Mike Held, Marty Gaunt purchase majority interest in Bill Davis Racing
California businessman Mike Held and veteran motorsports executive Marty Gaunt have purchased the majority interest in Bill Davis Racing as well as the entire Triad Racing Development organization from the Davis family, Held and Gaunt announced today.
Triad Racing Technologies, owned by Held and Gaunt, will continue Triad’s business of supplying engines, chassis and bodies for NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck series teams.
An announcement concerning the team’s racing program in Cup and Trucks will be made in mid-January, Gaunt and Held said. They talked Monday about their plans for Triad Racing Technologies.
“We feel there will be a greater need in the future for Triad chassis development and engine programs,” Gaunt said in an interview. “We do firmly believe in the future you won’t see all these Cup teams with in-house engine programs or chassis programs, and we look forward to picking that business up in the future.”
Gaunt and Held both have experience as NASCAR team owners, and Gaunt most recently was vice president at BDR. Held also owns Co-Pilott LLC, a marketing company that services a number of clients in the motorsports arena such as Sony and Menards.
Gaunt, a former owner of Red Horse Racing, worked with Held and his marketing company while an executive at Penske Racing and Red Bull Racing.
“Everything comes full circle,” Held said. “It used to be that everybody got their chassis from [suppliers]. … With the lack of sponsorship out there, teams have less revenue, so they’re going to be forced to look at the bottom line and where they can go out and [obtain] contract service work. Our goal is to be one of the top contract service providers.”
Triad already has a strong business of being a provider of chassis and engines in the Trucks as well as engines in the Nationwide and Cup series.
“We’ve known Marty and Mike for many years and wish them all the best in this new endeavor,” said Lee White, president and general manager of Toyota Racing Development. “Of course, we’ve had a very good relationship with Bill Davis and everyone at Triad and we expect that relationship to continue with TRT.”
Triad, started by Bill Davis and Toyota to help Toyota prepare for its 2004 entry into the Truck series, will remain in its location in High Point, N.C.
“[Team owners] Bill and Gail Davis have built strong companies and we intend to carry on the tradition,” Held said. “Clearly, Triad’s history of championship successes are proof that this brain trust led by Jon Dysinger [with engines] and Todd Holbert [with chassis] will continue to be a force in the marketplace.”
Held stressed the company won’t just cater to Toyota.
“If it’s got four wheels, we’ll build an engine and chassis for it,” Held said.
BDR won its first title, a Truck championship, this year with Johnny Benson.
BDR has competed in NASCAR for more than 20 years, and Jeff Gordon won the 1991 rookie title for the team in what is now the Nationwide Series. BDR first competed in Cup in 1993 and has five wins, including the 2002 Daytona 500 with Ward Burton.
In 2008, BDR operated one full-time Cup team with Dave Blaney and has operated a successful program in trucks with Benson, Mike Skinner and others. It lost sponsor Caterpillar for its Cup car to Richard Childress Racing for 2009.
Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.
