Visions in Leisure and Business

Volume 16 Number 2 Article 2

1997

Speeding, Spending, and Sponsors: Tourism and the NASCAR Winston Cup Experience

Mark D. Howell Northwestern Michigan College

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Recommended Citation Howell, Mark D. (1997) "Speeding, Spending, and Sponsors: Tourism and the NASCAR Winston Cup Experience," Visions in Leisure and Business: Vol. 16 : No. 2 , Article 2. Available at: https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/visions/vol16/iss2/2

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at ScholarWorks@BGSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Visions in Leisure and Business by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@BGSU. SPEEDING,SPENDING, AND SPONSORS: TOURISM AND THE NASCAR WINSTONCUP EXPERIENCE

BY

DR. MARK D. HOWELL, FACULTY IN COMMUNICATIONS AND ENGLISH

COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT NORTHWESTERN MICHIGAN COLLEGE 1701 EAST FRONT STREET TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN 49686

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION

This article provides an overview of the My new book, From Moonshine to Madison NASCAR Winston Cup Series and an Avenue: A Cultural History of the analysis of how has become NASCAR Winston Cup Series, had just been a focal point for tourism in the region around published, and I was invited to be a guest Charlotte, . The article author at an event celebrating "The examines how businesses have capitalized on Champions of Speed" in Mooresville, North the loyalty and financial strength of Winston Carolina. Mooresville is a nice town situated Cup race fans by making themselves spin-off off Interstate 77, a suburban community attractions connected loosely to the sport of roughly twenty miles north of downtown stock car racing. Charlotte. Located near the shores of Lake Norman, Mooresville is known as "Race Evidence to support claims made in this City, USA." This title stems from the fact article comes from the author's fieldwork that Mooresville is home to many of the race within the Charlotte-based Winston Cup teams competing in NASCAR's Winston community. This includes observations Cup, Busch Grand National, and Craftsman made by the author during the summer of Truck divisions. Two industrial parks, one 1997 while in North Carolina promoting his off the interstate and one near the new book on NASCAR racing. The article Mooresville dragstrip, contain many of stock strives to explain how professional sport can car racing's top teams, the buildings looking be treated as a form of cultural tourism, and more like offices for software firms than how racing fans look beyond the speedway garages, a stark difference from when I first for ways to enjoy their leisure time and toured some of these race shops ten years spendtheir disposable income. ago in 1987. Back then, they were little more than just metal pole barns with one or two large garage doors on one side away from the road. In those days, they were purely functional--places to work on a car or

4 load a tractor trailer for a trip to Alabama or are considered essential to our mythological Michigan. notion of what America represents. America is a nation of technological materialculture-­ One would think that having written a book things like airplanes, televisions, computers, on NASCAR, and having been a race fan all VCRs, and automobiles. Machines like the my life, nothing new would surprise me automobile are held in high esteem regarding the sport. My eyes really opened, Americans cannot live without their cars, and however, during the two weeks I was in our culture leads us to believe that we have Mooresville at the level of interest in off­ to own a vehicle. We live, and sometimes track recreation offered to tourists, fans who die, by the machines we create, produce, traveled hundreds of miles to get as close as purchase, and operate. Individual ownership they could to the sport itself. equates into individual freedom--the ability to travel throughout America wherever and What this all-encompassing fascination with whenever necessary. Other traits, such as NASCAR race teams has done is to create a the need to be competitive and the need to unique form of tourism that is based mainly be successful, are fueled by the automobile. In the town of Mooresville, North Carolina All of these complex issues come together as (although there are other teams in nearby a central partof American culture. towns such as Harrisburg and Concord). Mooresville is at the center of the NASCAR Attending a Winston Cup event, or visiting a map because it is home for so many teams, Winston Cup race shop, comes under the as well as forthe men and women who build heading of what Gail Dexter Lord calls the cars and make them go fast. The positive "cultural tourism" 4). Cultural tourism, side is read in dollars and cents--NASCAR according to Ms. Lord, "focuses on the fans come from all over the world with meanings and patterned ways of being that money to spend on everything from motel are fundamental to identity and self-worth" rooms and meals to T-shirts, hats, and used (4). For Winston Cup fans, following the racing tires. The downside of this explosion series is much more than simply cheering for in stock car racing's popularity is that it has your favorite driver. To be a Winston Cup forced an increase in the 32-race schedule to race fan is to consider yourself a part of the satisfy the growing demand of fans located entire NASCAR community, a person who is all across America. These extra races--three involved and connected not only forhis love slated for 1998 alone--will strain race teams of the sport, but for how the sport reaffirms that are already overworked. More races on who he is and what he believes: rugged the schedule will mean more preparation and individualism, patriotism, and a direct travel, and less time to operate their shops as connection to the cars being driven. Ford tourist attractions. and owners identify with the Thunderbirds and Monte Carlos competing on the track. The NASCAR Winston Cup THEORY Series is more than just a division of professional sport; it is a vital subculture that Much of NASCAR's success stems from the includes both participants and fans alike. factthat stock car racing embodies traits that Wherever the race takes place, tlte nearby communitiesbenefit.

