Sponsor Wars II

I'm stunned by NASCAR'S move on Tuesday, August 3rd in fining Pocono race winner Jimmie Johnson $10k for placing his sponsor's placard in front of the Power Aid bottles on the top of his racecar in victory circle. Johnson has associate sponsorship with Pepsi, and Power Aid is a Coca-Cola product. Naturally, his sponsor tells him that they don't want to see their competitor's wares atop of the car they sponsor when it reaches victory circle. Power Aid doesn't spend any of its money supporting Jimmie Johnson's #48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, or team, why should they be allowed to put their bottles on top of his winning racecar?

NASCAR President Mike Helton had recently warned drivers about knocking the Power Aid bottles off of the top of their cars in victory circle, so Johnson didn't touch the bottles of his beverage sponsor's competitor, he just placed his main car sponsor's (Lowe's) cardboard placard in front of them. And get this, I remember seeing it fall off, and come to find out, it was a NASCAR official who picked it up and put it back where Johnson had initially placed it! Go figure...

Apparently, Johnson's actions infuriated NASCAR, whose associate event sponsor is the Power Aid beverage that Johnson covered up. NASCAR has taken one more step into the 'sponsor wars' and may end up getting the dirty end of the stick because of it. The sanctioning body is going to push these corporations too far one of these days, and they'll tell NASCAR to shove it. Quite a few corporations have already quit NASCAR over the last few years. There are a lot of ways to advertise their wares without spending the $12 to $16 million annually that it takes to be the major sponsor a Cup team.

On Wednesday, August 4th, the day after Johnson was nailed with the $10k fine, he found out that NASCAR "owns" the top of the race winning cars in victory circle. It's the old "read the fine print" deal. The fine print on the race applications that the teams have to submit to NASCAR, which have to be postmarked by midnight on the Monday before the upcoming weekend event, have a lot of fine print on them that cover NASCAR's "rights" over those who apply to race in its events. The greedy racing giant always seems to cover its bases!

The major and associate sponsors put up millions of dollars annually to sponsor events, teams, and NASCAR's version of stock car racing in general. It's understandable that they all want their fair share of air time to hawk their wares. A major sponsor is one whose name is on the hood and rear deck of the racecar when it sponsors a team, or whose name is associated with the name of the event that NASCAR is putting on. The major sponsor puts out the really big money. The associate sponsor has a lesser role and puts out a much lesser amount of advertising capital. Its name goes on the side panels of the racecar, and NASCAR associate event sponsorship is limited to billboards, handout paraphernalia to fans, and apparently space atop of the winning car in victory circle!

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