BDR needs sponsorship for Villeneuve-UPDATE
Quote selected text Published February 15th, 2008 in NASCAR News
UPDATE:
The 1995 Indianapolis 500 will be replaced next week at California, likely by Mike Skinner, unless a sponsor can be found for the Bill Davis Racing car over the next 24 hours.
Mike Brown, the general manager at BDR, said there are no other plans to use Villeneuve until a sponsor is found.
“It’s a race-to-race thing,” Brown said. “We thought we had one sponsor, down to having the uniform with the logo on it. We just never got the deal closed. It’s unfortunate for everyone.”
Brown said the decision to go with a driver such as Skinner was based totally on experience.
“By missing Daytona and putting ourselves in position of having to qualify to make the race we need somebody with Skinner’s ability,” he said. “Mike has run so well in the Truck Series out there.”
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Whether Jacques Villeneuve will attempt to qualify for the Auto Club 500 next week at California Speedway is being evaluated due to the lack of sponsorship of the Bill Davis Racing team.
The former Formula One champion has been working to obtain sponsorship for the No. 27 NASCAR Sprint Cup car. Villeneuve crashed during a 150-mile qualifying race Thursday and failed to make the field for the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
“We’ve got to have a sponsor,” Davis said Friday morning at Daytona International Speedway. “We’re going to [sit down] in the next day or two and kind of re-evaluate. They have a lot of companies up there [in Canada] in play. Some are very interested.
“We’ll have to see where we’re at. Obviously, not getting in this deal was a lick, [but] I think everybody was realistic about the odds.”
Villeneuve competed in two Sprint Cup races last season and thought he was close to sponsorship before parting ways with business manager Craig Pollock.
That left him looking for sponsorship over the last month.
“It seems to be harder than it should be – we’ll find out,” Villeneuve said after the race Thursday about whether he was confident he would find sponsorship. “Potential sponsors won’t be angry with this race because they weren’t there.”
- Villeneuve reaches agreement with Roush to run NASCAR
- Villeneuve aiming for Sprint Cup in 09, Davis still interested
- Villeneuve eyes return to NASCAR
- Villeneuve to test at Gateway
- Villeneuve struggling for sponsorship, hires former CART owner Barry Green
Where are you Formula1 high-hats on this one?
Look at the Nationwide series and the Truck series, as well as other racing series, and there are plenty of bare cars, but it has more to do with the economy then it does with drivers.
sucks for your golden years brother NASCAR is harder than F1 in the sense you are not guaranteed a spot.
Oh Axel! NASCAR is harder to qualify for, a harder season. But F1 in insanity. I loves both for different reasons.
Yeah F1 is easier as far as you are locked in because thats the way the rules are, but if you make a mistake in one of those open cockpit, openwheel cars you can have a wheel or even another car bouncing off of your head.
It’s pretty bad when a world class championship driver and Indy 500 winner can’t get a sponsor. Fisha is right. There are a lot of car and truck teams with minimal or no sponsorship at all. A few years ago, sponsors were tripping over each other to give Yates money. Now Yates can’t even get a full year of sponsorship for one team, let alone two. What money out there that is available is probably being spent a little wiser. But with the 50th running of the Daytona 500, I thought we’d actually see more sponsorships available. That hasn’t happened. Jocko deserves a better fate than this. If you look at his resume, it’s better than Montoya’s and any of this current group open wheelers that were GIVEN top rides. Welcome to The World of NASCAR, Jocko. He is one of the few drivers in the world that made Michael Schumacher cry like a little school girl by beating him for a title. That alone should be reason enough to sponsor him.
There has to be more to it than just a sponsor, JV has made so much money over the years and invested wisely that to finance a couple of races increasing his exposure would not even put a dent dent in his wealth, or that of Toyota. I like JV and always have, but its not like we are talking about David Streme.
How does taking JV out of the car help him? He needs all the seat time he can get. Davis and Brown said Skinner runs great in the trucks at California. This isn’t a truck race Brownie & Billy! Skinner couldn’t make it in Cup. That’s why he’s back in the truck series. What don’t you understand? Skinner drove the RCR Lowe’s Chevy for almost 5 full seasons before breaking a leg or ankle then being released. His replacement, Robby Gordon, won the last race of 2001 at Loudon. And he had Lairee Mackwrenolls as his crew chief for almost 3 of those years. Isn’t Larree stupendous? Robby won in that car in less than 1/2 a season. And that was without Lairee. Benson is a better driver than Skinhead and the facts will show Benson has a better resume than Skinhead. He’s one of the few to win a Cup, Busch and truck race. And he didn’t have RCR equipment either. BDR claims these two subs have a little sponsorship to keep the team afloat. This is the same team Mayfield took a beating with, that he couldn’t make races with or lock into the top 35. Yet Skinhead and Benson are better than JV? PULLEEEZZZ!! They have about 400 Cup starts and 1 Cup victory between them. How’s that 360 OTC sponsorship and lawsuit coming along Billy Boy?
Something I thought about with this whole thing of getting the car qualified by those two drivers. Can JV still test the car those weekends? And, What are the chances that BDR puts JV in the car once it has been qualified by one of the other drivers?