5 ETHNOGRAPHY Bandit dress shirt greeted us with a smile. "Come on in," he said, "Have a look around The area surrounding Charlotte, North and make yourselves at home. The car we're Carolina, is one such community. Charlotte building for Daytona is on the stands down Motor Speedway is just north of center city there if you want to check it out." Charlotte, but the facility there hosts two My wife and I were like kids in a candy Winston Cup races each season. The store. One of the top teams in NASCAR Charlotte region and its suburbs make up the Winston Cup Series racing was at our beck physical "hub" of the NASCAR Winston and call. I immediately headed for the Cup Series. Numerous businesses operate Daytona car, which was skinned in bare either within the sport of stock car racing or sheet metal and up on jackstands in a corner in support of the tourist traffic that stock car of the shop, while Bonnie made a beeline, racing attracts to the area. Gift shops, camera in hand, for two completed cars all museums, and racing-oriented restaurants decked out in the green and white paint abound in the greater Mooresville area. scheme of Gant's famous #33. These businesses help to ease the pressure of NASCAR fans eager to tour team shops, After finishing his conversation with the two while fulfilling the basic needs of visitors men in the doorway, the· man in the Skoal such as providing them with meals and shirt came over to visit with us. He souvenirs. introduced himself as the team's engine builder, and explained that the two men in The key to NASCAR-based tourism is to the door were interested in buying one of the satisfy the fans' desire for contact with the team's older cars to race in a lower division. Winston Cup environment while keeping the As I looked around the team's car hauler, a fans from directly bothering the mechanics tractor trailer brightly painted to match the and fabricators who are busy preparing for Skoal race car, the engine builder showed my the next race. Many racing shops have done wife where he and his staff built the team's away with their "open door" policies simply motors. Bonnie saw the dynamometer, or because they get too many visitors. In "dyno" room, which was used for testing November of 1987, my wife and I visited finished engines, and the team's physical Travis Carter's Skoal Bandit race shop near trainingarea, complete with a universal gym. Taylorsville, North Carolina, where he and his team built cars for . We had As we moved about the shop, studying the met Gant earlier that day when we stopped tools and parts all neatly arranged for easy for lunch at his restaurant, and he suggested· access, the engine builder apologized for not that we visit the team's shop. having his key to the team's storage area with him that afternoon. "We've got some After a short drive, we found ourselves in nice Skoal Bandit watches," he explained, front of a large building. A Skoal Bandit "and we've got some jeans back there that stock car was perched atop a tall metal pole look like they're your size. They're like near the road, marking the location of these." He turned and showed us the Skoal Carter's shop. We saw that one of the Bandit racing team logo embroidered onto garage doors was open, so we approached the right rear pocket of his pants. "I'd see the three men standing there talking in the you got some stuff if I had my key on this cold November drizzle. A man in a Skoal ring."

