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Investing In NASCAR

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By CARTER GADDIS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 13, 2008

Updated: 02/13/2008 12:11 am

DAYTONA BEACH - Greg Biffle didn't have to think long when asked if there was a moment during the heat of last year's NASCAR season when he paused and gave silent thanks that Fenway Sports Group had bought into Roush Racing to create Roush Fenway Racing.

"Not really," Biffle said.

It didn't happen in the garage. It didn't happen in the shop. It didn't happen on the track.

Well, it kind of happened for Biffle teammate Carl Edwards at Fenway Park this past summer. But that really had nothing to do with winning a race or competing for NASCAR'S overall championship.

"I got to throw out the first pitch at a Red Sox game," Edwards said Thursday at Daytona 500 media day. "That was crazy. Mostly, it's just been fun for us drivers. I have a feeling that as we move toward the future, it's going to be seen as an extremely intelligent move by the people at Roush Racing to partner with them, just so we can guarantee the success of the team for the long term."

That does seem to be in keeping with conventional wisdom. What has been an open debate for years in NASCAR - to take on investors or not - appears almost to have ended, even if Kyle Petty isn't quite ready to buy in.

"I've seen no investor come in and change the sport. I've seen no investor come in and beat Rick Hendrick," said Petty, CEO of Petty Enterprises and driver of the No. 45 Dodge. "I've seen no investor come in and move to a different model from what's already existing. When that happens, then maybe I'll be a little bit more convinced."

Still, even as the monolithic Hendrick team, with its stable of champions Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson and fan-favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr., barrels onward and upward, partnerships are forming throughout the sport.

Jack Roush, citing the competitive danger of Toyota entering the NASCAR game last season, created the impression his team would not survive long without the addition of the folks from Fenway.

Ray Evernham, willing at last to take a step back and delegate more within the hierarchy of Evernham Motorsports, welcomed Montreal Canadiens owner and ski lodge developer George Gillett into the fold late last season, creating Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

Michael Waltrip, appearing emotionally overwhelmed at times last year as the driver-owner of his self-named team of Toyotas, embraced billionaire investment specialist Robert Kauffman and enters this season apparently ready to eradicate the bad memories of 2007.

Hall of Fame Racing, the fledgling, one-car effort of former NFL quarterbacks Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach, sold controlling interest to a pair of Arizona Diamondbacks executives, Jeff Moorad and Tom Garfinkel.

It's about money, certainly. There is strength in numbers, especially when those numbers follow dollar signs.

But what effect, if any, does it have on the drivers themselves?

"The merger with Fenway, really as a driver, it did not make an impact on the team, technically," Edwards said. "The things that came out of it so far that are great are the extra marketing power and the extra ideas that they have. For instance, my partnership with Under Armour stemmed from that relationship and their relationship with Fenway Park. And that's been really fun."

For some, it's about more than fun. It's about being able to compete on an equal basis.

"Right now, with the resources and the backing and the employees that other people have at Hendrick and Roush and Gibbs and stuff like that, they've really raised the bar," said Gillett Evernham driver Elliott Sadler, the offseason beneficiary of major sponsorship agreements with Best Buy and Stanley for his No. 19 Dodge. "And to be able, for us, to get to that kind of level, we really need to be able to go out and find the kind of sponsors we need."

For Hall of Fame Racing driver J.J. Yeley, the addition of former sports agent Moorad and former Chip Ganassi Racing executive Garfinkel was the decisive selling point as he looked for a ride after being replaced by Kyle Busch at Joe Gibbs Racing.

"Just from the new resources that Jeff and Tom were bringing into it, the fresh look from the business side that they have, the game plan that they have for the next three or four years is really amazing," Yeley said. "It's different from what a lot of teams are doing. From that side of it, they're going to help take this team, and hopefully myself at the same time, to the next level."

Not that anyone believes it'll happen overnight.

"Tom Garfinkel and I are both veterans of the sports industry," Moorad said. "We're involved for the long-term. We're committed to building a great race team and recognize that we have to pay our dues, which we're intent on doing."

Petty Enterprises, which flirted with and rejected the idea of merging with Gillett Evernham, will continue, for now, to go it alone, as it has since patriarch Lee Petty founded the business six decades ago.

Kyle Petty acknowledges there is "upside" to the Roush Fenway partnership, and Gillett Evernham is moving in the right direction, but until one of these new conglomerates fields a consistent winner, or even a champion, Petty will wait and see.

"Did an investor change this sport in 2008? I don't think you can make that call until you see that, because it's not changed it so far," Petty said. "I don't see any evidence."

Reporter Carter Gaddis can be reached at (813) 259-8291 or at igaddis@tampatrib.com.

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