Joined
·
24,080 Posts
This is an interesting read.
Sponsorship woes may cost Kenny Wallace his ride: UPDATE: After 867 career starts in NASCAR's Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series, Kenny Wallace may be facing the end of the line. The nine-time Nationwide Series winner has sponsorship from American Ethanol and Family Farmers for just five races this season, including the just-completed Drive For COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway. Now, Wallace has been informed that unless he is able to secure additional backing, his run with RAB Racing will likely come to an end. "(Team owner) Robby Benton came to me and said, `We're going to run you for first five races of year," revealed Wallace today. "`If we don't have any sponsorship after that, I'm going to have to sell the ride.' He's already got some little rich kids calling about buying races, so I may be out of the car pretty soon. I'm heartbroken," said Wallace. "I worked my ass off last year to get my dignity back and prove to everyone that we could still run up front. And look at me now, running around like a bozo in a plain black car. It's demoralizing. I can't find any more money, so it looks like I'm not going to be a full time driver this year. If I don't have any money after California, the ride will go to whoever has money. Robby has to pay his crew, and I understand that."(GodfatherMotorsports.com)(3-2-2012)
UPDATE: Team owner Robby Benton told SB Nation he takes exception to Wallace's approach. Benton said he's been trying to find sponsorship for Wallace over the past 14 months and is running a black, unsponsored car at Phoenix in an effort to show the ride is available. But Benton feels Wallace's desperation is undermining his efforts to strike a deal with a potential sponsor. "He thinks what he's doing is generating interest," Benton said. "But at the end of the day, it's making me and our race team look like a couple of asshats and trying to get people to feel sorry for him. That's not productive. You don't want people to feel sorry for you. We're trying to sell a strong, marketable program." Benton said RAB Racing is not broke and has the structure in place to field a strong program. But it will be broke if sponsorship isn't found, which is why Benton said he's in a position to make some difficult choices. "For what it costs to be associated with us, to get the performance we exhibit and to get the popularity Kenny has got, we're one of the best bargains in the garage," Benton said. "And we still can't sell it.So in order to not break myself and put us in a position where we're destitute, I've got to make some tough decisions." That includes listening to offers from drivers who could potentially bring funding to the team. Wallace was particularly vocal on Twitter about the rent-a-ride philosophy. (< AHREF="http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2012/3/3/2841997/nascar-nationwide-series-phoenix-kenny-wallace-rab-racing-2012/in/2603180">SB Nation)
Sponsorship woes may cost Kenny Wallace his ride: UPDATE: After 867 career starts in NASCAR's Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series, Kenny Wallace may be facing the end of the line. The nine-time Nationwide Series winner has sponsorship from American Ethanol and Family Farmers for just five races this season, including the just-completed Drive For COPD 300 at Daytona International Speedway. Now, Wallace has been informed that unless he is able to secure additional backing, his run with RAB Racing will likely come to an end. "(Team owner) Robby Benton came to me and said, `We're going to run you for first five races of year," revealed Wallace today. "`If we don't have any sponsorship after that, I'm going to have to sell the ride.' He's already got some little rich kids calling about buying races, so I may be out of the car pretty soon. I'm heartbroken," said Wallace. "I worked my ass off last year to get my dignity back and prove to everyone that we could still run up front. And look at me now, running around like a bozo in a plain black car. It's demoralizing. I can't find any more money, so it looks like I'm not going to be a full time driver this year. If I don't have any money after California, the ride will go to whoever has money. Robby has to pay his crew, and I understand that."(GodfatherMotorsports.com)(3-2-2012)
UPDATE: Team owner Robby Benton told SB Nation he takes exception to Wallace's approach. Benton said he's been trying to find sponsorship for Wallace over the past 14 months and is running a black, unsponsored car at Phoenix in an effort to show the ride is available. But Benton feels Wallace's desperation is undermining his efforts to strike a deal with a potential sponsor. "He thinks what he's doing is generating interest," Benton said. "But at the end of the day, it's making me and our race team look like a couple of asshats and trying to get people to feel sorry for him. That's not productive. You don't want people to feel sorry for you. We're trying to sell a strong, marketable program." Benton said RAB Racing is not broke and has the structure in place to field a strong program. But it will be broke if sponsorship isn't found, which is why Benton said he's in a position to make some difficult choices. "For what it costs to be associated with us, to get the performance we exhibit and to get the popularity Kenny has got, we're one of the best bargains in the garage," Benton said. "And we still can't sell it.So in order to not break myself and put us in a position where we're destitute, I've got to make some tough decisions." That includes listening to offers from drivers who could potentially bring funding to the team. Wallace was particularly vocal on Twitter about the rent-a-ride philosophy. (< AHREF="http://www.sbnation.com/nascar/2012/3/3/2841997/nascar-nationwide-series-phoenix-kenny-wallace-rab-racing-2012/in/2603180">SB Nation)
