I like this. It's going to be tough, and I'm sure you'll be able to pick out a ton of flaws in my answer, but awesome idea.
OK, so manufacturer money is a non-issue, so we're running Fords. If manufacturer support was an issue, it'd be hard not to run Toyotes, as much as I would hate to. The guys who are going to run the operation generally haven't run Fords, but one, Mark Cronquist was the head man in switching JGR from Chevies to Toyotes, so it's not going to be a problem. Cronquist will head up the engine department.
Our head of day-to-day operations will be Mike Dillon, who is the VP of Competition at RCR right now. He retired from driving in the NNS in 2001, and was instrumental in the team's recovery from Sr.'s death, and their return to prominence now. He's basically been in charge of competition at RCR since 2004.
Robbie Reiser (if I can get him) will be in charge of chassis and fabrication, so he can maintain a management role, but also get his hands dirty more often -- as he would prefer. This also gives me a veteran crew chief in the shop, who I can pull out and assign to a team whenever I feel like I need one.
Team #1 -- Crew chief: Chad Knaus (contract expires after this season.) Driver: Mark Martin. (Same reasons as BB cited, plus he was my favorite driver for 20+ years, and I'd be returning him to a Ford, where he belongs. Also, a proven winner is more of an incentive to lure Knaus away from HMS.)
Team #2 -- Crew chief: Drew Blickensderfer (Carl Edwards' NNS chief.) Driver: Jamie McMurray. (Contract expires after this season.) This would be a great, relatively young team. Both guys have upbeat personalities and would work well together.
Team #3 -- Crew chief: Greg Zipadelli. (Not sure of contract status.) Driver: A.J. Allmendinger. (BB and I have discussed this before, and agreed that in the right situation, Dinger could be a chase contender. With 90 BILL to spend, we're going to have the best equipment in the game, and a crew chief with experience handling a talented, young driver.)
Team #4 -- Crew chief: Todd Parrott. (Hoping I can get him when Sadler leaves Yates after this season. Don't know his contract status.) Driver: Parker Kligerman. With three other, dare I say it, near-championship-caliber teams, this one is my experiment. I'd hope to give the former-champion crew chief a chance to reinvigorate his career, and Kligerman a shot at the bigtime.
Kligerman is a Penske development driver, who has had a lot of success in ARCA, and won the pole at Kansas in his FIRST Nationwide race. I saw him race in person last year at Pocono, and he ran right with Joey Logano in the ARCA race all day, until he had a tire go soft on him, and had to make an unscheduled stop.
He flew straight from the track to attend his senior prom. Kid is legit.
I really put a lot of thought into this, but feel free to bash it anyway.
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