Nascar Runs Into Economic Wall as Sponsorships Dry Up Amid Credit Crisis

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

Repubiconomics is to blame for this unprecedented cult-ural tragedy.

NASCAR fans must vote to oust the corrupt, lying republicon deviants who have devastated their, um, cultural activities.

Thanks for the guffaw

It's not just for rednecks anymore.

I have a hard time assigning political labels to such non-political activities.

Nixon loved football. So did Hunter Thompson.

Me? I can take it or leave it.

And if they love NASCAR you bet they are idiots.

They like the term.

They go to the races. They own the name redneck and call themselves that. Beer, guns, and cars - they take pride in that image and call that redneck.

You've brilliantly extrapolated from a small, homogenous, non-random population sample in Alabama! Write a paper, fast! This will win a Nobel Prize for sure!

Do a bit or research before spewing recycled attempts as sarcasm. If you have never been to a nascar race you have obviously need to learn more. They have have a section called the redneck neck section at races that many people want to sit in because they party more.

There was no "redneck section," unless you're talking about the people in the infield. Don't get shitty with me because you said something stupid and got called on it.

How could you miss the redneck section, everyone knows about it. You must not be very aware of your surroundings. My stepdad and step-brother are huge fans and they kind of drug me a long a few times. I'm not a fan and I hate the loud noise of the cars. But I know the culture well. You don't have to be a statistician to know what they call themselves. You may not think of yourself as that term, but most fans do. And I didn't get called on anything, you said the stupid shit you don't understand anything about, and tried to be a smart ass about it. Being a smart ass is fun till someone reacts back to it, right?

Now, had you said "some," you might actually have a point. But, you didn't, and instead made yourself look like an ass.

"I'm not a fan and I hate the loud noise of the cars. But I know the culture well."

If you're not a fan, don't watch it, and had to be "drug" to a race, how do you actually know the culture? I guess I can "know" Masai culture if I watch a Discovery Channel documentary about them now?

"most fans"

Most? You can prove that a majority of them proudly call themselves redneck? I think not.

"How could you miss the redneck section, everyone knows about it."

Given your posts in this thread and your general level of snobbery, my guess is that you think the entire park was the redneck section. Or maybe the August heat got to you and you started seeing things.

They embrace the term and to them it is the same as good ole boy. And just because I'm not a fan doesn't mean I don't know anything about Nascar, I grew up with it all around me, even met Jeff Gordon. It is not being a snob to refer to them as rednecks, that's the term for that culture. I am not demeaning them by calling them redneck, it is you that have stereotyped the view of that term into being something bad. Nascar grew up out of this culture. Good ole boys, going to watch cars race, drink a lot, and maybe get to see a wreck (never wanting to see an injury though). It is a party, they aren't dumb enough to sit there and just watch cars go around and around. Some may be amazed at a particular drafting of 3 inches at 200 mph, but that isn't a big draw. Some follow the point system, but they are still there to party. If you want to embrace part of the redneck culture then great, just don't deny where it comes from.

I assume you know each and every NASCAR fan to make this claim.

:eyes:

broad brush strokes really suck, don't they?

but to each their own.

However, I really don't understand the whole sponsorship thing. Why cant NASCAR take a percentage of ticket sales and give that to the drivers? Its the only sport that seems to work this way. I understand that it's not like most of the major sports in that there's not a "home" team but there has to be a way to fund cars other than sponsorships.

engineering and building a race car, and paying the crew to support it, costs millions-- a lot more than buying footbal uniforms.

Corporate sponsorship pays for this probably more by accident than design, but it would be interesting to see if they come up with another way.

(Or just go back to "stock" cars)

Gone be Hell To Pay!!!

You betcha!

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

I do that just getting to work. And that includes all the hostile, ubercompetitive drivers on the road with me. Where's my million-dollar endorsement contract?

:nopity:

All you have to do is go hang out in a Wal-Mart parking lot on a busy night.

:spank:

And create the technology to sustain itself. Green Race Cars Baby! I don't see how it is a justifiable pastime in a country with an energy crisis.

NASCAR: the dumbest sport for the dumbest people.

A good newS.....

Who are ya callin dumb there sonny?

Goddamn spell check failed ya again didn't it.

