Post by dodgehemi on Sept 12, 2009 18:29:09 GMT -5
RICHMOND, Va. -- Richard Petty Motorsports will use Roush-Yates engines next season and could get its chassis from Roush Fenway Racing, team co-owner Richard Petty said Saturday at Richmond International Raceway.
RPM signed a letter of intent this week to effectively absorb Yates Racing and form a four-car Ford operation for next season. Petty said many of the details are yet to be worked out, including which drivers will drive which cars, where the team will assemble its vehicles, and whether it will build its own chassis at all.
But he's sure of one thing: Ford presented RPM with a better financial deal than Dodge, the manufacturer the team represents this season.
Merger mania
Richard Petty Motorsports will merge operations with Yates Racing and switch to Ford in the 2010 season.
Complete story
Kahne back with Ford
Video: Kahne on 'Trackside'
Audio: King moving to Ford
Audio: Petty, Yates merging
"Ford was our best alternative for being factory involved," Petty said. "The Dodge deal was really all going to the Penske deal. Dodge was very willing to work with us with pieces, parts, engineering and all that. But there was no monetary situation there to help us out. Yates already had a couple of Ford deals ... and hopefully in the future we can work out more deals with Ford."
Petty said RPM would effectively take over the agreement Yates had with Roush, which supplied its smaller satellite team with both engines and chassis. Whether all that happens with RPM is yet to be determined. The only certainly appears to be that RPM will get its engines from Roush-Yates, which is an independent company and not part of Yates Racing.
"Oh yeah," Petty said. "We would do basically the same thing, just kind of take over that deal. [Roush-Yates] engines, they're the only ones building Ford engines right now. So instead of us starting into a new program, why not use their program, because they have the new engine I've never seen. They're working on that, and hopefully we could get some of that stuff going, and get them to run some of it this year before next year. Again, those are some of the things that need to be worked out."
The use of Roush-Yates engines would have an immediate effect on the RPM engine shop, which employs several dozen people. Petty said Saturday he wasn't sure if the unit would be shut down, or used in a lesser research and development capacity. That issue may have been at the root of an argument Friday night between team co-owner George Gillett and competition director Mark McArdle, reported in The Charlotte Observer, which apparently ended McArdle's tenure with the organization.
"From what I could pick up," Petty said. "I think [Friday] was his last day."
Petty said he wasn't sure whether RPM would assemble its cars in its current location in Statesville, N.C., or wedge everything into Yates' smaller facility in Concord, N.C., or split duties between both shops. Even who will drive the team's flagship No. 43 is still up in the air -- while Petty said he'd like to see A.J. Allmendinger in the car, sponsors will ultimately make the call. Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne, and Paul Menard will fill out the team's driver roster.
"That's still up in the air, too," Petty said of the No. 43. "We think we know, but again it's according to how everything comes down with our partners in terms of the sponsor people we have now. They have a lot of input in what you do and how you do it. We have a lot of people we have to please besides ourselves."
Petty said the transition to Ford shouldn't impact Kahne's attempt to contend for the Cup championship this season. Kahne enters the Richmond race sixth in points and needs to finish 21st or better to secure a berth in the 12-man playoff.
"One of our concerns is that this doesn't disturb what we've got going with Dodge for the rest of the year," Petty said. "... We know we're going to finish the year, we've got obligations to Dodge, we've got obligations to our sponsors, we've got stuff we've got to carry out this year. We can't just say we're going to stop right now and get ready for next year. It doesn't work that way."
RPM signed a letter of intent this week to effectively absorb Yates Racing and form a four-car Ford operation for next season. Petty said many of the details are yet to be worked out, including which drivers will drive which cars, where the team will assemble its vehicles, and whether it will build its own chassis at all.
But he's sure of one thing: Ford presented RPM with a better financial deal than Dodge, the manufacturer the team represents this season.
Merger mania
Richard Petty Motorsports will merge operations with Yates Racing and switch to Ford in the 2010 season.
Complete story
Kahne back with Ford
Video: Kahne on 'Trackside'
Audio: King moving to Ford
Audio: Petty, Yates merging
"Ford was our best alternative for being factory involved," Petty said. "The Dodge deal was really all going to the Penske deal. Dodge was very willing to work with us with pieces, parts, engineering and all that. But there was no monetary situation there to help us out. Yates already had a couple of Ford deals ... and hopefully in the future we can work out more deals with Ford."
Petty said RPM would effectively take over the agreement Yates had with Roush, which supplied its smaller satellite team with both engines and chassis. Whether all that happens with RPM is yet to be determined. The only certainly appears to be that RPM will get its engines from Roush-Yates, which is an independent company and not part of Yates Racing.
"Oh yeah," Petty said. "We would do basically the same thing, just kind of take over that deal. [Roush-Yates] engines, they're the only ones building Ford engines right now. So instead of us starting into a new program, why not use their program, because they have the new engine I've never seen. They're working on that, and hopefully we could get some of that stuff going, and get them to run some of it this year before next year. Again, those are some of the things that need to be worked out."
The use of Roush-Yates engines would have an immediate effect on the RPM engine shop, which employs several dozen people. Petty said Saturday he wasn't sure if the unit would be shut down, or used in a lesser research and development capacity. That issue may have been at the root of an argument Friday night between team co-owner George Gillett and competition director Mark McArdle, reported in The Charlotte Observer, which apparently ended McArdle's tenure with the organization.
"From what I could pick up," Petty said. "I think [Friday] was his last day."
Petty said he wasn't sure whether RPM would assemble its cars in its current location in Statesville, N.C., or wedge everything into Yates' smaller facility in Concord, N.C., or split duties between both shops. Even who will drive the team's flagship No. 43 is still up in the air -- while Petty said he'd like to see A.J. Allmendinger in the car, sponsors will ultimately make the call. Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne, and Paul Menard will fill out the team's driver roster.
"That's still up in the air, too," Petty said of the No. 43. "We think we know, but again it's according to how everything comes down with our partners in terms of the sponsor people we have now. They have a lot of input in what you do and how you do it. We have a lot of people we have to please besides ourselves."
Petty said the transition to Ford shouldn't impact Kahne's attempt to contend for the Cup championship this season. Kahne enters the Richmond race sixth in points and needs to finish 21st or better to secure a berth in the 12-man playoff.
"One of our concerns is that this doesn't disturb what we've got going with Dodge for the rest of the year," Petty said. "... We know we're going to finish the year, we've got obligations to Dodge, we've got obligations to our sponsors, we've got stuff we've got to carry out this year. We can't just say we're going to stop right now and get ready for next year. It doesn't work that way."
I have Richard petty cars 1/18 1/24 scales! Etc...
