BY MIKE HARRIS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
May 5, 2006 |
Other sports do throwback days, so why should auto racing be any different? For tomorrow night's Crown Royal 400 Nextel Cup race at Richmond International Raceway, the No.43 car will carry the STP scheme that Petty Enterprises first used in 1972.
The car can be made to look the same as it did then.
There's no going back on the price.
STP was the first national company to enter NASCAR's highest level as a sponsor, paying about $250,000 to sponsor Richard Petty's car for the'72 season.
No one could have envisioned then what the sponsorship game would become. That price won't even get a company one race today. A full sponsorship for a car that has any designs on a championship is in the $15 million-$20 million range. And, as the fan base has changed, so has the range of companies willing to be sponsors.
"Times have changed," Petty told reporters at Texas Motor Speedway last month. "If you look back, all the sponsors were automotive related."
Auto-related businesses still have a big presence among sponsors, but they have plenty of company. The sponsors of the 43 cars in tomorrow's race will include beers, liquors, armed services, cereals, candy and much more.
There doesn't seem to be a shortage of companies willing to put up big money to be a sponsor.
Robin Johnson, the vice president of business development for Roush Racing, said his sales pitch is simple -- don't look at what you're spending, look at what you're getting.
"It is working. We are able to show that it works for them," Johnson said, "and the companies that are willing to take a close look are seeing that it does work.
"NASCAR fans are unique. They understand the sport needs sponsorship to be successful. They are extremely passionate for the sport, more so than fans of other sports. You have passion plus understanding, and it is a good combination. They accept the sponsor in the game. Not only do they understand and accept it, research shows they reward those sponsors.
"Research shows there are between 75 [million] and 93 million NASCAR fans out there and that 90 percent of them understand the need for sponsorship and 72 percent of them will make a conscious, loyalty-based purchasing decision because of that."
The return on the sponsorship money does go beyond the exposure a sponsor gets when the car emblazoned with its logo appears in a newspaper or on TV, or the driver -- wearing a uniform with that logo -- mentions the sponsor endlessly on camera.
A Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan is going to drink Budweiser, a Kurt Busch fan is going to drink Miller Lite. Jimmie Johnson fans shop at Lowe's. Tony Stewart fans shop at Home Depot.
It all started with Richard Petty and STP.
"He was the pioneer of all this," Johnson said. "He was the one who was winning, and he was able to go to the fans and say I win because of STP, you need to go and buy their stuff and support them because they support me. And they did."
Said Petty in his interview last month: "I came of age with STP and racing started coming of age in that time. I made my name with STP . . . You have to figure the history of Richard Petty and racing started with that stuff because STP was the first national sponsor to come into Cup racing."
As much money as a sponsor provides, Smith said, it only covers about 70 percent of a team's budget. The rest comes from four main sources.
Prize money is generally divided three ways -- a third to the driver, a third to the team and a third to the team's employees. Profit from souvenir sales is divided the same three ways. Manufacturer support and associate sponsors, who play less money but get less visibility, fill out the rest of the budget.
The price of a sponsorship probably will continue to rise. As long as the return is there, Johnson and others who are charged with pursuing sponsorships probably will find willing takers.
"If you are connecting with the fans, does it matter if you are spending 25 [million] if you are seeing the returns?" Johnson said.