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All good points. I haven’t heard the accounts suggesting the departure was involuntary but it wouldn’t surprise me as Doug was not as visible this year as in the past. I for one ascribed it to the covid but that also is just speculation. Ford has turned tail as they seem to do with regularity when their racing doesn’t produce enough sales. The loss of the Europeans also follows a well known path so who are we left with to compete against? Perhaps Doug and Corvette are just victims of their own success.
Can't recall where I read it, but there have been rumors that Doug's departure was as big a surprise to him as it was to all of us. Makes no sense to me to replace the guy who just brought in the Drivers, Team and Manufacturer titles in the first year racing a totally new car, but it smacks of some corporate Einstein thinking "change is good". I've met Doug several times at races, and he's a great frontman for Corvette Racing, he knows his stuff and also knows how to get the most out of his team and also the most out of the IMSA and FIA brass. Hopefully they will come up with an equally good successor, anybody thinking Ron Fellows??? I really don't see Corvette Racing going away, the GTLM class needs some new blood, maybe Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lambo, and I get the feeling Porsche isn't gone forever, it seems they're fixated on the Prototype class at the moment, but I don't see Porsche walking from the best GT class in racing. I guess we'll be playing a waiting game to see how everything pans out in 2021 and beyond, but I think the C8R has the makings of a really great race car, I just hope they have some good competition to race against.
Paging Lou Gigliotti... Paging Lou Gigliotti... Corvette Forum would like to hear your thoughts.
Ding dong the witch is dead. Doug Fehan, the former Body shop owner in Detroit did more harm to the Corvette racing program than any one person. It was Fehan who stopped us from going to LeMans because if a small team with a small budget could do well then their $47 million dollar budget might have been in jeopardy and his $500,000+ pay check plus expenses would not be necessary - GM got Michelin to NOT sell us tires even though every other brand of car got to buy them, they banned us from buying them--- Only reason was to help the factory corvettes be at the top of the Corvette heap.
Even with just 2 cars running in Imsa they bragged about finishing 1-2 ---but the reality was that they finished LAST and SECOND TO LAST---- who races against no one? Fehan's job was to convince the GM Board to keep putting MILLIONS into that program- with the goal to put ads in USA today -they took out full page ads claiming "Another 1-2 Finish for Corvette" -
So yeah, Fehan leaving might actually allow Chevrolet to sell race cars to independent teams with a decent budget to work together to defeat other brands. the cream always rises to the top. Rather than pump up Corvette and Fehan's ego.
In 2009, at Petit Lemans, we put our Corvette on the outside pole, OUT-QUALIFYING both of the factory corvettes. The press release that Corvette Racing sent out to the entire GM higher ups had our Corvette whited out . They did not want to take a chance of any big wigs wondering how an independent team with a tiny budget on Dunlop tires out qualified the Factory team. That would have clearly got their attention to at least spend part of their budget to get safety in numbers. BUT they could not allow that.
THEN even in World Challenge in our Corvette we were leading the championship against ........ the Factory Cadillac teams and Porsche BUT Fehan and the GM World Challenge manager again got SCCA pro racing to add an arbitrary 150 pounds to my car - only to Corvettes that won a race already- and the Former GM manager, Harry Turner who had left GM to run SCCA Pro racing, obliged and added the 150 pounds PLUS the normal 40 pounds of rewards weight for a total of 190 pounds added after I won the Utah race by .3 sec over the Cadillac.
ONLY After I threatened to sue SCCA, did I get them to remove half of that weight but it was 3 races later. Result.... I lost the championship in 2006 by 1 point to a PORSCHE but no worries, Cadillac won the Manufacturers championship and their life and FEHAN'S position was again safe and he was put on a pedestal as a genius... BS.
So, I sued GM and Michelin and Fehan individually for $50,000,000 but I had 1 small lawyer and they had 15 lawyers, No lie and we lost in the 5th circuit court of appeals 2 to 1 and I was out of money to take it to the supreme court. THEY and Fehan manipulated the system with the end goal of hurting another Corvette team? How does this help Corvette?? GM could not force Michelin to not sell tires to Porsche or Ferrari. they would laugh at them but banning a Corvette team..... well that was ok. NOT to help the brand but to stack the deck so they could rack up trophies and claim superiority. NO one can beat them!!! BS.
On a side note. when the US Tax payers bailed out GM in 2009 from bankruptcy GM took that money and built 11 brand new factories........ IN CHINA! That is why roughly 30% of the Corvette is sourced in China.
