despite reports saying the team will close shop after the Bristol race, Herzog Jackson Motorsports says they will NOT close shop and are in discusions with potential sponsors for the team and driver Todd Bodine, who just won the Busch Series race at Darlington.(XM Satellite- NASCAR Radio – Subscription Required)(3-19-2003)
UPDATE: Herzog Jackson Motorsports #92 team — co-owned by brothers Stan and Randy Herzog, their father Bill Herzog and baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson — began the 2003 season without a sponsor for its car. The owners had decided before the season that if no primary sponsor could be found by the time the fifth race on the schedule ended, they would have to reassess the team’s future. Among the options for the team is shutting down for the rest of the year. Well, Saturday’s Channellock 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, TN, is the fifth race of the season. Randy Herzog said that barring a late sponsorship commitment, “We will meet on Monday morning to see where everything sits.” Other options the Herzogs will consider will be to run a limited Busch schedule the rest of the season, run a limited Busch/Winston Cup schedule or find a way to keep running on a full-time basis. Randy Herzog said that landing a sponsor for the rest of the year is not out of the question. He said Wednesday that team officials have been talking with several potential sponsors this week and that more talks are planned for the next couple of days. He terms the talks “serious”. But until something is signed, “All we can do is perform on the track,” Herzog said. On the track, the Herzog Jackson team has been anything but uncertain this year. Their driver, Todd Bodine, leads the series points standings. He has three top-six finishes in four races. In Monday’s rain-delayed race at Darlington, Bodine gave the Herzogs their third victory since the team joined the Busch series in 2000. Randy Herzog said he was ecstatic Monday as he watched Bodine beat and bang on the car of #1-Jamie McMurray on his way to the finish line. Randy Herzog said the timing of Monday’s win and the resulting move to the top of the points race, may have been very good — a week before decision day. “It had to have helped in a lot of regards,” he said. “It’s difficult to walk into a (corporate) office and ask for several million dollars when you just finished 27th.” Then again, with the situation of the war in Iraq, the timing might have been bad. But the one great thing was that the victory provided a nice boost. “It validates everything we are doing,” he said.(Kansas City Star)(3-21-2003)
UPDATE 2: Herzog Jackson Motorsports co-owner Randy Herzog told NASCAR Winston Cup Scene reporter Rick Houston today that the team would race at least through the March 29 O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. The team might continue beyond that, if meetings with potential sponsors continue progressing well, he said. Herzog had said earlier that the team would run the season’s first five races and then might scale back to a limited schedule if no sponsor were signed. Heading into tomorrow’s Channellock 250 race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the fifth race on the 2003 Busch Series schedule, the team’s driver, Todd Bodine, is leading the series standings and is fresh off a win at Darlington.(Winston Cup Scene Daily Newsletter)(3-21-2003)
UPDATE 3: Talks with potential sponsors are continuing, so Herzog Jackson Motorsports will keep on racing — for the time being, at least. Randy Herzog, co-owner of the St. Joseph-based Busch Grand National team, said Tuesday that his car will be on the track for Saturday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. He said that talks were held with a potential sponsor Monday in Kansas City and that talks with other potential sponsors are set for later this week. Herzog — who owns the team along with his brother Stan; his father, Bill; and former baseball star Reggie Jackson — said that as long as there is hope for landing a major sponsor, the team will keep racing. The team has not had a major sponsor since the end of last season. Before the current season began, the team owners agreed that if a sponsor could not be found, they would meet to reassess the future after the fifth race of the season. “Last week I would have said that Bristol would be our last week” of running full time in the series, Herzog said. “But based on what has happened” hopes are that a sponsor will sign on soon. Herzog says his team’s status will now be determined “week to week.” He said that if no major sponsor is found, the team may be forced abandon plans to race a full schedule — even if their driver is in first place. “If things don’t move forward, there will be some tough decisions to make,” he said. If that decision is to only run selected events, “We’d pretty much have to give up running for the championship. At that point, we would have to try to put things back together and run for a top 10.” Despite the frustration of dealing with an unknown future, Herzog said the mood on the team is good.(Kansas City Star)(3-26-2003)
UPDATE 4: The Herzog Jackson Motorsports team will travel to Talladega, AL for the running of the Aaron’s 312 on Saturday April 5th.(PR)(4-1-2003)
