January 18th, 2009 
T.C. In case you weren’t aware, NASCAR is currently staring straight in the face of a newly sponsored Truck Series that may only have 15 or 20 full time teams in 2009. The cost of the series and the difficult economy have forced some teams to quit completely. In lieu of this, NASCAR has decided just a few weeks before the series’ opening race, to try and make some changes to save owners money.
We reported on possible changes in December, but within the last few days more has come out about what could happen. Last week, the NASCAR brass met with team owners at Kevin Harvick’s shop in Kernersville, NC in order to get feedback from them regarding cost saving measures. Lee Spencer at FoxSports.com was the first to report on the meeting, and Scene Daily gave us more details soon after.
Ideas that were discussed included limiting the number of traveling crew, changing pit stops, getting rid of pit stops all together, and using spec engines. I’m curious what your thoughts are on all of this. As a tire changer, changing the pit stop rules doesn’t thrill me. And it bothers me that in a year when we’ve seen hundreds of guys lose their jobs, NASCAR is discussing a rule that would eliminate even more jobs.
So lets hear it. Are you okay with there not being pit stops during Truck races? Would it be okay if the pit stops were done by only five or six guys, instead of seven? What about spec engines? Should everyone use the same engine regardless of the emblem on the nose? What would you do if you had to make changes to the Truck Series? The floor is yours…
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Pits stops with fewer over-the-wall guys might create interesting new dynamics that the audience doesn’t get to see in the other two series. Not a huge incentive to watch the races (which only air on Speed anyway, if I’m not mistaken) – but anything that NASCAR can do to cut costs *and* position the series uniquely will help. Spec engines don’t do that, in fact they add another nail in the “it’s just a less exciting version of NSCS and NNS races” coffin.
The thought of getting rid of pit stops just kills me.
IT ADDS DRAMA!!! Look at the dang last race of the year. A 2 tire stop probably cost the championship. Less people on a pit stop probably wouldn’t effect the truck teams all that much. Only on the non companion races. TC, How much do they pay a cup crew guy to come over for the night a few hundred for the race?
I don’t think anyone cares what engines they have in them anymore. The spec engines in IRL have led to better racing. Not that the trucks are lacking from good racing. But if it will save the teams money, go for it.
If I remember correctly when the truck first started they did not have “pit stops” but intermissions where they would bring the trucks down and work on them and then line them up again in the order they came in to pitlane. It was my understanding that this was a cost measure. I always thought this took away from the racing. I was glad to see them do the pit stops.
I have a split decision on this one,, No to the spec engines, The manafacture support will be back someday. NASCAR started the truck series at the small bullring tracks of America like Bakersfeild and Stockton 99 speedways. NASCAR needs to think about taking the series back to its roots during thes financial times. There are plenty of short tracks who would jump at hosting the truck series, this would also bring a ton of local racers out to fill the feild. As far as pit stops NASCAR needs to leave the pit stops alone on the larger tracks (anything 3/4 mile and larger)but for safety reasons I would have a mandatory stop at the 1/2 way point of the race. Just think of how much fun it would be to go watch the trucks on the smaller 1/4 and 1/3 mile tracks.thats my split decision, TC what are your thoughs.
I don’t think they can do away with pit stops for safety’s sake. If they’re going to change it, they should have the mandatory 1 stop like they did in the beginning of the series. I’m not a fan of spec engines either, but if faced with shutting the series down because of lack of entries, you do what you have to do. It’s my favorite series & I’d hate to see it go away.
Where is this sport going ?!!! I think this is totaly ridiculous. Not having pits stops takes most of the competition out of the sport. Why stop the race in the middle when after making adjustments, you pretty much just start over again with the race. How much money are these teams really saving? Nascar needs to stop taking all the money and sponsors by putting the money in there pockets and ease up on the teams so they are able to secure more sponsorship. I could see limiting the number of team members that you take to the track by making team members have dual roles.
