As the man who both supplies NASCAR race teams with car parts (as owner of SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel & Aluminum) and serves as the leader of an industry trade group (as chairman of the North Carolina Motorsports Association), Greg Fornelli has a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing the sport. In between practice sessions at Martinsville Speedway recently, he talked about the sport’s growth and cost-saving opportunities.
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NASCAR has done a great job on talking to the drivers; they listen to the drivers. They’ve got the drivers’ council [and] the owners’ council. They’re listening, and I think all of that equates to, ‘Let’s put on the best show we can on Sunday’ and that’ll drive all the rest of the business.”
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Photo by: STEVEN ARCE
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On finding cost efficiencies for NASCAR teams: A team owner recently told me that 10 years ago, when they started their team, they had five engineers — and last year, they had 50. So those guys are all paid a lot of money. NASCAR has to kind of walk a tightrope — and so do the teams — where, of course, they want cost savings, but you also still have to make sure you have a legitimate, major-league event. So I don’t think the sport wants to get into too much of worrying about the cost if it takes away the lure of, “This is Sunday, Sprint Cup racing.”
On how the charter system can help owners: You’ve got a guaranteed spot in the field, which means a lot. In the past, a lot of owners have complained because you do have some capital assets, but they’re really not good to anybody other than a race team. There’s not a big market for 7-post machines [which teams use to analyze cars’ performance].
On what’s being done by the N.C. Motorsports Association: There’s two aspects. One is the social part: The mixers, just having people mingle and get to know each other. … The other side of it is the lobbying. We have a lobbyist who will go up to Raleigh [the state capital] and fight for us. … In election years, there’s always stuff going on. Luckily, being in North Carolina, the state government knows how important motorsports is to our state.
On what NASCAR needs to do to grow: They need to continue working with drivers and team owners to work on improving the racing. The change on the downforce has helped a lot. If you listen to the drivers and say, “What do the drivers want to make a better show?” … If they do that, the sport’s going to be fine because that’s going to keep viewership and attendance up, which will keep sponsorship coming, which will keep owners in business.
