Things weren’t going well in the sponsorship search for Elton Sawyer’s #98 Michael Kranefuss-owned BGN team, and now the situation has gotten much worse. Less than a week after Sawyer finished second at Homestead, General Manager Marty Gaunt resigned immediately after a Nov. 15 team meeting in which he told crew members to begin looking for other jobs. Crew chief Ricky Viers also left to move to Richard Childress Racing, where he’ll reportedly take over as crew chief for Johnny Sauter’s #2 team. Kranefuss has a deadline of Dec. 1 for landing sponsorship, at which point the team will go the way of the dinosaur and its shop will reportedly be sold to, leased or rented by BAM Racing, a new team for which Rich Bickle attempted to qualify for Homestead’s recent Winston Cup event. Like Sawyer, Kranefuss was left dumbfounded by the team’s inability to attract a sponsor. (Winston Cup Scene – need sub to read)(11-22-2001)
UPDATE: MK Racing has closed the doors on its BGN team. The team, owned by Michael Kranefuss, fielded the #98 Ford of Elton Sawyer. Sawyer had said for the last month of the season that his sponsor, Starter, an athletic apparel company, was leaving the team. The team said that if no sponsor could be found, the doors of the operation would be closed.(NASCAR.com)(11-29-2001)
