Yeley, HOF Racing say contract with JGR not what it appeared? - MakingLaps.com Forum

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TOPIC: Yeley, HOF Racing say contract with JGR not what it appeared?

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Date: Sat Nov 8 12:18:30 2008

Yeley, HOF Racing say contract with JGR not what it appeared?	Permalink

From Jayski.com: HOF Racing looking at changes in 2009, needs sponsorship: The new owners [Diamondbacks' executives Jeff Moorad and Tom Garfinkel] inherited a contract to get engines and chassis from Joe Gibbs Racing, which switched to Toyota from Chevrolet [after 2007]. Driver J.J. Yeley soon discovered he didn't have the same equipment as Gibbs' drivers Busch, Tony Stewart or Denny Hamlin. There wasn't an exchange of technical information, as often happens between other teams with similar deals. "Hall of Fame Racing thought the relationship it had with Joe Gibbs Racing was better than it was," Yeley said. "Because they thought they had a better product than they really did, it almost made them blind that they had a problem." Garfinkel admitted, "We inherited a contract that didn't have a lot of flexibility to it. It was more of a customer-supplier relationship than an alliance. We were hopeful we could evolve the relationship in that direction, and that didn't take place." Joey Logano, who takes over Stewart's #20 Camry next year, drove the #96 twice and didn't finish better than 32nd. "It was different than what I was used to driving after doing a lot of testing with Gibbs," he said. Yeley struggled even after a crew chief change. "They (owners) started hanging that blame and pressure on me. I hope now they realize it wasn't the driver. There were promises of big-name crew chiefs and a lot of testing. These were things we never really got to do Yeley didn't qualify for four of 21 races, triggering a clause that reduced DLP's sponsorship. He said he renegotiated his contract to free-up money and that about a half-dozen employees were let go with him. Garfinkel said the changes were performance related. Yeley won the prestigious 4-Crown USAC midget feature in September but isn't entered in PIR's Thursday night Copper World Classic. He hired a marketing firm and said about $12 million in sponsorship would get him into a Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevy next season. The #96 isn't fully sponsored for 2009, and there's no new contract with Gibbs. "The team will be in a different sort of model next year," said Garfinkel. "Jeff and I are going through different options."(Arizona Republic)(11-5-2008) -- Edited by openwheelracer at 12:19, 2008-11-08 __________________

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