In this time of tight
budgets and an uncertain economy, it may seem foolish to some that there are corporations out there that continue to put so
much of their money into sponsoring a sport like racing. We see sponsors not only in NASCAR’s top three series,
but in every division and series of motorsports.
At your local track on
Friday or Saturday nights, you will see a variety of decals and company logos on the cars. Most small tracks still have
billboards along the fence that advertise local businesses. I imagine that sponsors have been a part of auto racing since
there was auto racing.
If you want to go racing,
you had better be born rich or know someone willing to finance your ride for you. I have heard it said many times that
the quickest way to make a million dollars racing is to start with two million. In today’s world of NASCAR racing,
I would say you should start with more like $200 million. If you added together what it costs all the teams in all three
top series over an entire season to just show up at the track each week, I bet it would be more than the Gross National Product
(GNP) of some small nations.
With so much money out
there, we are still seeing a shortage of sponsor dollars. We are beginning to see many of the smaller and not so well
financed teams having to cut back or even close down, Morgan-McClure Motorsports for example. A one time very successful
team that’s shop now sits silent.
I always try to support
the companies that I know support the sport. Whether I am buying groceries, clothing, looking for a hotel, choosing a
bank or other financial services or just grabbing a snack at the corner store, I buy products from companies that I know have
an association with racing. If I made a list of items in my home and services that I currently use, it would look like
a who’s who of NASCAR sponsors.
This may sound crazy but I
figure I have gotten countless hours of enjoyment over many years of following racing. If not for the sponsor dollars,
the sport would not be where it is today. We would not have the world’s greatest drivers, the world’s greatest
owners, crew chiefs, crews, engineers, marketing people and all the rest. What I believe the sponsors get for their money
is more than just a dollar value of return on their investment.
2006 StockCar Review.
