State of economy concerns sport

Car and Driver magazine's Web site thought it would be funny last week to post a story that President Obama will force General Motors and Chrysler out of racing. When nobody laughed, the April Fools' Day joke backfired.

The plight of America's car companies is no laughing matter, especially with government taking a greater role in General Motors' operation. From the guy who bolts on bumpers at a Dodge plant, to the lonely salesman standing on a car lot, to a driver in NASCAR, everyone seems concerned about what's ahead.

"This country can't survive without the auto industry, you know," Clint Bowyer said. "It's like I've said before, if they go under, we're walking. We don't drive, you know, we walk. They'll figure it out and we have to stay positive about this."

The Car and Driver story was on the Web site for a day before readers were told it was a joke. The site also told readers to "lighten up, people." Eventually, the Web site removed the article.

The outrage, however, continued for days. Car owner Rick Hendrick and track owner Bruton Smith are two of the country's biggest car dealers. Both have been affected by the problems in Detroit -- and the rest of the world. Smith has lost more than $500 million in the past nine months, and his Sonic Automotive group could go into bankruptcy after losing $659 million in the last quarter.

Many in racing would like to see a greater emphasis on the overall economic picture, so people will have the assurance -- and the money -- to buy cars again.

"I think I am worried about it more just from the economy of our country, not our sport," Jeff Gordon said. "That to me is much further down the list of how it impacts racing; it's how its impacting our economy and all the employees out there that have been employed by GM and all the car manufacturers and just what's happening in the economy in general and how we can stimulate it to get it back."

But most argue the only solution is to sell cars, and a good way to do that is to keep using NASCAR as an important marketing tool. After all, the Big Three still have evidence to suggest the "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" plan still works.

"You can't please everybody and it's hard to really understand what the right decision is when you have so many people that are either for it or against it," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

"Hopefully we're making the decisions that will be right for us a long time down the road," he added.

Read Don Coble at don.coble@morris.com.