Some gave all........the forgotten hero’s.
“Nobody is immune,” Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick said. “So many jobs here in Charlotte are depending on our sport.”
Nobody knows exactly what the final tally of layoffs will be. DEI released 116 employees within the last week and Ganassi Racing released 71 earlier this year, when Dario Franchitti’s team folded due to lack of sponsorship.
Petty Enterprises, still without full sponsors on either of its cars for 2009, has let 30 people go. Bill Davis Racing is down to a handful of employees until it finds sponsor help. Hall of Fame Racing has notified its 44 employees that unless it finds sponsor help in the next month many of them will be looking for jobs.
Michael Waltrip Racing, the Wood Brothers and Roush Fenway Racing all have let go a dozen or so employees.
Even Hendrick Motorsports, which captured its eighth title in the past 14 years when Jimmie Johnson claimed his third straight championship, has trimmed 12 employees.
The cuts will continue through the end of the year as teams get a full understanding of what they face.
“There’s a lot of good people looking for jobs,” said Mike Dillon, the general manager of Richard Childress Racing, which has attempted to shift personnel to different areas to avoid major layoffs. “If there’s 50 people, that’s too many. It stinks.
“But all of these race teams have been fat for a long time. These sponsors were giving money and people were racing with no consideration for how much they were spending.”
Lots more at link.
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/columns/story?columnist=newton_david&page=InsideTheHauler