6 Our visit to the Skoal Bandit garage in trophies, uniforms, photographs, and other Taylorsville set the stage for how we looked "exhibits." This is a beneficial move for at other race shops in the Charlotte area. Winston Cup teams because it gives tourists Since that November afternoon in 1987, we more to see than they would during a have noticed how race teams have reduced standard shop visit, and it also allows the what fans can and cannot see. One reason is teams to customize what the fans get to see. that the sport has grown dramatically in A race engine that won a special event could popularity over the past ten years and would be put on display minus the illegal carburetor not be able to accommodate the crowds. that gave the motor extra horsepower. Another reason is that Winston Cup teams Secrets of success are kept quiet, while are under more pressure now than they were visitors get a close look at the winning a decade ago, so time and secrecy are of the engine that "meets" every NASCAR essence. Corporate sponsors expect good requirement results quickly and often, and this has put many race teams under the gun to produce. Another benefit of opening team museums If a team fails to do well, however "doing for the fans is that it enables individual race well" is defined by the sponsor, they could teams to have their own giftshop. Why have find themselves without necessary financial tourists spend their hard-earned money at a backing. typical souvenir store when they could buy items right from their favorite driver's As a result of this pressure to perform, most garage? This is an idea that has solid Winston Cup race teams limit the access business philosophy behind it. Race teams allowed to visitors. Many teams have generate more profits fromsales in their own established tour schedules, especially during gift shops because they can effectively busy weeks like race week between the eliminate the outside retailer. Why should Winston Select and the Coca-Cola 600 in make less of a late May at . percentage offa T-shirt sold at Bob's Victory Teams during such hectic timeswill hold two Lane Souvenir Shop in the local shopping tours each day. Some NASCAR teams have mall when the team can sell the same exact even installed special viewing windows or merchandiseitself! observation areas where tourists are able to look into the shop area without actually Teams with their own gift shops can also entering the work space itself. This allows capitalize on impulse sales. The little boy fans to see their favorite stock cars and race who spends twenty minutes studying Darrell teams upclose without hindering the shop Waltrip's first championship-winning stock personnel. car at Darwal Racing's museum can ask his father to buy him a 1 :24 scale diecast model Other NASCAR Winston Cup teams, like of that same car before the family even 's Darwal Racing and Rick leaves the building. If the boy had to wait Hendrick's Hendrick Motorsports until his father found the same model car in operations, have gone so far as to create an outside souvenir store, his excitement-­ special team museums for the many visitors and the potential for a guaranteed sale-­ who come to their shops. These museums might have time to wear off. contain historic race cars and team memorabilia, along with display cases full of

7 Giving tourists what they want when they along with a qualifying race for any driver want it is vital to maintaining a strong who has yet to a recent win in what is relationship between NASCAR and its fans, called the Winston Open. The winner of the and the racing community near Charlotte has Winston Open moves into the field for the made sure visitors are shown a good time. Winston Select in order to round out the For most tourists, this rreans getting upclose starting field. These races are short and fast; and personal to the NASCAR culture. the Winston Select ends with a ten-lap Winston Cup stock car racing is a lifestyle "shootout" with the winner taking horre the sport, rreaning that the sport requires more biggest money of the night than a passing professional interest During the week following the Winston People inside NASCAR racing live neartheir Select, the whole Charlotte region corres work. A fabricator (sorreone who shapes alive with race fans and stock car-oriented sheet rretal and puts it onto the race car's entertainment. Show cars are on display at frarrework) who works for a race team in various supennarkets or stores that cater to Mooresville will most likely live in Winston Cup sponsors. Drivers appear at Mooresville, or at least in one of the towns nurrerous events to rreet the public and sign nearby, like Cornelius or Davidson. A autographs, and many businesses around the professional football player, on the other area hold special race week festivities. A hand, might play for a team in New York, popular one is "John Boy and Billy's but live on a ranch in Montana. Living near 'Breakfast of Champions,"' where two the workplace is best for Winston Cup racing Charlotte-based radio hosts conduct a live given the length of the season. The Winston program from the Sandwich Construction Cup season stretches from mid-February Company, a well-known NASCAR-based until late November, but preparing race cars therre restaurant just a few miles from and testing them at various speedways makes Charlotte Motor Speedway. the unofficial "season" a year-round job. During the sumrrer months, when Winston Another special race week event in Charlotte Cup races are often held for ten consecutive is Speed Street, which draws tens of weeks or more, timeoff for team rrembers is thousands of visitors every day into the virtually unknown. downtown area. Fans can see stock cars upclose, hear live music, play garres, rreet The sumrrer months are, however, the peak their favorite drivers, and enjoy a full variety season for tourism relating to NASCAR. of local food in celebration of the race to be LateMay is the busiest time of year for most · run on Memorial Day Sunday. I attended Winston Cup teams because of the two-week Speed Street this past May and was part of emphasis on Charlotte Motor Speedway and the largest one-day crowd ever assembled Memorial Day weekend. Race week in the there. The Doobie Brothers played a free Charlotte area begins with the running of the concert while kids played garres set up by Winston Select. The Winston Select is a the Coca-Cola Company, whose narre was special "all-star" event featuring any driver on that weekend's big race. who has won a race the previous year, along with any driver who has previously been the The focal point of race week in Charlotte is Winston Cup champion. This non-points the Coca-Cola 600, which is the longest paying race is held on a Saturday night, event on the 32-race NASCAR Winston Cup

