Cart owner Chip Ganassi says NASCAR Winston Cup is a more competitive series...

[Joe Fan]

which is why he decided to enter the series by buying into Felix Sabates's team and becoming a co-owner with controlling interest. He said this in an interview on Inside NASCAR.

[Lee]

Joe,
I saw the interview on Inside NASCAR this morning. Here is my guess as to why he is talking this way. There was an article on Jayski's today, Felix Sabatis is acting as an adviser to Ganassi, as well as the minority owner of the team. The article was an interview with Sabatis. In it he said that he had already told Ganassi several things when they were in Indy for the Brickyard 400. One was this, "Chip, you won the race here in May, guess what, nobody in this garage area cares. To them, it doesn't mean anything."
He also told him, "Chip, you've won the last four cart championships, thats great. In this garage area, they don't care what you've done in those other series, it doesn't mean a thing here!" "I told him that if he wants to be accepted here, the best thing you can do is be yourself, and lay low, basicly stay out of the picture." He went on to say that "Cal Wells has made it very difficult for any open-wheel guys to come to NASCAR. At the start of this year, Wells was walking around like he was going to kick everyone's ass! He very underhandedly stole the McDonalds sponsorship from under Bill Elliott, then he very underhandedly stole the Tide sponsorship out from under Ricky Rudd." Now, nobody in this garage area trusts open-wheel owners!" There has been alot of argurments on the different forums that I have read as to wheather or not Wells stole the two sponsorships. I look at it like this, Sabatis is an insider, you can't be much more of an insider in NASCAR than to be a multi-car team owner in the Winston Cup Series! I think Wells stole the sponsors, and has spent all the rest of this year trying to justify what he did by lying and telling everyone that he didn't steal them! Sadly, the one caught in the middle, and it isn't his fault, is Scott Pruett! Wells has caused a hugh creditability gap for any other open-wheel owners who might want to get into NASCAR in the ownership roll! This might be why Ganassi is being so complimentry of NASCAR!

[KC]

The real deal with NASCAR is that he can make more money in it right now than in CART. That is the reason behind it.

As far as nobody caring what Ganassi or any other driver in any other series has accomplished, that's a load of **** as well. In the context of what they do in NASCAR, there is no comparison to what CART or any other series does. But, don't think for a second that there is not mutual respect for each other among the drivers and team owners.

As far as the Cal Wells deal goes, Tide was leaving Rudd's operation before it was ever announced that Wells was forming a new team. Rudd was not going to run his team for the next year. Both sides of this equation have admitted this. The McDonald's deal with Bill Elliot was a direct correlation on performance. They were looking to run a cheaper operation than Elliots, even though it would not win. I can't say what Cal Wells may or may not have said in pits because I was not there, but he has always seemed a humble guy in the interviews I have seen.

The only reason I can see for any NASCAR fan or NASCAR personality to ever complain about Ganassi or Wells or any one else getting in to their series is that it will eventually raise the performance bar. That will separate the men from the boys and someone will lose out. There is a bunch of track circulators in NASCAR that may be looking at elimination by better financed new operations.

[Heeltoe6]

"Sadly, the one caught in the middle, and it isn't his fault, is Scott Pruett!"

And seeing as how well PPI is doing in CART this year, I bet he regrets it.

Anyways, Ganassi is definitely playing an intentionally defensive game. Around the week-off before POcono, remember, "I don't ant to steal any drivers away from their current deals to fill the seat(the #01)." Given the Wells disaster, a smart move.

[Joe Fan]

KC, I don't think Cal Wells or Chip Ganassi will raise the bar higher in Winston Cup. It has already been raised very high for them before they ever got there. I really don't think Cal Wells will ever field a championship caliber Winston Cup team. Chip Ganassi might but it will take years and then he won't be able to dominate like he did in CART. He said in this interview something to the effect that you can be on top of your game as a team in Winston Cup and still be a tenth in the point standings, it is that competitive.

In order to dominate in CART, it takes money and technology. In NASCAR, it still takes money and technology to a lesser degree but there is more of an emphasis on people. Hiring and retaining the right people is a big key in being successful in Winston Cup. Look at Rick Hendrick without Ray Evernham, his teams are still very good but they are no where near as dominant as they once were a couple of years ago. People like Evernham get great offers elswhere and then they move on. I guess you could argue the same about Mo Nunn but Ganassi's demise this year has really been the unreliability of the Toyota engine in my opinion and Mo hasn't shown me much with his team so far.

[Heeltoe6]

I would agree with that Joe Fan, except for your de-emphasis on people. Look at Montoya w/out Mo Nunn or Dario without his engineer(name escapes me). People are just as important in both series

[Lee]

KC,
Understand, what I'm saying, Sabatis is an insider, who would know more about the inner workings of the garage area, the deals, being made, just exactly what the scoop is more than an insider? As to smaller teams being pushed out, you could hardly call Sabatis' team small. It has been one of the best financed teams in the series, and Sabatis is one of the, if not the wealthest men in the garage area. He has ofter stated that if simply spending money was the key to victories, he would have several championships under his belt by now. Your talking about a guy that can go out and pay cash for a Rolls, a yachet (probally mispelled) or practically anything else he might wish to buy, on a whim, with his pocket change! Something you, nor I will never be able to boast, in all likelyhood. I'll take the word of an insider. To back it up, it has also come out in several interviews with Wells that he had been in negoations with Tide for up to two years prior to his announcement of their sponsorship agreement! A far different story than what he originally stated! I read these interviews on Jayski's several months ago. Yes, Wells seems humble in interviews, but all humans are capable of putting on different faces to suit any given situation, example, I'm in the Marine Corps, at one time I was a Drill Instructor. I am capable of putting on a display where you would think that I mad enough at you to rip your head off, and just as quickly can turn around and speak to anyone just as happily as if nothing ever happened. Its like turning on and off a light switch. All humans are capable of this. I also don't know why Sabatis would lie about what he says, first, he would have nothing to gain by it, plus, if the statements were untrue, he could be opening himself up to a whale of a lawsuit for slander! As rich as he is, he isn't going to give anyone a chance to sue him for slander, rich people know how to stay rich. Heeltoe6 is right, Ganassi is making a smart move. His statement about not hiring drivers, also extended to crew chiefs, and crew members as well. He said that he did not want to interfear with anybody on an established team that is running for points at the mid-season mark. This statement also made reference to Wells, who openly pursuited crew members from Elliot's team (Joe Garone) an the team from whoever was employing Doug Richart at the team. This was his way of saying to the NASCAR garage area that he would be far more professional, and ethical than Wells had been. I'm not saying all of this to argure with you, just pointing out some things about Sabatis. As to your statement that money is the reason for anybody not presently in NASCAR trying to get in, I couldn't agree with you more. However, I don't believe if the situation was reversed, and you could make more money in cart that you would see an exitous from the NASCAR ranks. The NASCAR regulars are in it for the money, yes, but they are also in it for the love of stock car racing as well. The statements that Sabatis made about what was done in those other series doesn't mean anything here, says nothing about mutual respect for anybodies team or driver, it simply means that to NASCAR teams, owners, and drivers, they don't care what you've done anywhere else, you haven't proven anything here in Winston Cup. Until you can beat then, consistantly, in the Winston Cup Series, you haven't proven anything. Its kind of like a place kicker showing up at a baseball team tryout. He has skills, but in baseball, place kicking skills are not in big demand, again, apples and oranges. Oh well, have a good evening.