What in the hell has happened to RPM?

[BPNAZ]

is it time for Petty to leave Ford? and if so, where do they go from there?

that team is about as worse as i can remember right now. Brian Scott just isn't the answer for that 2nd car, but my god there is no speed in their cars whatsoever. It is really embarassing

 

[Ojb81]

vroom vroom

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

I think they're done. They just aren't keeping up with the times and can't get a driver good enough to put their equipment up front. The Wood Brothers, on the other hand, may have found a diamond in the rough with Blaney. We'll see how it plays out.

 

[jeffro151]

is it time for Petty to leave Ford? and if so, where do they go from there?

that team is about as worse as i can remember right now. Brian Scott just isn't the answer for that 2nd car, but my god there is no speed in their cars whatsoever. It is really embarassing

They need to form a serious technical alliance like Furniture Row did with Gibbs or like what Wood Bros did with Penske. Quit pussy footing around and nickel and dimeing shit. Brian Scott isn't the problem, it's the cars. Scott had some good runs, albeit on superspeedways, in the #33.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

They need to form a serious technical alliance like Furniture Row did with Gibbs or like what Wood Bros did with Penske. Quit pussy footing around and nickel and dimeing shit. Brian Scott isn't the problem, it's the cars. Scott had some good runs, albeit on superspeedways, in the #33.

I thought that they had a partnership with Roush, or was that just for their engines?

 

[jeffro151]

I thought that they had a partnership with Roush, or was that just for their engines?

I'm not sure what kind of alliance they have with Roush, but maybe that's the catalyst. Roush hasn't been relevant since Edwards left, and even then, they struggled.

 

[UVA_Guy81]

I'm not sure what kind of alliance they have with Roush, but maybe that's the catalyst. Roush hasn't been relevant since Edwards left, and even then, they struggled.

Yeah, I think Roush's struggles are more with Kenseth and Edwards bolting to JGR and replacing them with guys that aren't nearly as good, not the engines. Biffle also isn't nearly as good as he once was.

 

[Chewbaccer]

Maybe they can form an alliance with Stewart-Haas when they switch to Ford next season.

 

[Chewbaccer]

Me being a MOPAR man, I'd say be the team that gets Dodge back in the sport, but that's just a pipe dream.

 

[pitman]

#2 and #22 seem to do alright in Fords, but all the others are struggling for sure. Maybe SHR will bring some amp to the Ford program. As far as RPM goes They need to get some drivers, Scott can't drive, when we raced with him here, I don't think he ever won a race. And his daddy spent 50- 100 times more on his stuff than we ever thought of spending on ours. His daddy bought his ride at RPM.

 

[Retroram52]

The present state of NASCAR has passed RPM by and they just can't get enough sponsorship money for long enough to get the right package of technology people to get the engines, cars, and drivers they need with any sort of consistency.

RPM's tendency to use extended family members and old methods to get things done has cost them. Selling Richard's control of the operation to outside money hurt RPM as well basically creating a team that uses Richard's name and little else has contributed to the decay as well.

They used to have their own in-house engine shop but now RPM is at the mercy of the sponsors' choices of technology providers. They do get their engines from Roush but this has not been a very good alliance. They outsource their suspensions systems and just about everything else on the car. Their crew chiefs have been less than stellar and the operation has been struggling for so long, they have forgotten how to win. Promising Drivers often leave and new talent doesn't stick around for long either.

They were onto something good and promising with MArcos Ambrose and when he departed RPM, it took a lot of wind out of their sales. RPM has struggled to attract talented drivers because Richard disdains paying present-day salaries to drivers he often considers simply inferior and not worth the price like Danica Patrick for example. They routinely lose promising young drivers like Ryan Blaney because they simply do not have the resources to compete with a Hendricks or a JGR and retain guys like Blaney.

Their state of declined when the operation was still housed in Randleman and the death of Adam may have put this operation so far behind, it probably will not recover. Dale Inman retired, the engine program ended, and so many personal tragedies have led to a continual decay in this organization.

With the loss of the matriarch, Lynda Petty, Kyle's unofficial "retirement" from driving, his refusal to want to assume the mantle of running the business because of in-fighting and estrangement with Richard, Kyle's marriage to Patty being done, Patty living in K.C. isolated, Kyle's subsequent marriage of a PR woman for the Victory Junction Gang Camps, and Richard approaching 80 has contributed to an organization that is slowly sinking into a oblivion.

It is sad to watch but unless a number of things happen to change its present course, I believe we will see the iconic 43 disappear the day Richard passes on. Sad indeed.

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

Me being a MOPAR man, I'd say be the team that gets Dodge back in the sport, but that's just a pipe dream.

I've always been a Mopar guy, myself, and I had a lot of hope for the brand when Evernham and Kahne were a part of bringing it back.

Well, that didn't quite work out. I doubt Dodge ever gets back into NASCAR now.

 

[Retroram52]

Not with the Fiat idiots running the show, Used 2 B Hu.