Motorsports FanHouse

Ginn's Apparent Departure Not Too Surprising

Geoffrey Miller — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:50:00 EST

Filed under: Mark Martin, Joe Nemechek, Dale Earnhardt Inc., Nextel Cup, NASCAR Silly Season, Sterling Marlin, Regan Smith, Ginn Racing

When Bobby Ginn bought MB2 Motorsports last season, the move was heralded as a way for the small team to compete with NASCAR Nextel Cup's big teams.

After all, Ginn was known as a real estate mogul with some deep pockets, and the guy promised to do everything possible to get into victory lane .

The season started incredibly for the new owner. He had already landed Ford-forever driver Mark Martin to pilot his No. 01 Chevy and he was inches from having a Daytona 500 victory.

His way of handling his operation was different -- especially after booting Joe Nemechek from his stable ride that he had consistently performed in. He kept Nemechek around in a No. 13 ride, but it wasn't the same, and for Nemechek, it really was a raw deal.

Ginn did dive in head first with his pockets. Not only did he start Nemechek's team, he had to manage Sterling Marlin's No. 14 and Regan Smith would be driving full-time Busch in addition to splitting time with Martin in the No. 01.

But all of that big action has seemingly caught up with the (former?) owner who has his own blimp.

Smith's Busch series team is gone. Nemechek and Marlin have lost sponsorship and have lost their rides. And now Ginn Racing seems to be folding by itself into another resource for Dale Earnhardt Inc.

I think a key point in the merger talks is that DEI will stay DEI with the addition of Ginn's resources, leaving you to believe that Bobby Ginn is getting so tired of racing and the costs associated with it if he can't even keep his name on the building.

And that really is a shame.

A shame for Nemechek, Marlin, and Regan Smith (who doesn't seem to fit into the Ginn-DEI merger, just a week after he was named a new Cup driver for the team). A shame for the employees of Ginn Racing who thought they had a good opportunity to work with a new, competitive race team pre-2007. And a shame for Jay Frye, the guy who sold his owning interest in MB2 to Ginn.

Did Ginn have the right intentions? Sure.

But intentions doesn't make you innocent in a court of law, or when you knock somebody out of a job. It all goes down as a failure.

Obviously, though, Ginn didn't seem to understand that he couldn't just run cars with his resort names on them and expect to make a nice return. Sponsorship didn't happen for the team's non-Martin cars, despite having success in Busch Series and quality drivers in the Cup Series.

Something wasn't right at Ginn Racing, and it's hard to put a finger on what. It is easy, though, to say that the new owner had something to do with it because MB2 was an organization that managed to make ends meet for a long time.

Ginn has blamed the financial problems on growing too fast, and yeah, that's right.

But you've gotta believe inexperience was a heavy factor, too.

Ginn's Apparent Departure Not Too Surprising originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:50:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rubbin' is Racin': Fans v. Ginn Racing

tallglassofmilk — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 01:33:00 EST

Filed under: Joe Nemechek, NASCAR Sponsors, Sterling Marlin, Regan Smith, Ginn Racing

Ginn Racing's decision to cut veterans Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin was "sponsor driven." I suspect that the majority of fans accept that. That doesn't mean we to have to like it. And we don't:

Both Marlin and Nemechek are among the most popular drivers in the Nextel Cup garage. When word of their firings became public yesterday, internet message boards lit up with comments critical of Ginn Racing. Ginn's own Fan Forum was shut down late Tuesday, after fans clogged it with scathing criticism of the team.

Where is the respect for our elders?
It's hard not to be critical of a team firing two veteran drivers maintaining position in the top 35 in owner points in the middle of the season. But the move is far from surprising--with change in ownership usually comes a change in key personnel.

Bobby Ginn could have fired Marlin and Nemechek when he first took majority interest in MB2 Motorsports. Apparently, it took him a year to determine that the future of his company lies not in experience of aging leftovers, but in the promise of youth.

