MOORESVILLE, N.C.,None — One local racing team has filed notice with the state that it could lay off up to 90 employees.
Germain Racing in Mooresville said there is no way to know exactly how many employees will be affected until the deadline of Nov. 28.
The manager of one Mooresville restaurant said she and many other local businesses depend on those workers.
"Those are close to home for us," said Laurie Gagliano, manager of Big Al's Pub and Grubberia. "Those are our clients. Every team that's in the race park. We're pretty much centrally located for them to come here and have their lunch."
Germain Racing officials said they hired additional employees this past year after business grew from two full-time teams and two part-time teams in 2010 to six full-time teams in 2011.
Next year, German is only committed to run one Cup team, so unless it can sign more by November, they say the layoffs are unavoidable.
Last month, Red Bull Racing filed notice with the state that it expects to lay off more than 150 employees when it closes in December.
Mooresville Mayor Pro Tem Chris Carney said he is putting together a motorsports panel with local racing teams, their major suppliers and the Mooresville-South Iredell Economic Development Corp to try to keep racing jobs in Mooresville.
He said the panel would look at how to bring more business, like defense-related projects, to racing teams.
Carney said he expects the panel to meet by the end of October.