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Space available Securing on-track sponsorship remains team effortPosted: Wednesday February 13, 2002 4:53 PM
By Denise N. Maloof, CNNSI.com DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Imagine working with a time bomb strapped to your body, the knowledge that your financial well-being will run dry by the end of February. That's the plight of Haas-Carter Motorsports, which fields the Winston Cup cars for Todd Bodine and Joe Nemechek. Every nut, bolt and wrench in their Daytona International Speedway garages has become precious since financially troubled Kmart suspended its sponsorship Feb. 1, and sooner or later, that monetary time bomb will explode. "For us to sit back and have self-pity and feel sorry for ourselves is not going to be the answer to our problems," owner Travis Carter said. "We're going to have to diligently be searching and be committed to that search." He has enough worries without penny-pinching; overseeing NASCAR's latest spoiler ruling on his two Fords, and damage repair after Bodine's wreck during practice Tuesday. For now, Bodine's No. 66 car and Nemechek's No. 26 will carry the Kmart logo through Feb. 24 in Rockingham, N.C. After that, Carter doesn't know what will happen.
"I believe there's somebody there that wants to do it and can do it," he said. "I think it's up to us to find that person or that group or that entity, whatever it is." He's not the only owner with a financial deadline. Andy Petree, who owns the No. 33 and No. 55 teams, has been wooing sponsors for the No. 33 since last fall. His No. 55 team is sponsored by Schneider Electric, and No. 33 driver Mike Wallace only knows that automotive safety manufacturer Autoliv is sponsoring his Chevrolet for Speed Weeks. "Although I have been assured that if we win the Daytona 500, we'll be in Rockingham," Wallace said. Bodine, Nemechek and Wallace have immersed themselves in the innumerable minutia of sheet metal, chassis and horsepower this week, their financial frustrations compartmentalized elsewhere in their minds. Wallace is rarely seen without his usual broad smile, and on a recent afternoon, Carter munched a cookie inside the No. 66 hauler, re-iterating his refusal to buckle. "It's big world, a big country," he said. "This is a good business. It's kind of on the top of its game right now and I think there are 40-something companies or groups here, and you know there's room for more."
A car owner since 1989 and a 30-year NASCAR veteran, Carter felt the pieces were melding for his organization. Kmart, the nation's second-largest discount retailer, was beginning its fourth year of sponsorship. Carter and co-owner Carl Haas' cars will run their second full year with Robert Yates Racing engines, and veteran Joe Nemechek -- a good friend of Bodine -- replaces Jimmy Spencer in the No. 26. "I feel for Travis and Carl more than anything," said Bodine, who's beginning his third full year in Winston Cup, and his second season with Haas-Carter. "They've worked so hard to get to this point, got two drivers who they trust and feel like can do the job and got two race teams that are really doing an outstanding job. They've got everything lined up to be a top-notch Winston Cup race team and there goes the rug right out from under them." On Jan. 16, Kmart stock sank 48 percent on the New York Stock Exchange to a 52-week low. The annual Winston Cup media tour visited the Haas-Carter shop in Statesville, N.C., the same day, and news only got worse: Kmart filed for bankruptcy Jan. 22, and later revoked its sponsorship. "I was just shocked," Nemechek said. "I heard it on the radio and on TV -- on CNN -- and it just shocked me." "You can't print it, I can tell you that," Bodine said of his reaction. "Certainly we knew that everything wasn't perfect," Carter said. "I think we knew that there were some issues that were going to have to be resolved that could be adverse for us. And yeah, shock, but not surprised." "Hey, we're all in the same boat," Wallace said of his No. 33 team members. "I am very much worried. I've got three kids to raise and the last time I checked, tuition wasn't going down." Spencer, who joined Chip Ganassi Racing after seven seasons with Haas-Carter, says Kmart's sponsorship was the major reason for his departure. "I just didn't think they were supportive of our programs," he said. In the days since Kmart's announcements -- and as all three teams prepare for Thursday's twin 125-mile qualifying races -- there have been declarations of solidarity. Wallace, who was 11th fastest overall in Saturday's first qualifying round, starts sixth in the first race. Nemechek starts 14th in the first race; Bodine starts 17th in the second race. "These guys have really pulled together in the last couple of weeks," Carter said of his employees. "I've had a lot of guys come in and given the opportunity and circumstance, they come in and say, ‘Hey, we're not leaving. We're behind it.' It's up to us to provide something for them to be behind." "When I was hired, I made a deal with Travis Carter for two years and an option," Nemechek said. "And we're going to work as hard as we can, here at Daytona and at Rockingham, to get the job done." "We all kind of made a deal with ourselves we were going to leave all that in North Carolina for this week and half, and come down here and have some fun and concentrate on racing and winning this race," Bodine said. Apparently, the same attitude exists for the No. 33 team. Before they departed for Daytona, Wallace said crew members vowed to excel despite all the financial uncertainty. "We said it'd be cool to have a plain white car sitting in Victory Lane at Daytona and then have that plain white car sit there all year at Daytona USA," Wallace said.
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