8 schedule. Practice and qualifyingfor the 600 Everything was focused around the North begins during the week, with time trials Carolina Auto Racing Hall of Fame, a being held at night under the lights that museum and gift shop located inside the illuminate the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Lakeside Industrial Park in Mooresville. The Speedway. Fans will come to town for all of museum displayed various kinds of race cars the racing activity leading up to Memorial from throughout the history of motorsports Day weekend, including paying upwards of while hosting a number of special events in ten dollars per person to watch practice and conjunction with a local newspaper called qualifying. For many who cannot get tickets Race City News, which concentrates on the to the main event, this substitutes as the next racing business in Mooresville. These events bestthing. included personal appearances by legendary drivers and familiar television commentators, Installing lights at Charlotte Motor Speed­ as well as several additional displays way was a boon to the area's economy including Winston Cup show cars and drag­ because it freed visitors during the afternoon ters. so they could see race shops and frequent local businesses. When the racing action had The amount of tourist traffic in Mooresville to be held during the daytime hours, people was hard to believe. Crowds began swarm­ were required to stay at the speedway if they ing the Hall of Fame on the Friday before the wanted to watch the events. Once night fell, Winston Select--a full weekend before the the tourists would be limited to evening hour "Champions of Speed" festivities kicked off. businesses like shopping malls, restaurants, People fromall over Americamade their way or bars. With the speedway getting lights in through Lakeside Industrial Park hoping to 1992, racing could start in the late afternoon catch a glimpse of a driver or a crew chief, or early evening, allowing tourists to spend or hoping to buy a special souvenir. I had their free afternoons visiting race shops, metJerry Cashman, executive director of the museums, and amusement parks or giving hall of fame, while finishing the research for them the chance to enjoy boating and my book, and I was impressed with the effort swimming at nearby Lake Norman. Racing he and other Mooresville professionals were at night also made it easier for drivers to making to draw visitors into the area. The make personal appearances since they would Lakeside Industrial Park, and all the not be "working" until early evening. The connecting roads leading to it, reflected the drivers and crews could spend time with benefits of teamwork and effective their fans before heading to the speedway, promotion. much to the delight of the tens of thousands who traveled to Charlotte in hopes of seeing As I approached Mooresville on I-77, the their heroesaway from the track. first thing I saw was a large brown sign just one-half mile or so from town. It was a sign As a guest author at the Mooresville erected by the state highway department "Champions of Speed" celebration during announcing that the North Carolina Auto race week, I was able to experience the Racing Hall of Fame was just off the next advantages of night racing on tourism exit. The sign was a recent addition, having firsthand. The "Champions of Speed" events not been there the last time I was on the were scheduled for weekdays between nine interstate. Later that day, Cashman told me in the morning and six in the evening.