****Penske had put a group of investors together to buy Saturn and they were also working on Buying Corvette brand also. ***CAN you imagine what the corvette would be like today if Penske bought it? ALSO can you imagine if GM had built or updated their US factories instead of building them in China?
>Look, this Apple computer I am typing on was built in China as is my iPhone and probably all of our clothes. BUT we are talking about America's Sports Car!
Ok enough Political ranting.
Back to Fehan--- can you imagine what Corvette racing would have been like If 3 or 4 teams had Corvettes to race? Pratt and Miller and Riley could have built some really great Corvettes and placed them in the hands of great teams and drivers just like Ferrari and Porsche does.
Porsche makes sure all of these teams have the same Tires and Cars and factory updates and they are really hard to beat. Fehan only wanted their team cars to be entered so they could CRY about the rules and donate to the ACO and get rule concessions to "Legislate" them selves into the top.
Sandbagging comes to mind.
BUT at Porsche and Ferrari, the cream rises to the top and their entire program gets better and the Best drivers also rise to the top. (gee, Corvette for 2021 has a PORSCHE driver signed???)
SO YES, the witch is dead and we will see what GM - Corvette racing will do with this opportunity.
I am sure many of you already know that I sold my Company - I sold LG Motorsports but I am still racing a Corvette and should be building another Corvette for a team mate soon. ALSO still working on moving forward with my final project, G2Motorsportspark.com
I have 3/4 of the funding committed already, just waiting on the SBA to approve the remainder. Should be fun.
It has been a pleasure to be part of the Corvette Forum.
God Bless America and God Bless Texas.
CHASSIS # 001 below, the FASTEST Corvette at 2009 Petit Lemans.
Last edited by Lou Gigliotti; 12-22-2020 at 01:16 PM.
ONE MORE THING about the 2009 Petit Lemans-- After we qualified, we took the car up to the Corvette corral and signed posters and met all the Corvette owners. At the same time, the Corvette team and Fehan were giving a speech in the tent.
First the GM guy managing the entrance said we were not allowed in per orders from GM. HA!!! I backed the car in and he had no choice but to give way, and started handing out posters and having a great time with Corvette owners, ---- BUT the GM guys were now speaking to an empty tent so they loaded up their golf carts and rolled out.
THEY IGNORED US---- All but Magnuson who jumped off the moving cart and ran over to shake my hand and congratulate my whole team. THE others just ignored us totally and NEVER EVER gave us props or a mention for running so good. (Yes .03 of a second is a life time that we beat them by.)
Last edited by Lou Gigliotti; 12-22-2020 at 01:27 PM.
Lou's comments raise some interesting questions about "factory" support for motorsports teams in a number of different series.
For instance, we know Chevrolet provides some sort of sponsorship and support for multiple NASCAR and Indycar teams, but what engine development or other forms of financial (or driver) support is made to each team? I suspect good answers are in short supply, and probably only known to team principals who are bound by confidentiality agreements to avoid offending other teams / drivers subsidized by Chevrolet. It would be naive to think Chevrolet - or any OEM - doesn't play favorites.
Same goes for F1. Multiple teams use Mercedes and Ferrari engines, but I don't doubt these same manufacturers reserve the best information and equipment for the factory-owned teams.
Direct comparisons to Porsche are a bit disingenuous given Porsche has also actively promoted spec racing and sold Cup cars and equipment to privateers for years. I'm guessing Porsche makes OK money selling cars and equipment to privateers - and enjoys the "gentlemen racer" publicity - but GM hasn't chosen to go down that road, at least with IMSA.
Lou's comments raise some interesting questions about "factory" support for motorsports teams in a number of different series.
For instance, we know Chevrolet provides some sort of sponsorship and support for multiple NASCAR and Indycar teams, but what engine development or other forms of financial (or driver) support is made to each team? I suspect good answers are in short supply, and probably only known to team principals who are bound by confidentiality agreements to avoid offending other teams / drivers subsidized by Chevrolet. It would be naive to think Chevrolet - or any OEM - doesn't play favorites.
Same goes for F1. Multiple teams use Mercedes and Ferrari engines, but I don't doubt these same manufacturers reserve the best information and equipment for the factory-owned teams.
Direct comparisons to Porsche are a bit disingenuous given Porsche has also actively promoted spec racing and sold Cup cars and equipment to privateers for years. I'm guessing Porsche makes OK money selling cars and equipment to privateers - and enjoys the "gentlemen racer" publicity - but GM hasn't chosen to go down that road, at least with IMSA.
