NASCAR holds many stories of rise and fall. At the end of the 2024 season, we witnessed the departure of a stellar Cup Series team. Stewart-Haas Racing shuttered its operations after 16 years of accumulating 70 race wins and two Cup championships. Similarly, an automobile manufacturer integral to core NASCAR also saw its end around 15 years ago, despite an amazing history. And SHR’s retired veteran, Kevin Harvick was right in the thick of it.

General Motors has been intertwined with stock car racing since NASCAR’s inception. Its Pontiac brand saw several Cup champions rise to power, including Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart. Chevrolet continues to operate as one of its brands, catering to brilliant race teams. However, GM suffered a severe setback in 2009 – Kevin Harvick cited his experience of it to advise a motorcycle manufacturer.

Kevin Harvick reminisces about a jittery situation

KTM, Europe’s leading street and off-road sport motorcycle manufacturer faces a hurdle of its own. KTM’s history in Motocross GP began in the 1970s, with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing being a top team. 15 MX2 titles with the 250 SX-F and 8 MXGP championships with the 450 SX-F and 350 SX-F decorate their resume. Now, however, the brand faces economic. Its parent company Pierer Mobility AG incurred a loss of 172 million euros for Q1 and Q2. Net debt also rose by 89 percent at the end of 2024’s second quarter, for a total debt of over 1.4 billion euros. Motocross legend, Ricky Carmichael, who has 15 AMA championships, 10 in Motocross, and five in Supercross, shared these details with Kevin Harvick.

Carmichael also raced in NASCAR from 2008 to 2011 under Kevin Harvick Inc. with Carmichael now reunited with his old team owner. Upon hearing KTM’s dire state, Harvick recalled his own sport’s financial debacle. “We’ve lived through the General Motors bankruptcy. I’ll never forget that phone call. You’ve got a contract. And your season is all setup. They basically called and said, Hey. You got a contract but we don’t have any money. So we had to go through the 2009 season. That would have been about this time. We were getting ready to start the season, and General Motors files bankruptcy.”

Back in the early 2010s, when Harvick took over Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s car, he formed a lasting relationship with General Motors, even bringing one of their companies on board as a sponsor. When Harvick had ambitions of taking KHI to take the team to the Cup Series. Who better to do it than General Motors? Except GM faced financial issues of its own. Their filing reported $172.81 billion in debt. The public blamed GM for making and marketing cars based on short-term gains. It meant Harvick’s ambitions of taking his team to the Cup Series level never happened. Although GM went out of the sport, Chevrolet continued as its brand, serving the winningest Cup team – Hendrick Motorsports.

Kevin Harvick outlined the options that GM had:  “They’re going to cut everything that they’re not contractually obligated to do what they have to do. Hopefully, they sell it to somebody, with some sort of private money who are able to keep the things that they have. In the end, it’s inevitable that they’re going to get restructured and reorganized. They’re either going to have new owners or file bankruptcy to go forward.”

Since its inception, NASCAR has been based on independent investors fielding their race cars. In the present day, race teams and drivers heavily rely on sponsors to get through each season. Kevin Harvick’s suggestion to the faltering KTM brand echoes the same concept. KTM lost 373 jobs in the first two quarters of 2024, with an additional 200 layoffs slated for September. Many consumers were turned off by a rash of camshaft failures on 790 and 890 LC8c engines. The motorcycle brand faced reverse problems during COVID-19 – a huge sales boom led to huge upswings in production that would eventually lead to oversupply issues.

Accordingly, Kevin Harvick lent his advisory words for KTM – linking it to GM’s misery.

What’s KTM’s situation at the moment?

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With the self-administration period already starting from November 29th, KTM promised to continue to deliver to its customers. However, as mentioned before, there was the part about its employees, especially the racing side of things, facing the terrible reality of the team’s situation.

Kevin Harvick laid down a path similar to what NASCAR teams follow to get over this crisis. He empathized with the crisis-ridden parties and suggested approaching interested entities. “The people that are gonna be in the worst spots are the race teams, because of the fact that they’re not getting the manufacturer support from a financial or technical standpoint. The race teams are going to rebuild. They’re gonna have to find a new manufacturer or they’re gonna have to hope for somebody who really likes motorcycles and racing with a whole bunch of money to come in and keep them from going until the end of their contracts.” 

There is some hope for KTM. According to some rumors, Red Bull may bring the crucial cash boost needed to help the team. The Austrian company has often partnered with KTM across motorsports and it wouldn’t be strange to see them work together again. Hopefully, KTM will not face the same cruel fate that General Motors faced in 2009. Let us wait and see what unfolds for the Motocross brand.