| |  | | CIA Stock Photo | Kyle Petty and father Richard Petty are fielding partnership possiblities for their organization. | | | | PETTY PROBLEMS | Pettys explore possible alliance with Gillett-Evernham | |
| | By Nascar.com LOUDON, N.H. -- Long before the current wave of mergers and partnerships began in NASCAR, Richard Petty could have filled his famous ostrich-feather hat with offers from people interested in buying a piece of the most successful stock-car organization in history. He turned them all down, not wanting outside investors to crowd his company's famous name. Petty Enterprises would remain Petty Enterprises, now, then and always.
That mindset still permeates this team, where some employees turned wrenches back when the King still drove, and the initials of patriarch Lee Petty can be seen scrawled in concrete at the organization's ancestral shop in central North Carolina. They've always done it their way, the same way that won 268 races between 1949 and their last victory in 1999, even though other teams began to expand and improve and leave this historic outfit behind.
But the hard realities of competing in NASCAR's premier series, many of them financial, have forced the decades-old Petty organization to change. The first came in 2002, when Petty Enterprises began to outsource its engines for the first time. In January, team officials said they were exploring the idea of leaving their old compound in Level Cross, N.C., for a new facility in Charlotte, where the bulk of the industry is based. Now, Petty is talking with executives at Gillett-Evernham Motorsports about forming some sort of alliance.
But don't call the prospective deal a merger. Whatever happens, team president Robbie Loomis said, Petty Enterprises will not change its name -- that's one thing Richard Petty will not give up.
"We've got to get our performance up. Bringing in Bobby Labonte was a big pillar of that organization. The No. 43 car is now a pretty respected car on the racetrack., but as we go forward, it takes money," Loomis said at New Hampshire International Speedway, where Petty cars finished 22nd and 37th in Sunday's Sylvania 300.
"How do you get more money in the organization? How do you get the sponsors to step up and pay more? It's one of those Catch-22s, you have to do more before they pay more, unless you make the big story. [Rick] Hendrick, he did a great job this year with the big story. Dale Earnhardt Jr. coming on, that's generated more money in their whole camp. The Gibbs organization, they've taken and sold their long-term relationship with Chevrolet to Toyota. It's about money. They can say it's resources, they can say they want to lead. But it's about getting the most money into an organization that you can. For us at Petty Enterprises, that's what we're trying to look at. How do we raise that capital?"
Possibly by aligning with another entity like GEM and deep-pocketed George Gillett, who owns the Montreal Canadiens hockey team, part of the Liverpool soccer club, and bought into Ray Evernham's NASCAR team earlier this year. Loomis said any deal with GEM is likely to be some sort of working arrangement similar to the one struck last week between Roush Fenway Racing and Yates Racing, which will share resources and information but remain separate entities in ownership.
"Petty Enterprises will always be here," Loomis said. "We hope to grow it to a four-car team in the future. But I think with what you've seen here with Yates and Roush here in the last week, I say one of the best things Roush ever did was when he got together with Doug [Yates] and started getting his engines. It really helped that organization, probably more than any single thing Jack did besides getting Mark Martin. I think now you'll see some return come back to Doug and his organization through chassis, through engineering and all those things. I think there are a lot of things that can go both ways throughout the organization. But obviously, business philosophies have to be in line going forward."
Gillett has been courting the Pettys since March, when he invited Richard up to Montreal for a hockey game. It was part of a feeling-out process in which Gillett, long interested in entering NASCAR, informally talked with both Petty and Evernham Motorsports about becoming an investor. Richard Petty came away from the experience impressed, and didn't rule out some sort of partnership if the dollar figures were right.
"That was obviously George's way of courting Richard and showing him a good time, feeding him on the airplane and wining and dining him," Loomis said. "What I like about Mr. Gillett is -- and I want to say this very carefully -- he reminds me a lot of Mr. Hendrick. Hopefully, he's going to have that same commitment. He has a lot to learn about this sport, but he's been involved with other sports and been successful. I like the fit of somebody who obviously has deep pockets and a good foundation, but who also has a passion for winning and understands performance is first and everything else will take care of itself."
But Gillett isn't the only player in the game. There are "three or four people," Loomis said, who are interested in partnering with the Pettys, and indications are that not all of them come from within NASCAR. One doesn't appear to be Roger Penske, who owns a two-car Dodge operation, and seems content to leave it that way.
"I've got plenty to do on my own right now," Penske said prior to the New Hampshire race. "... At this particular time, I'm very comfortable with the way it is, and we'll have to deal with it whether it's two against four, or three against four, or two against eight."
For the Pettys, it's all about raising capital. The team would love to expand to the NASCAR-allowed maximum of four Nextel Cup cars, if the sponsorship can be found. Right now, a more pressing priority is finding funding for a prospective Busch car -- the Pettys, long opposed to alcohol sponsorship, are looking to race the circuit next year, when a new title sponsor comes on board -- for Chad McCumbee. And then there's the search for a new building, preferably on 40 to 50 acres north of Charlotte.
But the partnership talks, which could provide the Pettys with more money for a new facility, will come first. It's a delicate issue for a team that has interests away from the racetrack like the Victory Junction Gang Camp and the Richard Petty Driving Experience. But the performance on the racetrack could clearly use a financial boost, an economic reality that has piqued the organization's interest in forming some sort of alliance.
"I think in the past, it's been one of those situations where even before I left and went to Hendrick, there were people who approached us," said Loomis, who worked at Petty before becoming Jeff Gordon's crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports. "But at the time, we were closer in market share. If we had $6 million, they were racing on $9 million. We were a lot closer. Now, the numbers are just crazy, what they race on and what we race on. And I think we're trying to figure a way to get more money into it, so we can take care of the good people that we have, and attract the new people that we want."
That gap, Loomis said, is still widening. And as a result, Petty Enterprises seems on the brink of teaming up with another organization for the first time.
"I look at it like rehab: For every year you fall behind, it takes you three years to catch back up," Loomis said. "Because those guys aren't sitting still." | | Posted September 19, 2007 , 1:17 am EST
Last Updated September 19, 2007 , 2:05 am EST | | | | | | | | |
