Will NASCAR Mimic McDonalds?
And Burger King, Carls Jr., Taco Bell, Subway and thousands of others that follow the same business model as McDonalds.
We’re not talkin’ Happy Meals here, or double sour cream burritos either, we’re talking franchising.
There is gathering concern about increased car counts in NASCAR’s premier NEXTEL Cup series. With the addition of the new Toyota teams and a couple others that have announced their possible entry into Cup the time may come when a high dollar team and its corporate nanny/mid-wife will sit on race weekend after missing the cut in qualifying.
Wow, what a great idea, franchised car ownership! And why not? My concept would be, one car, one franchise, with a limit on the number of franchises one owner could take. That way every car would have the ability of getting sold off, as opposed to a three car franchise. It may make getting into the big show a little more economical for a new team.
And does anyone really care about the half dozen cars that consistently don’t make the race on times? Not that I read about.
But NASCAR needs to think this thing through a bit more carefully. A frachise holder will have a bit more power than a private contractor, and Daytona may some day face a revolt from franchisee’s if Daytona does stupid things that devalue the worth of the franchise holders.
But all in all, it sounds and looks like the future.
For sure, franchising would change the nature of how individuals have gotten involved in NASCAR racing. But economics have already effected that change. Regardless of the business model utilized by the sanctioning body, the days are long gone when a short-track, shade-tree guy could put together his very own Cup car, load it on the open trailer behind his 12-year-old pickup truck and head for Daytona with stars in his eyes.
On another point, I’m not sure how you make the connection between “franchises” and the prohibition of one-off drivers from some other series. A McDonald’s franchise holder may change managers, fry cooks or other employees as he/she wishes. What, except a NASCAR rule specifically prohibiting it, would prevent “franchise owner” Roger Penske from letting Sam Hornish Jr. drive one of his franchised NASCAR racecars in two or three races, just as “independent contractor” Penske is currently planning to do? If F1 teams can find candidates to fill the role of test driver, why should we doubt that a franchised NASCAR owner would be able to hire a third-team driver who realizes he/she might be preempted by another driver for a specific reason? If I were a young, aspiring shoe or a nearly-over-the-hill greybeard, and the salary looked good, I would jump at such a deal.
As George’s suggestions emphasize, the notion of “franchising” is much more than some simplistic, singular thing. There are plenty of ways to skin an onion — any onion.
A final comment — it’s fashionable to dismiss NASCAR’s leadership as short-sighted and bumbling. Someday the criticism may be validated, although some of the more caustic critics will have to see a total collapse of the stock-car racing universe before their dire prophesies are fulfilled. But for the time being and into the near future, I sure wish I could “bumble” like Brian France is doing.
Welcome David I appriciate your well thoughout comment and encourage your continued participation at Full Throttle.
In answer to one of your questions: