#3WideBlog Opinion: Sponsorship Woes In NASCAR, Canadian Perspective

   As I sat watching the NASCAR Nationwide series and Sprint Cup series race from Texas Motor speedway this weekend I began to wonder what happened in the sponsorship sector of the sport. Was it the Economy?  Is NASCAR not a viable marketing resource anymore? Here's how I see it.

http://owlworks.wordpress.com/2010/06/

   If you think back to the plentiful sponsorship years of the 90's and early 2000's, it seemed that sponsors made deals with teams not drivers. I'm talking big national corporations committing to multiple years and multiple millions of dollars of support to team owners. Contract terms were discussed in years not races. No one could ever forget that black #3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet even 11 years after Dale Earnhardt Sr.'s death. Earnhardt Sr.'s legendary legacy still provides advertising for GM Goodwrench through his ever popular merchandise. These sponsors didn't sign with the drivers at first, they met with owners that made their performance promise. After Earnhardt Sr.'s death GM Goodwrench stayed on to sponsor Kevin Harvick as a rookie in the Cup series for a few years. Not only was a driver noticeable because of their car number, it was generally painted the same way every week too.

   It seems with the most recent recession those days are gone. Sponsors want to feed off the "star status" todays Sprint Cup series drivers are given. Sponsors want to make the deals with the drivers instead of owners, leaving some team owners searching not for the driver with the most potential talent, but the most potential sponsor dollars. They use more than the space they've bought on the car, they use the driver for commercials, appearances and anything else they can get them to do. So not only is a drivers talent important, but their marketability is also vitally important to many sponsors. This has left drivers with considerable talent sitting on the sidelines: Kenny Wallace, Trevor Bayne; and others looking to lower tier series or teams for rides: David Ragan, Kurt Busch. Even the multi-car teams have been hurt. Roush-Fenway closed its flagship #6 team in Sprint Cup and #60 Team in Nationwide due to lacking sponsorship. RCR's #33 team, Rusty Wallace Racing and so on.

http://www.facebook.com/TheNascarFans

   The fans of NASCAR are a die-hard group and hate to see their drivers sit on the sidelines. Twitter handles like @TheNASCARFans and @followthefans use hash tags like #SponsorKenny and #SponsorTrevor to try and corral major companies to produce sponsorship dollars for their favourite drivers. They've had success too with companies twitter feeds responding. I'd like to see more of this. Its great to see the fans step up and support their drivers, and let companies know that if they sponsor a NASCAR driver that the fans return the favour.

   In my opinion NASCAR is certainly a viable marketing resource. The decal on the hood of a car is seen by millions of eyes every race, if you run up front, for long periods of time. Rick Hendrick himself has even sponsored his own, and cars from other stables. Citing his website HendrickCars.com had noticeable traffic increase during NASCAR events it sponsored. Sponsors in NASCAR have just had to transform to adapt to the changing demographic and their changing needs. They don't sponsor a single car for an entire season anymore. They can pick and choose certain drivers and certain races as their own marketing needs see fit. Good performances can mean more races added to your schedule, bad could mean their not interested anymore or will try another team.

thefinallap.com

thefinallap.com

dalejr.com

   So your favourite drivers car is no longer painted the same every week, no even NASCAR's most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr has three major sponsors Mtn Dew, AMP, and National Guard to keep their operation running. But be happy if your driver has a sponsor right now because you never know, that's the way it is now. Its a sponsor driven sport where again not necessarily the most talented driver gets the ride, but the most marketable or the one with the most sponsor dollars. So all you race fans out there that know someone, who knows someone who has any say in a company's marketing strategy ... Pull some strings would ya?

   Untill next time ... Smitty OUT