[Bob Tanner]

From jayski.com:
Ford re-ups with Roush BUT no support for Trucks: Ford Racing has reinforced the importance of NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series to the manufacturer under tough economic times by reaching a five-year deal to remain with Roush Fenway Racing. BUT Ford will pull its financial support in the Craftsman Truck Series beginning next season. Team owner Jack Roush assured that Ford has not pulled support from the Cup program. "Ford has made us a commitment for five years going into the future that we feel is adequate to our needs for the support that comes from manufacturers," Roush said before Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway. Roush has been with Ford since he got into NASCAR in 1988. His organization owns five of the eight Cup teams currently funded by the manufacturer and has an alliance with two more at Yates Racing. The single-car team [#21] of the Wood Brothers is the only other one that runs fulltime in NASCAR's premiere series, although Yates plans to expand to three teams [#28,#38 and Paul Menard] in 2009. The withdrawal of financial support in the Truck Series was purely an economical decision. It is the second big hit for that series, which lost Dodge support earlier this year. Unlike Dodge, Ford will continue to provide technical support and engineering. "We remain positive about the performance of our teams and their dedication to the company during these challenging times," said Brian Wolfe, the director of Ford Racing Technology.(ESPN.com)(10-19-200

Ouch! This hurts.

[jks812]

This is another hit the truck series didn't need, dang it.

[Quality88]

It'll get worse before it gets better folks... I hope it gets better

[Racer Duck]

the 'Yota boys have dragged out their big net and are ready to rescue anybody who'se "jumping" off the sinking ship...

[Bob Tanner]

...and the hits just keep on commin'...

More news:
UPDATE: Sources close to Roush Fenway Racing say the decision could result in the closure of at least two of the team's three Truck Series teams. Roush currently fields Erik Darnell's Northern Tool and Equipment #99, the #6 Con-Way Freight Ford driven by rookie Colin Braun, and the #09 Zaxby's Ford driven last weekend at Martinsville Speedway by Jamie McMurray. Ford also supports three other Truck Series entries for Circle Bar Racing (Rick Crawford and Brendan Gaughan) and the Wood Brothers (Jon Wood)(Motorsports Soapbox)(10-21-2008
UPDATE 2: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Rick Crawford told Sirius NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway Monday that the Circle Bar Racing Team will remain with Ford Motor Company next season, despite Ford's decision to cut its support to the series. After 17 years with team owner Tom Mitchell and Ford, Crawford said there is no doubt in his mind that both the #14 and #10 trucks will be Ford-powered again next season, though there will be differences in the way business is done with the manufacturer.(Motorsports Soapbox)(10-21-200

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by Bob Tanner

...and the hits just keep on commin'...

More news:
UPDATE: Sources close to Roush Fenway Racing say the decision could result in the closure of at least two of the team's three Truck Series teams. Roush currently fields Erik Darnell's Northern Tool and Equipment #99, the #6 Con-Way Freight Ford driven by rookie Colin Braun, and the #09 Zaxby's Ford driven last weekend at Martinsville Speedway by Jamie McMurray. Ford also supports three other Truck Series entries for Circle Bar Racing (Rick Crawford and Brendan Gaughan) and the Wood Brothers (Jon Wood)(Motorsports Soapbox)(10-21-2008
UPDATE 2: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Rick Crawford told Sirius NASCAR Radio's Sirius Speedway Monday that the Circle Bar Racing Team will remain with Ford Motor Company next season, despite Ford's decision to cut its support to the series. After 17 years with team owner Tom Mitchell and Ford, Crawford said there is no doubt in his mind that both the #14 and #10 trucks will be Ford-powered again next season, though there will be differences in the way business is done with the manufacturer.(Motorsports Soapbox)(10-21-200

If RFR is contemplating dropping 2/3 of their truck teams because of the Ford pullout, it makes you wonder how much money Ford is throwing at RFR right now, doesn't it? enough to fund their operations plus 2 CTS teams?

[jks812]

I think the ford teams should go on and switch to toyota or chevy, and just leave ford and roush out in the cold. It seems like ford only wants to help roush anyway.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by jks812

I think the ford teams should go on and switch to toyota or chevy, and just leave ford and roush out in the cold. It seems like ford only wants to help roush anyway.

poor Wood Bros...

