You have to admire Frankie Stoddard. He was the boy genius that came on the scene with Roush Racing and led the No.99 Jeff Burton team to 14 Sprint Cup wins. That’s more victories than the entire Hendrick Motorsports crew chiefs, with the notable exception of Chad Knaus, have combined. Sponsorship problems led Burton to leave for Richard Childress Racing and Stoddard headed to Bill Davis Racing. Stoddard has not visited victory lane since.
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[/media-credit]The New Hampshire native has had to lead teams with limited financial support since. His last gig was with the Latitude 43 team of Bob Jenkins. Jenkins, also a New England native, started that team when Roush-Fenway Racing had to downsize to four teams after the 2009 season. The team that formerly had Jamie McMurray as driver was bought by Jenkins. The No. 26 team had its good moments, staying in the top 35 for most of the season and having one top 10 finish, but the resources were just not there to compete for wins and the championship, something that Stoddard has had to deal with since leaving Roush.
Today, Stoddard made the first step of what he hopes will be a competitive NASCAR Sprint Cup team, but the odds are long. Few victories come from teams other than the super teams of Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, and Richard Childress Racing. Stoddard’s former team, Roush Fenway Racing has struggled these last few years, and yet Stoddard is assembling Fords bought from Roush and Richard Petty Motorsports. They will be good cars, but they will be the make that hasn’t won half dozen races in the last three years. Stoddard’s cars will carry the number 32. With no hope from Jenkins that his team would move forward, Stoddard made a move.
“We’re not going to be out there knocking off Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Roush,” Stoddard said. “Our goal will be to run between 15th and 30th, and by doing that, to give a smaller sponsor a ton of exposure.”
That’s a heck of goal for a man who has been to victory lane as much as Stoddard. While major Sprint Cup teams command $20-25 million in sponsorship for a full season, Stoddard said his new operation can do the job – on a smaller scale – for as little as $3-4 million. “There’s an untapped market out there,” he said. “There are sponsors that want to be in this sport, but don’t have that $20 million to spend. We’re going to reach out to those companies and give them a chance to be involved.”
He is joining with Bob Reath, owner and CEO of US Chrome Corporation in this venture. Stoddard and Reath have a history. Reath and US Chrome hired Stoddard to guide driver Dana Patten in five Sprint Cup races back in 1988. With the sponsorship of Reath’s company as well as others, Stoddard hopes for the best.
As of today, no driver has been announced and no other sponsors have been announced. With the Daytona 500 only two weeks away, it appears that making the field might be a long shot, but that’s been the story of “boy genius” Frankie Stoddard since the Roush days. He has quite a resume, but this may be his biggest challenge.
I hope he does well. At least it’s not another Toyota with their free giveaways to flood their fake junk (Thanks to NASCAR) . Anyone with commone sense can see what has happened to the Truck Series , and now the Nationwide series with Toyo’s buying up anyone who wants to race . So much for the ‘equality’ NASCAR professed a while back .
Remember who warned that Toyoto would ruin nascar racing? None other than “the cat in the hat” But he was ignored when he was not outright laughed at. As the saying goes, rots of ruck in heading off Toyota with those deep pockets