Formation of the “Race Team Alliance”

[AMLNet49]

Brad made two really good points about the current state of team ownership:

1) that owning a multi-car team and pumping money into it doesn't guarantee anything because Hendrick and Penske's sponsorship money is so much more (assuming he was talking about Roush with that one).

2) that it is very easy even for someone very skilled at business to fail at team owning because of the current economics of the sport, and as he said "drive one of these teams into the ground real easy" (I think a really good example of this would be Brandon Davis and the now defunct Swan Racing Company.)

 

[Alan Harkleroad]

After all the history lessons this past 2 days of articles as the RTA becomes a more discussed item, it makes me really hope both the Teams and Bruton on behalf of the tracks and schedule take NASCAR to task. NASCAR doesnt hold the power anymore and Brian and company would do well to remember that now.

 

[Alan Harkleroad]

What a podcast. The teams deserve to stand up to the France family and NASCAR.

 

[DBReaver35]

After all the history lessons this past 2 days of articles as the RTA becomes a more discussed item, it makes me really hope both the Teams and Bruton on behalf of the tracks and schedule take NASCAR to task. NASCAR doesnt hold the power anymore and Brian and company would do well to remember that now.

No please no last thing you want is Bruton Smith or the smith family involved. He would hurt us the fan more then NASCAR could ever do.

This is a different era then when drivers and teams refused to race at dega. I think now if Drivers and teams unite would just enough do what you want.

 

[Alan Harkleroad]

And that is where I would disagree, NASCAR has been fighting the change against this bland worn out schedule and changes are way past due.

Race length, # of Races per venue, # of races per season, % of track makeup to the schedule. The NASCAR race calendar is extinct to me. It needs an overhaul. I can only hope SMI takes the opportunity to jump in on the heals of the RTA and deliver a swift kick in the butt to NASCAR and help move them into a more entertaining schedules, they can do better then they are right now. I am sick of cookie cutters, we need more short tracks, we need more road racing. These guys can put on a hell of a show on the road courses. Some of the best racing all year happens at those events.

 

[thisguy]

Wanting Bruton Smith in on this is asking for 1.5 mile tracks every weekend.

 

[DBReaver35]

Wanting Bruton Smith in on this is asking for 1.5 mile tracks every weekend.

This and ticket price increases.

Cabarrus County, NC has paid alot for his greed.

 

[ChevyMan150]

I'm extremely interested to see where this goes but part of me is happy for this and the other half is starting to see a Cart-IRL-esq split coming on here. I like what their doing but I am scared that the power will shift too far in the direction of the RTA or the RTA will get fed up at NASCAR's stubbornness and say "We don't need you France family! We're gonna show you!" and leave.

And that is where I would disagree, NASCAR has been fighting the change against this bland worn out schedule and changes are way past due.

Race length, # of Races per venue, # of races per season, % of track makeup to the schedule. The NASCAR race calendar is extinct to me. It needs an overhaul. I can only hope SMI takes the opportunity to jump in on the heals of the RTA and deliver a swift kick in the butt to NASCAR and help move them into a more entertaining schedules, they can do better then they are right now. I am sick of cookie cutters, we need more short tracks, we need more road racing. These guys can put on a hell of a show on the road courses. Some of the best racing all year happens at those events.

I could not agree more with this statement. I've recently gotten into a series called V8 Supercars, which is Australian Touring car for those who don't know, and I have to say that their scheduling is great. Each race weekend has 3 races with two formats either A) two 100km races on Saturday and one 200km race Sunday or B) two 125km races Saturday and one 250km race Sunday. There are exceptions to this for the Sandown 500, Bathurst 1000, and Gold Coast 600 where Sandown and Bathurst are both one race only and the Gold Coast is split into two 300km races. Oh, and I almost forgot that the event at Pukekohe had three 100km races (one Friday, two Saturday) with a 200km race Sunday. They only visit a track once a year and that's it.

I know this is slightly off topic but if NASCAR could do something like this (or if the RTA could push for something like this) I think it would help many areas that need improvement. For instance, attendance would be up on Saturdays and there would be a greater sense of urgency throughout the field which would produce better racing. Also it would be harder to fall asleep because the races would be so much shorter! I just think that the Aussies are doing something right there and SMI or the RTA or someone should take note of it. Less events (14 or 15) which would have about the same number of races bringing into account the single race events (Daytona, Indy, etc.). That's just my .02 on a scheduling model that I think the RTA can push for to cut costs while the fans still win.

