Richard Petty says with merger nearing completion, layoffs part of process
Richard Petty is a co-owner of the Richard Petty Motorsports NASCAR Sprint Cup team. // Jim Fluharty, NASCAR Scene
AVONDALE, Ariz. – Richard Petty said the Richard Petty Motorsports-Yates Racing proposed merger is still in the hands of the lawyers, but with the likelihood of it happening, RPM had to begin its staff reductions this week.
Sources indicated more than 150 people were laid off earlier this week or were told they would be laid off after the season ends next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. RPM, which fields four teams, and Yates, which fields two, announced in September they planned to merge – and with NASCAR’s four-team limit, the staff reductions were anticipated.
“If we’re going to do what we’re going to do, we’ve got to start somewhere,” Petty said Friday at Phoenix International Raceway. “This is basically where we’re starting.”
Petty said he was in Wyoming when the layoffs were administered this past week.
“[We] have explained to everybody what our situation was,” Petty said. “The majority of people might not like it, but they understand where we’re coming from. It never goes down [easy] when you have to let somebody go. We didn’t let them go because they weren’t doing the job. We just didn’t have a job for them to do.”
Many of those laid off were in the engine shop and the car manufacturing department, sources said. The new organization will use Roush Yates Engines and likely will be based in the current Yates shop in Concord, N.C. – about 45 miles from the current RPM shop in Statesville, N.C.
“I think we’re moving there to the [Yates shop near the] airport,” Petty said. “As far as I know. Tune in next week.”
RPM driver Kasey Kahne said he has not been to the Yates shop yet and said he has not been part of any Yates-RPM meetings about next year.
“I’ve driven by [the shop] and that’s it,” Kahne said. “As far as next year and testing and all that planning, I don’t know. I know that we’re trying to win races and do everything possible to win, but as of right now, that deal is not done.
“To me, there are still a lot of unknowns. For me to go over there – I doubt that they want me over there and I don’t know if I should be over there. I don’t drive for them yet. I don’t know how all that’s going to work. I know it’s not done. I know that I’m going to have the same team and that’s all that I can ask for is sticking with [crew chief] Kenny Francis and our guys that we have.”
Francis has kept his team focused despite the layoffs, Kahne said.
“It’s just back to the track for the 9 guys,” Kahne said. “[It’s the] same thing that we’ve done all year when anything out of the ordinary happens there. They show up – same group of guys – and work hard and do everything they can to give me the best car they can give me.
“As a team, a driver, a crew chief … we can only do the things that can benefit us and help us and that’s to stay focus on doing what we enjoy doing. That’s how our whole team has been so far this weekend. It’s nice to have a group of guys like that.”
