Post by pmossberg on Sept 18, 2009 22:45:27 GMT -5
So, what do you make of this?
proxy.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=smith_marty&page=DoorToDoor
Updated: September 18, 2009, 11:38 PM ET
Is racing for free dedicated enough?
By Marty Smith
ESPN.com
When Reed Sorenson burst onto the NASCAR scene in 2005 with Chip Ganassi Racing, he was but a teenager -- didn't even have fuzz enough on his face to compare to those bushels of Georgia peaches he grew up picking.
He was the poster child for the driver development movement -- talent, raw as Eddie Murphy, plucked from late-model obscurity in Nowhere, Georgia, on the promise he was the next big thing.
But as winless races turned into winless seasons and mediocrity became the norm, questions about his desire as a driver began to surface.
Does he want it bad enough? Is he old enough to grasp what he has? Is he even really that good? And if so, is he willing to commit everything it takes to achieve excellence? Almost from the outset, his sleepy Southern demeanor was an obstacle. And he's been fighting it ever since.
He needn't any longer. The past three months at Richard Petty Motorsports are all the proof you need.
When RPM announced last week a merger with Yates Racing, most considered Sorenson the big loser, since it appeared he was left out of the 2010 driver lineup as a result.
He in fact wasn't. He was already gone by that point.
Multiple RPM sources confirmed to ESPN.com that team executives approached Sorenson during the summer with a pair of options: (1) Race the remainder of the season for no salary; or (2) take a buyout and go away.
Conflicted, frustrated, shocked and confused, Sorenson chose the former. In NASCAR, out of sight is out of mind. And out of mind is out of work.
"The decision I made was to keep racing. The reason I did that is I thought it would help me find a job next year," Sorenson said. "And any race car driver that has the choice to sit at home or race is probably going to choose to race, unless they're at the end of their career.
"I'm 23 years old. I want to have a long future in the sport. I didn't figure sitting at home was a good option to do that."
Sorenson would not divulge specifics of his agreement with RPM but did say he was never given a true reason for the development.
"They didn't really have much justification for it," he said. "They basically just said, 'This is the deal we have, but you've done nothing wrong. We feel bad.' But it sucked. I don't really get it. It never made sense when it was going down, and it doesn't make sense now.
"I definitely didn't envision them coming to me halfway through this year and saying this. I felt like I was moving to a team where I could make a home and work with new teammates and maybe be there for five years or whatever it might be.
"I didn't even get halfway through the year, and this comes up. Then I was told I haven't done anything wrong at the same time. So that's the most sickening thing about it."
Sorenson's agent, Jeff Dickerson from Mooresville, N.C.-based Motorsports Management, also would neither confirm nor deny that Sorenson was given an ultimatum. He did agree, though, that when he speaks with other team owners and managers about Sorenson's future, the driver's level of desire to compete is often broached.
"If people knew the sacrifices he has made to stay on the racetrack, they wouldn't ask that question anymore," Dickerson said. "He's been a great teammate both on and off the track.
"He stood up for the guys that work on these cars and their families and refuses to let that team be shut down. People think a guy that drafts with you is a good teammate. I think Reed rewrote that definition in this situation."
Sorenson's teammate Kasey Kahne agreed.
"I feel like he's been a great teammate, and as far as performance goes, he's been our second best car for the last two months," Kahne said. "And he has a sponsor behind him with the Air Force, so I have no idea why he won't be part of RPM next year."
Asked for comment for this story, RPM spokesman Drew Brown wrote in an e-mail that "it wouldn't be fair to comment on internal matters relating to Reed's contract. I will say that all of us have had a blast with Reed this season and wish he could be part of us next season, but it's a numbers game."
The Sorenson salary development is just the latest move in a perplexing two-year run for billionaire sports team owner George Gillett in NASCAR. (Remember the Elliott Sadler/A.J. Allmendinger drama in the offseason?) Inconsistency at the top of his team -- now known as RPM -- troubles many in the organization.
