#4-Morgan-McClure Motorsports closed its doors today [Friday], laying off 28 employees and further damaging any slim hopes the last Virginia-based Sprint Cup team has of competing in its 26th season. Team Manager and co-owner Larry McClure said earlier this afternoon that if the team did not find sponsorship money by the end of today, there would be mass layoffs. The layoffs happened around 3pm. “It’s been a good 25 years,” McClure said after the announcement. “Circumstances made us take a step back.” McClure said he and co-owner and President Tim Morgan would work with their marketing team to continue to search for sponsorship to run the full season. They are working on an agreement to have Mike Wallace drive the #4 Chevy in the Daytona 500, a race Morgan-McClure has won three times. McClure did say if sponsorship came together in the next several weeks, the team would have cars available to race at Daytona.(Richmond Times Dispatch)(1-11-2008) UPDATE: Morgan-McClure Motorsports President Tim Morgan announced today that operations will be scaled back until a sponsor or investor is found. Many employees were laid off but the organization still remains ready to head to Daytona if a sponsor signs up in time. Tim Morgan, President of Morgan-McClure Motorsports announced today at 3:00pm/et that, “We are basically closing the doors on 25 years of NASCAR racing if we don’t find a sponsor. We have been searching for sponsorship for months and decided that if nothing materialized, we would have to cancel testing and release most of our employees.” Morgan continues, “We will continue our marketing efforts and still try to put something together but we cannot continue the way we are today.” Larry McClure, Team Manager said, “We will continue to search for sponsorship and if something becomes available, we have the cars ready to go to Daytona. This is a very hard day for me. I’ve had a lot of fun racing and it’s just hard to believe it might come to this. I would like to say thanks to all our fans who have remained loyal through all these years and to thank everyone who has ever supported us in any way, whether it be through this race team or our dealerships. We are still the best bargain in NASCAR if we could just find the right sponsor.” Morgan-McClure Motorsports was a force to be reckoned with in the 90’s when they won three coveted Daytona 500’s, two of them back-to-back. MMM completes 25 years of history that includes 14 wins, 63 top-5’s, 146 top-10’s and 13 poles.(Morgan-McClure Motorsports PR)(1-12-2008) Comment