:bounce:

Have every car required to be on alternative green fuels. It could help educate the redneck crowd. While the wait to see the next wreck (the real reason they watch), educate them on green technologies.

actually I know someone who will be involved in an all electric road race in Cali.

..so go have a beer with your little buddy Bush.. hope you enjoy it.

Put this in a TV ad and the dems will take the south easily. NASCAR is about the only thing that matters down there. Personally, I'm glad to see it go.

Now here's a product that never, ever goes out of style and has held its value for over 30 years despite the government's very expensive war against it:



Legalize, tax and regulate it.

Major company that everyone here has heard of. The guy is all over commercials. They have been a main sponsor of this guy for years.

Anyway, the driver/racing team wanted a $10 or $15 million dollar a year raise over the current contract. That would raise the total cost of sponsoring by $20 million or so.

They decided to get out of the Nascar business.

I live in NC and still think NASCAR is the biggest waste of time and resources on the planet, but what the hell, people?

You cry about being painted as pinko commie bastards who hate America and you do this? If this was football and someone said 'oh its just wannabe mama's boys who were all beaten up as kids watching it and chugging beer - I hope it just dies 'cause all the players/owners are repukes anyways.

The hypocrisy of this place kills me sometimes.

I was thinking the same thing.

The expansion of NASCAR in the last decade should show that it's not just a regional "southern white" thing anymore. I personally dislike NASCAR and would rather watch IRL races, but I know quite a few people who like NASCAR who don't fit in the "redneck" stereotype.

NASCAR has come a long way from the days of runnin' moonshine.

It's an indication that hypocrisy isn't monopolized by the right.

There are those here who consider themselves above the "great unwashed" they consider most Americans to be. Lots of them. They think being Dems makes them better than anyone else. I have news: Being a Dem doesn't make you a good person. For example, I have in mind a serial killer who was welcomed in the White House because he was seen as a good Dem. He was even given special clearance from the Secret Service. I know that might be extreme, but I'm trying to make a point.

I have dyed-in-the-wool relatives in the south who've never voted for a repug in their lives. Union members. In fact, I remember a physical altercation when I was a kid when we were visiting on vacation in Tennessee. My dad supported Nixon. We almost wound up driving back home to L.A. two days after beginning our vacation there. These "redneck" southerners in my family supported Mondale/Ferraro over all else. Those very same people own guns, love beer, and jump into rivers to catch catfish with their bare hands. And, they LOVE NASCAR.

Hating NASCAR doesn't make you a good Democrat. It just makes you a hater. BEING a Democrat doesn't make you a good person, as in the case of John Wayne Gacy.

The hypocrisy is one of the things that keep me coming back here every day. It's almost as if it's not good enough to just to vote Dem; You have to hate something as well.

:nopity:

"NASCAR is for redneck scumbags! I'm so cool and hip and liberal!"

Fucking pathetic.

:evilgrin:

I simply don't get why watching a series of left turns is so exciting. I'd rather watch a good football (that's soccer here in the US) match than watch a bunch of rich people wasting fuel.

I won't shed a tear if NASCAR dries up ...

two drivers dueling at 190 miles an hour than an exciting 1-0 soccer game where if someone finally manages to score, he or she runs around the field tearing off their uniform.

Watching a world superstar writhe in agony after being kicked in his plastic covered shin, then to see him carried off the field on a stretcher while fans tear their hair out. All this, only to return to the game when the next substitution is allowed. That, and news footage of "civilized" European soccer hooligans tearing up each other's towns.

The human drama of athletic endeavor.

I wouldn't shed a tear if the MLS dried up, and frankly I don't think anyone would notice.

What do you see when you look at a NASCAR car or racer? Corporate logos.

In the early days of auto racing they wore logos for products appropriate to automobiles - auto parts dealers, car companies, fuel additives, stuff like that. But now they're advertising cell phones, candies, even (sadly) the Susan G. Komen cancer fund...as a part of an M&M car.

So NASCAR sent the message to all its fans; bow down to the powerful corporations. Let them rule your lives. And now that the economy is collapsing, NASCAR is no longer seen as a viable advertising medium. Billy Lee Fumebreather can't become a millionaire by tattooing Wal-Mart on his forehead. Gee, what a tragedy.

that I'm looking forward to the day a driver has to say "The Kotex Maxi-pad With Wings Toyota really ran good today".

The sooner that "sport" fades into obscurity the better.