I wonder what Dave "the Buckeye bullet" Blaney is thinking these days. I would imagine he has to be thinking two things, primarily. Number one, what in the world is going on at Bill Davis Racing. Number two, how is Richard Childress Racing taking over the sponsorship dollars from other teams.
Dave Blaney has jumped from 39th in the owner points standings to 28th place in just 7 races. Blaney moved up one position in the standings after this past weekend at Infineon. One would think that is a pretty good feat and Blaney is having a good season for Bill Davis Racing.
But, just like Petty Enterprises was a victim of losing their sponsorship dollars with General Mills to Richard Childress Racing, BDR has lost its sponsorship with Caterpillar to RCR. CAT has been with that race team for 10 years now, and most of us remember seeing that paint scheme on Ward Burton’s car.
Ward’s brother Jeff Burton’s team can no longer carry a rival telephone company’s logo on its car after the conclusion of this season, and it does seem 'fitting' to keep that sponsorship in the Burton family.
Yet, this brings me back to Blaney. Blaney will be making his 284th Cup start this weekend at Loudon and he started from the pole for this same N.H. race last year. Coincidentally, it was the first pole for the Toyota cars last year.
Blaney has been through this before with losing a sponsor, which prompted his initial departure from BDR in 2002. Subsequently, Blaney joined up with Jasper Motorsports driving the #77 Cup car until that team was sold to Penske Racing, leaving him with a contract but no car. RCR offered Blaney a full-time ride driving the #07 and he accepted. However, RCR released Blaney after the 2005 season, giving Blaney only one year for that team. After all that, Blaney once again returned to BDR to drive the CAT #22 in 2006, bringing crew chief Kevin Hamlin from RCR with him, and it has been going well.
So, who will be the new sponsor for BDR and Davey Blaney? Let’s hope it’s a company that will stay with BDR for another ten years and lead this team to even higher heights.
When he announced that Cat was leaving, Bill Davis said they are trying to add a second Cup team for next year. I think he should worry about keeping one team going.
RCR isn't stealing sponsors. The sponsors want the most exposure for their money. They're not getting much from Petty or BDR. It's a cruel world out here. Now, how about a Schlitz and a Subway Club?
It's pretty sad that Blaney is getting stiffed. He is performing better than 75% of the ex-open wheelers. Would hope that Toyota would work with BDR in finding a replacement, since Davis was the one who stuck his neck out in getting them into NASCAR.
Wow...I just made your "Favorite's" list {Blushing}. That's really cool, thank you. Of course, I'm still trying to figure that part of my profile out at this point. So will declare right now that "HotfootLori's Blog" is on my Favorite Blogs list....if I had one.
Understandably the sponsors would like the most exposure for their dollars. That doesnt make it any easier to see someone lose a sponsor though. I like KLV's suggestion of Toyota sponsoring the car.
Isn't Toyota the primary sponsor on BDR's truck teams now? I believe Toyota will carry Bill's Cup team for a season or two at least. For R&D, if nothing else.
I agree with Hanahan here, they might have a sniff of a fully funded second team in 2009, but they really should try to maintain their first one.
I don't think the BDR (and/or Blaney) should have a problem getting a new sponsor. As a single car team their outdoing some teams within multi-car set-ups with big name sponsors.
Broomy - I agree they should maintain focus on one team. Did it sound like I thought they "wouldn't" find a big name sponsor? I really am hoping they do ...
Lori, I worry about Bill and Gail Davis and the Wood Brothers. I don't think BAM will ever come back. I'm a sucker for the old teams and the "little guys" in racing. I want to see Robby Gordon succeed and I want to see sponsors for Yates. Just call me OLD!
Vol ~ we are on the same page then. I hate the state of NASCAR in that aspect. I *really* thought Ken Schrader was going to have a good year with BAM, but we haven't heard anything about them coming back, even though Morgenthau said they'd be back. Schrader must be tearing up the dirt tracks.
Photo ~ ah yes, but is that the driver's fault, or the TV coverage's fault? I mean, there are 43 cars out there, and the TV shows the top 5, under normal conditions. Or wherever Rowdy is. Or when a driver wrecks!
Last edited by HotfootLori on June 26th at 1:06 PM.
Hey I had my Junk on the #100 car he lost I pulled it. The #107 car won he got my Junk. I pay for a car upfront. I dont want a car not winning. You want my Junk$? You win it is your$. You lose later gator. I only want my Junk on cars up front.
Yea it kinda bites. STP not on Petty. You see alot of sponsors pulling out and going to bigger Cost more teams. M&Ms to Gibbs. Cat to RCR.. Genral Mills to ? It is a cold world out there.
Good luck BDR and the #22 car and team.
Lori - Sponsoring band wagon jumpers they are, leaving the old school drivers on small teams that with more money they would be up front with the big boys to go to another team with more money and a young buck driver who will do better, due to the money in that team and not driver abillity.
Plus NASCAR is cutting off out side sponsors when they deal exclusive rights to sponsors.
I hope Blaney gets a good sponsor. He has done a lot for BDR and Toyota. I hope that both of them stay loyal to him.
Sponsor loyalty used to mean something. I used to work for Eastman Kodak when Rick Wilson drove the #4 Kodak Chevrolet for Morgan McClure Racing. Someone asked some of the big Bosses one day why Kodak kept sponsoring Rick when all he did was wreck every race. Their answer was simply, "Just think how many people see the Kodak name and Logo everytime he hits the wall".
Things always change, some for the better and some for the worse. As Tracy Lawrence sang in his song, Everything Changes Everything Changes.
This is some great scribble raising the big issue of the cannibalism and concentration of sponsors, a problem just as prevalent in other sports, all the power and money concentrates in one or two teams and then you're really just seeing who finishes third through last...I think NASCAR should have an "at large" slot in the race for the cup that takes a random undisclosed number of races and assigns points for everyone who finishes out of the top ten along with enough prize money so that team could actually compete, it would make it exciting to see who actually got the bid, it would also make sponsors less likely to migrate...that's my horrifically stupid idea...
How much is CAT giving BDR in sponsorship, and how much is it going to give Childress.
If they are giving a chunk more to Childress then I can understand if Davis is angry. If they want their friggin' logo on TV more then give them more money.
RCR seems to be offering the sponsors something that these other teams can't offer: a better chance of winning.
And everyone wants to be with a winning team.
It is going to be interesting to see how this silly season finally plays out. There is alot of moving going in early in the season.
But BDR and Blaney will find a sponsor. It may be in the form of two or three sponsors. It is hard to find a single sponsor willing to pony up the type of money that these sponsors pony for a primary sponsorship.
