Ford moves Champ Car money to NASCAR

UPDATE #4 Another reader adds, Having read the comments that Steve Johnson gave regarding the loss of Ford, it implies that Champ Car has someone else lined up. Champ Car wasn't exactly crying the blues last year when Toyota left the Atlantic series. My guess is Mazda is going to step up. After all, Steve brought Mazda to the Atlantic table. Mazda also seems to be focusing on the younger generation with the design of their cars and commercials. Zoom, Zoom fits in nicely with the image of Champ Car and city festival racing. My hope is the new sponsor embraces the concept of Champ Car and incorporates Champ Car into their image. Champ Car needs a sponsor like Winston was to NASCAR. Sadly, today's commercial marketing strategies are 3 to 5 year programs rather then the long term visions of such sponsors as PPG and Winston. Arno Fritz

01/25/07 The ailing automaker canceled its sponsorship of the Champ Car World Series on Wednesday. Dan Davis, the director of Ford Racing Technology, said the involvement with Champ Car has been hobbled by its inability to expand its pace car program or get its cars in front of race goers since some events signed exclusive deals with other manufacturers. "It's a very difficult decision," Davis said. USA Today

01/25/07 Jack Roush said that Ford Motor Co. is increasing its investment in NASCAR in a major way, to meet the Toyota threat. And Roush isn't backing down from his long-held belief that Toyota's deep pockets will be a big issue in stock-car racing.

"Ford has stepped up, Ford is giving us everything we will need – parts, equipment and staff, and technical support," Roush said yesterday during NASCAR's media tour stop at his Concord shops. "NASCAR, by limiting the testing (by denying teams access to tires), has forced teams to do things in the shops. If you can't get the tires, you can't test. So you have to find a way to simulate things, to bench-race things in the shop. And that costs much more money than it costs to test a car at a track.

"I have made a commitment with Ford to spend about $10 million in additional investment; so I've already gone deep, with new equipment and technical experts. And Ford is helping. Obviously, the situation at Ford is tough right now, but they've made the commitment to NASCAR's Ford teams."

Roush vowed to take the fight straight to Toyota.

"Toyota will find that these teams will not wither in its path," he said. "They'd better give us their best shot, because we'll be giving as good as we take." Winston Salem Journal

01/25/07 Ford Motor Co. posted a $12.7 billion net loss in 2006, the worst financial performance in the industrial icon's 103-year history. The company said Thursday that it lost $5.8 billion in the fourth quarter alone due to slumping sales and huge restructuring costs. It lost just less than $7 billion in the first three quarters of the year. The annual loss surpassed the old record net loss of $7.39 billion in 1992. The company made $1.44 billion in 2005. Detroit News

01/25/07 Of Ford Motor Co.'s nearly 104 years, 2006 will go down as one of the worst. The public will see the bottom-line results today, when Ford reports its financial results for the last three months of the year and reveals the full extent of its 2006 losses. Through September, Ford lost $7 billion, and a Free Press analysis of Ford statements indicates that the full-year loss could reach $10 billion.

Ford's worst full year on record was 1992, when it posted a $7.39-billion loss.

Last year began with Ford's dramatic unveiling of its Way Forward revival plan. That strategy was proven to be inadequate over the summer and was revamped in the fall.

It now calls for closing 16 plants and eliminating 44,000 hourly and salaried jobs, among other actions. Seven of the plants have not been identified. Detroit Free Press