Backseat Blonde - NASCAR Expected to Escalate Sponsor Battles

August 3, 2004

NASCAR Expected to Escalate Sponsor Battles
By Allison Wagda

It’s huge, and it’s ugly. It represents everything that has
gone overboard in a bid for sponsor visibility.

I’m talking about that gargantuan, tacky Powerade
bottle placed on top of the winning car in Victory Lane.

Powerade is the official sports drink of NASCAR, and a
Coca-Cola product. Coca-Cola is the official soft drink of NASCAR. In order to
highlight these relationships, NASCAR marketing reps place the blue monstrosity
atop the winning car so that during post-race interviews the bottle receives prominent
attention.

But there is a major conflict of interest. Many individual teams have key relationships
with PepsiCo and its sports drink, Gatorade. In a bid to honor their sponsor and
avoid the inadvertent promotion of a competitive product, Pepsi teams this season
have unceremoniously knocked the Powerade bottle off their car prior to television
interviews.

NASCAR’s pissed. Just over a week ago, Mike Helton, president of NASCAR, issued
a warning to drivers. Don’t mess with the bottle.

So Jimmie Johnson, who is affiliated with Pepsi, got a little creative after his win this
past weekend at Pocono. Instead of tossing the bottle off his Lowes sponsored #48
Chevrolet, his team placed a large Lowes sign directly behind him, obscuring the
bottle from television cameras. I thought it was ingenious. The move protected his
own relationships without dishonoring Powerade.

NASCAR, and Helton in particular, disagree. This morning, NASCAR levied a fine
upwards of $10,000 to Johnson’s team for the stunt. It’s a major overreaction from
the sanctioning body, and one that exposes their increasing greed.

I’ve written a great deal about sponsorships and NASCAR’s inclination to stick its
hand too far into the cookie jar. But this is over the top. Brian France and his
henchmen have tied the hands of most teams and forced them to be imaginitive in
attaining sponsors. They’ve secured these “exclusive” deals at the corporate level
that deny major teams potential sponsors. Nextel is the most obvious example.
Cingular is grandfathered in, but other most other telecoms are now off limits to
teams desperate for funding.

Jeff Burton’s #99 team is another great example of the senseless, and contradicting,
attitude of NASCAR. The Roush team had all but signed a deal for Crown Royal,
makers of such premium liquors as Bailey's, Guinness, Smirnoff, Crown Royal,
Captain Morgan, Johnny Walker, and Seagrams, to sponsor the team full time.
Burton’s plight gets more serious every day. He’s an experienced driver in an
established ride, but the drought of available sponsor dollars has forced his team to
run the entire season so far without a full-time sponsor. Most of the time, all fans see
is the white, bare car circling the track. The Crown Royal deal was the cure to his
trouble.

And NASCAR nixed it, citing the potential influence of a hard liquor sponsor with fans.
Like beer sponsorships don’t exact the same influence. And how quickly they forget
NASCAR’s origins as a competition among moonshiners. But that aside, the true
intentions of NASCAR has apparently come to light since the decision was handed
down. Shortly after denying Burton’s team the deal, NASCAR’s “sister” company,
International Speedway Corporation (ISC – also run by the omnipresent France
family) had the gall (I can’t emphasize this word enough) to sign Crown Royal as an
exclusive corporate sponsor for Daytona International Speedway!

Talk about a double standard. It’s borderline thievery.

As NASCAR continues to secure series-wide sponsorships, monopolizing entire
industries and limiting options for individual teams, teams are forced to aggressively
ensure that their sponsors are honored and exposed. Johnson’s actions Sunday
were not only understandable but within the guidelines of Helton’s dictate. For a
penalty to even be considered is unbelievable.

NASCAR needs to remember one thing. Without the drivers, there is no NASCAR. Let
me repeat. WITHOUT THE DRIVERS, THERE IS NO NASCAR.

So, right now I’m drinking a Pepsi. I used to drink Coke, but I’m a rebel by nature. I’m
going to boycott any NASCAR corporate sponsors and stick by my favorite drivers.

Nextel? Done.

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