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JGR’s
Worst Kept Secret
September 7, 2007
Everett
Mugg - SCR
Wednesday morning Joe
Gibbs Racing (JGR) held a press conference to officially announce what every one already knew. JGR was changing from General
Motors (GM) to Toyota for the 2008 season. The rumor of this happening has been
circulating for months and was virtually confirmed last week at California Speedway. But what does it all mean?
JGR is without a doubt
one of the top tier teams on the NASCAR Cup circuit, and have been from their beginning in 1991. The addition of Kyle Busch
next year will give them three of this year’s chase drivers and more than likely include this years’ Champion.
Busch, Denny Hamlin, and two-time Champion Tony Stewart are all viable threats to win this year. Gibbs brings a Championship
team, three of the top drivers and one of the best engine programs to the table. What does Toyota
bring and why would Gibbs jump from General Motors to Toyota, Money and Status?
“I think what I'd
like to say to start off is at JGR, we look at the landscape of our sport. It's really changed a lot over the past few
years,” said J.D. Gibbs president of Joe Gibbs Racing. “I think you see all the mergers, acquisitions, the
partnerships, and really, I think what that says is how difficult it is to run a business in this sport in this day and age.
So, I first and foremost want to say from our standpoint as you look around, I think we kind of figured out, we don't have
any other outside businesses. This is it”.
Toyota
brings JGR money and status. Currently JGR is one of four teams that receive the top GM support. Hendrick Motorsports (HMS),
Richard Childress Racing (RCR), and Dale Earnhardt Incorporated (DEI), are the other three. These four teams have 9 of the
12 spots in the chase for championship, IE 9 of the 12 cars are Chevrolets. One wonders though, as George Orwell put it, if
all four pigs are equal. Do they get the same level of support? HMS and JGR have their own engine shops while DEI and RCR
combined in order to stay competitive. It is a very widely held belief that if one were to pick who was the flagship GM team
that it would be HMS. With Toyota, JGR will be the premier NASCAR team. J.D. Gibbs
further comments seem to support this theory.
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“I do think GM’s
got four really strong teams,” said Gibbs. “And I think obviously there are certain things we think we'd
like to have a leadership role in. I think this gives us that leadership role.”
No other Toyota team even
comes close in equipment, drivers, or management. While GM is facing financial problems, Toyota
is coming off record years of sales. At a time where GM may be forced to cut back Toyota
is charging ahead at full speed. Money buys speed. That has been true since the first two cars raced each other. While terms
of the deal were not made public, it is safe to assume that a Championship quality team was offered a substantial amount to
switch manufactures...
“I don't want to
at this particular time get into the length of the contract and the how long the agreement is that we're looking at and working
on together,” Gibbs added.
“I think for us
I would say this. GM has a great group of guys, again, that technically address issues. I think Toyota
has a little bit different model than what GM has. And I think for us, there will be some resources there. Down
the road, there are certain things that we're not going to be able to afford to do, period.”
“I come back to
the fact that this is our business. We don't have any outside businesses. So for us to go forward, I think we can
lean on Toyota hard in some areas where we can use their expertise and can really
work with the race program.”
Despite the money Toyota
has poured into its NASCAR effort though they have not had success. The question has not been, will a Toyota win the race
this week, the question has been will a Toyota even MAKE the race this weekend. With the top 35 cars locked into the field
by owner’s points, Toyota’s teams have had to race their way in every
week. After 25 events none of the Toyota teams are in the top 35. Bill Davis Racing
(BDR) is knocking on the door at 36 but if they miss one race their chances become small to be in the top 35 at the end of
the season. That will all end next year with JGR. Not only will JGR bring three cars firmly in the top35, they bring one of
the top engine programs as well which will benefit the other Toyota teams. In addition, reports are that Hall of Fame (HOF)
Racing will follow Gibbs in moving to Toyota, bringing yet another car firmly
locked into the field.
When asked if the decision
was right for JGR with the lack of performance so far by Toyota Mr. Gibbs responded. “It is not really from the racing
standpoint. We sit down and evaluate going forward. I think we feel like Toyota has some good teams and in years
to come will be very good. I think it will be a good partnership for us.”
The effects of the change on
the remainder of this season will be interesting to watch. Will GM share any technological breakthroughs that they make the
rest of the season with JGR? Both JGR and GM have contracts to each other they need to fulfill but what really is the level
of expectation from either one? Gibbs also works with other GM teams, how will they react? I think it would be reasonable
for JGR to expect no more cooperation from either other GM teams or (GM itself) than he could expect to get from Ford or Dodge
teams. Jimmy Makar, senior VP of racing operations for JGR is not sure what to expect either.
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“Well, on a weekly
basis there's not a lot, per se, that comes from the race weekend other than some reports on engine failures and things of
that nature that allows us to be aware of things that are going on with other teams,” said maker. “They do
support us in many other ways throughout the year in aerodynamics development, and in giving us access to test rigs to go
test different aspects of our race car. Those I don't see changing, as far as I'm concerned. As far as I've been
told, nothing is going to change for the rest of the year. We're still going to have access to all those things.”
“Now, there is
a key partners meeting that the four teams that J.D. referred to are involved in on the engine development and also chassis
and aero development. It will be interesting to see exactly where those meetings go now that we're going to announce
this change. That's something we haven't talked about, and we'll just have to see, talk to them and see where that goes.”
With the introduction
of the COT fulltime next season all manufacturers and teams are starting from scratch. The dominance of HMS in the COT races
this year suggests that the teams are either not getting the same information from the manufacturer or more probable, are
developing the information in different ways. Since the bodies and chassis’ are all the same the difference would be
in the set up and engine departments. Teams do not usually share that information with other teams same manufacturer or not.
General data perhaps, but nothing specific as this is the difference between winning and losing on race day. On the surface
it would seem to be a great deal for both JGR and Toyota. Toyota gets a Championship team and JGR gets the leading role it
wanted. Next season should be very interesting.
Questions,
Comments;
Email Everett
The
views and opinions in this article are that of the writer(s) and not necessarily that of SCR
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