Bucks stop here

Thursday, Feb. 28, 2002 | 10:22 a.m.

Geoffrey Bodine finished third in the Daytona 500 but didn't race last weekend and won't be racing in Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Team owner Andy Petree won two NASCAR Winston Cup races last season but is only bringing one of his two cars to Las Vegas this weekend.

Travis Carter, a longtime team owner, has two cars in the field Sunday but may have to cease operations after the Las Vegas race. Ditto for Brett Bodine, the only full-time owner/driver in the Winston Cup Series.

The Bodine brothers, Petree and Carter are learning the hard way what the rest of the sports world has known for some time: The country has been mired in a recession for the past year and corporate spending (i.e., sponsorship) is hard to come by these days.

In the past year, no fewer than six major companies have reduced or eliminated their involvement in NASCAR, including McDonald's, Amoco and Mobil Oil. At the same time, companies such as Target, America Online and Sirius Satellite Radio have come into the sport as primary sponsors.

Those in NASCAR are finding out that, despite meteoric growth during the past decade, the sport is not immune to an economic downturn.

That fact was driven home last month when retail giant Kmart filed for bankruptcy and Carter and partner Carl Haas lost the primary sponsor for the cars they field for drivers Joe Nemechek and Todd Bodine. Nemechek and Bodine will compete in Sunday's Winston Cup race at LVMS, but without primary sponsorship.

"I think that's the nature of the beast," Carter said of the economic climate surrounding NASCAR. "I've always said you're only as good as the contract you have in this industry and I think that's one of the things that can be a negative. I mean, it's good when it's good and it's not good when it's not good."

Nemechek, who also owns two NASCAR Busch Series teams, said the number of Winston Cup teams that are scrambling to find funding does not surprise him -- especially in this day and age when it takes between $8 million and $15 million to field a competitive team.

"As far as the Kmart situation, I think it kind of blew everybody's mind that this happened -- I mean, it shocked me," Nemechek said. "As far as the lack of sponsors in this sport, it's tough. What it costs to race, it's out of control. And doing a Winston Cup team from what it cost (a decade ago) to what it costs now, it's more than doubled.

"There are probably more companies out there that, if used properly, could benefit very much from racing. But with the economy like it is, I think it's tough trying to get new people in. When you've got the stock market down in the gutter, how can people justify coming in and spending $10 million or $15 million or whatever it is? How can you justify it?"

While some teams in NASCAR's Winston Cup Series are feeling the effects of a sluggish economy, the developmental Busch Series may be benefiting. According to the sanctioning body, 12 companies have either entered the series or stepped up their involvement from associate to primary sponsor and the number of full-time teams from a year ago has increased from 30 to 34.

The Busch Series, which failed to draw a full field of 43 cars at six of its 33 races last season, may be more attractive to companies who want to publicize their products or services through motor sports without making the huge investment needed at the Winston Cup level.

Brett Bodine, who has owned his own team since 1996, has spent the better part of the past six years wooing potential sponsors. The past year, he said, has been especially difficult.

"There's really not a lot there," he said. "When Travis and his two teams needed to come up with sponsorship, it's really diluting the water. Companies today have needed to cut budgets, that's quite obvious, and the first thing to go are the marketing and advertising budgets.

"This sport is driven by marketing and advertising money and when the economy takes a downswing and the budgets are cut that effect this sport; this sport suffers. It's a ripple effect. It's going to take a little while for us to truly feel it. The grandstands might not feel it, they might not see a decrease in ticket sales right away and, hopefully, the economy can make a turnaround to where they don't, but the racers and the teams that didn't have sponsorship contracts in place for 2002 ... are suffering."

But that suffering may be only short-term, according to a stock analyst who follows motor sports.

"Of the motor sports in the U.S., (NASCAR) is probably the most vibrant and healthy," Tim Conder, an analyst for A.G. Edwards and Co. told the Sports Business Journal. "This year may be flat but they are positioned for nice progress after that."

That, however, comes as no consolation to Brett Bodine, who is fighting to stay afloat in the business this year.

"My gut tells me it's going to be really hard," Bodine said. "It doesn't look good, but I've been down and out before and we've been able to pull through.

"We're going to do everything we can and if it takes a one-race deal or multi-race deals, hopefully, we'll still be in business when the economy turns around and marketing money starts appearing back in our sport."