Nascar’s Rookie of the Year faces a situation most of his counterparts in professional sports won’t next season — unemployment.

Regan Smith, the top first-year driver in the Sprint Cup Series, is one of 116 employees of Dale Earnhardt Inc. whose jobs will disappear as the team merges with Chip Ganassi Racing. Mooresville, North Carolina, the 23,000-person town that’s home to the sport’s biggest teams, is preparing for a wave of job losses as car owners merge, pare rosters or shut down.

“By this time of year, if you haven’t figured out what you’re doing, it’s always difficult,” said Smith, 25, after he clinched the rookie honor at the last Sprint Cup Series race of 2008 in Miami. “I’m pretty confident I’ll be driving a Cup car for somebody next year, I just don’t know which one.”

The average value of the top 15 teams in Nascar jumped 65 percent to $119 million in the last two years based partly on 2007 sponsorships, according to Forbes magazine. This season, five of those teams have lost sponsorship on at least one car, two have merged and one may not compete next season. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp., which lavished cash and technical support on teams and drivers, are seeking as much as $25 billion in government aid to stay afloat.

Mooresville, which calls itself Race City, USA, is home to about 120 Nascar-related companies. Shops sprouted in the woods around the city after seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt Sr., who died in 2001, built his “Garage-Mahal,” a 240,000-square-foot race shop, museum and corporate office near his farm southeast of the city. Even the police cars in the city, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of Charlotte, are decked out in a checkered- flag theme.

‘Tighten Up’

“People understand that based on the economy today, everybody has to tighten up a little bit and go through somewhat of a correction,” said Russ Rogerson, executive director of Mooresville South Iredell Economic Development Corp., a local business group.

Race teams have announced they have fired or given notice to about 189 workers in the Charlotte area this month. More than 1,000 workers might be let go by the end of the year, CBS.com reported.

Ganassi and Earnhardt started 2008 with seven cars in Nascar’s top series. The companies said they will field four next season. Smith, the top rookie, wasn’t included in the driver line-up.

Petty Enterprises, Michael Waltrip Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing all face 2009 with less-than-fully-funded cars. Some, like 2002 Daytona 500 winner Bill Davis Racing, may shut down their Sprint Cup operations for lack of backing.

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