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WoO: Planning for 2011
The biggest domino ready to fall belongs to Kasey Kahne Racing.
Jim Chiappelli  |  Posted September 07, 2010  
The hunt for sponsors and engines begins for KKR. (SPEED)
While Labor Day brings the unofficial end to the summer of 2010, a number of World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series drivers and teams are already working on the 2011 campaign.

Those dealing with post-Knoxville Nationals-stress disorder recognize that this is a crucial period to pursue or renew sponsorships with companies finalizing budgets for the next fiscal year. It’s also a period when race teams are checking their bottom lines to control operating costs to carry them through the end of the season and beyond.

The biggest domino ready to fall belongs to Kasey Kahne Racing. The team’s owner and namesake will drive for Red Bull Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2011 before joining Hendrick Motorsports in 2012. On the stock car level, that means leaving Budweiser and Dodge in the rear-view mirror. It has already been announced that Bud will adorn the Chevies of Richard Childress Racing driver Kevin Harvick next year.

As a result, Budweiser will not return as the primary sponsor on Joey Saldana’s #9 Kasey Kahne Racing sprinter.

“Everybody knows how politics work and how businesses work and it is a business move for them and Kasey, so I’m sure they won’t come back,” said Saldana, who admits to being grateful to having backing from Bud.

“It definitely is bad for the World of Outlaws and for us. Hopefully, Red Bull or somebody else will step up and replace them.”

Also uncertain is KKR’s engine package. Red Bull’s NASCAR teams currently run Toyotas, while Hendrick has a long and fruitful relationship with Chevrolet.

KKR currently gets its supply of Mopar powerplants from Speedway Engines, leaving Kahne with a conflict of interest and a level of uncertainty about next year.

“We need to look into that and see what we have to do as a company and see if we maybe can find something else some other place,” Kahne said recently.

The former USAC National Midget champion says his new boss understands his passion for grass-roots racing.

“Rick (Hendrick) has talked a little bit about sprint car racing and he knows I’m really involved in it and really enjoy it,” stated Kahne.

“I’ll definitely be able to still do some racing myself and have these teams,” he added with confidence.

Not as certain about his driving future is Paul McMahan, Saldana’s current teammate at KKR.

“I wish I had some options right now,” confessed McMahan, who has been keeping the seat warm in car #91 for Cody Darrah ever since the young Pennsylvania driver sustained a shattered left leg in a passenger car crash in Florida on the eve of his rookie Outlaws season in February.

“We’re talking to a lot of teams, talking to a lot of people,” added McMahan, who has performed admirably in 2010 with a victory at Eldora Speedway and a sixth-place showing in the Outlaws championship standings.

“It sure didn’t hurt my career coming to drive the Great Clips 91 car, but I still don’t have a ride for next year yet.”

Another burning question in the World of Outlaws pits is whether Jason Meyers will have a teammate at Elite Racing in 2011.

“We want to have a two-car team. We have someone in mind for that car, and it’s something we want to do, but it has to be right,” admitted Meyers, who is part-owner.

“It needs to help the existing team and we haven’t quite been able to put that (new deal) together yet.”

Stevie Smith competed at the Knoxville Nationals with associate sponsorship from companies connected to Elite Racing, which has also “adopted” World of Outlaws rookie of the year leading contender Ben Gregg.

Meyers says if an announcement does not happen in the next few weeks, then expansion would be more of a proposition for 2012.

“When it’s time to pull the trigger it can be done very quickly and very easily, so we just have to find the right people to be involved to make it happen. I don’t need twice the headaches,” Meyers added with a laugh.

Owner-driver Chad Kemenah, on the other hand, has reached an agreement-in-principle to retain Golden Flavor Sesame Sticks as the primary sponsor on his #63 Maxim for 2011.

“We try not to think about the fact that the deck is probably stacked against us a little bit,” reflected Kemenah about his underdog, grass-roots operation.

“It’s a lot of work but we like to think it’s paying off,” added the four-time All Stars champion, who does most of the labor himself with one crew member.

After spending a few seasons racing mostly in Pennsylvania, 29-time World of Outlaws winner Daryn Pittman has his eyes on a return to the national tour.

“Obviously my main goal is to get back out on the road with the Outlaws,” said the 2001 Gumout Series champion, who emphasized that such a move would require an opportunity with an established, well-funded team.

“I’ve been out there (competing with the Outlaws) long enough to know I don’t need to go out with a team that is struggling financially,” Pittman said.

“When we get back out there I just want to make sure we can compete and be there with (Donny) Schatz, Meyers and Steve (Kinser) and those guys because I feel that’s what we’re capable of doing.”



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