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Bass Pro is doing 23 races with Truex this year. The thing is the official vehicle of Bass Pro is Toyota so I dont see them staying at EGR>
Chevrolet hopes thinner NASCAR budget will still result in wins and sales
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
General Motors is the manufacturer with the most cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and as it awaits word on a loan from the federal government, its leadership is in a wait-and-see mode as far as the impact on its NASCAR program.
But the company does know the impact of NASCAR on its customers.
“Thirty-three million Chevy owners are NASCAR fans – it’s huge,” Ed Peper, GM North America Vice President of Chevrolet, said Wednesday in a phone interview. “That’s a very important base of customers that we need to continue to appeal to.”
Peper said that the percentage of the NASCAR budget has been cut “in double digits” but the company hopes to remain a strong presence in the sport.
“As I mentioned at the NASCAR banquet, we are in the fight of our lives right now, and everything we can do that helps us get more revenue and also improve our cash flow, that’s what we’re interested in doing,” Peper said.
The cuts have come across both the on-track and off-track expenses of the NASCAR program.
“We have been cutting a lot of things,” Peper said. “We’re not standing here with the same budgets we’ve been running with the last several years. We’re cutting a lot of track contracts. We renegotiated a lot of items with different teams and we’ve taken some marketing expenses out.
“We’re really, really focused right now. We’re watching every dollar we spend and it's got to go toward developing more revenue and selling more vehicles.”
Peper said Chevrolet hopes to still be involved with Daytona International Speedway but not as much as in the past with its track sponsorship deal.
“We are still talking with those guys and trying to figure something out,” Peper said. “We still think it’s a great race. But you can only pay so much.”
And how much Chevrolet can pay could change. Awaiting word from The White House on a loan to the company, Peper said he could not predict what will happen or what type of federal oversight there would be on the NASCAR program. He did not know if Chevrolet would be given a marketing budget to spend how it pleases or if each item in the budget will be scrutinized.
With Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Earnhardt Ganassi Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet has 14 cars expected to run full time in Cup next year. Chevrolet has had one of its drivers win the Cup title the last four years.
“Jimmie Johnson and his comeback to win the championship this year is much the same as what we’re trying to do right now. … We’re scrappy, just like our teams and our drivers,” Peper said.
The drivers have pledged their help in this situation.
"We're the ones that have paid the teams and the drivers, and yet the drivers are the ones calling us saying, 'What can we do to help sell more vehicles?'" Peper said.
Mentioned Drivers: Jimmie Johnson
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Comments
12 responses to "Chevrolet hopes thinner NASCAR budget will still result in wins and sales". Post a Comment.
peter peter said:
Dec 17, 2008 at 7:02 PM33 milion Nascar fans??? really? I don't think so.. hardly 6 milion people switch tv channel for Nascar race... so where they are when Nascar is on??
Mark Ernst said:
Dec 18, 2008 at 12:25 AMThe COT ruined Nascar.
Jozef Colomy said:
Dec 18, 2008 at 11:58 AMWhat does the COT have to do with any of this?
Johnny Come Lately said:
Dec 18, 2008 at 1:16 PM20 million of the 33 million Chevys Ed Peper refers to are rental car fleets, municipal fleets, police, etc.. Spoken like a true politician, ofcourse the fan numbers are skewed. I do feel terrible for US Auto workers. Jeff Burton said it best at the banquet; these manufacturers supported the sport all these years and now its our turn to help out. I agree, but I think its too late for domestic help. R.I.P. Chevrolet.
Keith Johnson said:
Dec 18, 2008 at 2:35 PMCould be the Toyota NASCAR Cup series in the future and I WON'T be watching.
Mark Ernst said:
Dec 18, 2008 at 4:03 PMJohnny is there really 33 million chevy owners that like Nascar? I don't believe that at all. If you want to add up the police,hospital,rental cars etc..... i still don't believe twenty million are on the road. Now if you would have drove by Halliburtons yard in Pampa,Tx during the oil boom in the late 70s-80s you would have seen more cars and trucks then you would see in 100 dealerships. They are bigger the the Army. But when you see all these people losing their jobs they are laying people off faster then you can aount to ten. Dodge will be gone before this time next year. People in Washington think we are all stupid as can be. You and 90% of the other people who speak their mind work more in one week then any body in Washington. They bail themselves out before doing anything for the rest of us. So just keep those binders on and believe that the sun will rise in the north. and go down in the south.
bill thompson said:
Dec 18, 2008 at 5:14 PMsooooo, chevy can't buy another championship. what will happen to nascar with only payoffs from toyota? don't believe the scare tactics they'll still funnel the money.
Werner Boehmert said:
Dec 18, 2008 at 5:51 PMGM...you promised us the Volt...yet you're not producing engines for the car and you don't have batteries for it...but thanks for the Hummer...btw...the "COT" is just another version of a race car...drive it...it's got power steering, cool boxes, comfy seats...something the early drivers didn't have...most Cup drivers don't have a problem with it...why would we the fans?...
Werner Boehmert said:
Dec 18, 2008 at 6:31 PMmeant to say the most drivers don't have a problem with the new car...
Pat Draper said:
Dec 18, 2008 at 8:32 PMI think a great idea would be to cut the size of the purse for these races. No one need to make as much as these drivers do for racing. I but you would really hear a loug roar if they had to take less money but maybe its about time this happens. Most of the top guys have enough money to last them the rest of there lives anyway.
Werner Boehmert said:
Dec 18, 2008 at 8:54 PMHamlin has only been racing for what now...2 years at the Cup level and has a 4.7 million dollar home that he's selling...life "has" been good in NASCAR...i'd say they've been making good $$$...no wonder sponsors get charged so much...
Michael Daly said:
Dec 20, 2008 at 2:39 PM33 million NASCAR fans is down from the propaganda claim by NASCAR that there were 75 million NASCAR fans. But it's still inflated.