Red Bull, Stuck on Stupid
AJ Allmendinger lost his ride at Red Bull Racing.
AJ Allmendinger will leave the Red Bull Racing Team with immediate effect, the Sprint Cup team announced on Tuesday.
Allmendinger was completing his second year in the series and had put his #84 car back in the top 35 in the owner standings, but the apparent and imminent arrival of former Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Scott Speed have put an early end to his second season with the team.
Red Bull are testing today at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, where Mike Skinner, who replaced Allmendinger in five races earlier this year, is driving the #84 ride.
It’s claimed the energy drinks “Austrian based executives” favor the former Formula One driver over Allmendinger.
Dietrich Mateschitz - because we know it isn’t plural, you are The Executive - are you, Stuck. On. Stupid?
Have you consumed too much of your own product and it has pickled your brain?
First - in a pure business sense - I get it. Really, I do.
If the team is so Hell Bent on promoting Scott Speed to Sprint Cup the best possible scenario is dump A.J now (how much was that contract buyout?) run Speedo the Clown remainder of this year and stay under the 7 race limit so he’s eligible for Rookie of the Years honors in 2009.
That said, what does this do for Red Bull’s mantra of their drivers being “Red Bull Athletes?”
I suppose in the end nothing other than seniority rules. Allmendinger has been a “Red Bull Athlete” since October 2006, Speed has been one since 2003 after winning the Red Bull Driver Search program.
It’s been said Allmendinger’s insistence on a contract extension of three years was the deal breaker. Wanna bet Speed is getting the same 3 years?
While on the subject of cash.
Red Bull is nothing if not flush with buckets of it. They are the “Evil Big Oil” of sports marketing. Mateschitz spreads his largess across every known genre of sport, from auto racing, to extreme sports, to rodeo to some that damn few have even heard of.
That raises the question of why the cut of a driver that has shown promise? When every indication, with a view of the competitive landscape of NASCAR, dictates two car teams just aren’t the way to NASCAR’s promised land.
In the long view Red Bull will eventually have to add a third team, it’s possible I’m wrong, but as things are they will never reach the level of the Roush’s and the Hendricks of the sport without at least one more team car.
Where does this leave Allmendinger? Ever hear the phrase, sh*t out of luck?
He has a choice (unless someone gets an axe and contract buyout) of Petty Enterprises and - *retch* - Ganassi.
Some choice. That’s like trying to decide between death by hanging, or death by guillotine. They’re both quick and painless, but the end result is the same, you’re dead.
UPDATE: To his vredit Dinger is taking his dismissal very well.
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It’s a shame for Allmendinger, but he should land another Cup ride. He’s proven more this year than plenty of other drivers. What about DEI (sponsorship depending)? He could certainly do more than Regan Smith or Paul Menard.
I dunno Marc, CGR may not be all *that* bad…
Or, maybe AJ will go to IRL? Whataya think of that?
Red Bull def’ has made an error however…
Who knows at this point where AJ will be. This late in the season all the “big name” teams have drivers signed sealed and delivered.
What’s left on the table, if it were Thanksgiving, are 3-day old Turkey giblets.
“He could certainly do more than … Paul Menard.”
*Anyone* can do more than Menard…
I vote for a scenario that has AJ at CGR with him doing a potpourri of Cup, Nationwide, Trucks and Grand Am Rolex (in a DP)…
As a Petty fan, I’d love to have AJ as part of Petty Enterprises. Would definitely be a stronger play than the oft-rumored Chad McCumbee. At this stage, AJ likely has more to offer PE than the other way around. But I hope it breaks their way vs. losing out to the 41 sled.
I hate to tell you this but Scott Speed is already better then Allmendinger. I’ll check back next year and remind you of this post
You do that Megan. While we both wait for that time to pass, consider this:
Speed has had a huge boost in his ARCA efforts because he’s been competing in a series with FAR less competition, and in cars that under their Toyota skin are race winning Roush Fords.
As currently configured, although they have improved of late, Red Bull’s Sprint Cup efforts have shown nothing that would indicate they will improve even to the level of Speed’s ARCA team.
That Speedo the clown article was interesting. Clearly Scott has learned NOTHING from his time in F1 regarding dissing your team & promoting yourself. He did exactly the same thing in both F1 & GP2….where his results were hardly stellar.
As for AJ, he turned a good run in Champcar (when he swapped teams) into a NASCAR career. Let’s see how Speed goes with AJ’s ride.
IMHO, Speed’s mouth is faster than Scott behind the wheel.
Speed will do okay in the 84, just not as well as AJ. I hope AJ lands with a decent team so he can give Red Bull a “big ‘Mateschitz’ burger to eat”, to paraphrase a line from the movie “Major League”. MWR is turning it around. Maybe AJ gets McDowell’s ride since he hasn’t done much with it.
Aside from discussion of Scott & A.J. (who surprised me by bolting from FCR in ChampCar), Dietrich/Red Bull should have an IndyCar team! Seems obvious, as Dietrich wants to fly Red Bull colors and even have his own teams in several sports!
If I recall, Red Bull sponsored that idiot Cheever’s team in the IRL & then got tired with the whole thing. God only knows how Eddie landed a whale but I’m not suprised he lost the RB deal. At that stage EC was running Tomas Schekter & he had not quit gotten out of crash mode…he did eventually.
Perhaps now, if the series begins to get some traction, they will return. They were in Champ with AJ so they may well go back to open-wheel now that it has merged.
The timing really sucks for A.J. - RCR would be much better off with A.J. than Mears. Mears has had two great opportunities and has only produced, but one victory.
Timing is everything Pp, in this case everything means everything is filled.
Every good team has signed drivers or resigned drivers for 2009 and life sucks eggs if your looking for a seat.
[...] Bull Racing announced that AJ Allmendinger would not return to the #84 in 2009, and likely would be replaced by Scott [...]
I’d hate to see AJ go to Ganassi, aka the Black Hole. Ganassi’s likely to lay off his entire crew halfway through the season next year.
I’d rather see him in a truck or a Nationwide ride and come back to Cup a la David Stremme.
At Talladega in the spring, his first race back in the 84, I was there when he climbe out of the car after his qualifying run and he had put it up front. He was ecstatic, hugging his wife and crew. It was like a massive weight had fallen off his shoulders. He’s been a different, more confident driver ever since.
That said, I also like Scott Speed. He’s exactly what NASCAR needs — a guy who paints his toenails blue. He’ll actually make the Rookie of the Year battle interesting next year. Does anyone care this year whether Regan Smith or Sam Hornish wins Rookie of the Year?
Spped is the anti-Logano. Joey Logano is the kid you hope your daughter dates. Speed is the guy who, if she brings him home, you threaten to disown her.
But he’s got enormous talent. And it’s not just his Eddie Sharp ARCA ride. He had never been to Bristol in his life and win a pole there. He ran competitively on dirt after doing it for the first time. But the most impressive thing I’ve seen him do was when he got tangled up with Rick Crawford in a truck race and was plowing through the infield directly for the pit-road wall. He somehow keep it off the wall and got back down pit road and back on the track. You had to see it to appreciate it. Even Rick Crawford was impressed.
It’s just a shame Red Bull didn’t decide to go with three cars.