WHERE DOES FORD’S RACING PROGRAM STAND RIGHT NOW GIVEN WHAT’S GOING ON IN DETROIT?
As everyone knows, racing is part of our marketing budget. Alan (Ford CEO Mulally) had a very realistic look at what was going on in the economy and our budgets were adjusted and we knew where they were going last year. Our budgets and our long-term commitments with our teams are in place. We’re good for the next several years. When we put the budgets together this year for NASCAR, what we found was we had enough money to support our Cup program fully. And we were also able to support all series — the technical work that we put into it, which is really important to the teams, the engine program, aerodynamics, the chassis stuff. The actual cash supplement that we give to teams, obviously we kept that fully funded for Cup, but for the Nationwide and Truck Series, there really was no other choice but to really back away from those very, very significantly, if not fully. … We respect it and that’s why we’re still paying contingencies, still providing the technical help, but we really had t
