This is the Statt Mann Baby!!  Time to Scatt a little bit.

The agonizing machinations on Wall Street the last two weeks are changing racing’s Main Street already.

GM was the first American automaker to recognize drifting and it was well represented by Rhys Millen who continually ran up front, won championships and had his GM products in secondary advertising done by his other sponsors.

Fur his efforts, GM just told him forget about next year.  The well’s run dry.

Another call this week came from Bridgestone who told Rhys basically the same thing: There’s just no money for interests on the edge like drifting championships and product exposure notwithstanding.

But it’s no different in the mainstream.  In July GM said it had to cut ten billion dollars before 2010.  Some of that is coming from NASCAR where estimates put GM’s annual footprint at $150 million or more.

The Detroit Free Press says the cuts already are underway.  Track sponsorships are also in jeopardy.

A similar story in the L.A. Times this morning said merger talks in Detroit could cut NASCAR spending and smaller checks from Detroit could force the organization to cut Cup fields from 43 to 36 next season.

The racing world is shrinking.  Maybe someone else will have to pay for all those shiny G5s and Jet Rangers showing up in the NASCAR garage.

Peace.