Attorneys for Jimmy Spencer have filed a lawsuit in Mecklenburg County Superior Court seeking damages from Chip Ganassi, Spencer’s former Winston Cup car owner, for breach of contract and interference with Spencer’s racing career. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, seeks $600,000 for the difference between the salary Spencer says he was to be paid for 2003, the second year of his contract with Chip Ganassi Racing, and what he is to make this year as the driver for Ultra Motorsports. Spencer drove the #41 Dodges owned by Ganassi last season, but says he was told over the telephone on or about Nov. 5, 2002, that he was fired. Casey Mears will drive the #41 cars in the 2003 season. The lawsuit also charges that Ganassi made an agreement to monetarily assist James Finch, the owner of a Busch series team for which Spencer drove 23 races last year, with fielding Finch’s Busch team for 2003. Part of the terms for that agreement, the lawsuit alleges, was for Finch not to employ Spencer as a driver this year. The suit seeks damages of no less than $10,000 for Spencer for his lost opportunity for employment with Finch. It also seeks payment of money Spencer says he is owed for souvenir and collectibles sales for the third and fourth quarters of 2002. Ganassi said he had neither read nor seen the lawsuit and would not comment on it. Spencer referred questions to Bill Diehl, his Charlotte attorney. The lawsuit offers a rare glimpse at the details of a Winston Cup driver’s contract, spelling out the terms of Spencer’s employment with Ganassi’s team. In 2002, Spencer’s base salary was $1 million payable in 12 monthly installments of $83,333.33. He also received 45% of the prize money earned driving the car. Additionally, the team was to pay up to $35,000 per year in premiums for disability insurance for Spencer. Spencer’s salary would have gone up to $1.1 million this year. Spencer, the lawsuit says, will make a $500,000 as driver of the #7 Dodges at Ultra Motorsports. The contract also included bonuses of $25,000 per race victory, $12,500 per second-place finish, $6,250 per third-place finish and $5,000 per pole. Spencer would have earned $25,000 bonuses for winning either the Daytona 500, the Brickyard 400, the Texas 500 or Las Vegas 500 or the pole for the Brickyard 400. He also could have earned an additional $100,000 bonus for winning four races in a season or for winning the Winston Cup championship.( Charlotte Observer )(2-7-2003) UPDATE: Spencer is referring all questions to his North Carolina attorney, but according to Felix Sabates, who is a partner in Ganassis Winston Cup operation, Spencer has no contract that covers the 2003 season; and that the teams obligations to Spencer were fulfilled at the conclusion of the 2002 season. We dont have a contract with Spencer. He never signed it, Sabates insisted. Hes got no argument with us. He never signed the contract.( Ford Racing ) AND Reacting to the allegations in a lawsuit filed this week by Jimmy Spencer, team owner Chip Ganassi said the driver has no valid claim. “`It’s ridiculous, we never even had a signed contract,” Ganassi said. “We kept bartering back and forth during our original negotiations and we never got to a final agreement. I don’t owe him anything and he knows that.”( Tampa Tribune )(2-8-2003)
