Around Iredell Sports

2007 Sep-06

Gibbs move causing buzz in garage

By Mike Mulhern
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When the Joe Gibbs gang arrives in Richmond for Saturday’s NASCAR race, there may a few frosty stares from General Motors’ teams.

Gibbs’ three teams— with drivers Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch— made it official yesterday that they will be jumping from General Motors after 16 seasons to Toyota.

Gibbs’ son J.D., the operation’s manager, conceded that the weeks since the news first broke in June that their Chevy operation might move to Toyota have been tough:

“I hate the way this played out over the last few weeks,’‘ J.D. Gibbs said. “I know it was frustrating from the media’s standpoint, from our guys’ standpoint, and from GM’s standpoint. But until this weekend we couldn’t honestly say what we were doing. I couldn’t say yes, and I couldn’t say no, because the reality is, until last weekend we didn’t have it done.

“So I apologize. It was frustrating.

“But when you look at the landscape of our sport, it’s really changed a lot over the past few years. Look at all the mergers and acquisitions. What that said is how difficult it is to run a business in this sport in today’s age.

“Our operation has no outside businesses — this is it. And we have 430 families that depend on us to make good decisions. The reality of this sport is if you don’t perform well, if you don’t win consistently, you won’t be here. To me that weighs the heaviest on my mind: what is the best short-term and long-term. That’s the main reason we’re going to be in Toyota Camrys in the Cup series and Busch series.

“GM has three other really strong teams, and we know they’ll be tough year-in, year-out. Our situation is what’s best for our families and our partners and our fans.”

Brent Dewar, GM’s overall boss of racing as vice president of vehicle sales, service and parts, expressed regret at losing the Gibbs operation, which has won three NASCAR championships.

“General Motors has been associated with Joe Gibbs Racing for 16 years, working together winning races and championships,’‘ Dewar said. “While we understand the business nature of racing, we are disappointed in J. D.‘s decision. With our long-standing relationship and record of winning with them, we hoped they would remain with Chevrolet.

“We will continue to support our JGR drivers in this year’s Chase for the Championship.”

“We were upfront with GM, saying ‘Hey, here are some options for us,’” J. D. Gibbs said. “It took us a while to evaluate everything.”

Stewart is the lead driver for Gibbs, and while he said that he’s “excited” about the move to Toyota, sources close to him say he is not happy about the move at all. Stewart and long-time crew chief Greg
Zipadelli are in the process of negotiating a contract renewal with Gibbs, and word is that the move to Toyota leaves all that up in the air.

“We’re in the middle of working to extend our contract … and I agree with J.D. that will be a good opportunity to take a leadership standpoint,’‘ Stewart said. “On our USAC side and the World-of-Outlaws, we’ll be going forward with Chevrolet. They’ve been very supportive of me in that, and nothing will change there.

“But I’m excited about this. The only way to stay ahead in this game is by putting yourself in position to be leaders, not followers. I’ve always trusted J.D. and Joe, and this decision doesn’t change my feelings.

“This is not any disrespect to General Motors. But we feel this is the right step to maintain that edge in this sport.”

Hamlin, who just extended his contract with Gibbs for another five years, said his situation is a little simpler.

“It’s pretty cut-and-dried for me, because I don’t have another team with another manufacturer,’‘ Hamlin said. “Toyota will be winners, it will just take time to get it together.”

Jimmy Makar, Gibbs’ competition manager and his No. 2, said the engines and logistics are the biggest issues.

“The bodies next year, with the car of tomorrow, won’t be our problem, because they’ll all be similar,” Makar said. “The body changes won’t be an issue. The engine will be a big deal, though.”

Mark Cronquist, Gibbs’ long-time engine head, will be running that part of the operation.

“The new Chevy R-07 (introduced in NASCAR this spring) was a similar situation for us this year, and I think we were the first GM team to bring one of those new engines to the track, which shows that Mark and his guys are up to the task,” Makar said.

Cronquist doesn’t seem particularly worried about the engine switch.

“The R-07 hadn’t been run by anybody, and the first versions were all different,’‘ he said. “We had to do everything with it.

“But this Toyota engine is already being run, so this switch should actually be easier. And we actually get three years of (testing) failures to work off of.”

Zipadelli said that Cronquist and his staff will be a key, but that the other parts and pieces and bodywork shouldn’t be any major problem.

“From my side of things, we’re obviously focused on the end of this year,” Zipadelli said. “Next year, we’ll rely on Mark a lot to keep our engine program as strong as it’s been.

“So there is a little of the unknown, but I think we’ve got the people to go to Daytona and the first few races and be as competitive as in years past.”

“The partnership with Toyota — and that’s the way I want to describe it — makes them an extension of our team,” Makar said. “They have a lot of resources, and that’s what really excites me, that we’ll have maybe another 100 people to draw on. That should keep us on the cutting edge of things.”

Jim Aust, Toyota’s racing boss, said that signing a “Tier One’‘ team such as Gibbs’ is a major step forward.

“We’re certainly looking forward to this new opportunity,” Aust said. “A championship race team with Type-A drivers and the attitude to get it done.

“Our first year has been exciting — we’ve learned a lot. But we certainly look forward to our opportunities with Joe Gibbs Racing.”

Gibbs talked about winning, but Toyota hasn’t really come close to winning this season.

“I think Toyota has some good teams that in the future will be very good,” Gibbs said. “But within GM there are four very strong teams … and in some things we want to have a leadership role. And I think this gives us that leadership role. The GM folks are a good group of guys, and we had a good partnership.

“And I think there are certain things we’ll be doing with Toyota that we will have more of a leadership role. With GM having four really strong teams, it might be difficult to say who really does have the leadership role.”

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