Chrysler sale could mean end of Dodge in NASCAR

UPDATE DaimlerChrysler’s decision to sell majority ownership in Chrysler to the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management is not expected to affect Dodge Motorsports’ participation in the Nextel Cup series. In anticipation of the sell, Mike Accavitti, the director of Dodge Motorsports and Tom LaSorda, the chairman of DaimlerChrysler, visited with Dodge owners Ray Evernham, Chip Ganassi and Roger Penske at Bristol to reassure them of the company’s commitment. All the Dodge teams are locked up contractually through at least 2009. “We talked to everybody today,'’ Accavitti said. “The message is pretty consistent. We don’t intend on going anywhere.'’

05/14/07 The sale of Chrysler to Cerberus could prove interesting to NASCAR. Cerberus owns the car-rental companies National and Alamo, and last year led a consortium that purchased a 51 percent stake in the General Motors Acceptance Corporation, the financing arm of General Motors.

The problem with private equity firms such as Cerberus according to some labor unions and government officials is that the buyouts often include overhauls of companies that consist of massive cuts in jobs or benefits in effect stripping companies of their assets.

The American automobile giants General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler are all fighting big foreign competitors like Toyota. Earlier this year Toyota announced that they had surpassed GM in sales and for the first time in history became the largest seller of cars in the US.

One of the big questions will be the value of NASCAR to the new operation. If the new owners decide that they need their resources to fight GM and Toyota and that the loss from stock car racing outweighs its benefit, the rumor that Dodge is pulling out of the series may come to fruition. Cupscene.com