Loomis says RPM intends to move forward

Notebook: Loomis says RPM intends to move forward


MARTINSVILLE, Va.—Those who were looking for reassurance about the future of Richard Petty Motorsports found little to assuage their concerns Saturday morning at Martinsville Speedway.
RPM, which has been silent on a succession of troubling issues over the past several days, finally spoke through director of competition Robbie Loomis, who stood behind the No. 43 hauler of AJ Allmendinger and insisted the team intended to move forward in the aftermath of driver Kasey Kahne’s departure and reports of financial crises that have followed majority owner George Gillett from one side of the Atlantic to the other.
If RPM’s silence had been deafening, so was the roar of Sprint Cup engines that all but drowned out Loomis’ words. Loud and clear, however, was the realization that RPM faces a difficult future—even with the best of intentions.
Loomis, a Cup champion crew chief with Jeff Gordon in 2001, rode to the track Saturday with Dale Inman, an eight-time champion crew chief, seven with Petty Enterprises.
“I was thinking, riding up the road this morning with Dale, and I said, ‘You can’t look too far out in the future, because today is all that we really have,’ and many of you know that from being around this sport,” Loomis said.
In an era where long-term strategic planning is the norm, those words weren’t particularly reassuring.
Kahne and RPM agreed to part ways on Monday, after Kahne refused get back in a car that had been wrecked and repaired last Saturday night at Charlotte. Kahne was a lame duck in any event, having announced he would leave the team at year’s end to drive for Red Bull Racing in 2011 before moving to Hendrick Motorsports in 2012.
RPM, which purchases its Ford engines and chassis from Roush Fenway Racing, had fallen behind in its payments. Accordingly, Roush Fenway briefly confiscated RPM cars intended for use Oct. 31 at Talladega.
Owner Jack Roush told Speed.com Friday that he had worked out a payment schedule with RPM. The Talladega chassis were returned to RPM Thursday morning. Roush said his organization would continue to supply RPM as long as the payment schedule is met.
The relationship between Roush and RPM is much more complicated than that of merely a vendor and customer. The two organizations share technical data and sit in weekly competition meetings together.
Roush’s partner, Boston Red Sox owner John Henry, recently effected a forced buyout of the English Premier League’s Liverpool soccer team--from Gillett and his partner, Tom Hicks, a former owner of the Texas Rangers.
Along with Richard Petty, who owns a minority interest in RPM, Roush, Henry and Gillett face the challenge of charting a viable future for RPM. Allmendinger, who re-signed with the team, and Marcos Ambrose, who will leave JTG/Daugherty racing at the end of the year to join RPM, are two Cup drivers waiting to see what that future might hold.
“I think it’s our full intention to go forward,” Loomis said. “Like I said, most of the things we’ve been working on throughout the week is, ‘What do we look like in 2011? What’s our driver lineup look like the rest of the year since we lost Kasey?’
“I told the guys yesterday—I sat back at lunch and said, ‘Look, this is no different than running a race when you’re a crew chief. I’ve been right here at Martinsville leading a race and all of a sudden hit a pothole, and you’ve got to figure out what to do and how to react to it and move forward.’ ”
Nice to be wanted
Roush Fenway driver David Ragan has stepped up his performance since Drew Blickensderfer replaced Donnie Wingo as his crew chief in September. Last weekend at Charlotte, he finished 10th, his first top 10 since running sixth at Talladega in April.
“I feel like our cars are better as a whole, and certainly the new Ford engine has been a help, but Drew and I have seemed to click very well,” Ragan said. “The crew and our engineers have kind of rallied around us, and we’ve made some good decisions. We’ve had some fast cars the last three or four weeks.”
Problem is, Blickensderfer came to Ragan’s Cup team from Carl Edwards’ Nationwide car, and Edwards wants him back. Not so fast, Ragan says.
“Ultimately, I’ve always been told that possession is like 75 or 80 percent of the game, and he’s on our side right now,” Ragan said. “We’ll get together—me, Carl, Jack, Drew and everyone—and talk about it in the offseason.
“We need to do what’s best for the company as a whole. As of right now, hopefully things keep going, and we can have some good runs to end the season, and then it’ll be a little tougher (for Carl) to get him back.”
Edwards says Blickensderfer will make the call.
“They’ve really stepped it up,” Edwards said. “That’s great for David Ragan, but we’re going to have to sit down at the end of the year and decide where Drew is going to go. It’s really up to Drew, but I would take him in a heartbeat. … If it’s best for Drew to stay there, then I guess he’ll stay there.
“But, yeah, I was a little nervous when we moved Drew that I wouldn’t get him back, and I guess if I don’t, that’s a sign that the best case is happening.”
Truex gives props to Johnson
Martin Truex Jr. sometimes finds the success of fellow Cup driver Jimmie Johnson hard to believe, but he’s not about to attribute Johnson’s four straight championships to good fortune.
“It takes a million things to go right and only one to go wrong,” Truex said Wednesday during an appearance at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “That’s why I can’t believe what the 48 team has been able to do. It’s crazy how everything can go that right that many times.
“He spun out here (Oct. 16) and didn’t hit anything. Honestly, it’s pretty amazing, but they do it every week, so you can’t call it luck. It’s just impressive what they’ve been able to do—it’s unbelievable, to be honest, when you know what goes into it and how hard it is and how many things can go wrong and do go wrong. It’s crazy.”
By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service