It is looking more and more like 2009 may be the final season for the Truck Series. 1) The Camping World deal is rumored to be less than half what Sears paid out to sponsor the series. 2) The defending champion team (BDR) is gone and the previous champion team (Germain) has lost its sponsorship. 3) Ford and Dodge have pulled out, and it looks like Chevy and Toyota are cutting their support for their Truck Series’ teams way back. 4) Depending on who you believe in the NASCAR press, only 6 to 10 teams have enough sponsorship to run the entire, 25-race schedule. 5) Manufacturer-sponsored driver development programs, which was one of the original purposes for the series in the first place, have essentially disappeared.
There are a few things they could do. cut out about half the races just for this year. take away the far away races. make the races shorter and only allow two sets of tires. take the fat entrance fees down a lot and the licence fees.
I gave a little bit of my own opinion in the post, but here are my thoughts. I think where NASCAR is looking to save the teams money is the wrong place. Saving $60 or $70K a year by not having pit stops is not going to bring back those teams they lost. It costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $2-$5 mil a year to run a truck team, what is $60,000? It will save the owners we have now money, but won’t bring back the teams we lost or entice new teams.
The Truck Series used to have a midway break early on, but the series was very different then. The halfway break worked and made sense because often times they were racing at short tracks that didn’t have pit roads. Also, it was a series in its infancy and keeping costs at a minimum was very important to bring in new owners.
The spec engines don’t bother me. I think finding a way to save money on engine costs is good, because the engine budget is huge, especially now with no MFG support.
I think NASCAR needs to do a better job promoting the series, as right now it is the red headed step child. I like the races on SPEED, but they need to do more with them. They also need to raise the purses. With what it costs to run a team, the purses should be bigger.
I might be biased (I probably am) being a tire changer, but getting rid of pit stops bothers me. I think they are part of the competition of the sport and are now apart of this series specifically. The Truck Series has become a place for new drivers to learn and gain experience, but for crew members also. So not only are you eliminating up to seven jobs per team, but you are also getting rid of opportunities for guys to learn so they can move up…
I’ll tell you what. In my opinion the truck series is the most exciting of the three. The races have what both NASCAR and the Nationwide don’t have…..intensity…..passion….heart……clean hard pounding bumping and rubbing. And they have something that NASCAR only fakes. And that is fantastic finishes. They don’t have nearly as many cautions (esp for debris!!!). In fact when a truck spins out or hits a wall they give him a chance to get to pit road. NASCAR just throughs a yellow to bunch everybody up. If I was a sponsor I would put my money in the truck series before the nationwide. Last season I couldn’t wait to get home on a Friday and watch the races. Sundays? Except for being sick I only watched Daytona. And I’m a huge fan. This series is everything NASCAR wants and doesn’t know how to get. Funny, its right in front of their faces.
I hope that at the meeting at Harvick’s shop all parties agreed early on that session what they “all” wanted the series to accomplish. While everyone will not agree all of the time, at the very least, this step is crucial. Just as in any other business.
On the spec engine issue, what has been discussed concerning leased engines? When the IRL(Honda), CART(Cosworth) and Atlantics (Toyota) adopted the spec engine format, the engines were leased (sealed so to speak) from the mfg. Truck teams will save manpower, tooling and R&D money in that area. Again, does this accomplish what the teams agreed to?
Pit stops: Intermissions (competition yellows or whatever you want to call them) are just stupid. It takes away incentive to lead. The fix is to have two shorter heat races and a feature w/ min (1) stop each. Simply, top 8-10 finishers from each heat…period! Heats pay same as feature. Fans get to see three starts and three finishes, start-n-parks won’t show (yeah!), no Lucky Dogs (sorry Aaron’s), you eliminate the boring mid-race doldrum period and pit stops are a premium. If you change only two in a heat, you start the feature w/ eaxactly that.
Oh yeah….all Cup and NW series races should adopt this format.
If NASCAR is going to adopt things like the Chase, they should mix it up here as well.
