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Decision: Stewart may not understand all that's involved
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Only time will tell whether Tony Stewart’s decision was a good one or not.
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Published: July 13, 2008
Tony Stewart could be making a serious mistake here.
Sure, it sounds cool, being given a 50-percent stake in a NASCAR team, being given the words, "We won't let you fail" by General Motors and most likely guru Rick Hendrick, too.
Yes, Stewart may be guaranteed not to fail as team owner, but that's not quite the same as being guaranteed success.
And consider the bottom line -- leaving Joe Gibbs Racing, on the face of it, is just absurd.
Certainly, loyalty to Chevrolet is an issue for Stewart.
But going anywhere else, even to Hendrick's, is at best a lateral move, not a big step up, or even a step up at all. The Gibbs guys have held their own in the stock-car world quite well over the years, going back to Dale Jarrett's Daytona win in 1993.
Gibbs has won three championships, Stewart two of them (2002 and 2005), and the team is well on its way to a fourth title this year with Kyle Busch, or Denny Hamlin or Stewart again if he and crew chief Greg Zipadelli can shake all their bad luck.
Gibbs is bankrolled this year by one of the world's most successful car makers, Toyota. And last year's notable Toyota failings are now only so much dusty history -- Toyotas are winning 50 percent of the NASCAR races this season -- against GM, Ford and Dodge.
Why in the world would you give up a job with the best car owner in racing (check the extremely low turnover, crews and drivers) to take an iffy role as owner-driver?
Will Stewart win more races by making this move? Not hardly.
Will Stewart win more championships? Not likely.
Stewart's move -- his dream of ownership -- is admirable.
Yes, in the great Alan Kulwicki tradition. But ask Paul Andrews, Kulwicki's crew chief that glorious 1992 championship season, about how tough it was going up against tour powerhouses Robert Yates and Junior Johnson, bankrolled with one of the smallest sponsorships in the sport, less than $2 million.
But consider the world Stewart now faces, with the very ragged economy:
❑ Car owner Chip Ganassi, very wealthy in his own right, has just shut down one of his teams and let Indy-car champ Dario Franchitti go;
❑ Car owner Beth Ann Morgenthau has shut down (and is pitching Barack Obama for money to get back in the game, a dubious move);
❑ Car owner Bill Davis, a 15-year tour veteran, has just lost his major sponsor;
❑ The Woods, who have been racing since before there was even a NASCAR, are struggling just to make it from week to week;
❑ Michael Waltrip, even after a major infusion of cash from an outside investor, is still struggling, will likely lose more sponsors, and may have to cut one of his own teams;
❑ Richard Petty, whose operation is legendary, has had to sell out to outside investors;
❑ Ray Evernham, who followed a dream just like Stewart's, has had to sell out and is now all but sidelined himself;
❑ Even the great Roger Penske (who, it should be noted, has never won a NASCAR championship, despite his impressive racing organizations) hasn't had a dominant team in some time.
Some of those guys would give you their team probably just for assumption of debt.
It's not a pretty picture.
However, Stewart's move is a good one for NASCAR, for General Motors and for Hendrick.
The NASCAR pop is obvious.
For GM and Hendrick -- well, as Johnson liked to say, "I'd rather have you on my team than have to race against you."
Chevrolet execs won't have to bite their tongues when Stewart wins now.
It's unclear if Stewart actually understands all this. Yes, it's one thing to hear it and see it. But to endure the pain and the pressure these car owners are having to go through, well, that's quite another thing. Owning a USAC dirt team or a couple of short tracks isn't quite the same as trying to run a NASCAR Sprint Cup operation.
Stewart and his business people -- come to think of it, where is sports agent Cary Agajanian in all this? -- have certainly done the Xs and Os with budgets and equipment. But do they really understand what they're really biting off?
Bobby Ginn, the wealthy real-estate developer, thought he understood the deal when he jumped into NASCAR last year. He didn't even make it through the summer.
And the NASCAR history book is filled with similar men -- who came, who saw, and who got crushed.
