Job losses hit JTG Daugherty Racing

By Lee Montgomery - Associate Editor

Friday, November 14, 2008

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HOMESTEAD, Fla. – JTG Daugherty Racing co-owner Tad Geschickter said Friday at Homestead-Miami Speedway that he had to lay off about a dozen Nationwide Series employees earlier this week as the team struggles to find sponsorship for 2009.

JTG Daugherty field two full-time teams in the Nationwide Series, but both of those teams could be part time next year. The first priority is selling sponsorship for the team’s No. 47 entry for Kelly Bires, but Geschickter said he is still looking for backers for that car.

“We’re really working hard on it, but really, we’re not [set],” Geschickter said. “The Cup team is, but not the Nationwide stuff.”

Marcos Ambrose, driver of the team’s No. 59 Nationwide entry, is moving to Sprint Cup in ’09. Geschickter wants to field development driver Coleman Pressley in selected races in that Nationwide car, pending sponsorship.

Geschickter said he could not commit to running Bires full time without a sponsor.

“A person like me, there’s no way I can afford to with what this costs now,” Geschickter said. “Our goal next year is to provide as much value as we can for a sponsor and run as much as we can competitively. We’ll just keep selling as hard as we can.”

Until then, the team has had to let employees go to try to save money.

“Unfortunately, we had to start that process this week,” Geschickter said. “It’s never any fun. We’ve got great people, but the reality of the situation is this sport’s changing, and we’ve not going to be able to do business the way we have been doing it.”

Geschickter said his team is negotiating with three potential sponsors, but the price of sponsorship has dropped considerably this year as the U.S. economy has taken a downturn.

“You’re always trying to give people value, but you can’t lose money doing it either,” he said.