The Carpet Walkers

The first round of layoffs was November 18, 2008 - 26 people. It was supposed to be 30, but a few people had actually turned in notices to quit so the actual layoff didn't sound quite so bad to the public and to the media. The people that got laid off worked in the shop. They were just told that the economy was so bad there wasn't any other choice. Supposedly we were going to try to run two teams in 2009 when race season started back up, but with sponsorship in short supply, we were forced to cut corners anywhere we could so that the team could ultimately survive.

Then the second round of layoffs happened December 8, 2008. This time there was almost 50 jobs cut. Again, this affected the shop guys only but included some managers as well. None of the carpet walkers were affected. (This is the name that the shop guys gave the office staff - Carpet Walkers. It sounds like something from a horror movie.) Everyone was told this time that the layoff was due to having lost a major sponsor and that we were now forced to cut back to just one team for the 2009 season. We actually lost this sponsor back in November. I have no idea why it affected the second layoff and not the first, but management made sure they used the proper language from the "WARN" act in the letters they issued those that were affected by the layoff.

Rumors started flying. The investor group that had bought the team earlier in the year was supposedly trying to sell what was left of the race team to another team. If this didn't happen by the end of the year, they were simply shutting us down - but it didn't matter if they sold the team or not, we were effectively being shut down. If someone else bought us, they wouldn't need the hand full of employees that were still at the race shop - especially the carpet walkers.

They shut the shop down for Christmas and left us with the belief that there was a slim chance that we would still run as a one-car operation in 2009. We actually had enough sponsorship to run one team - but the investor group didn't want to be in racing. They refused to listen to any proposals to keep the team alive. And even though they had promised millions of dollars to run the team without sponsorship, their words were empty.

While we were off the week of Christmas, the deal to sell our team to the other race organization closed. Everyone knew it was over, but management still didn't tell us. You can't keep this kind of news quiet in our industry. We all went back to work December 29, 2008 waiting to get the news first-hand from management. They actually waited until Wednesday, New Year's Eve, to call a meeting and tell us that we were shutting down and all of us were out of a job. They sent us home immediately and deactivated our key fobs so that we no longer had access to the building.

I wonder how long it will take the sport to forget what this team has accomplished and the part we had in bringing racing to the level of popularity it now knows. Of course, our "car" will still be on the track - but it will never be the same.