REPORT: GM pulls its chute on NHRA support

It comes as little surprise that General Motors has canceled its contracts with the NHRA teams it had previously been boosting with money, support vehicles and free parts. "I knew it was coming, I was forewarned," Ken Black, NHRA Full Throttle Pro Stock team owner told CompetitionPlus.com. "That's why they filed bankruptcy ... to get rid of all of this stuff."

According to Black, the writing was on the wall when Fred Simmonds, Drag Racing Marketing Manager for General Motors up until last October, left the automaker ahead of its government-backed bankruptcy filing earlier this year. As far as the teams are concerned, the lack of GM sponsorship means they'll either need to purchase their own support vehicles and parts or find a new manufacturer for support, though those options are also limited.

With "Chrysler in the same boat as GM," as Black puts it, the only likely partner is Ford, though its remotely possible Toyota may be interested. Sounds good to us – the new 2010 Prius is already the perfect wedge shape for drag racing.

[Source: Competition Plus | Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty]

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