The struggling carmaker’s chief of brand marketing and strategy Mike Accavitti confirmed that the decision to stop sponsorship of Hubinette's NuFormz Racing team was a part of Chrysler's restructuring process. In order to cut costs and help bring the company back onto its feet, Chrysler said that it is rigorously reviewing all expenditures and that this has forced it to make some tough business decisions.
Competing in Formula Drift events under the Team Mopar banner, Hubinette and team owner Shaun Carlson have enjoyed an eight-year run. Together, Carlson and Hubinette took out the championship title for the first ever Formula Drift series behind the wheel of a Mopar Dodge Viper in 2004, as well as the 2006 championship title. Overall, Hubinette took nine career Formula Drift event wins and placed on the podium for the last four out of five years.
Carlson and Hubinette were understanding of Chrysler's decision to cut its sponsorship, with Carlson commenting that he had "a great eight-year run as a member of the Team Mopar family", and thanked the company "for all the great memories".
For the time being, Chrysler will continue to sponsor other racing teams into the immediate future but with sponsorship dollars being cut for a winning team like Hubinette's NuFormz Racing, less successful teams should be worried.