>> The point that should not go unnoticed is that GM did not offer nor were they ever asked for support— all we asked was that we would be left alone to buy the same tires that every car in the series had - but GM put the strong arm on Michelin because they were about to get the contract for putting Michelin‘s as OEM tires on trucks and cars- On the other hand , Porsche would never interfere with a team running their brand in fact they would wish them luck and then their mind any Porsche winning was a good thing but it dug the hens mind if any other Corvette team was allowed to race competitively their budget would almost be guaranteed to be reduced and spread among other teams. -
-
With a missed was that Pratt Miller could’ve built customer cars to help the brand rather than try to monopolize all Corvette Racing.
Ask yourself if you wanna watch a Corvette race pretty much the only place you can go is American women’s but if you want to watch a Porsche or a Ferrari race there’s teams that race in every country and on every continent around the world. - even Callaway cars got jilted and abandon in the European series-
so it’s a Doug Fehan business model that didn’t work and only benefited one team and the brand Corvette lost much more than it would’ve gained had they spread Corvette Racing around.
I’m hopeful that some GM executives read this and realize that this business model is wrong in some other up-and-coming race teams can benefit from the technology that comes from Corvette and share in the technology that Pratt and Miller develop. — how many Porsches run LeMans? how many Ferrari run LeMans? then compare that to how many Corvettes run. - In 2009 the AC oh visit us in North Carolina at the Riley shop when they left they said we are looking forward to having you at Lamar it will be glad to have Bill Riley and this Corvette back but then they travel to Detroit to Pratt and Miller Where we were told the group led by Doug Fehan did not want us there -so they reversed their decision to let us run in the 2009 LeMans. - it is what it is and it clearly was not honorable.
I’m sure some of you guys didn’t wanna hear this but it’s exactly what happened and I see Corvette Racing becoming better if they allow Pratt and Miller to sell cars to customers.
PS— Corvette Racing was not factory owned it was factory funded.
ciao.
Last edited by Lou Gigliotti; 12-23-2020 at 01:32 PM.
I agree with Lou, don’t know if Doug was involved but GM has always stabbed fellow Corvette racers in the back. Definitely true in World Challenge and ALMS. Nothing beats getting threatening phone calls from GM execs while building a car to represent them!
>> The point that should not go unnoticed is that GM did not offer nor were they ever asked for support— all we asked was that we would be left alone to buy the same tires that every car in the series had - but GM put the strong arm on Michelin because they were about to get the contract for putting Michelin‘s as OEM tires on trucks and cars- On the other hand , Porsche would never interfere with a team running their brand in fact they would wish them luck and then their mind any Porsche winning was a good thing but it dug the hens mind if any other Corvette team was allowed to race competitively their budget would almost be guaranteed to be reduced and spread among other teams. -
-
With a missed was that Pratt Miller could’ve built customer cars to help the brand rather than try to monopolize all Corvette Racing.
Ask yourself if you wanna watch a Corvette race pretty much the only place you can go is American women’s but if you want to watch a Porsche or a Ferrari race there’s teams that race in every country and on every continent around the world. - even Callaway cars got jilted and abandon in the European series-
so it’s a Doug Fehan business model that didn’t work and only benefited one team and the brand Corvette lost much more than it would’ve gained had they spread Corvette Racing around.
I’m hopeful that some GM executives read this and realize that this business model is wrong in some other up-and-coming race teams can benefit from the technology that comes from Corvette and share in the technology that Pratt and Miller develop. — how many Porsches run LeMans? how many Ferrari run LeMans? then compare that to how many Corvettes run. - In 2009 the AC oh visit us in North Carolina at the Riley shop when they left they said we are looking forward to having you at Lamar it will be glad to have Bill Riley and this Corvette back but then they travel to Detroit to Pratt and Miller Where we were told the group led by Doug Fehan did not want us there -so they reversed their decision to let us run in the 2009 LeMans. - it is what it is and it clearly was not honorable.
I’m sure some of you guys didn’t wanna hear this but it’s exactly what happened and I see Corvette Racing becoming better if they allow Pratt and Miller to sell cars to customers.
PS— Corvette Racing was not factory owned it was factory funded.
ciao.
All good comments. We agree most Corvette enthusiasts would like to see more Corvette entries in GTLM and GTD (including the ACO equivalent) - or whatever these classes become in the years ahead. It's interesting that in NASCAR, Indycar and even IMSA's DPi involving Cadillac, there seems to more GM acceptance / tolerance of multi-team support, but Lou's comments highlight the notable Corvette exception. Certainly with COVID resulting in lower OEM budgets and car counts in GTLM & GTD fields, you would think IMSA would welcome a change that would promote additional Corvette entries in these classes. An occasional IMSA podium for talented and well-equipped Corvette teams would absolutely not diminish the Corvette factory effort.
