On December 1, 2011, Izod IndyCar Series team, Newman-Haas Racing decided to close the doors of their shop after 28 years of being in the racing industry. After having a successful 2011 season, team owner, Carl Haas, said the economy has hit them to hard to continue. Newman-Haas has racked up 107 race victories and 8 world championships in those 28 years of operation.
http://www.indycar.com/news/show/55-izod-indycar-series/51007-newman-haas-to-sit-out-2012-season/
Being in the racing industry myself, I see this as a wake-up call. The sport that I love can flip in no time at all. One of the "true" teams of the Izod IndyCar Series that has history to it, is no longer. In my opinion, I hope to see the Newman-Haas team back in years to come, but the probability of that is very slim. The IndyCar series in general had been doing very well, and hadn't lost a team due to the economy in 3 years (Roth Racing). The team had ordered 4 of the 2012DW IndyCars, which will now be distributed to other teams awaiting the arrival of their new car.
I agree with you Kyle, it is a wake up call. Even though that the industry over all is doing well all-in-all, one racing team can not be doing as well and can close. It is a wake up call for all of sports. Such as the L.A Dodgers filing for bankruptcy last year, the MLB took control of it right away. I believe that is what IndyCar has to do.
ReplyDeleteWhile this is very sad and unforeseen to me especially with Hass rookie receiving rookie of the year I have to disagree with Matt(if he is saying what I think he is I am not aware of the situation with the Dogers). While I hate to see Newman/Haas Racing leave the field we cant send a message that IndyCar should pick up the bill. This is the to big to fail mindset that I feel got us in trouble when we bailed out the banks. Hopefully Newman/Haas will find a way to finance itself but if not I feel that no they can unfortunately not be bailed out. I do wish best of luck to the company and everyone affiliated with it, once again very sad story.
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