No, Stewart probably won't get crushed -- although the stories that Bill Elliott, Ricky Rudd, Darrell Waltrip, Evernham and other racers-turned-owner can tell would curl your toes. But success?
Well, what is success for Stewart? At 38, he's got three to five really great years ahead of him as a driver, if he doesn't get sidetracked by this ownership thing.
But to begin with, does Stewart have the temperament to be a car owner? His reputation as a driver would say no. The one adjective that may immediately spring to mind when considering Stewart is "volatile." And that's not the makings of a good NASCAR team owner.
Yes, Stewart has matured over the past several years. But this challenge will be the biggest yet.
Stewart has 31 victories
So this is how it ends for Zipadelli -- his long-time buddy and driver Stewart walking away?
After 31 NASCAR tour victories and two Cup championships.
Zipadelli and Stewart have worked together 339 races over the past 10 seasons. No other driver and crew chief can come close to that amazing stat.
Did Stewart make Zipadelli, or did Zipadelli make Stewart?
Yes, Stewart had a name and reputation when he signed on with Gibbs, and when Gibbs hired Zipadelli to run the shop, it was "Greg Who?"
But without Zipadelli's calming influence, his organization skills and his talent at defusing extremely difficult situations, Stewart might be just another, well, consider Robby Gordon -- extremely talented but too wild and untamed for his own good.
Zipadelli, it should be pointed out, has had free rein in signing crewmen, and everyone who has signed on over the past 10 years is still with this team.
So the man who walks into this situation will be surrounded by the most loyal crew in stock-car racing. And that said a lot.
Now for Joe and J.D. Gibbs, the question is who to put in Zipadelli's car?
Joey Logano is the obvious pick. While he's only 18, Logano has been building a national reputation since he was 12, just like Jeff Gordon, even more so. And when Logano finally got a NASCAR ride, a few weeks ago (NASCAR officials for some curious reason raised the age limit on their drivers, just when it would keep Logano sidelined), he performed like a champ.
Juan Pablo Montoya, though he's currently with Chip Ganassi, has been mentioned as another possibility.
Logano may get the nod to Cup next season with a fourth Gibbs team, J.D. Gibbs said. And that may be the way to go. Despite his obvious talents, and apparently cool personality (compared to the wild-eyed Stewart), Logano is still just 18. And that fourth team could easily be the Dave Rogers-led Nationwide team making the step up. Rogers, a Cup-caliber crew chief now, has dominated the Nationwide series with whoever is in his cars, Logano, Stewart or Hamlin.
And every driver out in the NASCAR garage would have to be jumping at the opportunity to get in Zipadelli's cars, considering their success. Contract or not, some drivers might be looking to buy out of their current situation in order to get this ride.
The Gibbs team doesn't have to be in any hurry to make a call, unless sponsors demand it.
Zipadelli is wistful about it all. Facing this day for months, he has many times tried to laugh it all away, tried to skirt the situation.
But clearly it's hard on him.
Zipadelli, just turned 41, got his big break in NASCAR when Gibbs plucked him out of obscurity to take on the role as Stewart's boss.
Since then, they've more than shined, they've starred.
And now…
"All good things must come to an end sometime… this is our time," Zipadelli said.
"I'd like to think our friendship goes deeper than our working relationship. I'd like to think that won't change.
"Our friendship will change a little, because we probably won't spend anywhere near as much time together.
"But what I think of him, and what I owe him for helping me accomplish what I've accomplished in the last 10 years…. it's obviously been a huge team effort. And that doesn't change, even though he'll become a competitor instead of a partner.
"My biggest thing is I feel obligated to Joe Gibbs Racing, because they gave me an opportunity to start something that most people in this world just dream of.
"I didn't have anyone that worked there, we didn't have a trailer ordered, nothing. They hired a driver and asked me to come in and start it.
"I've gotten to work with Jimmy Makar (the company's general manager), and bring a lot of friends.
"I owe them an awful lot. They've stuck with me through the good and the bad...."
"And it's not just me -- I owe a lot of people that are with me.
