Fernandez winding down IRL, Grand-Am operations?
Fernandez co-owner Tom Anderson said his staff has been whittled to a bare minimum because the team lacks a primary sponsor. Among the layoffs were veteran engineers John Dick and Chris Finch, who were hired by Dreyer & Reinbold, another Indianapolis-based team.
Dick engineered Scott Sharp's car this past season; Finch directed Kosuke Matsuura's.
The drivers will be on the move, too. Sharp figures to land at Rahal Letterman Racing, while Matsuura is expected to drive the second car of Panther Racing. Neither the teams nor the drivers have confirmed their associations. Indy Star
10/31/06 This rumor was confirmed when SPEEDTV.com talked to Fernandez Racing co-boss Tom Anderson who confirmed they laid off 27 IRL staff and said,
“I’m still hoping we can do something full-time for ’07 but right now I don’t see it. We’ve got one thing on the table but it’s kinda way out there and we just couldn’t hang on to our payroll without a deal in place.
“The League is aware of our situation and we’ve been talking to drivers but right now all we’ve got are cars and equipment."
“I know Brad (Stout) and Bill (Lafontaine) of Delphi want to stay in the IRL but without the associates (Futuba is also gone), they’re not able to do the whole deal," continued Anderson, who left Ganassi Racing to help start Fernandez Racing in 2001.
“If we do get something going, I think we could be on the track in 14 days from the time we signed the deal."
Scott Sharp is said to be taking his Delphi money to Rahal Letterman and Kosuke Matsuura is thought to be taking his Panasonic money to Panther Racing.
10/30/06 We have not said much about Fernandez also winding down his Grand-Am team in addition to his IRL team. This makes sense since, 1) Honda probably preferred/insisted that they not race in a competing sportscar series, and, 2) All of his Grand-Am equipment has been bought by Roger Schramm and will be campaigned under the R.V.O. Motorsports banner. Roger has tabbed road racing veteran Jack Baldwin to co-drive the car for a full season in 2007. Baldwin is no stranger to Grand-Am. He joined with Jim Tafel (Alpharetta, Ga.) to create the Baldwin-Tafel Racing Grand-Am in mid-2004, which has since been bought out by Tafel and the team is being run by sports car racing guru Tony Dowe (TWR Jaguar Racing, etc.) they are even expanding into ALMS in '07.
10/30/06 Hearing that Fernandez Racing laid off their entire IRL staff last week. Somewhere around 30-40 people were let go we were told.
However, based on this Grand-Am interview, it doesn't sound like the Ganassi Grand-Am effort is winding down at all.
Q. Scott, are you going to have a new co-driver in 2007? If so, do you have any idea who it is yet?
SCOTT PRUETT: Yes, I am. And, no, I don't (laughter). I wish I could give you a little bit more information. Even as of right now, the biggest question is — we're actually going to go test three or four potential Mexican national drivers, some of the guys that have been working their way up similar to what Luis (Diaz) has done. Carlos Slim is a very huge supporter of the team and of Grand-Am. They're young drivers he would like us to go and run.
At this point in time, I don't know. I'd say I'm 90%, 95% sure it will be a Mexican national.
10/24/06 With the creation of their ALMS Acura team we're now hearing faint rumors that Fernandez Racing is winding down their IRL operations, and that along with Luis Diaz, the CompUSA funding will move to Fernandez and ALMS from Chip Ganassi’s Grand Am team, which could mean Chip is winding down his Grand-Am effort. Hmm…..