[LSC9901]

Is that Honda knocking on the door ????? Perfect opportunity.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

If RFR is contemplating dropping 2/3 of their truck teams because of the Ford pullout, it makes you wonder how much money Ford is throwing at RFR right now, doesn't it? enough to fund their operations plus 2 CTS teams?

It makes me wondr how much help Ford is giving the Wood Brothers?

I tell you, my friend, with FoMoCO obviously circling the wagons, and the rumor the GM and Chrysler merger is less than two weeks away, and as we speak, GM stock is selling for $6.52 when five years ago it was $45... I'm an economic optimist but to me it looks like auto industry stock is going in the dumper. That ain't good for motorsports.

[DOF_power]

This is bad news, hope the teams can switch to Chevy or Yota cause this is the best series that NASCAR sanctions.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by DOF_power

This is bad news, hope the teams can switch to Chevy or Yota cause this is the best series that NASCAR sanctions.

I know this will be no news to you but please permit me to jot some random feelings...

This should be of little surprise to anyone. The mentality of the 18 to 40 age group (the bulk of the entire NA__AR audience) has undergone a complete metamorphosis in the past half century.

In the salad year of NA__AR America had an ongoing love affair with the automobile. Songs were written about them! The number of automobile magazines boggled the mind. Today people's identities revolve around their jobs and employment positions. In the 50's, 60's and 70's many people's identities were tied directly to their automobiles. I can cite at least three examples where people had it in their wills that they were to be buried in their cars!?

Today cars are a necessary evil. Something which is too complicated to maintain yourself (Unless you have an ASE Certification), and with petrol above $3.50/gallon, you think twice before "Just taking a drive." We won't even mention the cost of insurance (For those who are adult enough to carry liability insurance. Here in Alabama it is estimated that on any given day, 35% of the cars on the highways are doing so without liability insurance).

Car sales are abysmal and without the moral support of the public and the alleged state of the economy, things aren't going to get any better any time soon. Add to that the fact that the government and the tree Hugues are all telling us our future, insofar as transportation goes, is in small, cramped, ugly yet economical and environmentally friendly little what's-its. The type of vehicles people in [other] Third-World countries are more than happy to drive.

Is it any wonder FoMoCo is pulling the plug? I just wonder how far behind GM/MOPAR are?

[DOF_power]

I agree but this happened before.
The first love affair with automobile, one of curiosity and mistique, started in the late 19th century and ended in the mid to late 1920s.
Both Indycar/AAA Nationa Championship racing and Grand Prix racing started to suffer even before the Great Depression due to spiraling costs and the end of curiosity and mistique of the car (think model T making cars common).
The resurection witch came in the late 40s (in America, and for GTs in Europe) ushered the era you've mentioned of a second wave of interest in the car.

Why can't there be a third wave sometime in the future ?!

As to cheap cars, some cars we have here in Europe like the econo-diesel versions of cars like the Ford Fiesta or Mondeo, Opel Astra, BMW 1/3 series don't look cheap. Ofcourse they're not TATA what-you-call it.

[Bob Tanner]

Originally Posted by DOF_power

I agree but this happened before.
The first love affair with automobile, one of curiosity and mistique, started in the late 19th century and ended in the mid to late 1920s.
Both Indycar/AAA Nationa Championship racing and Grand Prix racing started to suffer even before the Great Depression due to spiraling costs and the end of curiosity and mistique of the car (think model T making cars common).
The resurection witch came in the late 40s (in America, and for GTs in Europe) ushered the era you've mentioned of a second wave of interest in the car.

Why can't there be a third wave sometime in the future ?!
.

This second wave, as you describe, was the wave which brought us stock car racing. (No, Virgina, it wasn't the bootleggers, as NASCAR "historians" would have you believe)

It was the economical post war boom when the auto plants which had been producing only defense parts for half a decade retooled and began pumping out new cars again. Many of the pre-war cars were in poor shape because they hadn't been used for years and the new concept of easy credit allowed the returning military types to replace them with new, shiny cars.
Add to this the fact that many of the returning soldiers had developed a taste for living life on the edge and the military had given many an education in mechanics. This, plus a huge supply of old cars and what do you get? Auto races. The same principle applies to the huge post-war groups of motorcycle riders.

All that history out of the way, obviously the fact that we had a world war (and thankfully won), was a major part of this rebirth of auto-fascination. Hopefully it won't take another for a recurrence.