"If I didn't like where I was, or didn't have the freedom and the people I work with, it would be completely different.
"I have to look at what's best for me, and where I'm most comfortable, and where my obligations are. That's with Joe Gibbs.
"My guys have supported me, and most of them have continued to work with me for 10 years or more. That's important to me. Unless you're there in the trenches, I don't know how to describe what that means -- to know those people have supported you through the good and the bad.
"That make it pretty easy for me to decide right now. Six months ago, three months ago, it was different. But right now I feel very comfortable where I'm at."
Body subhead
One question, that perhaps only Zipadelli can answer, is what kind of crew chief does Stewart need.
It's a question that Jeff Gordon had to wrestle with himself, when Ray Evernham abruptly left.
"That's changed a lot over the years," Zipadelli said. "During our success in the early years I was as stubborn, or more stubborn, than he was. But I was able to voice my opinion to him, and we respected each other.
"He's done a really good job the last few years to learn how to control those emotions and use his talents in a much more positive way.
"What a driver needs is someone that trusts in you and believes in you."
And now Zipadelli said Stewart will get a chance to see the other half of a NASCAR operation. "We've been grooming him to be a car owner like this," Zipadelli said with a laugh. "He's had all the teaching in the world."
Obviously.
Still running a team is a headache, to put it mildly. While Stewart now can just mosey over to his coach to sleep when things get bad, Zipadelli and Co. are having to deal with all those problems.
Next year Stewart won't get quite as much sleep.
"He enjoys with challenges, and this is a great challenge," Zipadelli said. "It's a great opportunity, to do something that really no one has done in this sport, especially in this era.
"I truly believe he'll be successful. He's very capable.
"He likes to be backed up against the wall. That's when he usually does his best.
"If he doesn't start off with the success he's used to, when he does get it it's going to be much more fulfilling -- knowing he took it from what it is to hopefully what it will be.
"Part of me wishes I was going over there, because I'm the same way with challenges.
"But what's exciting for me is I'll have a new challenge next year with a new driver."
And who might that be?
Zipadelli demurs. He said he'll have a big vote in the decision: "If I don't agree with it, then I can do what I choose.
"I feel very comfortable with our options."
Logano? "He's a remarkable young guy, very mature for his age," Zipadelli said.
But is he ready for Cup? "That's a big question I don't know anybody has an answer to," Zipadelli said. "Experience is priceless.
"It's one thing to do it in other divisions, but when they feed you to the sharks out, you're going against the best in the world, who have tons of experience.
"There's a lot to this sport -- that all comes with time.
"I think he has as good of a chance as any 18-year-old to come into this sport and succeed. And what you've seen the last few years is somebody that has it, shows it early.
"There will be some lumps. If he did it when he was 20, he'd still have ups and downs. Look at Kyle Busch, and where he is now. A lot of that is just his experience."
When Stewart last Wednesday finally told the team what he'd decided, it was no earthshaking announcement, because it had been in the wind since last fall, and in the works since last December, and in the public eye since April.
But Stewart, for all his foibles and temper tantrums, has engendered a strong loyalty in his crew.
"Part of the reason Joe Gibbs Racing is where it is today," Zipadelli said, "is because he was a partner with us.
"We can never be mad. Our success as a group would have never been possible without him.
"A lot of people are disappointed…. but I don't know of many people that were mad or disappointed.
"We've all had to do things in our life that you had to struggle with.
"We'll miss a lot. Even the bad times were good.
"We all learned something.
"And our accomplishments outweighed the stress and drama we had to deal with at times.
"You think of the good times you want to keep."
And this season, with the final 17 races, Zipadelli and Stewart both hope will wind up their years together on a high.
"Boy, I hope so," Zipadelli said with a grin, considering the ragged points situation going into last night's Life-Lock.com 400, with the team hanging in at 12th, right at the playoff cut. "We'd better light up a bang here pretty quick.
"From here on out we have to redeem ourselves…and put this behind us. That's important to both of us personally."
■ Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.
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