pooling together to look at things we can be doing better. "No one is looking to start a fight or be controversial." The RTA currently includes Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing, Richard Childress Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing and Team Penske. Kauffman said the top goal of the RTA, which is operating with bylaws and an executive committee, is to bring in the remaining Sprint Cup teams that are not currently members. The next most important items on the agenda, according to Kauffman, is working on cost-saving initiatives related to travel and buying power for parts, and communicating with one voice to NASCAR the team ideas on testing. "Roger Penske's thought was `Let's go for the low hanging fruit,'" said Kauffman, who retired at the end of 2012 from Fortress Investment Group, where he was one of three founders. Kauffman said the RTA also will discuss health care and benefits for employees. "One of the projects out of the chute is all of these teams get a lot of hotel rooms on a weekly basis -- well, gaining a hotel partner might help with that cost and provide some flexibility," he said. "When you put a lot of smart people in the room, you can come up with a lot of smart ideas. Right now, I don't think we even know how much we all spend in total on parts. Or how many employees do we all have?" NASCAR chief communications officer Brett Jewkes said the sanctioning body had few specifics on the RTA's "structure or purpose," so it would be inappropriate to comment on the group. "NASCAR's mission, as it has always been, is to create a fair playing field where anyone can come and compete," Jewkes said in a statement. "Our job is to support and strengthen all of the teams, large and small, across all of our series and we'll continue to do that. NASCAR is a unique community with hundreds of stakeholders. They all have a voice and always will." Kauffman several times likened the RTA to the Formula One Constructors Association, which was a group of F1 teams that formed in 2008 to give the teams a united voice in negotiations with the FIA and the Formula One Group. FOTA's original aim was to negotiate the terms of the new Concorde Agreement, the commercial contract that governs the championship. FOTA was disbanded earlier this year. The formation of the RTA comes as NASCAR enters next season with a new $8.2 billion television package. Teams currently get a portion of the money from the TV package, but Kauffman said renegotiating the teams' cut was not on the current agenda. "We're going to focus on things we can do ourselves and doesn't require a lot of outside help," Kauffman said. "Some of those topics are behind our control. If some of those stakeholders want to have conversations, we'd be happy to do that. "But it's the things we can do ourselves -- we don't need anyone's approval to work on our travel or optimize our buying or promoting -- that we need to focus on right now." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiTech Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 nascar is shaking now ...if there was not a problem .there would be no need i dont care how many times you spin and turn the spoon .something in the mix aint right .teams have talked about this for years and now ...well nascar these are your big boys talking now . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arob Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 The problem is France Jr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trbfan Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 I believe this is how the CART/Indycar split started. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAPosse Posted July 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 I believe this is how the CART/Indycar split started. I think USAC/CART back in the 80's is more accurate - but it is along those lines. CART/IndyCar was more about a track owner/operator (Tony George) trying to create a series centered around the race his family ran - creating a difficult environment for the CART teams that didn't want to play his game. What makes it a little more complicated is NASCAR already has the series and (through ISC) already owns several of the tracks. On that note, I'm sure Bruton Smith is watching closely as well. It's taken longer than I thought, but as the independent owners disappeared and the multi-car teams took over I've felt it was a matter of time until this happened. The fewer owners there are, the more power they have - which is why NASCAR has/had a limit on the number of teams a single person could own. I believe Penske was big in the formation of CART as well - which adds another twist to it in that he's been down this road before. Of course they are going to go for the "low hanging fruit"....once they have that, and demonstrate what they can accomplish if they work together, it will fortify the alliance.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelracewriter Posted July 7, 2014 Report Share Posted July 7, 2014 Me thinks baby Brians days are numbered....This is only the beginning.....Dwindling attendance and not being able to pull a full field of cars to every race is a sign that it's time for a change.....somewhere in the food chain... na, na, na, na,....na, na, na, na,.... hey, hey,.... goodbye! Hopefully whatever becomes of this whomever is delegated to be in charge needs to pay heed to what the "Loyal" fan is saying....not the fringe, not the corporate dollars... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Definitive Posted July 8, 2014 Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 The only thing NASCAR can do now in order to hang on to their "status" is franchise the sport. If this doesn't happen fast the power struggle will become overwhelming for everyone involved. If they franchise and RTA doesn't approve, there will be at least 20-25 people with the finances enough to buy a car number. The racing will suffer for awhile...or will it? That might be just what the sport needs. The cog in this would be Bruton Smith. Will he go along with an entrenched group of car owners that, on the outside, seem to be putting their foot down, or stick with an established racing "league" that will share the money across the board as a franchised outfit, as do the other pro sports. Richard petty had it right 40 years ago when he said the only way the sport survives as a true major sport is if it gets it's act together and franchises. Letting the power dwindle down to a select few vs. a monarchy is a bad recipe in anything. The only reason the France family has been ignoring this is because they are greedy. Franchising and splitting the prosperity would certainly still leave them wealthy but not like they are now. As rich as the sport was ten years ago they should have 14 solid 3 car teams. There is actually a nine car team and a seven car team that are professed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 This from Humpy Wheeler's FB page: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ By Humpy Wheeler The announcement by the major car owners' to form an "Alliance" could have far reaching effects on stock