Terry_Tate;1492003 wrote:Wow, Gene Haas is throwing some stuff out there at their introductory press conference. Said Tony Stewart was a little upset when it was first mentioned. Haas basically said this is my team too, I'm going to sponsor it, and this is who I want in the car, so we're going to make it work. That's some balls to actually do it and then tell everyone that's what you did. Stewart and Haas are co-owners but doesn't seem like there is really any talking between the two.
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/news-media/articles/2013/08/27/stewart-haas-racing-kurt-busch-2014-sprint-cup-season.html
Pretty good article goes into details. I think Haas is Irk'ed about Tony being out with a broken leg. The co-owner likes Kurt and decided to put his own companies name on a 4th car.
Good for him.
part of linked article wrote: About a week later, Tony said, 'Okay, all right.' What are you going to do? Don't have much choice. It's a series of events. Chance meeting Kurt at the General Motors dinner, Tony being incapacitated where I couldn't talk to him. I wanted to do something. I stepped up and said I would fund it.
"It's very difficult to find a sponsor in less than 24 hours. So we did that, too. We did a lot of stuff. That's why we're here today."
In the press release announcing the move, Stewart was quoted as saying, “I’ve had a tremendous amount of respect for Kurt’s talent and determination for as long as he’s been racing in the Sprint Cup Series. Kurt is extremely knowledgeable, and his input will make all of Stewart-Haas Racing better.
“When Gene Haas laid out his plans for what he wanted to do in regard to this race team’s future, which included bringing Kurt on board in a fourth car, it was impressive. You can’t stand still in this business. You have to constantly improve. Gene’s investment in this race team ensures the success of Stewart-Haas Racing for many years to come.”
SHR will expand its physical plant with a new building on 30 acres the organization already owns. It will be competition director Greg Zipadelli's task to oversee the new car builds -- and to try to find a balance among four extremely competitive drivers.
"We built a rubber room upstairs -- that's the first thing we did," Zipadelli quipped. "When you have four passionate drivers, I would much rather deal with that than to try to figure out how to get them going. You're born with that. The competitiveness that these guys have, that's what you need in this sport."