9 that the sign had tripled his tourist traffic in Racing shop of JeffBurton, and the shops of the six months since it had beeninstalled. Robert Pressley's Federal Mogul Ford Thunderbirds. Considering that the As I exited I-77, I was confronted with "Champions of Speed" events did not start stopped traffic on the ramp. The stoplight at until the next Monday, the number of visitors the end of the ramp swung over a tangle of streaming into the hall of fame was cars, pickup trucks, and motor homes. All impressive. vehicles were headed in the direction of Lakeside Industrial Park, whose access road I entered the hall of fame and said a quick was just a few hundred yards from the off­ hello to Jerry Cashman, who was preparing a ramp intersection. I made the right hand bank deposit of the morning's intake. Since turn that put me near the park entrance, and my official duties as a guest would not start saw a number of carsjockeying for position until Monday morning, I volunteered my along the roadside. A man had set up a small services as a docent, going about the cars on blue tent in the parking lot of a Texaco gas display and answering any questions the station across fromthe industrial park, where visitors had. As I talked with people, I he was selling sunglasses "as seen on TV" quickly realized how manyof them camejust for $5.00 a pair. Given the strong sun of to watch the Winston Select, which was to North Carolina, and the fact that many of be run the following night. Some people these travelers· would be spending the next explained that they had taken a week's week outdoors, the man under the blue tent vacation to visit Charlotte and attend both was doing a brisk business. races, while others were using the all-star race as the focusof a three-day weekend. As I turned left into Lakeside Industrial Park, I saw a line of cars crawling bumper­ Many came to Mooresville from incredible to-bumper past the sign that informed distances. One couple had flown to North visitors where each business was located. Carolina from South Dakota just to watch Occasionally, a car or minivan would swing the Winston Select. Another couple had left onto the narrow access road that led to flown south from Lansing, Michigan to see Sabco Racing and the Checkered Aag the Select. They were flying home Sunday Restaurant, which sits on a small hill morning to work for a couple of days before overlooking Sabco's shops and has one wall driving back to Charlotte for the Coca-Cola shaped like a large checkered flag unfurled in 600. On MemorialDay Monday, they would the wind. Even though the restaurant was be headed north to Michigan in order to be closed--it being nine in the morning and not back at work the next day. open for breakfast--visitors still stopped to see the building since it is a popular lunch Such is the dedicated nature of NASCAR hangout for the drivers and crews of the ten Winston Cup fans. Because of the loyalty of or so racing shops located within the park. these people--and their willingness to spend money--many businesses have embraced the The cars that did not turn into Sabco Racing NASCAR aesthetic and turned themselves continued on through the industrial park. into spin-offattractions. One does not have Most of the vehicles were headed toward the to look far throughout the Charlotte region hall of fame, which sits on a side street to find dozens of NASCAR-oriented across fromPenske South Racing, the Roush enterprises. In my book, I wrote about a

