Ford_Lady_6
05-22-2001, 06:33 AM
How sad is that?!?!?!?
Eel River close to shutting down
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
May 21, 2001
6:14 PM EDT (2214 GMT)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Barry Dodson, crew chief and part owner of Eel River Racing, Monday said if the beleaguered team could not secure a sponsor by Wednesday, it would not attend this weekend's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway and would probably have to shut down.
Kenny Wallace left Andy Petree's two-car operation at the end of the 2000 season.
"A negative turned into a positive the last time we got to the point where we had to say this," Dodson said. "If we don't have something (signed) by midweek, it's very doubtful you'll see us at the 600."
The team was not going to attend last weekend's The Winston activities at Lowe's until insurance company Geico did a deal as a follow-up to its initial sponsorship program with the No. 27 Pontiac.
Dodson, whose deal with primary owner Jack Birmingham gives him part ownership of the team, said Geico is still discussing a possible sponsorship program with the team but is uncertain if it will make that move.
Dodson, who won the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup championship with driver Rusty Wallace, left Jim Smith's successful NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series program prior to the 1999 season to return to Winston Cup racing, with a dream of assuming an ownership role and building a team.
Birmingham entered the picture and signed Dodson to a five-year contract that gave him the role he wanted, but while Dodson was able to initially assemble exactly the personnel he wanted, finding and maintaining sponsorship has been difficult.
For its initial season Eel River had the backing of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals through its Viagra brand. Mike Bliss, who Dodson had worked with in the Truck Series, was his first choice as driver but the team started the season with rookie Jeff Fuller.
After seven races Fuller was released. Ironically Bliss, who had been fired by A.J. Foyt even sooner in the season, came to Eel River and scored the team's only top-10 finish in two seasons. At the end of the inaugural season Pfizer, however had decided to go to Jack Roush's organization and Bliss and Dodson had decided to split.
Veteran Kenny Wallace decided to go with Eel River based on a prospective sponsorship package that included a manufacturer and engine supplier switch. None of that materialized and Wallace, one of the more popular figures in the garage area, has struggled to maintain 40th position in the Winston Cup driver points.
Wallace's best finishes are a pair of 25ths, one of which came in the season opening Daytona 500. He failed to qualify at Talladega Superspeedway.
Twenty employees remain at the Eel River shops. Dodson said that was the most heartening and heartbreaking aspect of the current scenario.
"The thing I'm most proud of is they haven't folded their tent and gone somewhere else," he said of the core members of the team, who remain intact. "We're too far into this to quit. We would put something on the car from race to race if we had to, if we can piecemeal it together.
Wallace will continue driving in the Busch Series.
"But it costs so much on a weekly basis to keep one of these operations going."
Dodson said Wallace would have to be released from his contract by Birmingham if the team is shut down, but he cited his concurrent ride in George deBidart's No. 48 Goulds Pumps Chevrolet in the NASCAR Busch Series as one thing that would keep him busy.
Wallace on Sunday at Nazareth also said he had a potential television commentary deal in the works for the second half of 2001.
Eel River close to shutting down
By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive
May 21, 2001
6:14 PM EDT (2214 GMT)
MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Barry Dodson, crew chief and part owner of Eel River Racing, Monday said if the beleaguered team could not secure a sponsor by Wednesday, it would not attend this weekend's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway and would probably have to shut down.
Kenny Wallace left Andy Petree's two-car operation at the end of the 2000 season.
"A negative turned into a positive the last time we got to the point where we had to say this," Dodson said. "If we don't have something (signed) by midweek, it's very doubtful you'll see us at the 600."
The team was not going to attend last weekend's The Winston activities at Lowe's until insurance company Geico did a deal as a follow-up to its initial sponsorship program with the No. 27 Pontiac.
Dodson, whose deal with primary owner Jack Birmingham gives him part ownership of the team, said Geico is still discussing a possible sponsorship program with the team but is uncertain if it will make that move.
Dodson, who won the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup championship with driver Rusty Wallace, left Jim Smith's successful NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series program prior to the 1999 season to return to Winston Cup racing, with a dream of assuming an ownership role and building a team.
Birmingham entered the picture and signed Dodson to a five-year contract that gave him the role he wanted, but while Dodson was able to initially assemble exactly the personnel he wanted, finding and maintaining sponsorship has been difficult.
For its initial season Eel River had the backing of Pfizer Pharmaceuticals through its Viagra brand. Mike Bliss, who Dodson had worked with in the Truck Series, was his first choice as driver but the team started the season with rookie Jeff Fuller.
After seven races Fuller was released. Ironically Bliss, who had been fired by A.J. Foyt even sooner in the season, came to Eel River and scored the team's only top-10 finish in two seasons. At the end of the inaugural season Pfizer, however had decided to go to Jack Roush's organization and Bliss and Dodson had decided to split.
Veteran Kenny Wallace decided to go with Eel River based on a prospective sponsorship package that included a manufacturer and engine supplier switch. None of that materialized and Wallace, one of the more popular figures in the garage area, has struggled to maintain 40th position in the Winston Cup driver points.
Wallace's best finishes are a pair of 25ths, one of which came in the season opening Daytona 500. He failed to qualify at Talladega Superspeedway.
Twenty employees remain at the Eel River shops. Dodson said that was the most heartening and heartbreaking aspect of the current scenario.
"The thing I'm most proud of is they haven't folded their tent and gone somewhere else," he said of the core members of the team, who remain intact. "We're too far into this to quit. We would put something on the car from race to race if we had to, if we can piecemeal it together.
Wallace will continue driving in the Busch Series.
"But it costs so much on a weekly basis to keep one of these operations going."
Dodson said Wallace would have to be released from his contract by Birmingham if the team is shut down, but he cited his concurrent ride in George deBidart's No. 48 Goulds Pumps Chevrolet in the NASCAR Busch Series as one thing that would keep him busy.
Wallace on Sunday at Nazareth also said he had a potential television commentary deal in the works for the second half of 2001.