For the Love of Frogs - French-Canadian Ones!
(Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for the validity, or lack thereof, of the following. If it turns out to be true so be it. It it’s reveled to be nothing more than fricasseed bovine excrement consider the source, Auto 123.)
Auto123.com’s contributor Bertrand Godin has learned earlier today a rumour indicating that Jacques Villeneuve and Craig Pollock have purchased the Bill Davis Racing Team.According to a reliable source, Villeneuve and his business manager since 1992, Craig Pollock, have recently purchased Bill and Gail Davis’ stock-car racing team. This is the team that currently runs Villeneuve in the Craftsman Trucks series and in the NASCAR Nextel Cup.
The new team, based in High Point, North Carolina will apparently continue to field the current drivers, as well as a Sprint Cup car for Villeneuve.
The first red flag I see to this story being valid is Bill Davis. He’s been in the sport for a while, just hooked up with Toyota in Cup after starting their program in the NCTS. It doesn’t seem likely with that background he would bail at this point. That’s not to say it’s not impossible, just not likely in my view.
Secondly and not related to the validity of the story but to a potential pairing of Villeneuve and Pollock as NASCAR owners.
Talk about a gruesome-twosome!
The two have been together for the better part of three decades. When Villeneuve turned up in Europe in 1996 after his Indy 500 win the previous year along came Pollock on his shirt tails.
The combo competed in F1 under the banner of F1 Williams and won the 1997 Formula One title. The downhill slide for both Pollock and Villeneuve started just after that championship.
Pollock cajoled British American Tobacco (Lucky Strike sponsorship) to bankroll his ambition of becoming a team manager. In 1998 Pollock purchased Tyrrell, renaming it British American Racing (BAR), and signed Villeneuve to be team leader.
Pollock made numerous claims about how successful his team would be. His high hopes proved to be nothing more than hot air after a disastrous debut in 1999. Results continued to be poor and by 2001 British American Tobacco had lost patience and Pollock was replaced as team principal by David Richards.
In 2003 Pollock formed CART (Now CCWS) team PK Racing, with Kevin Kalkhoven (Co-owner of CCWS). The best the team could do was a single third place finish and the following year the team was renamed PKV Racing, and Dan Pettit and driver Jimmy Vasser replaced Pollock as co-owners.
To say Pollock has had a less than illustrious career as a team owner/manager would be a vast understatement. To think Bill Davis would sell out to them when so many others are looking to invest in NASCAR just doesn’t compute to me.
Davis has worked to hard to put his team where it is in NASCAR’s pecking order.
I put my disclaimer at the the top, if it turns out to be a valid rumor and the sale is made it tells me one of two things; Bill Davis is hurting more financially than anyone knows, or, the team owners that claim those looking to merge or buy into NASCAR teams are lined up ten deep are full of horse hockey, ’cause Pollock as a team owner is about as bottom as you can get to Rock Bottom without actually standing on it.
Meanwhile I’m goin’ a huntin’ for conformation of this rumor.
UPDATE: It took nearly 24 hours but a related story has finally crossed the wires. Bill Davis denies selling his team to Pollock and Villeneuve but maintains he’s is open to a partnership if a viable candidate came along. “Like any team our size, we have to be realistic and look at all of our options and what’s going on in the sport right now,” Davis said Saturday at Martinsville Speedway.
NASCAR, NEXTEL Cup, Sports, Bill Davis Racing, Jacques Villeneuve, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle
How the hell Pollock managed to score mega sponsor BAT for a non existant team, under the noses of guys like Eddie Jordan & Flavio is one of F1 great mysterys. And he did it with a “superstar” driver that basically refused to do promo work for the client, 6 days a year were in the contract.
Then, he tops it off in the teams second year by pulling Honda works engines off Jordan.AMAZING!!!!
(b)
An even more amazing trick if he pulls off this Davis buyout.
At the moment and with about 6 hours of searching for confirmation of the story I’m thinkin’ it smells worse than Vegamite! (yep you read that right!)
I’ve searched high & low thru media-dom (or is it media-dumb?)and haven’t found the slightest hint this story is real.
I think the guy is smokin’ crack. But that would be appropriate in a story about Pollock wouldn’t it?
I recall that BDR was one of the teams Jaques was talking to at the end of last year, concerning starting his own CTS team. This story may have some credence to it.
RevJim’s last blog post..Picking on Martinsville
I think Bill Davis is the key to this story. Is there any story out there that links Bill Davis with a desire to retire from racing?
I haven’t seen a single one phastphil. And believe me I’ve searched high and low both for a confirmation of this particular story but any that might indicate Davis is in the mood to sell.
If it’s out there Google and the other search engines are asleep, Davis has shown no indication he wants to step aside.
No way. Davis is about as likely to sell out as Junior is to sign with that evil Hendrick team. Oh wait …
Possible Doug… but highly unlikely. At least ’til it happens then it’s a definite maybe.
And thanks for stopping by Doug, I don’t recall seeing you around these parts previously.
I have to believe that with NASCAR invading Canada a Villeneuve owned team would come up with the proverbial crap load of Canadian based sponsorship. Unless Gillette-Evernham land all the big name
sponsors first. But there should be enough for a JV owned team as well.
Hopefully JV will learn from his F1 PR mistakes if he goes full time in Cup. He certainly started the right way by going to the back of the ‘Dega starting lineup after Q’ing 6th and accquitted himself fairly well, only wrecking one car.
Not ignoring you George… but here is the first indication of anything close to validating this story.
Check the update above.
And BTW, I really was ignoring you. That’s what you get for even attempting to say something nice about JV!!!
:X
hmmmm. as i recall the downward spiral for jv and pollock had a honda engine. and sorry if i’m woefully behind times, time being the key word there, i don’t follow nascar closely; has honda made any overtures about entering the series? it’s not likely they’d do a backdoor entry (ie, honda developed by another honda entity) since toyota is already there, but it’s worth a sniff.
this really does sound like something jv and pollock would consider though, so maybe they tried? and try try again. it’s only been a matter of time that nascar ownership would go international.
Craig Pollock has confirmed his interest in BDR, or any other NASCAR team that might be for sale.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/63601
Yea I saw that George. He and Davis also poured water on two of the three aspects of the original story.
1. The team has not been sold.
2. Villeneuve isn’t part of any deal if it occurs.
Being completely wrong on two of three points ain’t exactly trustworthy in my book.
I stand by me original thoughts, Davis isn’t selling any part of BDR to Pollock.