Robert L Germain, Sr., was born in Detroit, Michigan on January 25th, 1923.
He was raised in Dearborn, Michigan, and his first job was as a tour guide for Ford Motor Company.
Bob served in the US Navy, where he won The American Campaign Medal with two Battle Stars, the WWII Victory Medal, the Phillipines Liberation Medal, and the United States Navy Unit Commendation Award.
He was also a graduate of the University of Michigan, and following graduation in 1947, he joined his father, Warren Germain, when he opened a Mercury dealership in Columbus, Ohio.
That dealership would be the start of Germain Motor Company, which Bob expanded to Florida in 1979, and today is one of America’s largest dealership groups.
Germain Motor Company owns and operates 25 franchises in Ohio, Florida, Arkansas and Arizona with over $1 Billion in annual sales. Germain Motor Company and its many affiliated companies are run by Bob’s three sons, Bob, Jr., Steve and Rick.
Sitting 8th in the point standings, Mike Wallace looked forward to arriving in Loudon, NH, and making up ground on the Top 5. Unfortunately, the Germain Racing team raced with heavy hearts, as team owner Bob Germain’s father passed away at 85 years of age in Naples, Florida, on Friday night.
After the green flag dropped Mike, Wallace and the Gecko immediately found themselves in danger when Brad Coleman caught their right front fender, causing damage that the GEICO pit crew would work hard to repair. Also, Mother Nature proved that she has a sense of humor when she provided temperatures in the 80’s on Friday during practice, but on Saturday she provided 64-degrees. This affected the set up of the race car and Wallace battled it all afternoon.
Wallace and the Gecko ran as high as 11th and ran solidly in the Top 15 for the balance of the afternoon. Consequently, when the checkered flag waved under overcast skies, Wallace recorded a 15th place finish. While the finish is not what the GEICO team was hoping for, it still kept Wallace in the 8th position in the point standings.
“We had a good points day, but we were hoping to get another Top 5 for GEICO and Sport Clips,” Wallace said. “It was unfortunate to learn of Bob’s (Germain, team owner) father passing away on Friday night and we are keeping the Germain family in our thoughts and prayers. We will be making the trip to Naples this week to attend services and pay tribute to such a great man.”
This week, the Germain Racing team heads to Daytona Beach, Florida, which is the site of Wallace’s last win. On July 2, 2004, Wallace passed Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and Jason Leffler coming out of Turn 4 to hand GEICO and Sport Clips their first NASCAR victories.
The GEICO Racing team has had a nice run of Top 10’s over the last few weeks and they were looking to add to the total at The Milwaukee Mile, where Mike Wallace has previously visited Victory Lane. After recording a third place finish in Kentucky a week ago, they were hoping to improve two spots and find themselves in Victory Lane.
The #7 GEICO Camry got involved in a slight fender bender at the beginning of the race. By Lap 90, Wallace sat in the 9th position, but he would spend the majority of the evening running solidly in the Top 15. At the close of the event, Wallace was in the 18th spot when the checkered flag waved over the oldest track in the country.
“We had kind of a tough evening tonight, but fared well in the point standings,” Wallace said. The Germain racing team is eighth in the Nationwide Series Driver Points Standings.
File this in the Makes No Sense Department. The co-owner of one of the top teams in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series has hired Paul Tracy to run later this season but the 2003 CART champion still can't get a ride in an Indy car.
A few weeks ago, P.T. tested Todd Bodine's truck at Chicagoland Speedway and impressed Bob Germain enough to get a one-off deal.
"Paul did a nice job so we got a little bit if support and decided it would be fun to run him in his hometown," said Germain, who along with his two brothers owns 19 car dealerships in Ohio and Florida. "He's our style, very aggressive, and he and Todd are a lot alike."
Tracy, who had a few rides in the old Busch series with mixed results, looks at his truck debut as something bigger.
"I figure it's an audition for 2009 with those guys, because I think Todd wants to go to the Nationwide series," said Tracy.
Currently, Germain runs Mike Wallace in the Nationwide series, plus Justin Marks and Bodine in the trucks (along with Chrissie Wallace, Mike's daughter, in selected events), and may be looking to expand.
"We're going to run Chrissie full-time in the trucks next year and we've got another year for sure with Mike (sponsored by Geico)," said Germain. "I know Todd would like to run the Nationwide series and we've got about a dozen different possibilities we'll be looking at. "And running Paul full-time in the trucks is one of those."
Mike Wallace said Friday at Kentucky Speedway that sponsor GEICO has indicated what it wants to do after next season, and it appears it won’t be sponsoring Wallace. GEICO, an insurance company, is not allowed in the Nationwide Series in 2010 as part of a non-competing sponsor agreement with the series sponsor. Nationwide began sponsoring NASCAR’s No. 2 series this year. Wallace drives the No. 7 Toyota for Germain Racing.
“We have an indication of what they’re going to do,” Wallace said of NASCAR. “Who really knows? I’ll just leave it at that.”
GEICO has been one of the most visible sponsors in the series, with its popular commercials featuring fictional Wallace relative Lauren Wallace.
I just can't seem to catch a break. I guess that's what I get for sticking with my Tennessee and Missouri boys. It's tempting to jump on a band wagon. But how much fun would that be? No, don't expect me to be hollering "Joooooonyer!," anytime soon.
Hopefully Mike will find a sponsor and I'll be able to stay with him.
Here Crocodile. Here's your chance to eat a gecko.
Pay attention Construct. Here is your chance to build something.
Not that I have anything against Justin Marks, but these two Germain Racing sponsors might get more mileage out of Mike.
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