26.12.2006, 02:21
Chapter 2
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The Big Business of NASCAR
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In This Chapter
• Getting acquainted with sponsors
• Understanding licensing
• Expanding TV coverage
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If you think NASCAR is just a bunch of guys driving souped-up race cars, you’re mistaken. It takes much more than someone working on his granddad’s old Plymouth – no matter how powerful the engine – to race in NASCAR today. And the money invested and reaped is pretty hefty, too.
You can see NASCAR’s growth everywhere. While you may expected to find life-sized cutouts of four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon greeting you at a General Motors dealership, nowadays you bump into likenesses of NASCAR drivers in places you may never expected: on TV, in toy stores, and even in supermarkets.
While NASCAR started as a primarily Southern-based sport, this is no longer true. Once the media began paying attention to the fierce competition and the incredible bonds between drivers and fans, the sport inevitably boomed. Today, with impressive race tracks opening across the country, as well as multi-million-dollar sponsorship packages, licensing deals, and television contracts, NASCAR is everywhere.
Sponsors Pay the Bills
NASCAR racing is more sponsor-oriented than any other sport in the world, with major companies sponsoring both major races, including the Pepsi 400 and Coca-Cola 600, and individual racing teams – which you’re not likely to forget. Not only are the cars covered with decals of the companies that sponsor race teams and provide race car parts, but the drivers’ and racing team’s uniforms are plastered with company names - on the chest, on the back, going down both sleeves and the sides of both legs.
A driver obviously isn’t going to wear a sponsor logo when dressed in a tux, but when making official appearances at a car dealership or a mall, they wear hats and shirts with their sponsors’ name on them. Hey, it’s a break for their clothing budget because sponsors provide all those hundreds of shirts and hats free of charge.
Different levels of sponsorship exist, primary or associate, based on how much the company pays to the team. But no matter how much or how little the company spends, they all do it for the same reason: sponsoring a race team gives companies a fantastic marketing tool on race day- a rolling billboard. Many companies, including those in the Fortune 500, take advantage of that.
Companies also become associated with NASCAR through the title sponsorship of races. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Mountain Dew spend big bucks to have their company name listed as a primary event sponsor. When television announcers mention a race, they include the sponsoring company’s name in their reports, such as the Chevy Monte Carlo 400 or the Golden Corral 500.