Meet the Newest NASCAR Cup Team Owner

Like everybody else in this cratering economic environment, NASCAR is
struggling. Sponsors are disappearing faster than a politician after
election day. Teams are folding up right and left, and for the first
time in years, there is talk that the Cup series will have to run races
without a full compliment of race cars.
But that didn't stop longtime crew chief Tommy Baldwin Jr., who just
lost his job when Bill Davis Racing shut down and sold its assets a few
weeks ago. Instead of heading for the unemployment line, Baldwin instead
decided to go against the grain and start his own team.

Tommy Baldwin Racing plans to run the complete NASCAR Sprint Cup
schedule campaigning Toyota race cars. But Baldwin has not yet
named a driver (although it likely will be WARD BURTON) or a sponsor.

And here's the best part: Baldwin not only acknowledges that the poor
economy is making the prospect of racing tough, he's embracing it.
Baldwin intends to take advantage of all the newly unemployed mechanics
and fabricators available by taking his pick among them on the cheap.

"With tough economic times upon us, the time for starting this team is
right," he says.
"Our overhead is low, and we have a great group of talented mechanics
and specialists to choose from. We can offer sponsors the chance to get
into NASCAR Sprint Cup racing at a fraction of the costs, without
compromising on-track performance, due to our low overhead."

You probably shouldn't expect much from the team when it does race,
given the disparity of resources that it will have compared to the big
guys like Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing, but it's still
fun to root for the contrarians.

Address:http://streetmuscleaction.com/the-news-30/1909/01/ Changed:9:14
PM on Saturday, January 10, 2009

Whatever it takes......