 | | Attendance was not an issue in Mexico City because points were on the line. Credit: Donald Miralle/Getty Images |
By Marty Smith, NASCAR.COM
March 10, 2005
11:09 AM EST (16:09 GMT)
Throughout the week, skeptics from Mooresville to Mexico City have analyzed the practicality of NASCAR's decision to ship its Busch Series teams across the border for a points paying, road-course event. My take: The return didn't balance the investment for teams. The purse was a joke, considering the logistics teams were faced with. Moreover, one point I've not seen broached to date is the most fundamental point involved here -- every team had to build road-course cars. (Not since 2001 had Busch Series machines graced a serpentine layout). But that's just me, a guy with a keyboard and paper-thin wallet who doesn't fund crew salaries or race cars or travel costs. It's not my bill to pay. But what about the guys who were forced to foot the cost, guys like Robby Gordon? While blasting down I-15 from L.A. to Vegas on Wednesday, that question irked me. It was unsettling, so I called Gordon to get the truth. Was it worth it? Is it a legitimate initiative? Should NASCAR seriously consider staging a Nextel Cup Series points outside the U.S.? From Gordon's perspective, the answer to all three is unequivocally yes. This is a guy driving a self-owned car, powered by a first-year engine program. Make no mistake, owners incur significant additional cost. But Gordon says the breadth and depth expansion provides his company and team sponsorships have far greater impact than the upfront cost presented team owners. In fact, Gordon says, international expansion opens up new sponsorship opportunities -- from pre-existing sponsors. "For me -- I'm going to look at it a different way," Gordon said. "Our sponsorship came from half United States Red Bull and half Mexico Red Bull. For me it was really big. For me it makes sense to go to Mexico. It's another great marketplace that will be good for us. "It makes sense because for sponsors, Mexico comes out of a different budget, and every race fan out there knows we operate on what sponsorship we're able to generate." Back to upfront cost for a moment. There's a laundry list of expenses that aren't required in the United States. "We had to hire security guards just for Robby Gordon Motorsports," Gordon said. "And vans. Two vans. That's $2,500 by itself. The travel, too. All the time it took to get passports for the guys. Next year that'll be easier, provided they still work for me. "Just a lot of additional expenses, like out-of-country insurance for our transporter. That transporter is how we operate. That's how we do business week-in, week-out, and if that thing was damaged down in Mexico we'd be out of business for 30 days. I believe it was an additional $7,000 just for one week." Gordon also had to buy insurance that covered the possibility he'd be out of work for a few weeks. "That was seven grand not including a disability, non-work clause. If our transporter rolls over, that's an additional expense I'm not willing to share with you," Gordon said. "But we did have to have another insurance policy based on if our company couldn't go operate in Las Vegas, Atlanta and Bristol. "Let's say it got rolled over or stolen. You can't just snap your fingers and have another one right there ready again. Every tool we own, radios, all that stuff. "It takes time to gather all that stuff, so we had a three-week missed-race cost that we could give our sponsors their money back, because they obviously wouldn't want to pay us either." This is the primary reason the purse needed to provide Nextel Cup-level compensation. Had it been, it would have gone a long way to assisting with the added cost. "The prize money wasn't good enough to go there. I was very disappointed when I saw the purse posted, because we obtained so many different expenses that you wouldn't obtain on a normal weekend," Gordon said. Due to that cost, Gordon agreed NASCAR had to pay points for the event or some teams would have forgone the mammoth undertaking and added financial strain. "I think with the scare everybody had about going to Mexico, I think a lot of teams would have stayed home," Gordon said. Some, not all. "We would not have. I've been to Baja for 20 years, and have had no problems, ever, in Mexico, and we had half-million dollar race trucks sitting on open trailers," Gordon said. "Never had a problem. I know a lot of people were scared. But for us, it was pretty routine for what we normally do with my off-road team." So overall, he's content with the initiative, and feels it's a viable undertaking? "One hundred percent, for sure," Gordon said. "Especially Canada and Mexico. For people like me that have international companies sponsoring them, absolutely. Jim Beam participates in Mexico, sell in Canada. Red Bull, obviously, same thing. Fruit of the Loom. That's three international companies with our Nextel Cup team. "And if we're able to go to a new marketplace and generate new money to operate our Nextel Cup teams or Busch Grand National teams or whatever series it may be, that's good for my business. It adds for breadth and depth to the business, gives our sponsors more value." And that begs the final, crucial question. Is the Cup Series next? "I do foresee it coming, and that's a good thing," Gordon said. Marty Smith is a senior writer for NASCAR.COM. His column appears each Thursday. The opinions expressed are solely of the writer or subject. | 
