Chances are good that Jennifer Jo Cobb won’t be taking much of a vacation when the season ends in November, since getting sponsorship money is paramount. Cobb purchased the Ford team from Tom Mitchell before the season, with the idea of making a go of it as the only full-time female owner/driver in any of NASCAR’s major national series. Between the sponsorship money, purse money, public speaking appearances and her clothing line, Cobb’s contribution to the team well exceeds the few dollars she gets back. But to her, it’s worth every dime. However, being responsible for generating cashflow has had a negative effect on her driving, Cobb said. “At the beginning of this season, I did have higher hopes,” Cobb said. “We’d start out top 20 and end of the year, look at top-10s. And we don’t seem to be getting closer and closer to that. Then I wanted to move to Nationwide next year. Then I wanted to dabble in Cup, eventually, in the next two or three years. “But I don’t see us strong enough to do that right now. So next year, I want to focus on the same thing, only better — a full season in the Camping World Truck Series and a few Nationwide races — until we start to get the results we want.” The biggest issue facing Cobb’s team is lack of funding. She admits finding someone to help pay expenses will be a critical component if the team returns to run a full schedule next season. “We’ve got to take a few weeks off, reorganize and get some money, get a game plan,” Cobb said. “But I believe what I’ve said all along, if we can’t make 2011 happen full-time, I at least want to make the first three to five races. If we do shut down, it will be after the first few races next season. “That means we gave it a hell of a fight, we went down swinging. It doesn’t mean any one of us will be out of the sport. It just means we may not be able to do it on our own.”(NASCAR.com)(10-8-2010)