car racing. Not since 1969 when the Professional Drivers Association was formed which led to a boycott of the first race at Talladega has a group been formed within NASCAR to represent drivers or car owners. This group -- which includes the most powerful car owners and includes Rick Hendrick, Joe Gibbs, Richard Childress and the rest of the major owners -- could become extremely powerful and a force to be reckoned with. Why a move like this now? I suspect -- hmmmm -- it is all about money and a more powerful voice within the sport. When Rick Hendrick brings up an issue that is one thing but when he does with, say, Joe Gibbs, Childress and other powerful car owners by his side then that creates a formidable reason that could result in major changes within the sport. The money issue is something to look at. Costs have soared for the team with the addition of all types of engineers because of the technical sophistication of suspensions, engines, aerodynamics, etc. Cars are going so fast now the drivers are barely able to hold on to them on the mile and a half and two mile tracks. And when you go fast it costs a lot of money. But it doesn't have to be that way. You could literally cut fifty per cent of the cost of the car out by mandating cheaper components. Shocks now cost $5000 apiece. The Monroe shocks that Bill Elliot first ran 200 mph at Talladega is still around except you can buy it now for $65 instead of $85 and you eliminate the shock engineer. There are so many other things that can be done to reduce costs and at the same time make the racing better. With the extremely added expense car owners have today coupled with demolishing three or four cars per season most of them cannot reduce the whopping' cost of $300,000 or more per race. So many have to have three sponsors which confuses the public at race time because their favorite driver has a different color scheme almost ever week. So your a car owner of first rank. You have to pay your big time driver a salary of as high as $3-5 million (yep, there are a couple higher); 30-40 assorted craftsmen and then a super jock pit crew on raceway. Transport the truck; fly everyone out to California and you suddenly realize the expense. Oh yes , your are saying where are the engineers. They are coming about five strong! So where does the income come from? Sponsors and prize money. So, you need a $8-10 million dollar sponsor to just break even. So, the prize money is where your profit is but your driver gets 40-50% of that! So, you hope at the end of the year the point monies will help but when you count your profits it is tough to make any. So you need more money and the easiest thing to tap is the purse with the tracks getting all that new and vastly increased tv revenue. NASCAR pushes the tracks for purse increases but it is a hard fight as tracks are seeing terrible revenue losses because of the vast empty seats like we saw in Kentucky recently. This is a milestone move…maybe potentially one that could change the face of racing as we know it. Hopefully it will be for the better. One great thing the sport has going for it is that we have an outstanding group of car owners; highly component men who are dedicated to the sport but as a group could fight for and mandate big changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodneyRodriguez Posted July 10, 2014 Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 won't long and there will be threats of a "work stoppage".. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hray Posted July 10, 2014 Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 Wheeler has it pretty well nailed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiTech Posted July 10, 2014 Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 wheeler is part of it . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
top_shelf_12 Posted July 10, 2014 Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 NASCAR is still around??? Huh, haven't noticed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hray Posted July 10, 2014 Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 He may be part of it, but he's still got it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HiTech Posted July 10, 2014 Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 He may be part of it, but he's still got it right. agree and it would not surprise me to hear bruton smith is involved ..he does not like brian at all .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAPosse Posted July 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2014 On a much smaller scale, prior to moving out of San Antonio, I really enjoyed the Street Stock Shootout events. 20 years ago, I would have never considered traveling 2 hours one way to see a special street stock event. Were the cars the fastest? Nope. Were they the most technologically advanced? Nope Were they the most expensive to field? Nope (I didn't say inexpensive) Did it cost $100 for a ticket? Nope Were the fields full? Yes Was the racing good? Heck yes. Hopefully the powers that be allow it to remain what it is intended to be. How does this fit in? The further removed NASCAR has gotten from this, the worse it has become: http://www.usa50.com/DisplayMsg.asp?ForumID=33&Msgid=2183229&page=2&title=Cozze's%20headed%20for%20Daytona%201967 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 WOW!!! When I told Stephan I wanted to be a part of the series, even if it was just as the photographer, I wanted to do so because I thought it was something bigger and better than most of what I had seen in all of racing. This comment should be, and more than likely will be, well received by the series and participating tracks, sponsors and driver, family and crew! On a much smaller scale, prior to moving out of San Antonio, I really enjoyed the Street Stock Shootout events. 20 years ago, I would have never considered traveling 2 hours one way to see a special street stock event. Were the cars the fastest? Nope. Were they the most technologically advanced? Nope Were they the most expensive to field? Nope (I didn't say inexpensive) Did it cost $100 for a ticket? Nope Were the fields full? Yes Was the racing good? Heck yes. Hopefully the powers that be allow it to remain what it is intended to be. How does this fit in? The further removed NASCAR has gotten from this, the worse it has become: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arob Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 STXSSS is a GREAT series for sure.So much so I am going to Goliad tomorrow instead of staying home.I'm sure I will not be disappointed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
top_shelf_12 Posted July 11, 2014 Report Share Posted July 11, 2014 Street Stocks are a good class and this is a great series though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PAPosse Posted July 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2014 And here come the lawyers.... http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/story/2014-07-16/race-team-alliance-nascar-isc-lawyers-communication-team-owners-money-costs-rob-kauffman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.