Manning fired - Page 3

**ghinzani** · 30 Jul 2005, 20:46 (Ref:1367759)

Maybe it that bang on the head at Michigan in 84 that makes some of Chips driver employment decisions seem a bit strange. How he ever fired Minnasian I will never know. Major talent, no arguement.

runshaw · 30 Jul 2005, 23:39 (Ref:1367850)

I just don't understand how Manning can be fired when he was ahead of his team-mates in this years standings. That surely means he is having a better season!! It just baffles me how this has happened. It's a completely nonsensical decision. Absolutely ridiculous.

Redracer77 · 31 Jul 2005, 15:29 (Ref:1368308)

Dixon and Briscoe are both Toyota funded drivers. Manning is not.

Is them running a 3rd car this weekend just a front to budget problems.....

I would be interested to see if the 3rd car appears again.....

Redracer77 · 31 Jul 2005, 15:35 (Ref:1368310)

Interestingly and more importantly Manning only generated $4,000 more worth of prize money than Dixon and Ryan Briscoe earned more for the team than both of them.

Prize money must be more important to sponsors and team than championship position...

14 Ryan Briscoe $609,755
15 Ed Carpenter $596,705
16 Darren Manning $586,405
17 Scott Dixon $582,305

And an ex champion is more marketable than a mid pack brit in a championship that is American based (even tho Dixon is a kiwi).

jock25 · 31 Jul 2005, 15:52 (Ref:1368322)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redracer77

Prize money must be more important to sponsors and team than championship position...

14 Ryan Briscoe $609,755
15 Ed Carpenter $596,705
16 Darren Manning $586,405
17 Scott Dixon $582,305

I have to totally disagree with that entirely - typically sponsorship contracts are based around either: a) securing media coverage for your brand; b) improving the perception of your brand through a successful team/driver; or c) using it as a platform to soften-up prospective customers with corporate hospitality. Or some combination of the three...

Sponsors never see any of the prize money generated by drivers or teams. Target, for example, will be much more interested in Ganassi's drivers running near the front in races and the season championship - the prize money generated makes absolutely no difference and is dwarfed by the 'cost of media' comparisons between advertising during prime-time and a Target sponsored car leading lap during a prime-time Indycar race.

jondownunder · 31 Jul 2005, 19:15 (Ref:1368428)

Darren's manager has just been live via phone on Sky TV's live Michigan coverage. He said Ganassi will continue to pay Darren for the season, and that although he is still under contract, if Manning gets another offer the team are prepared to release him. He's currently in San Jose as the guest of a top Champ Car team.

Redracer77 · 31 Jul 2005, 20:50 (Ref:1368491)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jock25

I have to totally disagree with that entirely - typically sponsorship contracts are based around either: a) securing media coverage for your brand; b) improving the perception of your brand through a successful team/driver; or c) using it as a platform to soften-up prospective customers with corporate hospitality. Or some combination of the three...

Sponsors never see any of the prize money generated by drivers or teams. Target, for example, will be much more interested in Ganassi's drivers running near the front in races and the season championship - the prize money generated makes absolutely no difference and is dwarfed by the 'cost of media' comparisons between advertising during prime-time and a Target sponsored car leading lap during a prime-time Indycar race.

Jock you missed my point. The team generates a large chunk of the running budget on prize money. An they use top drivers to generate the top sponsors. My point was that with Dixon they have a more sellable product as he is an ex champion. They need to win lots of money to make a profit. Darren was the unlucky one who was not one of Toyotas drivers and Toyota pay nearly 60% of Ganassi's budget. Chip wants a driver who can win lots of money and the sponsor wants all the 3 points you mentioned. A winning driver does both the above

drewdawg727 · 31 Jul 2005, 22:03 (Ref:1368560)

I don't like how Ganassi said that they fired Manning because of his lack of performance.

If that's the real reason he claims, then it is a lie.

Manning has performed better than his two teammates this year, hands down. He is higher in the points standings and has finished better. If you want to argue that he SHOULD be performing better, then why not fire Dixon? Dixon is the champion and therefore should be finishing in the top 10 every race that they possibly can. They can't expect Manning to finish any better than he is capable of doing.

I guess no one will really know why Manning was let go, because Ganassi did not proclaim any of the arguments that we have mentioned here in this thread.

Snrub · 1 Aug 2005, 00:52 (Ref:1368674)

Interesting discussion, but I don't think any of it adds up. Manning clearly had lots of talent. During the MI race Ganassi was interviewed and couldn't seem to generate a coherent sentence on why he fired Manning. He seemed rather uncomfortable giving his BS explaination. He tried to say that the chemistry with Manning wasn't right. Read this: http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/indycar/18465/ I can't fathom how someone can be so polite about being unjustly fired. I think the reason the chemistry wasn't right is that Ganassi is a jerk and Manning is a nice guy.