10 place called Montana's Steak House in How surprised I was to see stock cars Hickory, which is located nearly sixty miles instead of stockyards. The name implies Old northwest of Charlotte. Montana's looks like West, but the decor emphasizes local history an ordinary restaurant from the outside, and tourist traffic. situated along a busy conurercial strip not too far from Interstate 40. Hickory is a nice Such examples are endless. Big Daddy's community, best known in racing circles for Oyster House in Cornelius, near Mooresville two things: as being the hometown of the and Lake Nonnan, is decorated in a New Jarrett family (Ned, Glenn, and Dale--all of England-like seafaring motif, yet there are whom drove stock cars) and Hickory Winston Cup stock cars and a Legends car Speedway, which hosts weekly lower-level poised along the roof of the building facing NASCAR events and occasional upper-level the road where passersby can see them divisions like the Busch Grand National cars. easily. The same is true at the Sandwich Construction Company near CharlotteMotor Given Hickory's reputation as a racing town, Speedway. Several full-sized race cars on the Montana's Steak House reflects the roof greet visitors as they pull into the community's connection to motorsports. A parking lot. Lancaster's Barbecue in patron will be seated in a dining room Mooresville has a Winston Cup car parkedin plastered with photographs, posters, and frontof the entrance, and the walls inside are bent sheet metal from various race cars. covered with NASCAR memorabilia. Each booth is dedicated to a different driver, the wall space decorated with all sorts of The use of NASCAR artifacts helps res­ driver-specific memorabilia. Along the taurants like these identify themselves as ceiling of the dining room is a scale model of being race fan-friendly. If race fans feel a speedway straightaway, complete with accepted and made at home, they will return safety walls and lines painted on the during their next trip and spread support for "asphalt." Lined up in double-file formation the business by word of mouth. The Stock along the "track" are scale models of actual Car Cafe, a restaurant in Cornelius that NASCAR Winston Cup cars. Promotional opened in 1996, is part of a soon-to-be­ items from beer distributors and other national chain owned and operated by the companies with ties to stock car racing are Sandwich Construction Company. The tacked up in what little wall space is Sandwich--as locals call it--gained a large available. The place looks like a great big clientele through its association with the den in a race fan's house. NASCAR racing community. More Stock Car Cafes are planned for other Winston Cup But that's the idea. Montana's Steak· House cities, such as Bristol, . is packed on Saturday nights with race fans who are headed for the track. I first went to NASCAR itself has already jumped on the Montana's for that very reason; some friends national chain bandwagon. The sanctioning of mine invited me to the races, and supper body is opening two business endeavors that at Montana's was partof their pre-race ritual. will compete against other operations for The name "Montana" led me to believe that tourist traffic. A chain of NASCAR Cafes is dinner would be served with a Westernflair-­ being built throughout the South in areas of the dining room highlighted by maps of the heavy race fan travel, including both Bristol Oregon Trail and framed Remington prints. and Nashville in Tennessee, and Myrtle

11 Beach, . NASCAR is also somewhere between $50 and $125 per seat going to operate a chain of souvenir stores (1, p. 8). called NASCAR Thunder. Some of these outlets are already open in such racing-based Much of the United States' population regions as , , and Myrtle considers itself a Winston Cup racing fan. Beach. NASCAR Thunder has moved into Over 10 million people attended Winston some Northernareas for stock car racing like Cup stock car races in 1995, and over 120 Ohio; one of the stores is open near million watched them on television (2, p. 4). Cincinnati, and another is slated for Chicago, Golenbock cited a 1990 Goodyear Tire and Illinois. Rubber Company survey that found "a full 26 percent of �ricans are race fans, All of these restaurants, shops, and stores are including 14 million women" (1, p. 3). This examples of how the NASCAR Winston Cup number, by today's standards, is considered Series reflects cultural tourism A visitor to low, especially when given the strong female the area around Charlotte, North Carolina following behind a young driver like Jeff will quickly recognize the role that big time Gordon. Gordon, who turned 26 last stock car racing plays in the region's August, entered the Winston Cup Series in economy. The businesses that support 1993, where his movie star good looks and racing, the jobs created by racing, and the his Midwestern "boy next door" demeanor spin-off attractions connected to racing are immediately won him huge numbers of all part of what makes Charlotte one of female fans from across a wide generational �rica's fastest growing cities. Despite the spectrum At the race track, teenaged girls influx of high-tech industry and research, it is will scream for his autograph, while their the sport of Winston Cup stock car racing mothers snap his photograph and their that helps bring hundreds of thousands of grandmothers comment on what a nice tourists into the areaeach and every year. young man he is. Through it all, Gordon continues to do what he does best: win races The NASCAR Winston Cup Series helps on a consistent basis and keep himself a tourism in several distinct ways. Stock car constant threat to win the Winston Cup racing is a sport based on consumption, and championship. consuming goods is something that racing fans do very well. A Winston Cup car can Gordon's success has been a double-edged consume hundreds of gallons of Unocal sword of sorts. While legions of women buy gasoline and dozensof Goodyear tires during his souvenirs and cheer him to victory, men a race. In the same amount of time, a will comment on the advantages Gordon's Winston Cup fan can consume hot dogs, high-financed team has over the rest of the cold beer, popcorn, and manage to take field. Men are more likely than women to home souvenirs worth hundreds of dollars. accuse Gordon and his Dupont-sponsored When Peter Golenbock did research for his "Rainbow Warriors" of cheating. Every book American Zoom:. Stock Car Racing driver introduction ceremony before every From the Dirt Tracks to Davtona Winston Cup race has the young Gordon, (Macmillan, 1993), he found that the average who won the 1995 Winston Cup Winston Cup fan at the spends championship and who finished second for $200on souvenirs alone--over and above the the title in 1996, being booedloudly fromthe price of his ticket, which often ranges assembled crowd in the grandstands. The

