Gene Haas refuses to sponsor Romain Grosjean in IndyCar
Having decided to dispense with his services in F1, Gene Haas had at one time planned to sponsor him in IndyCar. But he changed his mind.
Can one own two teams, in two different disciplines, but consider that motorsports are ultimately too dangerous to associate their brand with? According to Gene Haas, it seems so.
The American businessman is thus leading a team that bears his name in both F1 and Nascar. However, he has just declared to our colleagues at Racer that he had decided not to support Romain Grosjean in IndyCar because I told him that I couldn’t give him money to go get killed!
Gene Haas explained his thought process: “He asked me if we would agree to sponsor him in IndyCar. At first, I told him I was rather keen. But when he had his accident in Bahrain, I was just so relieved that he didn’t get killed. For someone who completely destroyed the car, I couldn’t be happier that he survived. He has a wife and three children.” Families of Kevin Harvick (married with two children), Aric Almirola (married with two children) and Chase Briscoe (married), three of the five drivers in his NASCAR team, will appreciate their boss’s concern…
He even considers it a bad decision for the French driver to continue his career in motorsports: « You know, Grosjean is an excellent driver. He has very good days where he is probably one of the best. He loves driving and it’s his choice. I simply don’t want to be part of a bad choice. I feel as lucky as he is that he didn’t get killed. It was the most beautiful day in the whole Haas F1 saga that Grosjean managed to survive, almost unscathed. »
Undoubtedly, this kind of statement is likely to not go unnoticed and fuel the debate around a brand that has been stirring up social media in recent weeks, rarely for the right reasons…
