Nascar Runs Into Economic Wall as Sponsorships Dry Up Amid Credit Crisis [View All]

from Bloomberg:



Nascar Hits Wall as Financial Crisis Dents Sponsorships Demand

By Gene Laverty

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Sponsors of Nascar, the No. 2 sport on U.S. television after professional football, are slamming on the brakes because of the world's financial crisis.

General Motors Corp., Chrysler Corp., Sears Holdings Corp. and Chevron Corp. will cut or drop sponsorships next season. Dario Franchitti, the 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner was forced out of the stock-car series by a lack of sponsors.

Teams with family names revered in stock-car racing like Petty, Waltrip and Earnhardt may enter 2009 with unfunded cars. The circuit might even have trouble filling 43-car fields.

``There's maybe 26 teams that have sponsorship for next year, and five or six that have partial,'' said Michael Waltrip, an owner and driver who shored up his finances by selling a stake to Fortress Investment Group LLC founder Robert Kauffman a year ago. Waltrip, 45, faces 2009 with only one of three cars fully sponsored. He said he might have to shut down one team.

Waltrip, two-time winner of the Daytona 500, isn't alone. Dale Earnhardt Inc., founded by the seven-time Nascar champion and now run by his widow, has secured a backer next season for only one of four cars. Financial, automotive and consumer goods companies are balking at paying as much as $25 million to support a top team amid job cuts, seized credit markets and slow spending. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=ajqKE29.xSSc&refer=home