[h=2]Ganassi Racing cuts more than 40 staff[/h] Thursday, 21 September 2017
By Robin Miller / Image by IMS Photo
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Most everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing had heard for the past few weeks that the IndyCar team was cutting back from four to two cars for 2018, so
Wednesday's announcement confirming the contraction wasn't a total surprise.
But it was still some tough reality as a team owner that never lays people off during the winter and breeds loyalty for the way he treats mechanics cut loose 40 people on Black Wednesday.
"It was one of the saddest days of my life and it hurt because we lost a lot of good people. But it's part of the business and I think it bothered Chip as much as anyone," said veteran Ricky Davis, who has been a chief mechanic for much of his 23 years with CGR and will be back for next season. "Chip treats us good and, although he doesn't want anyone to know, he's got a heart of gold and he cares about the people who work at his race team.
"I got laid off at 4:45 p.m. once so I know how some of those guys feel, but the good news is that Andretti, Rahal and some other teams are hiring so I think a lot of our guys had job offers before they left the building and that made me feel good."
Besides mechanics and engineers from the teams of Tony Kanaan, Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball, CGR also had to let go of machinists, painters, graphic designers and sub-assembly people as the days of spec racing have reduced the need for in-house fabrication and creativity.
Mike Hull, the managing director of CGR, agreed it was a sad part of the business but necessary for future plans.
"Chip wants to get back to two championship-caliber cars and, believe me, he didn't take this lightly and it was a difficult decision," said Hull, now in his third decade of working for Ganassi. "The strength of this operation is in the quality people who participate and I don't know of a weak link in any of those four teams. But this is the direction we've chosen going forward.
"I hope a lot of these guys can stay in IndyCar racing and I'm sorry they have to pursue it this way but I think there are a lot of jobs out there, so hopefully they can land on their feet."
Chilton is expected to start his own team with Trevor Carlin and will be taking some of his CGR crew with him while Kanaan is lining up some of the No. 10 team to join him at A.J. Foyt in 2018.