THE DAILY Goes One-On-One With Chip Ganassi
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| CGR Owner Chip Ganassi |
CHIP GANASSI entered motorsports as a driver, but he has made his mark as an owner, first in open-wheel racing and later in NASCAR. He has also been a part-owner of his hometown Pirates and he maintains a position with FRG Group, a Pittsburgh-based holding company. But the track is where Ganassi feels most at home. He has been either driving or owning race cars for more than 25 years and he is one of two owners (ROGER PENSKE is the other) to own multiple cars in both NASCAR and the IndyCar Series. Ganassi's teams have flourished on the IndyCar side and his top driver, SCOTT DIXON, holds a nearly insurmountable points lead for the '08 title. Ganassi's NASCAR teams have not been as productive -- he even had to shut down DARIO FRANCHITTI's No. 40 Sprint Cup team earlier this season, which led to questions about the financial health of his NASCAR operation, and the No. 42 team lost Texaco/Havoline as a major sponsor last week. Ganassi recently sat down with SportsBusiness Journal Staff Writer Michael Smith to talk about these subjects and more.
Age: 50.
Hometown: Pittsburgh.
Resides: In my jet.
Education: Duquense University, B.S., finance, '82.
First job: Flipped hamburgers. My aunt and uncle had a Dairy Delight.
Favorite musician/group: Traffic.
Favorite vacation spot: St. Barths, Vail or Aspen.
Favorite movie: The Godfather I and II.
Pet peeve: Don't make the same mistake twice. It's OK to make a mistake, just don't make the same one twice.
Last book read: "The World is Flat" by THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN.
Brand you most admire: Target.
Executive you most admire: BOB ULRICH, chairman of Target.
Favorite business advice: Like dad always said, "Do what you're supposed to do when you're supposed to do it."
Q: How do you split your time between the IndyCar operation and the NASCAR operation?
Ganassi: It's probably 50-50. These teams are like children, some of them need more attention than others, but you love them all equally.
Q: Having been through almost a full season of open-wheel unification, does the IndyCar Series feel different than last year?
Ganassi: There's a little more buzz, a few more people talking about it. It's encouraging. We're pretty well-connected to the sponsorship world and a lot of people in the sponsorship world are talking about different aspects of the sport. They're re-interested in IndyCar racing. At least they're taking our calls now and they're willing to listen, so that's kind of nice.
Q: Is the Indy Racing League doing everything it can to market the sport?
Ganassi: I think every league can do more for the sport. The people in the front office of every sport I've been involved with -- IndyCar Racing, NASCAR, baseball -- the front office can do more. They're always challenged with being a sanctioning body vs. a real business and they often step back and forth between the two.
Q: How dire is the need for a title sponsor in IndyCar?
Ganassi: I probably would have had a different answer to that question 10 years ago. If the IRL wants to remain a sanctioning body, I don't know that a title sponsor is THAT important to having successful events. Having said that, the sport could benefit hugely by the right company being a title sponsor. People still like the differentiation of IndyCar racing vs. stock car racing and you're always going to have that. I don't think (a title sponsor) is a must, but it's important relative to ... well, when you say a title sponsor, like RJR (Winston) that pumped a lot of money into NASCAR, then you'd say, yes, they're important. Others? I'm not sure what others have done that's been breakthrough stuff.
Q: What was your reaction to IndyCar's new TV deal with ABC/ESPN and Versus?
Ganassi: At first, I was skeptical, but the more I know about it, the more I like it. It's an opportunity. My initial reaction was the same as when they said NASCAR was going to Fox. When NASCAR went to Fox, the reaction was, "Well, gee whiz, there's no way anybody can do a better job than ESPN." That's what we all thought. Fox? We don't even get Fox. It was "that new network." It was kind of that same reaction with Versus. So it's a wait-and-see mode. The NHL was in the tank a while, but now their numbers are starting to go up. So maybe you need to take a second look at it. ... Someone asked me, "What's the No. 1 sports network?" ESPN. That's obvious, right? Well, "What's No. 2?" I don't know. That's what most everybody says, "I don't know." If you could be the No. 1 sport on the No. 2 network, that'd be pretty good. It's just another way to look at it.
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Ganassi Says He Wouldn't Have Done Anything
Differently In Bringing Franchitti To NASCAR |
Q: How do you reconcile in your mind all of your success on the IndyCar side vs. the struggles on the NASCAR side?
Ganassi: To me, the teams are all the same. If one series has more appeal than another (NASCAR vs. IndyCar) ... that's not why I'm in it. I'm not in it for fan appeal. I'm in it because I enjoy the sport and everything that goes with it.
Q: What would you have done differently with the No. 40 team?
Ganassi: I'm not sure I would have done anything differently. I don't know. The fact that we had to close down the 40 team, well, we rolled the dice and came up craps instead of boxcars. I don't know what I would have done differently.
Q: When you made that decision, I'm sure it was difficult, but was it a no-brainer financially?
Ganassi: Yeah, it was a no-brainer as to what we had to do. I knew in my mind that we were going to lose some money on it. If I'd known in my mind that we could hang in there for the rest of the year and lost, say, $5 million, I would have done it. But the fact that we were at the halfway point of the season and we were already in excess of that, it just wouldn't have been smart to continue.
Q: Some of the stories that came out after that made the connection between the 40 car shutting down and the poor economy. Did you make that connection?
Ganassi: No, not at all. Now, we're not in a sponsor-friendly environment, and I don't think our performance helped any, Dario getting hurt didn't help us. There were just a lot of things going against us that we didn't count on. I did have calls from a lot of owners that said, "Man, that took a lot of balls to do that." Some said, "You made a tough decision and we applaud you for it." ... No one said anything when Childress closed down a Busch car. No one said anything when Red Bull lays off people. No one says anything when 96 (Hall of Fame Racing) lays off people. I lay off people, the same percentage-wise as what others have done, and it's like, "Oh, I'm going out of business." ... Success can be determined a lot of ways in this business. It's wins and losses and it's also profits and losses.
Q: Would you consider taking on another partner or investor?
Ganassi: I hear that all the time and most investors I meet want returns. And it's hard to guarantee returns in this business. You have to take a long-term view of the sport. Most sports teams, the return is on the trade of the asset. Look at baseball teams, football teams, they trade for much higher numbers than the financials would support. If someone came along like that, I guess I'd entertain that.
Q: What kind of reaction do you have when a team like Petty sells?
Ganassi: You have to look at these deals, whether it's Roush or Evernham or Petty or Waltrip, you've got to look at individually. Who bought it? Why'd they buy? All you can say for sure is that they had a transaction that changed ownership. It looks to me from the outside that Petty sold their school and the race team was a "you get that too." Looking from the outside, that's what I see. Each one of these is a different deal. ... As for these deals, the history hasn't been written on them yet. Anybody can buy something. That's the easiest thing in the world to do, buy something. What does it do for performance, for longevity. Tell me after five years what it looks like.
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Ganassi Says Dodge Taking Close
Look At Involvement In NASCAR |
Q: What's going to happen with manufacturers in the sport?
Ganassi: The manufacturers, Dodge, are taking a hard look at it. They're careful about what they put into the program. Dodge is not at a Toyota level or a GM level, so I think those other companies will look at their spend before Dodge does.
Q: As far as you're concerned, do you have everything you need right here to win in NASCAR?
Ganassi: I don't know that I have everything I need. Could I use an injection of money? Certainly. Any team owner that says he doesn't need more money would be lying. I could use some investment. If I had an extra $10 million to pump into the team, would it help? Sure. Well, an extra 10 or 20.
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