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maybe he is tired of being a P/C poster child like hid Daddy Jeff Gordon.
Sabates OK with NASCAR's dropping of Mexico City
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Sunday, August 24, 2008
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Felix Sabates helped bring NASCAR to Mexico City, so when NASCAR announced its 2009 Nationwide Series schedule and Mexico City wasn’t on it, Sabates could have been disappointed.
But he wasn’t.
“They accomplished what they wanted,” said Sabates, who owns a piece of Chip Ganassi Racing. “They wanted to get the NASCAR Mexico series going. They’re very successful now.
“When we first put the deal together, it wasn’t going to be forever. It was going to be three or four years.”
From 2005-2008, NASCAR held a points event at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course. In that time, NASCAR’s series in Mexico has sparked the building of many new tracks with a 21-race schedule.
“They’ve got some pretty good Mexican drivers coming out of there," Sabates said. "So they pretty much accomplished what they wanted to.”
Sabates, who was born in Cuba, does have an idea for how NASCAR can market to Hispanics.
“We need [Juan Pablo] Montoya to win a race,” Sabates said about his Cup driver, who has not yet won this year.
Mentioned Drivers: Juan Pablo Montoya
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Comments
9 responses to "Sabates OK with NASCAR's dropping of Mexico City". Post a Comment.
Scott Simmons said:
Aug 24, 2008 at 10:40 AMGee Felix- Why don't you give him a car he can win in. Oh wait that's right you are too busy spending money in IRL to really care about NASCAR. Oh and NASCAR has to LET Juan Pablo Montoya Win???? Is that the only way he'll get a win???? If NASCAR lets him have one.
Paul Baumgarten said:
Aug 24, 2008 at 11:45 AMWhen you misquote what Felix actually says, it is easy to paint a pretty lousy of him.
George Rice said:
Aug 24, 2008 at 6:49 PMWOW FELIX---FROM THIS PART OF THE USA WE HAVE TO WORK TO GET THINGS. GIVE? LETS SEE YOU WANT US TO GIVE OTHER LATINOS A WIN ALSO, RIGHT? NASCAR IS LOSEING FANS AS IT IS WITH BACK FLIP BOYS AND TOYS (Toyota) and yes a stupid grin Kyle
Richard Gabovitz said:
Aug 24, 2008 at 7:38 PMNascar Scene must have run out of drivers and owners to interview. They really went to the bottom of the barrel on this jerk. What makes Sabates such a marketing expert, he can't even keep his own team together or the sponsors. I hope Reed gets into a good ride next year so we can get a true reading on how good he really is. Who cares what he says anyway. Why is leaving Mexico City front page news with Scene?????? Here is a headline for you, "NASCAR KICKS OUT FLIX BECAUSE HE'S CHASING SPONSORS AWAY."
said:
Aug 25, 2008 at 8:08 AMAn expert? Again, he doesn't care. If Montoya had better stuff he would win. Nobody tells Juan Pablo Montoya how to drive a racecar. Does this man own part of NASCAR? Ok, sponsors leaving, drivers, leaving and he doesn't care because everyone around him are crap. That makes for a lousy owner and person. Does Ganassi have an opinion? Please no more other countries please! Why does NASCAR have to push racing in another country? Mexico was very costly and dangerous. Sabates doesn't mind NASCAR's decision to race in Mexico. So he doesn't care and neither do I.
said:
Aug 25, 2008 at 8:30 AMHow can anyone deal with Sabates? He doesn't care about Mexico. He doesn't care for drivers, teams, or sponsors. Does he work for NASCAR? Seems like Mexico was his bright idea. Mexico was costly and DANGEROUS! Montoya will win, but not in Felix's car. People that don't care about people aren't people at all.
Montoya Fan said:
Aug 25, 2008 at 12:18 PM“When we first put the deal together, it wasn’t going to be forever. It was going to be three or four years.” Can anyone read. They accomplished what they set out to. You people do not know anything about Sabates or the Ganassi organization. And tell me this-Mears and McMurray both are at different organizations now. And their records aren't much better then when they were at Ganassi. Seems to me it's not the equipment, but the drivers. Ganassi needs to get a good driver for once. Montoya will be okay, but he seems to always get a bad rap. Kyle and Stewart can bump and push cars around, but as soon as Montoya does the exact same thing, he's the bad guy! You people all need to get a life and look at the big picture.
anonymous said:
Aug 25, 2008 at 2:11 PMBig picture is Mears and McMurry both have big name sponsorships. Ganassi won't get a big sponsorship without a big name driver that WINS races. It is the equipment, they have fallen behind. Crew chief changes have not made a difference either. They are spending too much time and money on the IRL and the Cup side is paying the price.
Nascar Fan said:
Aug 25, 2008 at 2:25 PMWhat does a big name sponsorship and a top notch organization prove with Mears. He still hasn't performed and Hendricks didn't renew his contract. It's still the driver as the common non-performing denominator. And just because Ganassi has a winning IRL team, that gives everyone the right to "assume" they spend too much time and money on IRL and the Cup side pays the price. I don't even get this logic as it makes not sense. It's not like Ganassi is the only team to have an IRL team and a Cup Team.