Michael Waltrip Racing filed a notice this past week with the North Carolina Department of Commerce that the team will lay off 217 employees effective Nov. 1, FOX Sports reports.
In North Carolina, where the team’s shop is located, a company is required to file Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN), paperwork when laying off 500-plus employees or between 50 or 499 employees if they make up a third of the company’s workforce.
MWR has been running in a full-time capacity since the 2007 season. Co-owner Rob Kauffman bought into the organization in 2008. The team announced earlier this year it would not field a full-time entry in the 2016 season.
Among the employees looking for a job include drivers Clint Bowyer, Brian Vickers and David Ragan. The drivers have yet to announce their 2016 plans.
About the author
Clayton has been writing NASCAR for the last seven years and has followed the sport for as long as he can remember. He's a Jersey boy with dreams of hoping one day to take his style south and adding a different kind of perspective to auto racing.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.
What a sad situation, which I’m sure could have bee avoided. The average Joe worker is always the one to get screwed royally.
It would be interesting to know where do it all go so wrong. Maybe as basic as not having enough capital to start out. Or maybe not.
It would seem it started with a spin. It seemed like a good idea at the time. How did that work out?
If what we hear is correct, started long before the spin. That Kaufman rescued it financially as far back as 2008 (may be wrong on that but long before the spin).
But your point is well taken, maybe the spin was the final straw. Put up or shut up time.
Could be as simple as Michael Waltrip was, is, and will always be a loser.
Perhaps not a businessman, or listened to bad advice, whatever, but it would be interesting to see. Generally something to learn from this sort of thing.