Gillett/Evernham talks with Petty have slowed
Quote selected text Published October 8th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Alex Gillett still hopes to work out a partnership with Petty Enterprises, although he admits talks have slowed. “What you’ve got is one of the most storied people in the sport,” the co-owner of Gillett Evernham Motorsports said. “There is a lot of emotion attached to what they want to do in the future and who they want to move into the future with. I can respect that. If that means give them space or not space. We did it with Ray.”
Negotiations to merge Gillett with owner Ray Evernham lasted at least four months longer than anticipated because an underground storage tank had to first be removed from Evernham’s property in Statesville, N.C., for environmental reasons.
“A lot of people criticized us for taking too long to close,” Gillett said. “Well, nobody asked us the question of why. Each one of these has a life cycle. You can’t push it.”
Meanwhile, Gillett said GEM officials are talking to two or three drivers to replace Scott Riggs in the #10 next season. He acknowledged that Canadian driver Patrick Carpentier is a strong candidate even though he has only one Nextel Cup start. David Stremme, who was not re-signed by Chip Ganassi Racing, also is a candidate. “I’m not sure if you bring somebody like a Patrick Carpentier and throw him right into Nextel Cup,” Gillett said. “So we’ve got some other good options in the No. 10 car we’re exploring. We’ll see over the next couple of weeks where that ends up.”
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They seriously better not sign freakin Stremme. Talk about a step down!
petty has to do this deal . Its like farming go big or quit used to be mom and pop Those days are long gone . BIg money /big teams /lots of corp. b,s iroq racing I mean nascar
Jamie wrote:
Stremme wouldnt be a wise choice but I would hardly call it a step down. I mean come on what has Riggs done?
Scott has at least one a Busch title and shoved Jeffy around last year on his way to a second place finish during a race. This year, he got screwed by the lying team engineer that GEM released and Mikey hired. Kahne and Sadler have suffered too. Riggs would be a safer choice. To Stremme’s defense, he is a better Cup driver than he ever was a Busch Series driver. Johnson too.
The whole freakin team was screwed by that engineer, and have never really recovered from it. Yes, Kahne is 21st and Sadler is 24th in points, but their results still aren’t really there. Kahne’s team has probably been the best ones in regards to overcoming everything. Scott’s never really recovered at all. Looks like Carpentier to the 10 anyway, at least I hope so. He’s got alot of talent and alot of potential and GEM is really pleased with him.