 

[Relly]

I was listening to Ray Evernham's appearance on Dave Moody's show last night and he made a great point, he said, and I'm paraphrasing, that two of the major players in the RTA, Roger Penske & Chip Ganassi were owners during the IRL/CART split and Richard Petty was a part of the ill-fated Professional Drivers Association. These guys have been down this road before and have had a chance to learn from the mistakes made and hopefully be able to set the RTA on the right course.

Just an interesting point Ray brought up, one that I hadn't previously thought of.

 

[MattSRD28]

Nothing I've read about the RTA indicates we're anywhere close to the same path that CART/IRL went down.

 

[evan07]

I feel like this RTA announcement was rushed for some reason since they have such little information out right now.

 

[DBReaver35]

The RTA Will Talk With NASCAR Through Attorneys

Quote:
If the new Race Team Alliance wants to communicate with NASCAR and its sister company International Speedway Corp. it will have to do so through attorneys. NASCAR President Mike Helton said Friday there is no animosity between the team owners and NASCAR, although NASCAR has had no conversations with Kauffman as part of the RTA. "I wanted to dispel the perception of animosity to start with and then back that up with saying we're going to do business as usual," Helton said Friday. "I think everybody in the garage area knows how we do our business and the role they play in it, and so we'll continue to do it that way." But apparently no NASCAR officials will be talking directly with the RTA. NASCAR confirmed Wednesday that in a move they say is done for legal prudence and not as a sign of animosity, it has directed that all communication between NASCAR and the RTA be done through lawyers. After the Sporting News published a column on the RTA Tuesday saying the development is a sign of an increased lack of trust between NASCAR and the teams and vice versa, Kauffman tweeted that ISC also has issued a lawyer-only edict.

The RTA has hired the legal firm of Jones Day, which provides representation on financial issues to almost half of the Fortune 500 companies. And they apparently need to be. Gary Roberts, a noted sports law expert and current professor at Indiana University, said last week that the organization could open itself up to a lawsuit depending on how it operates. There is nothing wrong with the teams working together for better purchasing power as long as the people they purchase from are not dependent solely on NASCAR teams for their business. The danger comes if the RTA represents the teams in any sort of negotiations with NASCAR and tries to use its collective leverage to force NASCAR's hand. "You have a monopolist, NASCAR, dictating terms to a group of entities that it does business with," Roberts said. "And the entities then (are) saying, 'We want to get together and create counter-veiling market power so we're on equal footing.'

I just copied what ShadowKnight508 posted in the other post


Looks like RTA isn't going to be playing around.

 

[4WideRacing]

The RTA along with Nascar and ISC aren't playing around.

 

[evan07]

I'm fine with all of this until they try to pull something crazy like refuse to race for some reason or something like that. I doubt that'll ever happen, but you never know.

 

[RP Motorsports]

The RTA has more-or-less been "informally operating" for several years now. The difference is it was just that - informal. There was no official name or structure or anything like that. Now that they've turned it into a formal group, its basic standard procedure to communicate through attorneys. That's step one. There's just way too much to worry about today in the messy world of legalities and litigation (which says a lot about our current society, but that's a whole different discussion). You have to communicate through attorneys to cover your ass. Doing otherwise would be foolish.

Point being, its not some scenario in which one (or both) sides are all-of-a-sudden "lawyering up" for some big battle that's about to happen. Its just standard business procedure - nothing more, nothing less.

Of course the media will probably want to throw some spice on it to make it appear to be a juicy story, but in reality, there's nothing there.

 

[blueman]

NASCAR's Brian France on Race Team Alliance: 'We didn't think it was necessary' | FOX Sports

"The one thing that is essential to NASCAR is, when you hear one voice, that would probably be the worst thing that we could ever do, is listen to one voice, even if it was a consensus voice," said France. "

Well, if your eyes haven't already been opened, then this quote should open them. It shows what kind of a leader Brian France really is. I really think (and a lot of others do as well) that there is more to the RTA than what they have stated so far. And Brian France knows he is in big trouble. Basically, he just said "We're really screwed because someone finally caught our bluff." I'm interested in seeing what the RTA says in response to Brian France's comments.

 

[bigrolltide1877]

This is the expense for one race Stewart Haas Racing

I thought i would post this here no since in starting a whole new thread.

Expense for 1 race. Its not cheap thats for sure.

 

[4WideRacing]

That's really cool! That makes it easier to do realistic offline leagues.

 

[Mystical]

Well if this makes Nascar better in the long run then I hope all goes well.

 

[dalejrgamer]

That quote only affirms that RTA is...

basically CART.

Let's hope that the owners don't have too much power or they'll wind up like CART.