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The buzz in the garage in New Hampshire is that at least two New York-based investment banking firms have been making the rounds among Nextel Cup teams, looking to invest in one or more teams, eventually taking a race team public with a stock offering.
So far, there have been no takers among the NASCAR team owners.
At least one of the investment firms has talked with multiple teams in the garage, including Robert Yates Racing, Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Roush Fenway Racing, multiple sources said. The idea has been for the companies to make cash investments of upwards of $50 million in a team and then at some point sell their interests, perhaps by public stock offering.
"We looked at their business plan and it didn't make sense to us," said Roush Fenway Racing President Geoff Smith, who confirmed his team had been contacted by a New York-based investment fund that he did not identify by name.
Robert Yates talked extensively with the potential investors and reached the same conclusion. "You sit in a room with about 20 bankers and you spend about 18 hours in there with them and you realize that they didn't contribute anything to the gross national product except maybe going to the bathroom," said Yates, who also has entertained merger and/or partnership offers from Dale Earnhardt, Inc., Robby Gordon Motorsports and Hall of Fame Racing, among others,
Another team principal who spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday morning at New Hampshire International Speedway, said the team he works with was approached by investors, but chose not to get involved with them, either. "They had a ton of money, but they didn't know anything at all about racing," he said, adding the team was not in need of a cash infusion and would only consider an outside investor if that investor could add significant value to the team.
Already, several prominent NASCAR Nextel Cup teams have partners or relationships with investors. Roush Racing merged with the Fenway Sports Group in February, Richard Childress Racing has investment bankers as partners and Ray Evernham is negotiating a deal with Montreal Canadiens owner George Gillett, Jr.
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