Rick Wren and KBM

[Brandon Miller]

Apparently I missed something somewhere. What caused the souring and end to this relationship?

 

[Matthew124]

Kyle Busch Motorsports let him go following budget cuts and the closing of the Nationwide program. I don't believe there was anything that went wrong or soured.

Then Rick sued them for (his claim) unpaid bonus money.

 

[4WideRacing]

I believe it was when KBM shut down the Nationwide part and laid Rick Wren off

 

[RP Motorsports]

Rick Ren sued KBM for roughly $390k worth of unpaid bonuses and commissions. He claims (and submitted invoices as evidence) that there were bonuses in his contract he didn't get paid, and a 10% commission (per the contract) for procuring two different sponsors. KBM says those claims are off-base and the invoices are "fraudulent", and Ren isn't owed anything due to an amended contract. Typical "he said, she said" situation.

Its still up in the air right now, as far as I know. The legal documents can be had online for anyone who's interested, I haven't bothered digging them up yet, but will probably take a peek at some point.

 

[S. Yogurt]

$390k? Seems like a lot for just bonuses. I wouldn't be surprised after the closing of the Nationwide team, but to me that seems like a fairly significant, not legit amount.

 

[RP Motorsports]

$390k? Seems like a lot for just bonuses. I wouldn't be surprised after the closing of the Nationwide team, but to me that seems like a fairly significant, not legit amount.

Its not so much the bonuses. Those were only around $40k. It was the commission on multi-million-dollar sponsorships. 10% of just one million is 100k. Multiply that by two sponsorships, thats $200k right there. And thats if they were only $1mil deals. Not out of the realm of possibility in the least bit.

That being said, we're on the outside, looking in at a multi-faceted operation. No way to sit here with such limited knowledge and determine whats legit or not. However, I will say that when this kind of thing happens, its usually not totally unwarranted. Especially when its someone with a reputation like Rick Ren's. He has plenty of money, accolades, and opportunity for employment for as long as he wants it, so he's probably not going to just randomly try to scam a race team out of money. Its not like he just showed up out of nowhere like a Kevin Conway or something. Its most-likely an issue with the language in the contract, which one side (or both) have misconstrued.

 

[S. Yogurt]

Its not so much the bonuses. Those were only around $40k. It was the commission on multi-million-dollar sponsorships. 10% of just one million is 100k. Multiply that by two sponsorships, thats $200k right there. And thats if they were only $1mil deals. Not out of the realm of possibility in the least bit.

That being said, we're on the outside, looking in at a multi-faceted operation. No way to sit here with such limited knowledge and determine whats legit or not. However, I will say that when this kind of thing happens, its usually not totally unwarranted. Especially when its someone with a reputation like Rick Ren's. He has plenty of money, accolades, and opportunity for employment for as long as he wants it, so he's probably not going to just randomly try to scam a race team out of money. Its not like he just showed up out of nowhere like a Kevin Conway or something. Its most-likely an issue with the language in the contract, which one side (or both) have misconstrued.

Thanks for clearing that up. Makes more sense now. Hopefully they'll figure it out without major drama. Kyle's got more important things to worry about right now