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USA Today Nov 10:

France: NASCAR will endure through economic strife
By Nate Ryan,

AVONDALE, Ariz. — NASCAR Chairman Brian France said he's confident the sport will maintain full fields of 43 cars next season and is hopeful the ailing Big Three manufacturers will remain involved next season, but he also maintained the sport could weather a reduction in both.
"These aren't our first tough economic times, we've been in business 60 years," said NASCAR's third-generation czar. "We've seen the energy crisis of 1972, and 9-11 wasn't that long ago. So we're not going to change our business model because we're in tough economic times, but it doesn't mean we won't be more aggressive and taking out costs for team owners."

France said General Motors, Ford and Dodge "play a very important role in lots of ways with supporting teams, the branding and heritage, but we're also not going to live or die if one manufacturer or another has a pullback or pullout. I hope it doesn't happen. We're working like mad to make sure it doesn't happen, but the sport is on very solid ground that transcends one manufacturer or another."


In recent months, France and NASCAR president Mike Helton have visited the CEOs or high-ranking executives with GM, Ford, Dodge and Toyota, the four automakers that participate on NASCAR's premier circuit.

U.S. auto sales have plummeted this year as energy costs have skyrocketed, and the Detroit companies also have been battered by the nation's credit crunch.


On Friday, GM and Ford released worse-than-expected earnings reports with multibillion-dollar losses for the third quarter of 2008. Their cash burn rates are accelerating and could cause liquidity problems in 2009.

Both companies have maintained bankruptcy isn't an option.

"We talked about their issues and how they might get through," France said. "It's been hard for them because they're all in the same boat trying to revamp their businesses to get to a better place.

"The net of it was we didn't talk about any bankruptcy, but we talked about helping them get until 2010 when their legacy costs have been renegotiated with unions. That's a big milestone year for them. We hope they will (stay with NASCAR through 2010), and that's all we can do.. .. I've been told directly by each of companies having challenging times that one of the things that works best for them is NASCAR. Each went out of their way to tell me that while there are pullbacks and cuts to meet these challenges, the last thing would be to abandon something that works so well."

Among other topics addressed by France in a 25-minute news conference before Sunday's Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway:

• With several teams still hunting for primary sponsorship in 2009 (some estimates put the number of full-time teams currently at around 30), NASCAR quietly has been involved in helping facilitate merger discussions that could allow some teams to stay viable. Dale Earnhardt Inc., Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and Petty Enterprises are among those who have expressed an interest in forming alliances to increase cost efficiency.

"We've been in the middle of realigning team owners should they think a merger would be important," France said. "We play a role in that and don't publicize that. Mike and myself meet with them constantly. We understand what teams are underfunded and face the biggest risk and are working with them to find a sponsor, a partner. We just don't put that in bright lights every week."

• France said NASCAR will continue to evaluate cost-cutting measures through rules changes (such as eliminating testing), but the sanctioning body is limited in its ability to keep teams afloat.

"We need to be more aggressive than ever in taking costs out of system; it's a core requirement," France said. "But what can we do? Can we establish lines of credit? They're individual businesses, there's literally hundreds of them that could be affected depending on how far they'd go. We're not talking about 20-25 traditional sports teams where some halo credit line could be established for them. That's not practical.

"We understand team owners are in dire straits, but the entire country is in dire straits in one form or another. Frankly, we may come out better than most. We're all sensitive to team owners who are struggling and want to have sponsorship, but we can't expect to operate as an island and be oblivious to what's going on where companies are pulling back on every form of advertising, marketing and promotions and somehow the NASCAR guys won't get cut back on anything. That's unrealistic. I wish we could have a safety net for everyone in our industry, but it's not practical."

• As NASCAR weathers the downturn, don't expect to see France to attend more than his usual 12 to 14 races annually.

"We like the way we're structured," he said. "We have a president of our company at every event who has the total confidence of me, the France family and every member of our board. I don't know any other sport that does that.

"Most of the business elements happen during the week. That's when we meet with team owners and partners in all forms. That's when we set policy for the sport. On the weekend, we celebrate running the events, which is what we should be doing."