Yeah. Greatest racing in the WORLD???? 6 cars in the class?? Don Panoz destroyed Road racing in America . The snooty effort to make American racing into European carbon copy?
When John Bishop created the Grand American / IMSA—- key word American! It provided a place to race for American racers and we let Europeans in to the American tracks. - LE mans was an Ego trip for Corvette. They didn’t even sell 800 cars per year in Europe from 2009 - 2018. - so why would GM spend $17 million just to do Lemans EGO NOT TO SELL CARS. -
and why would GM not want a privateer to run LeMans? It doesn’t make sense. But it was sold to GM by Fehan . No lie.
Then ask yourself what Corvette Racing history would look like if Pratt Miller built 20 identical customer cars for top US teams to race? It would have been incredible! And Fehan was the force behind that failed plan. LeMans only accepted a couple of American teams in anyway, so why lick their European boots?
now Porsche pulls out and so will BMW if they don’t get more cars? From where? GM? Nope, GM will race no one again and claim “the most 1-2 finishes in history “ ha. Really, last and 2nd last
So blame this on the failed GM /Fehan business model and Panoz wine and cheese aspirations.
we need to go back to hard core American Racing
BELOW is the number of Corvettes sold in Europe each year
Last edited by Lou Gigliotti; 12-24-2020 at 02:23 PM.
I’m certainly not one to take on Lou or even pretend to understand the inner workings of GM when it comes to supporting racing. I’m just a multi-Corvette owner who in truth can’t even afford the C8 I just took delivery of at the National Corvette Museum. What I do know is that over the past two decades I have gotten immense pleasure from attending ALMS and IMSA WeatherTech events at 8 different locations. In addition I have watched all of the other races that were live or taped on TV. My wife and I watched the live broadcast of the 24 Hours of LeMans at the NCM on two different occasions. Corvette Racing won many of these and provided us with lots of thrills and inevitably some disappointments. Throughout this Doug Fehan was a constant and always added to my pleasure at the dozens of Corvette Corrals we attended. That’s why I say “Thank you Doug Fehan” for all the joy Corvette Racing has given me under your leadership. You make me proud to be a Corvette owner and I sure hope GM recognizes that you are a big part of people like me buying all those high margin profit center cars since you took over 25 years ago. In the long run that’s what it’s all about.
I’m certainly not one to take on Lou or even pretend to understand the inner workings of GM when it comes to supporting racing. I’m just a multi-Corvette owner who in truth can’t even afford the C8 I just took delivery of at the National Corvette Museum. What I do know is that over the past two decades I have gotten immense pleasure from attending ALMS and IMSA WeatherTech events at 8 different locations. In addition I have watched all of the other races that were live or taped on TV. My wife and I watched the live broadcast of the 24 Hours of LeMans at the NCM on two different occasions. Corvette Racing won many of these and provided us with lots of thrills and inevitably some disappointments. Throughout this Doug Fehan was a constant and always added to my pleasure at the dozens of Corvette Corrals we attended. That’s why I say “Thank you Doug Fehan” for all the joy Corvette Racing has given me under your leadership. You make me proud to be a Corvette owner and I sure hope GM recognizes that you are a big part of people like me buying all those high margin profit center cars since you took over 25 years ago. In the long run that’s what it’s all about.
I agree with this assessment. The Corvette racing program is much more about selling cars than having non-factory supported Corvette teams compete against them. GM has decided that they do not want to take the chance (and embarrassment) of being beaten by Lou and the other independent teams. We can debate whether or not this is the best strategy by GM, but this is path that GM has chosen. Right or wrong, Fehan has been a great ambassador for GM and Corvette racing, as evidenced by his tremendous popularity among the Corvette community. This has been very valuable to GM.
The title of this Thread is " THANK YOU DOUG FEHAN Corvette Racing Team Manager Retiring". If you want to Bash Doug Fehan start a new thread, you could maybe title it "Ding dong the witch is dead".
The title of this Thread is " THANK YOU DOUG FEHAN Corvette Racing Team Manager Retiring". If you want to Bash Doug Fehan start a new thread, you could maybe title it "Ding dong the witch is dead".
The title of this Thread is " THANK YOU DOUG FEHAN Corvette Racing Team Manager Retiring". If you want to Bash Doug Fehan start a new thread, you could maybe title it "Ding dong the witch is dead".
Hey, I was asked for my opinion, So I gave is. If you don't want the truth then don't ask me to chime in.
12-22-2020, 01:01 AM
Good call, step on up, LG!!