Since Gillett purchased majority ownership of Evernham Motorsports in 2007, no fewer than five people have been the go-to guy. In the wake of the Yates merger, former GM Mark McArdle is no longer with the company. No one, it seems, knows where to turn for answers.
"I think Robbie Loomis is supposedly going to be that guy, but I don't think that he is yet," Kahne said Friday. "Is it Foster [Gillett, George Gillett's son]? You can't get anything out of Foster. So it's hard to say who that is."
"I really admire and respect George and everything he has accomplished in his other sports properties," Dickerson said. "Foster has been charged with making real tough decisions and learning the sport at the same time, which can't be easy.
"They definitely need some consistency in that leadership position, and I know that [Yates co-owner] Max Jones is a huge upgrade to the revolving door in that office the past couple years. They just need to let Max do the job. He's the best in the business."
As for Sorenson, he'll use the final 10 races of the season as an audition for 2010. There are few Sprint Cup rides available, so the hope for Sorenson is a part-time Cup program to supplement a full-time Nationwide ride.
"If I have to run full-time Nationwide and part-time Cup to wait until the economy gets better and I get a good full-time ride again, then that would be the best-case scenario," he said. "I just want to race. I don't want to sit around and wait."
His team shares the sentiment -- them against the world. Nobody else much cares about them, they figure, so they might as well dig in and fight for themselves.
"It's weird. I think everybody on my team, the 43 team now, because [RPM] also switched teams, too, and basically gave me A.J.'s old team," he said. "I think they basically feel like they're all in the same boat I am, as far as looking for a job.
"We joke around about it. But I'm the fourth driver and they're the fourth team, and they put us together. We're pretty motivated. It's kind of crazy. We kind of have that feeling like, 'Hey, we're all looking for jobs.' They've already told me I'm definitely out of there. But at the same time, I think it motivates me even more.
"I made a decision. I decided to race. That helped keep all those guys that are on that team employed, at least until the end of this year, where [otherwise] they were probably not going to have a job."
Admirable. And rare. Especially given the circumstances.
Marty Smith is a contributor to ESPN's NASCAR coverage. He can be reached at ESPNsider@aol.com.
proxy.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=smith_marty&page=DoorToDoor
Updated: September 18, 2009, 11:38 PM ET
Is racing for free dedicated enough?
By Marty Smith
ESPN.com
When Reed Sorenson burst onto the NASCAR scene in 2005 with Chip Ganassi Racing, he was but a teenager -- didn't even have fuzz enough on his face to compare to those bushels of Georgia peaches he grew up picking.
He was the poster child for the driver development movement -- talent, raw as Eddie Murphy, plucked from late-model obscurity in Nowhere, Georgia, on the promise he was the next big thing.
But as winless races turned into winless seasons and mediocrity became the norm, questions about his desire as a driver began to surface.
Does he want it bad enough? Is he old enough to grasp what he has? Is he even really that good? And if so, is he willing to commit everything it takes to achieve excellence? Almost from the outset, his sleepy Southern demeanor was an obstacle. And he's been fighting it ever since.
He needn't any longer. The past three months at Richard Petty Motorsports are all the proof you need.
When RPM announced last week a merger with Yates Racing, most considered Sorenson the big loser, since it appeared he was left out of the 2010 driver lineup as a result.
He in fact wasn't. He was already gone by that point.
Multiple RPM sources confirmed to ESPN.com that team executives approached Sorenson during the summer with a pair of options: (1) Race the remainder of the season for no salary; or (2) take a buyout and go away.
Conflicted, frustrated, shocked and confused, Sorenson chose the former. In NASCAR, out of sight is out of mind. And out of mind is out of work.
"The decision I made was to keep racing. The reason I did that is I thought it would help me find a job next year," Sorenson said. "And any race car driver that has the choice to sit at home or race is probably going to choose to race, unless they're at the end of their career.
"I'm 23 years old. I want to have a long future in the sport. I didn't figure sitting at home was a good option to do that."
Sorenson would not divulge specifics of his agreement with RPM but did say he was never given a true reason for the development.