The only way that a team will ever and I mean EVER save money is if there is a budget cap. I don’t like this idea but it is the only way. Think about it for a second, lest say they spend 5million a year (easy math) and NASCAR says “for now on spec engines for all” all that would do is put the engines guys out of jobs! Do you really think that if a team owner saves money on engines or anywhere else that he’s just going to sock it away?! NO! They will spend it somewhere else. Either better equipment, better personel, better cars, better shops, something. I think the whole idea of limiting the engine program or the people that go to the track is a very bad idea.
No pit stops is the same as no racing though I can see 5 people instead of 7, One engine fits all?sounds bad but if the teams are for it (shrugs) OK.But the Best thing the trucks people could do is fill all those empty seats by getting on board with the Old School Racin people and help get some More Great RACERS(instead of pinup boys)in them trucks like Geoff,Ward,Terry & Steve…I know a lot of fans that would make more truck races,Me for one. And last but far from least stop the GREED all sponsers Do NOT need to become OFFICIAL THATTHARE OF NA$$CAR or sucked away by FATCATS like roush and a few others !!! The new rules should focuse on the greed problem in the “sport”.
I’d like to make a dumb observation here. If you won all 25 races last year, you’d have taken home approximately $1.5 million. If it costs $2-$5 million to run a team for a year, how is it possible to run a team without a loss since it is impossible to break even winning every race with the lowest budget team?
I realize that this is where sponsorship comes into play to make up the difference but I still don’t see how it’s possible to make a profit or even break even with a truck team at all because no truck team has a $5 million sponsor. Or am I just missing something obvious?
This is wishful thinking but why not try and get some of the former Cup champs to come and run for the championship. Can you not tell me it would be great to watch Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace, Dale Jarrett, DW, Cale Yarborough and greats like Ricky Rudd, Mark Martin, Harry Gant, ect. race in their retro paint and car numbers. Most say it’s the grueling nascar schedule that forced them into retirement anyway. So get a real sponsor (Coke) and a TV deal (ESPN) all night races (Monday night ?) all short tracks only 20-25 races a year. Pay the champ 1 million dollars and let the young guys come into the series and race with the greatest drivers in the world. Only problem with this is it would kill the cash cow Sprint Cup series as many would prefer this to watching the spoiled punks (Not All) drivers in the star series.
I remember when the series first started and had the halftime break. It was different and added to the series being special. I would not mind that change although I hate more people lossing jobs. I HATE the spec engine rule. You will end up with all the trucks being Toyota, which is where the series is heading already. I know I for one will not watcha a race of all Toyotas. I have no interest in that. I do not watch the IRL because it is all Honda engines. That is boring to me.
No pit stops Big Mistake. They are part of racing and what makes it a team sport. Without them a truck who has a flat or problem might as well pack up and go home they will never recover. Less guys, I don’t know about that one but it’s OK only if it’s safe for the guys over the wall. Speck engines I’m OK with this one but I bet a lot of fans are not.
TC, I totally agree with you, The purse money sucks. I have seen where some of the truck races pay under 20,000 to win when the cup series at the same track on the same weekend is paying 280,000 to win. I agree the truck series is getting screwed when they are racing a companion event. I also feel that the truck series needs to go back to it’s roots and race on some of the local bullrings around the country. I undestand that it would require more stand alone races, but I beleive it would be more affordable and profitable for the teams in the long run. Years ago I was involved with a truck team, we ran all the California and Arizona races, Our driver Dave Byrd did very well, infact we lost our crew cheif to MWR. Pit stops need to be mandatory on any track 1/2 mile – 3/4 mile and up. If we could get NASCAR to race the trucks on some of the bullrings around the country then and only then the 1/2 time break, pit stop would need to be put into effect. I know of 15 -20 truck teams parked in California who would run locally if NASCAR would run the local bullrings, I beleive this would be true all over the country. The reason we quit was the cost to race, lets make it reasonable and fun and the truck counts will increase. By the way, Bakersfeild would normally put 25-40k in the seats for the truck race, standing room only.
They should make it 5 crew members (two carriers [one of which is the catch can man], two changers, and jackman/fueler) and take fuel and tires at seperate times, like the hooters pro cup series. Its safer than the 6 man rule and will save more money.