I suspect that Team Owner's info is probably better than our speculation, but why wouldn't Ganassi just come out and say that?

drewdawg727 · 1 Aug 2005, 01:12 (Ref:1368679)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snrub

Interesting discussion, but I don't think any of it adds up. Manning clearly had lots of talent. During the MI race Ganassi was interviewed and couldn't seem to generate a coherent sentence on why he fired Manning. He seemed rather uncomfortable giving his BS explaination. He tried to say that the chemistry with Manning wasn't right. Read this: http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/indycar/18465/ I can't fathom how someone can be so polite about being unjustly fired. I think the reason the chemistry wasn't right is that Ganassi is a jerk and Manning is a nice guy.

I suspect that Team Owner's info is probably better than our speculation, but why wouldn't Ganassi just come out and say that?

Well said, SNrub
I agree tenfold

jock25 · 3 Aug 2005, 18:42 (Ref:1371308)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redracer77

Chip wants a driver who can win lots of money and the sponsor wants all the 3 points you mentioned. A winning driver does both the above

Indeed...but prize money does not reflect success overall - hence the discrepancy between the positions of the (formerly) 3 Ganassi drivers and their prize money. With the way prize money is skewed by Indy, a driver could post a good result at the 500 and disappear off the radar for the rest of the season and still "outscore" his team-mates in the "prize money" championship.

I also disagree that the prize money generated from driver performance is in any way fed back into teams. The prize money figures you quoted were for personal driver earnings - and these do not tend to come back to the teams unless the driver is particularly friendly! Team prize money is a different matter however... but they are not the figures we were discussing unfortunately.

Redracer77 · 3 Aug 2005, 21:47 (Ref:1371427)

prize money is split between driver and team based on each drivers contract.

Snrub · 3 Aug 2005, 23:35 (Ref:1371510)

rustyfan suggested in another thread that in Nascar the winnings split is typically 40-50% to the driver. Conversly Alex Tagliani in CC is paid nothing by the team but gets to keep all winnings. Nascar purses are very generous so I don't know if the situation would be exactly the same in the IRL, but I suspect it would be close.

rustyfan · 5 Aug 2005, 09:00 (Ref:1372662)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snrub

rustyfan suggested in another thread that in Nascar the winnings split is typically 40-50% to the driver.

Just want to clarify that this is based on numbers I've picked up from columns on NASCAR.com and so on over the years, and I'm sure there are differences in how it's divided within NASCAR as well (among the smaller teams in particular).

Anyhow, as for the topic at hand, RM included the following in his latest column at SpeedTV.com:

Quote:

Obviously, Darren Manning is the scapegoat for the freefall and disaster that has become Target/Chip Ganassi Racing in the IRL.

With nearly $3 million worth of wrecked equipment, Ganassi sacked Manning and replaced him with Jaques Lazier, who promptly wiped out another car in a big crash that wasn't his fault.

"Drivers get all the glory and, unfortunately, our heads are on the chopping block," said Manning, who spent last weekend at the Champ Car race in San Jose. "Obviously, the whole team's performance is suffering and we haven't had the results.

"But Scott (Dixon), Ryan (Briscoe) and myself were always battling for the same spot on the grid so it's not like there was much difference between us."

As for his future, the personable 27-year-old Englishman was asked if he wanted to return to Champ Car, where his American career began impressively in 2003 with Derrick Walker's team.

"Well, I'm a road racer by trade and I enjoyed my year in CART but I thought I had a fantastic opportunity with Chip and it was," he replied. "There are two, high-level open wheel series in this country and I'm looking at both of them.

"I don't have a big checkbook in my pocket but I hope there's something out there for me."

The reality is that Manning was likely done at Ganassi at the end of the season anyway because this once-powerful operation is expected to scale back to two cars in 2006.

I think it's nice to hear that Manning hasn't shut the door on IndyCar, and I hope he gets a ride either there or in Champ Car before too long.

Kicking-back · 5 Aug 2005, 12:20 (Ref:1372834)

Latest word is that Manning may be back to Ganassi for a one-off drive at Sears Point...

rustyfan · 5 Aug 2005, 12:25 (Ref:1372842)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

Latest word is that Manning may be back to Ganassi for a one-off drive at Sears Point...

If that turns out to be correct, I'd say it's looking more and more likely we'll see Pruett in the third car for Watkins Glen (as Ganassi talked about during the race at MIS).

Just over three weeks left until they head to Infineon - can't wait

rush1 · 5 Aug 2005, 13:58 (Ref:1372931)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kicking-back

Latest word is that Manning may be back to Ganassi for a one-off drive at Sears Point...

That would be great, lets hope it happens.

Out of curiosity how are Manning's road racing skills? Maybe there is a faint hope he will find something at Infineon or Watkins Glenn. Fingers crossed.

Kicking-back · 5 Aug 2005, 14:36 (Ref:1372957)

He's not doing Watkins Glen, but the team did a lot of testing with him at Sears.

His roadracing skills?

Well, that's his background.

A multiple race winner in British F3, Japanese F3 Champion. Solid in F3000. Few thousand miles F1 testing. Strong rookie season in CART.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Rubens should be fired	mansellmania	Formula One	17	26 Dec 2003 05:39
Why HHF was fired	Valve Bounce	Formula One	5	13 Oct 2001 13:23
Kocinski Fired!	Craig	Bike Racing	3	6 Mar 2001 16:22