AUTO RACING : Major Firm Upheaval Fans Rumor Flames
The upheaval in the hierarchy of General Motors has brought with it every conceivable kind of rumor about the company’s future relationship with auto racing.
Will the corporate giant pull out of the sport, cut back its involvement or go on with business as usual?
What particularly has people close to the situation worried is that deposed chairman and CEO Bob Stempel is a motorsports fan and a believer in auto racing as a marketing tool.
Nobody at the company is certain how his successors feel about the sport or what the future holds, but it appears the old adage of timing being very important in life has been proven yet again.
GM officials in October 1991 consolidated the company’s auto racing programs under the umbrella of the GM Motorsports Technology Group, eliminating duplication of engineering and design efforts and most of the auto racing competition within the Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick divisions. Personnel was also cut back and tailored to the new consolidated setup.
That move probably has made it considerably more likely that the current programs will continue in the foreseeable future.
A GM official, who spoke only on the condition that he remain anonymous, said, “The powers that be know that auto racing sells cars, and right now we have to sell a lot more cars.”
The surprising retirement announcement earlier this week by Kirk Shelmerdine, the longtime crew chief for Dale Earnhardt, came because the 34-year-old Philadelphian was simply burned out by the demands of the job.
He said he will take some time off to be with his family before deciding what to do next.
“I have no plans at all,” Shelmerdine said. “I’ve done this for 16 years. I don’t know anything else, so how could I make plans?
“I will say this is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. When I went to my parents when I was 16 or 17 and told them I was leaving home to go racing, none of that was this hard. I’ve been racing longer than I was a kid.”
Richard Petty has been through a grueling season.
Not only has he been under the pressure that every driver faces in running a 29-race Winston Cup season, but the 55-year-old Petty has been virtually inundated week after week by media and fans on his year-long Fan Appreciation Tour.
Now the end is in sight, with his final time behind the wheel scheduled Nov. 15 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
“Let’s start it right now,” Petty said of the last race. “I wish it was this weekend. I don’t want to wish any of my life away, but I wish we could go ahead and get that deal behind us and start something else.”
The Atlanta race is expected to be a circus atmosphere, with the King of stock car racing getting a major sendoff from NASCAR, and fans, the media and the track.
There are news conferences, personal appearances, autograph-signing sessions, a country western concert at the new Georgia Dome, as well as a pre-race ceremony fit for a king.
When all is said and done, Petty hopes the excitement will be done and he can simply go about the business of running the Petty Enterprises team.
“I’d like to be able to concentrate on getting the team competitive,” Petty said.
Speaking of which, the latest reports are that former Winston Cup regular Rick Wilson is all but signed to drive Petty’s Pontiacs next season, with an expected switch from Petty’s traditional No. 43 to No. 44. An announcement is expected at Atlanta.
Nigel Mansell says one of the reasons he’s happy to be leaving Formula One after this season to run on the IndyCar circuit in 1993 is because the Grand Prix cars have simply become too high tech.
The man who has won a record nine of the first 15 races this season says the Williams-Renault cars in 1993 will even be better than the ones he has driven this year and that Alain Prost, replacing him in Formula One, could win all 16 races.
“We have perfected the car now, which is obviously very good, as we demonstrate every race. The engine is getting stronger. Nobody else is close on power with the Renault.
“The anti-lock braking is probably going to be on the car next year,” the Englishman said. “So that takes the skill away from braking. So you won’t have what I had (in Japan two weeks ago) with the smoking tire (when the brakes locked up).
“So I guess a good puppet could drive the car and win everything. And it looks like you re going to have that.”
On the other hand, the Indy cars are not quite so sophisticated.
“The thing that excites me about going to America is the fact that I reckon it’s a F1 car of five, at the most eight, years ago,” Mansell said. “A driver has to shift gears properly again (as opposed to using a semi-automatic transmission). It’s very important to choose the right gear ratios because of that. ... The driver’s input is significantly more to be able to drive the car and maintain the balance.”
The payoff for driver-owner Bobby Rahal and race team partner Carl Hogan for winning the 1992 IndyCar PPG Cup championship was $2,235,298.
That included $1 million from series sponsor PPG’s point fund.
“It’s very rewarding,” said Rahal, who won four races and held off nearly season-long challenges from Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. to win his third IndyCar title. “It’s possibly the most rewarding year I’ve ever had in motor racing, particularly when you look at where we were a year ago.
“To win the championship in our first year as a team ... I’m very proud.”
