The axe to fall at Ginn Racing

UPDATE We forgot to upgrade this rumor to 'fact' as there have been major layoffs by Ginn.

07/30/07 About 100 crewmen at Ginn Racing are expected to be fired this week, according to team sources, who say that would make a total of 160 people dropped from the roster in a two-week span. Team owner Bobby Ginn fired drivers Joe Nemechek and Sterling Marlin on July 17th, citing sponsorship problems, and last week Ginn said he was merging the rest of his operation, including driver Mark Martin, with Dale Earnhardt Inc. DEI officials said they would be moving all their Nextel Cup operations into Ginn’s shop at the end of the season and turning DEI’s current facility into a Busch operation.

While Ginn and DEI executives and Martin have been putting a positive spin on the merger, privately some Ginn crewmen are upset and say they’ve been kept in the dark on most of the business details.

One big question is the future of Jay Frye, the veteran general manager who has been running the Ginn operation and who owns 20 percent. Frye, who didn’t wear a DEI shirt at last week’s announcement, is the man who originally built the team for its first owners Read Morton, Tom Beard and Nelson Bowers in 1997. Ginn bought the operation last year. Winston Salem Journal