The team is at least grateful:

"We appreciate everything that Joe and Sterling have done for us. They have been a class act."

Whoop dee doo.

Is Ginn a class act?
NASCAR fans aren't the only ones mad at Ginn. Investors of Ginn's real estate ventures have filed a class action lawsuit alleging they were misled and defrauded in property purchases:

[The lot owners] say they are entitled to and they are demanding rescission of the contracts and that Ginn repurchase the properties and reimburse them for all carrying costs.

The plaintiffs believe all Ginn affiliated entities were set up and run for the exclusive purpose of raising money from unsuspecting purchasers, like plaintiffs, for the benefit of Ginn and its affiliates.

The suit further alleges that Ginn created a complicated maze of companies to be used in marketing, soliciting and promoting properties to potential purchaser in order to avoid scrutiny of U.S. regulators.

According to the suit, Ginn, at the same time, perpetuated a "ponzi scheme" in which returns to investors were not financed through the success of the underlying business venture, but were taken from principal sums of newly attracted purchasers such as plaintiffs.

These are just allegations, of course, but it's not just one person saying it ... it's 99 of them saying they've been had. I've suddenly become quite skeptical of the way Ginn does business. What about you?

NASCAR has sold out
Regardless of Ginn's business practices, the inability to secure sponsorship for Nemechek and Marlin underscores a bigger issue of how dependent upon marketing the sport has become. But we knew that already. Oftentimes the NASCAR community benefits from the emphasis on marketing. Not this time. Or so it seems today. The future is still bright for Regan Smith and Aric Almirola.

What others are thinking
Ginn decision a shame
Kyle Petty and Harry Gant's 2 Cents about Ginn Racing
You have to feel for Marlin and Nemechek
Change is hard, if inevitable

Previously on Fanhouse
Almirola Bails on Gibbs, Headed to Ginn
DEI Ginn Merger 2007 and Beyond
Ginn Racing Downsizing to One Cup Team?

Rubbin' is Racin': Fans v. Ginn Racing originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sat, 21 Jul 2007 01:33:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Almirola Bails on Gibbs, Headed to Ginn

tallglassofmilk — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:10:00 EST

Filed under: Joe Nemechek, Joe Gibbs Racing, NASCAR Silly Season, Sterling Marlin, Ginn Racing

Update: Official Release Almirola grateful to Gibbs, Nemechek released ...

A month ago, Aric Almirola denied wanting to leave Joe Gibbs Racing, despite being unhappy about the team giving his first win to his teammate, Denny Hamlin, at Infineon:

"I'm under contract at JGR. I have a long history with them. I've been there since I was 18 years old. I started racing late models with them, and they've become like family to me. I see our relationship growing."

I guess he meant growing apart.

No official announcement has been made, but according to Dave Moody, Aric Almirola has asked to be release from his contract with JGR and David Caraviello confirms the move to Ginn.

I understand that some fans, including the Fanhouse's own Geoffrey Miller, were quite passionate about Almirola getting robbed of his first win by his own team and called on him to leave the team immediately. But really? Almirola knew he was the fill-in driver for that race. Yeah Hamlin was late, but it was his car and his race to run. Everyone was on the same page going in.

As Almirola himself said, he has a long history with Gibbs. I certainly wish him the best whatever decision he should make for his future, but I sure hope he considered more than just one bad day at the office before making a career-move like this one.

Almirola's plan is to head to Ginn Racing to split the remainder of the 2007 season in the #01 with Mark Martin, with Regan Smith moving over to the #14 taking over driving duties for Sterling Marlin. The plan presumably eliminates the idea of a full-blown Ginn / DEI merger, but I imagine the #13 is still in play.