12 "boo birds," who are often men (and Dale to meet the public's demand for more racing Earnhardt fans), generate little more than a events. grin from Jeff Gordon. In the world of NASCAR, getting booed is a good sign; if Ironically, automobile racing--unlike hock­ the fans are booing, you must be winning ey, baseball or football--is not a sport that is races. always casually recognized by the average American. Stock car racing is marginalized This kind of behavior--race fans chastising a even more because it never drew significant successful driver--is what makes the national attention until the last ten years or NASCAR Winston Cup Series such a profit­ so. For most Americans, the sport of generating enterprise. Winston Cup racing automobile racing prompts thoughts of the fans are loyal to their favorite drivers, much Indianapolis 500, the spectacle of held more than the traditional "stick-and-ball" on Memorial Day Sunday each May. Such sports fans. If a driver changes teams, recognition has evolved through history sponsors, or make of car, his fans will since 1911, when. Ray Harroun won the continue to support him. Some drivers, like inaugural battle at the Brickyard. Time has or , will enjoy been kind to the Indy 500 because age has almost fanatical popularity with fans, despite turned this event into a piece of national the fact they have gone two or more seasons folklore. The names, dates, speeds, and without a win. This is the aspect of stock machines have all been incorporated into our car racing that teams, sponsors, and understanding of what automobile racing is. speedway communities love: Winston Cup • Ironically, however, large numbers of race fans will support and attend Winston Cup fans associate Memorial Day Sunday with races, regardless of their favorite driver's NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600, the main reason performanceprior to the event. being the 1995 split between CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) and the The popularity of Winston Cup racing has IRL (Indy Racing League), which left many led to the construction of new speedways racing fans divided. near Fort Worth, , and Los Angeles, California. On August 12, 1997, another Stock car racing, on the other hand, is only new speedway--this one located near Las now gaining such recognition as an Vegas--announced that it would host a American tradition. The Daytona 500, first Winston Cup race on March 1, 1998. Other run in 1959, is just now earning a reputation speedways, like Bristol, Dover Downs, as "The Great American Race." This has Atlanta, Pocono, and Charlotte have built come primarily through television coverage. additional seating to alleviate demands for In 1979, CBS began broadcasting the race tickets, with most of the new seats being live in its entirety to a national audience. sold before they were built. Prior to That was the year when Pocono's second race in July of 1997, and wrapped fenders on the bulletins were broadcast over regional media last lap while fighting for the win, a move outlets warning fans to stay away from the that caused bothdrivers to slide offthe track speedway unless they already had a ticket in into the infield grass. While Richard Petty hand. As NASCAR approaches the twenty­ crossed the finish line for his seventh first century, something will have to be done Daytona 500 victory, Yarborough and Allison broke into fisticuffs alongside their