"They didn't really have much justification for it," he said. "They basically just said, 'This is the deal we have, but you've done nothing wrong. We feel bad.' But it sucked. I don't really get it. It never made sense when it was going down, and it doesn't make sense now.
"I definitely didn't envision them coming to me halfway through this year and saying this. I felt like I was moving to a team where I could make a home and work with new teammates and maybe be there for five years or whatever it might be.
"I didn't even get halfway through the year, and this comes up. Then I was told I haven't done anything wrong at the same time. So that's the most sickening thing about it."
Sorenson's agent, Jeff Dickerson from Mooresville, N.C.-based Motorsports Management, also would neither confirm nor deny that Sorenson was given an ultimatum. He did agree, though, that when he speaks with other team owners and managers about Sorenson's future, the driver's level of desire to compete is often broached.
"If people knew the sacrifices he has made to stay on the racetrack, they wouldn't ask that question anymore," Dickerson said. "He's been a great teammate both on and off the track.
"He stood up for the guys that work on these cars and their families and refuses to let that team be shut down. People think a guy that drafts with you is a good teammate. I think Reed rewrote that definition in this situation."
Sorenson's teammate Kasey Kahne agreed.
"I feel like he's been a great teammate, and as far as performance goes, he's been our second best car for the last two months," Kahne said. "And he has a sponsor behind him with the Air Force, so I have no idea why he won't be part of RPM next year."
Asked for comment for this story, RPM spokesman Drew Brown wrote in an e-mail that "it wouldn't be fair to comment on internal matters relating to Reed's contract. I will say that all of us have had a blast with Reed this season and wish he could be part of us next season, but it's a numbers game."
The Sorenson salary development is just the latest move in a perplexing two-year run for billionaire sports team owner George Gillett in NASCAR. (Remember the Elliott Sadler/A.J. Allmendinger drama in the offseason?) Inconsistency at the top of his team -- now known as RPM -- troubles many in the organization.
Since Gillett purchased majority ownership of Evernham Motorsports in 2007, no fewer than five people have been the go-to guy. In the wake of the Yates merger, former GM Mark McArdle is no longer with the company. No one, it seems, knows where to turn for answers.
"I think Robbie Loomis is supposedly going to be that guy, but I don't think that he is yet," Kahne said Friday. "Is it Foster [Gillett, George Gillett's son]? You can't get anything out of Foster. So it's hard to say who that is."
"I really admire and respect George and everything he has accomplished in his other sports properties," Dickerson said. "Foster has been charged with making real tough decisions and learning the sport at the same time, which can't be easy.
"They definitely need some consistency in that leadership position, and I know that [Yates co-owner] Max Jones is a huge upgrade to the revolving door in that office the past couple years. They just need to let Max do the job. He's the best in the business."
As for Sorenson, he'll use the final 10 races of the season as an audition for 2010. There are few Sprint Cup rides available, so the hope for Sorenson is a part-time Cup program to supplement a full-time Nationwide ride.
"If I have to run full-time Nationwide and part-time Cup to wait until the economy gets better and I get a good full-time ride again, then that would be the best-case scenario," he said. "I just want to race. I don't want to sit around and wait."
His team shares the sentiment -- them against the world. Nobody else much cares about them, they figure, so they might as well dig in and fight for themselves.
"It's weird. I think everybody on my team, the 43 team now, because [RPM] also switched teams, too, and basically gave me A.J.'s old team," he said. "I think they basically feel like they're all in the same boat I am, as far as looking for a job.
"We joke around about it. But I'm the fourth driver and they're the fourth team, and they put us together. We're pretty motivated. It's kind of crazy. We kind of have that feeling like, 'Hey, we're all looking for jobs.' They've already told me I'm definitely out of there. But at the same time, I think it motivates me even more.
"I made a decision. I decided to race. That helped keep all those guys that are on that team employed, at least until the end of this year, where [otherwise] they were probably not going to have a job."
Admirable. And rare. Especially given the circumstances.
Marty Smith is a contributor to ESPN's NASCAR coverage. He can be reached at ESPNsider@aol.com.
I have Richard petty cars 1/18 1/24 scales! Etc...
