Mike Held, Marty Gaunt purchase majority interest in Bill Davis Racing

By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Monday, December 22, 2008
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NASCAR team owner Bill Davis has sold majority interest in Bill Davis Racing.

Sam Cranston
NASCAR Scene

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.

Comments

12 responses to "Mike Held, Marty Gaunt purchase majority interest in Bill Davis Racing". Post a Comment.
  1. 1
    Ryden Caparelli said:
    Dec 22, 2008 at 1:19 PM

    NASCAR wont miss Bill Davis. Lets not forget the whole helping Toyota develop the Tundra while still under contract with Dodge. That takes a lot of guts. Then he wonders why his cars couldnt carry the Dodge Logo. Bill Davis Racing has been mediocere at best during its entire existence.

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  2. 2
    Pat Draper said:
    Dec 22, 2008 at 1:22 PM

    I am sure this is not the way Bill Davis wanted the new season to start. He has been able to survive for so long without help and i'm sure this makes him sad. I know these kinds of things have to be done in this day and age but its still sad. I hope the best for all.

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  3. 3
    Pat Draper said:
    Dec 22, 2008 at 1:25 PM

    Ryden thats a hateful thing to write.

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  4. 4
    Keith Johnson said:
    Dec 22, 2008 at 2:50 PM

    Ryden is just jealous and probably does'nt have a pot to p--s in.

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  5. 5
    Thomas Mikulski said:
    Dec 22, 2008 at 3:12 PM

    I'm not a toyota fan but, BDR did what they had to do to keep racing. It took Johnny Benson to get his championship and then bail out. Economy sucks so, you have to do what you can to survive and keep the sponsors and fans for next year. I hope and PRAY the trucks come back next year because that is the ONLY series that I will WATCH!!

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  6. 6
    Andrew Briscoe said:
    Dec 22, 2008 at 3:46 PM

    If I remember correctly, when Forbes did their ranking of the most expensive NASCAR teams, Bill Davis was above Robby Gordon's team. Robby's team was worth over $80M, so best guess is BDR with 4 more Truck teams is worth a lot more (let's say, $100M, to keep numbers simple). We won't factor in that he's lost his sponsor. If "controlling interest" is 50% or more, this means that Bill Davis just got paid about $50M or more for a subpar Cup team and 4 Truck teams. He's not a very popular owner, which would explain the fact that he can't find sponsorship when his team is almost Top 30 in points. Still, considering that he started racing in the early 1990s with that unknown in Jeff Gordon, I would say that he made a good run. If you figure 18 years of racing and he probably just got handed over $50M for just his team, that's still almost $3M a year average. Heck, I'd LOVE to have that kind of success. While I don't personally like Bill Davis, I can respect him because he was able to compete, and just got a very somber Christmas present in the form of a big check. Just remember though to take my numbers with a grain of salt, as I doubt that anyone would pay $50M for a stake in a failing Cup team.

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  7. 7
    S Beau said:
    Dec 22, 2008 at 4:15 PM

    NASCAR is looking more and more like F-1 everyday. And that's not a compliment to you Mr. France.

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  8. 8
    Daniel Kelley said:
    Dec 22, 2008 at 6:22 PM

    Can't say that I'm sorry to see this happening. Benson was smart to leave before Davis stabbed him in the back like he did Ward Burton. Now maybe it won't be such a bad deal of Robby Gordon aligning with this outfit.

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  9. 9
    Werner Boehmert said:
    Dec 22, 2008 at 6:24 PM

    Ryden is sort of right...as much as i liked seeing the CAT car out there and there is a CAT jacket in my closet, Davis took Dodge money and developed the Toyota...of course he also got Toyota money, but he played both mfg's...

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  10. 10
    Mark Buehl said:
    Dec 23, 2008 at 10:20 AM

    If Davis acted unsportsmanlike, just remember who taught him, Jeff Gordon. Back in the early 90s Jeff and Davis were in the Nationwide series. Bill took him from the open-wheel series and put him in stock cars (it was not Mr. Hendrick). Jeff wrecked a lot of Bill's cars before he took hold. They had a handshake deal to move to Cup together. When Mr. Hendrick came with the big bucks, Jeff bolted. Jeff was not even Man enough to tell Bill face to face. Bill found out from the news media. When Bill called and reminded Jeff of their handshake deal, Jeff told Bill there was nothing in writing. At the time Bill commented something like "I guess a man's word does not mean anything in NASCAR anymore and I will have to change". That is not a direct quote, but I remember comments to the effect. I do not blame Bill for taking Dodge money for Cup and Toyota money for the Truck serious. Do you think Gibbs did not carry any Chevy knowledge over to Toyota when they switched?

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  11. 11
    Karen Barnes said:
    Dec 23, 2008 at 12:33 PM

    Okay why is such a big deal that BDR used dodge info when he switched to toyota? I don't agree about the money part but when we switch jobs are we just suppose to forget and what we learned in our previous job. In any case, dodge wasn't and isn't running well so what could toyota have benefited from. As all know toyota really did start running well until they got the chevy info from JGR.

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  12. 12
    Howard Englishman said:
    Dec 23, 2008 at 12:42 PM

    Andrew, Robby Gordon and Bill Davis are lucky if there worth 25 million, the worth of the companies listed below are only worth that because of the drivers and sponsors they have in place. Bill Davis has nothing goin for it so Im sure its not worth much at all.

    1. Hendrick $335 million
    2. Roush Fenway $313 million
    3. Joe Gibbs $184 million
    4. Gillett Evernham $150 million
    5. Richard Childress $130 million
    6. Dale Earnhardt $109 million
    7. Penske $100 million
    8. Chip Ganassi $94 million
    9. Michael Waltrip $86 million
    10. Yates $74 million
    11. Petty Enterprises $60 million
    12. CNC/Haas $50 million

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