13 crippled race cars. Donnie Allison's brother, days of barnstorming came the juggernaut of Bobby, also got involved, trying to fend off Madison Avenue, as Winston Cup stock cars the two as they swung in anger and today take to the speedway decked out in frustration at each other after 199 laps of computer-generated decals representing hard driving. While the three drivers fought Fortune 500 companies. it out under gray skies, Americawas watching at home, fascinated by the scenario Corporate America understands the close unfolding over national television. NASCAR relationship between Winston Cup fans and Winston Cup racing, through rumpled sheet their favorite teams. Corporate sponsors metal and bruised egos, had found itself an also understand that their name will be, at audience. least for the duration of their contract, associated with a specific driver and race Daytona Beach, once a traditional vacation team. The sponsor/team/fan relationship is spot for college coeds, is now synonymous critical, not only for the team's success on with the "Super Bowl" of stock car racing. the track, but for the sponsor's success in the Race fans flocked to Daytona in such large marketplace. Through it all, it is the numbers that NASCAR felt compelled to Winston Cup race fan who keeps the wheels open an interactive museum called Daytona turning. If a fan loses interest in a certain USA, where families can learn about stock team or driver, that team's sponsor loses car racing in a hands-on environment. The money because the fan will no longer feel most recent Daytona 500-winning car is on compelled to buy the sponsor's goods. display, along with exhibits showcasing the Unlike a sport such as baseball, where the history of racing at Daytona Beach since the teams are in control and salaries are early 1900s. Daytona USA helps foster the negotiated during the pre-season, the close relationship between professional sport Winston Cup Series recognizes that it is the and corporate America with its colorful fans who motivate the drivers and crews to displays and high-tech attractions. Patrons victorylane--where the big prize money is. leave the interactive museum with a better understanding of NASCAR, which in turn The interaction between race fans, sponsors, helps to increase the sport's national and race teams comes from NASCAR's audience. desire to create a. relationship among all the parties involved. On the morning of a race, This audience proves to be highly loyal, it is common to see company guests supporting not only the drivers and their receiving a guided tour of the garage area names, but the corporate sponsors whose and pit road. While at the Pennsylvania 500 names are painted on the cars. Sponsorship this last July, I saw a group of almost fifty of racing carshas beenpart of the sport since people get escorted into the Skoal Racing 1910, when Barney Oldfield, America's Team's car hauler while the crew was "Speed King," barnstormed throughout the preparing their equipment for that day's race. country in cars brightly emblazoned with the A young woman led the group, and nothing distinctive company logo of Firestone Tires. seemed to be off limits for the tourists. Oldfield thrilled crowded grandstands at People in the group posed for photographs fairgrounds across the United States, his alongside nitrogen tanks, impact wrenches, racer carrying the slogan "Firestone Tires are and spare motors. The crewmen simply my only life insurance." From these modest shrugged and went about their work, as

14 though the tour group was nothing out of the November afternoon on, were always a little ordinary. louder, always a bit morespirited

If truth be known, the pit crew on the Skoal team had seen such behavior before. In fact, CONCLUSION it was only ten years ago that an excited young race fan and his wife scrambled about Such is the relationship that is forged when a the team's shop in Taylorsville, North racing fan visits a place like Mooresville, Carolina, taking countless photographs and North Carolina. From the race shops to the snooping around the "dyno" room By the gift shops, the emphasis of the region is to time they were finished, the young couple provide tourists with a bond that will solidify felt connected to the Skoal Racing Team as their loyalty and dedication to the NASCAR if they had always been behind the scenes. Winston Cup Series for years to come. Their cheers for Harry Gant, from that cold

REFERENCES 1. Golenbock, Peter. American 2:oom: Stock Car Racing--From the Dirt Tracks to Daytona. New York: Macmillan, 1993.

2. Howell, Mark D. From Moonshine to Madison Avenue: A Cultural Historyof the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Bowling Green: Bowling GreenState University Popular Press, 1997.

3. Kotler, Philip, with Donald H. Haider and Irving Rein. Marketing Places: Attracting Investment. Industry. and Tourism to Cities. States. and Nations. New York, New York: The Free Press, 1993.

4. Lord, Gail Dexter. "Cultural Tourism: The Success Story." Visions in Leisure and Business Vol. 14(4) (Winter 1996), pp. 25-36.

5. Michener, James A. Sportsin America. New York, New York: Random House, 1976.

6. Quirk, James, and Rodney D. Fort. Pay Dirt: The Business of Professional Team Sports. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1992.

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