Search for sponsors puts Busch teams in peril

LEBANON, Tenn. -- A lot of NASCAR Busch Series teams look at this weekend's Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway as their opportunity to be free of Winston Cup interlopers.

It's their chance to begin the real chase for the Busch Series championship, free of the full-time Winston Cup drivers that have won all seven races held so far this season.

But in one of the more alarming developments in recent Busch Series history, two of the top four teams in the series might be running their last event.

The No. 92 Herzog Jackson Motorsports team of driver Todd Bodine has won once this season and has led the standings since Bodine -- who also competes full-time in Winston Cup -- won at Darlington on March 17.

	Bodine's No. 92 Chevy is still looking for a primary sponsor despite the fact it is leading the point standings. Credit: Autostock

The No. 48 Innovative Motorsports team of Shane Hmiel has finished third in the past two races and jumped up to fourth in the standings after last weekend's Aaron's 312.

Although Hmiel's car carried a sponsor's decals up until two races ago, in effect both cars have been sponsorless all season.

And both have acknowledged they are working in a race-to-race mode.

Herzog Jackson's perseverance was borne at Talladega when crew chief Tony Liberati's crew rebuilt a wrecked race car after a 20-car melee. The team then solved an electrical fault. The work kept Bodine atop the points, although the lead is 39 points heading to Nashville.

"We knew we were going to Nashville," Bodine said, "but after that we don't know. We've got the week off and then we'll have to see what happens."

The next trip after Nashville is across the country to California Speedway for a 300-mile race April 26 that, despite its $1.3 million purse will test the resolve of a number of borderline teams.

"We're still searching for a sponsor," Bodine said. "It's unusual for the points leader not to have a sponsor. It's a great race team and Randy and Stan Herzog have done everything in their power to put us up front.

"The guys have done a great job and their work has put us up front."

After he finished third at Texas, Hmiel said his team's primary sponsorship was like a dry lake in the desert.

"It's not really there," he said.

Team owner George deBidart acknowledged at Texas that his sponsorship from an energy drink company was based on product placement and that he had carried the decals to enable more brand recognition. But in fact, he said, he had not received any money from the sponsor all season.

"We're going to Nashville and then we've got a week off," deBidart said. "We'll see what happens and make a decision at that point. There's always hope that something will happen."

	Shane Hmiel hasn't had a true sponsor all season long. Credit: Autostock

For the past two races, Goulds Pumps, an upstate New York company that has been involved with deBidart for a number of years, stepped up from its associate sponsor role to the primary spot.

"Goulds helped us this week and we've got some other people we've been talking to," deBidart said at Talladega. "We're searching. If anybody wants to be on a good race car we'd love to have them."

Hmiel, deBidart and crew chief Gere Kennon have kept their heads up in the face of tall odds and won't let frustration enter the equation, at least on the surface.

"I'm trying to develop the stars of tomorrow and we're having to race the stars of today," deBidart said of the Winston Cup drivers' early-season achievements. "They're the only ones that are beating us and they've got money and we don't."

A third top-10 team, driver Mike Wallace's Biagi Brothers Racing outfit, began the season with a limited program with GEICO insurance. If additional sponsorship is not forthcoming, the team said it would have to make a decision during the next month on whether or not it would continue.

On Wednesday, GEICO extended its sponsorship of the team through this weekend's event.

Wayne Jesel knows the pitfalls of attracting and maintaining sponsors in the Busch Series all too well. Last season he fielded two sponsored full-time teams.

At the beginning of 2003, he was on the sidelines primarily due to lack of sponsorship. But he hopes to have one full-time team back on track by mid-season's return to Daytona.

In the interim, both Jesel and ppc Racing's Keith Barnwell remain Busch Series boosters.

"We're solid, but it's kind of a two-sided coin," said Barnwell, whose organization fields the No. 57 Ford for Jason Keller and Scott Riggs' No. 10 Ford. "It's a tough deal because we know the series right now is at a crossroads.

"Every week someone is writing something (questionable) about the series. We have to get our series back strong with good sponsors and good teams. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that we've got some cars out there that don't need to be, that are just showing up to draw a paycheck.

"We need to get some good sponsors back in the series to increase the competitiveness. It's hard to win, right now, but it's not hard to finish."

ALSO  •  Todd Bodine's Driver Page  •  Shane Hmiel's Driver Page  •  Mike Wallace's Driver Page  •  Other Busch Series Drivers

Barnwell said sponsors should take a hard look at the Busch Series in terms of potential motorsports involvement.

"I think it's mostly an economic issue," Barnwell said. "No. 1, I think we're the best bargain out there, because it takes $12-15 million to field a competitive Winston Cup car.

"They can come over here and for $4.5-5 million run for the championship every year. Our TV ratings are good and the competitiveness is good, so it's a tough call what's going on.

"But I do think the economy has got a lot to do with it. They're always saying the economy has got to rebound -- well, we're waiting on the rebound."

The fact remains that of the 31 full-time teams entered at Nashville, only 20 have primary sponsors that are not related to the team owners.

"We have many strong team sponsorships in the NASCAR Busch Series along with a great title sponsor in Anheuser-Busch," NASCAR vice president for corporate communications Jim Hunter said. "It's a very unfortunate situation regarding the sponsorship for the cars of both Todd Bodine and Shane Hmiel.

"Of course, NASCAR is hopeful that their continued strong performances will lead to sponsorship that will carry them through the rest of the year."

Jesel has stayed involved with the Busch Series on several fronts.

"We've developed an alliance with the 26 team (Carroll Racing) and we're helping them out with cars and motors," Jesel said. "We're pursuing sponsorship and we've got something that looks somewhat promising for us to start up again at the Daytona race in July that will get us through the rest of the year.

"But man, we've been so close on things before -- so if it comes through we'll be good to go and if it doesn't, we'll just keep on looking."

In 2002, Jesel knew one sponsor would not return early in the season. But his second backer left suddenly at the end of the year. What's more, a Winston Cup team snatched one of his drivers.

"It's been a struggle," Jesel said. "The GNC thing caught us by surprise at the end of the season. We were working on some other things that didn't materialize so we had to regroup and start from scratch."

Jesel had an integral involvement in stock car racing before he became a team owner, and that has continued.

"I'm still here almost on a weekly basis," Jesel said. "Our main company in New Jersey does valve train work with just about every single NASCAR team out there in one way or another, so I still have to be in the sport (and) we're also a contingency sponsor in several of the series."

"But we're concerned about the Busch Series right now because it's a struggle to get sponsorship," Jesel said. Still, he said the entire situation hasn't convinced him that the series isn't a potentially successful marketing venue.

"The only thing that soured me was how everything came down with us last year, late in the season," Jesel said. "But it's happened to 50 other people in the sport. I just didn't expect it to happen the way it happened, so we just had to regroup to see how we could turn it around."

Jesel is also helping Gary Baker's Southern Racing with Dodge speedway cars for Daytona and Talladega, as well as a car for Nashville.

"Staying involved with these teams helps keep us up with the technology," Jesel said. "Hopefully we've got some plans for the future but it all depends on sponsorship -- that's what it's all about."

Jesel said he had several options for drivers but that he preferred to wait for the sponsorship to be resolved before he talked about any possibilities.

Hunter said NASCAR continues to assist teams in many behind the scenes roles.

"Our marketing office in New York actively assists teams in locating sponsors that are the right fit for their specific situations," Hunter said. "And hopefully that scenario will work out for these teams."