A sad reflection on change
By NASCAR Scene Staff
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
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PRESS BOX: SCENE'S VIEW
News that Morgan-McClure Motorsports has essentially shut its doors, laid off its remaining employees and holds only the slimmest hope of showing up for this year’s Daytona 500 isn’t likely to make anyone happy. The team that has won the sport’s biggest race three times in the past 17 years apparently won’t have a shot at a fourth victory this season and may face the prospect of never racing again.
From any perspective, that’s very sad news. Longtime fans – especially those who recall the thrills of Ernie Irvan’s 1991 Daytona triumph and Sterling Marlin’s back-to-back Daytona 500 wins in 1994-95 for the team – may be hit particularly hard.
What appears most astonishing is how rapidly the organization has fallen from the sport’s top tier. Can a team that won three races in a season as recently as 1995 and two in 1996 really disappear little more than a decade later?
That appears to be the reality of today’s NASCAR. It is hardly news that single-car operations face major hurdles in the race to remain competitive on the track and in the marketplace for the major sponsorship money necessary to do so.
However much many fans may enjoy pulling for “the little guy” – the independent underdog willing to take on the multicar teams that dominate the sport these days – the grim economic and sporting reality is that such organizations face a very, very difficult future.
Mom-and-pop grocers and Main Street merchants know all too well the likely outcome they face when a Wal-Mart moves to town. There’s no reason to expect that racing’s any different. Likewise, there’s no reason to believe that anything is going to change any time soon. The multicar teams located in and around Charlotte have resources in terms of both money and available personnel that teams such as Morgan-McClure simply can’t match.
Morgan-McClure’s possible demise won’t sit well with many fans, even those who’ve had no reason to cheer for them in recent years – or ever. Those fans don’t want to see a series that features only a handful of multicar teams battling only each other week after week. They’ll cry for NASCAR to do something to save the small shops.
Of course, the concept of franchising, which has been discussed many times through the years and is supported by team owners, could help alleviate this problem by giving a limited number of owners financial clout – and, in turn, likely draw more resources to them. NASCAR, however, has shown no interest.
For now, if there’s anything to be learned from the Morgan-McClure situation, it may be that everyone in the sport has to understand the power of the marketplace and the importance of changing with the times.
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Sterling Marlin
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