Almirola Bails on Gibbs, Headed to Ginn originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Tue, 17 Jul 2007 17:10:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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DEI Ginn Merger 2007 and Beyond

tallglassofmilk — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:06:00 EST

Filed under: Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, Martin Truex Jr., Dale Earnhardt Inc., NASCAR Rumors, NASCAR Silly Season, Sterling Marlin, Ginn Racing

A merger between Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Ginn Racing would require an immediate reduction from a total of six cars to four in the ~~Nextel~~ Sprint Cup Series. Eliminating Ginn's cash-strapped #13 and #14 teams seems the obvious answer to some, but it's probably not quite that simple.

The current layout/forecast:

Ginn
#01 - Regan Smith/Mark Martin - current plan is for Smith to run Cup full-time in 2008 and Martin to split season again with driver TBD
#13 - Joe Nemechek - car in top 35, driver expendable (sad but true, not attracting enough sponsor $$)
#14 - Sterling Marlin - ditto

DEI
#1 - Martin Truex Jr. - signed through 2008
#8 - Dale Earnhardt Jr. - leaving, open driver seat for 2008, currently rumored to be going to Kyle Busch
#15 - As long as Menards is on the hood, Paul Menard is probably behind the wheel

I'm sure both teams recognize the value of the owner points so it's obvious that Menard would take over one of the Ginn cars in the top 35, and they could probably still sell the other to another team.

In the short run, Smith would probably be able to get some much needed seat time in a DEI Busch Series car, especially if he's still going to get a full-time Cup ride for 2008. Assuming that still happens after a merger, where does that leave Martin? The teams aren't crazy enough to let the veteran get away, are they? Who knows. They're probably not crazy enough to move Smith up to the #8 and give Martin another half a season with a driver TBD, either.

That's just one scenario. They might have more options. I imagine not many of them are high on Budweiser's list, though, except the ones involving Busch.

I'm thinking last week's scenario of DEI acquiring one Ginn team is much more likely than a full-blown merger.

What would be the name of a newly merged company, anyway? DEI/Ginn? TEI/Ginn? Teresa and Bobby's House of ~~Cards~~ Racing?

Update: Aric Almirola the #01 driver TBD for 2008

DEI Ginn Merger 2007 and Beyond originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Tue, 17 Jul 2007 02:06:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ginn Racing Downsizing to One Cup Team?

tallglassofmilk — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 19:09:00 EST

Filed under: Joe Nemechek, NASCAR Rumors, Nextel Cup, NASCAR Sponsors, NASCAR Silly Season, Sterling Marlin, Ginn Racing

Apparently, Bobby Ginn's attempt to attract sponsorship for Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin didn't produce the results he was looking for.

A few days ago, the team announced several layoffs in the shop citing too fast of growth and a need to re-evaluate. They did not confirm or deny any additional forthcoming layoffs.

This afternoon, a source is telling me that tomorrow Ginn Racing will completely shut down the #13 and #14 teams, both of which are in the top 35 in owner points. This info has not been confirmed with team officials.

Damn. I thought funding wasn't supposed to be an issue with this team 'cause Ginn has all this money?

If true, what a shame for both drivers. Of the two of them I feel the worse for Nemechek because he already got kicked off the priority team and now stands to lose his job on this one. Nothing against Mark Martin and Regan Smith, I get what Ginn was trying to do and it's been successful. Good for them. But Nemechek got the shaft in the deal. And now he stands to get it again.

If this comes to fruition, I hope the other owners look out for Nemechek and Marlin. It's really going to suck if they aren't able to continue running for points this season. Such is the life of a veteran in NASCAR these days, huh?

Update 07.09.07 - I don't have a full update, but a source has confirmed today that TJ Majors, spotter for the #14 team has been let go. Majors is a good friend of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and also spots for the #88 NAVY Busch team. Hmmm. Can't very well have a driver on the track without a spotter.

Update #2 - From the sounds of this press release, doesn't look like anything has changed with the #14 team.

Ginn Racing Downsizing to One Cup Team? originally appeared on Motorsports FanHouse on Sun, 08 Jul 2007 19:09:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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