Darlington Raceway announced yesterday that Dodge has
joined the track as a marketing partner and entered into a
three-year deal as the title sponsor of the track's spring
Winston Cup race, with the event to be called the Carolina
Dodge Dealers 400. The '01 race is scheduled for March 18.
In addition to the Winston Cup race title sponsorship, Dodge
will become the official car and official truck of the track
in January (Darlington Raceway). Dodge will be the third
title sponsor of Darlington's spring race in as many years,
following TranSouth Financial, which, after 18 years as
title sponsor, did not exercise its option last November on
the final year of its four-year deal with the track. In
place of TranSouth, Mall.com picked up the final year of the
deal for the '00 race, valued at about $650,000. A source
familiar with the deal told THE DAILY this morning that the
Dodge deal will have an average annual fee of around
$900,000. In addition, Dodge will contribute ad dollars to
the track which are expected to double Darlington's current
ad budget (THE DAILY). In SC, David Caraviello wrote that
the news that the deal is for more than one year, is "good
news for a race whose future has been in question because of
lagging attendance and the expansion of the Winston Cup
schedule into newer markets" (POST & COURIER, 11/28).
