Chevrolet Cutting Back On Twelve NASCAR Track Sponsorships
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Chevrolet Planning To Not Renew
12 NASCAR Track Sponsorships |
NASCAR sponsor Chevrolet has "decided to cut back on its 12 track sponsorships," as the manufacturer "isn't planning to renew track sponsorship deals that expire at the end of this season or going forward," according to sources cited by Jim Utter of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER. The deals include event sponsorships, pace-car deals and signage at tracks. The decision by Chevrolet "could affect several tracks owned by [ISC] and at least one owned by" SMI, as New Hampshire Motor Speedway will have its Chevrolet contract expire at season's end. However, no race teams "are expected to be affected." GM officials would neither confirm nor deny the move. The move comes as GM's stock "hit a 54-year low [last] week, falling under $10 per share" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 7/4).
CAR PROBLEMS: In Daytona Beach, Godwin Kelly wrote the four car companies that have contracts with NASCAR -- GM, Ford, Chrysler and Toyota -- all “reported double-digit drops in sales in June.” NASCAR Chair & CEO Brian France on the companies remaining involved in NASCAR, “They are going through a very difficult time. This is a place they come to be part of the sport in a way that’s more unique and different than any other sport. With their challenges will come reviews and everything else. We’ll have to see. Those are the kind of decisions they’ll have to make” (Daytona Beach NEWS-JOURNAL, 7/6). Dodge last Tuesday announced that June ’08 sales dropped 30% from sales in the year-ago period. Sales of the Charger, the car Dodge races in NASCAR, dropped 28% over the same time period, while sales of the Avenger, which Dodge raced last season, fell 49%. Sales of the Dodge Ram pickup, which the company races in the Craftsman Truck Series, fell 48%. Meanwhile, compared with June ’07, sales of the Impala, the car Chevrolet races, dropped 53.5% last month, and sales of the Chevy Silverado, used in the truck series, fell 23.7%. In Orlando, Steven Cole Smith wrote racing execs with the four NASCAR manufacturers “have voiced their support for the sport, which probably totals well over $75[M]" a year. But after the "downright disastrous sales figures released Tuesday, you have to wonder: How much longer?” Meanwhile, Chevy has won just four points Cup races this year, meaning it is "obvious that they won’t come close to last year’s success” (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 7/4).
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Burton Feels Number Of Sponsors In
NASCAR Will Continue To Decline In '09 |
SPONSOR SUPPORT: SI.com’s Tom Bowles wrote the financial and competitive long-term future of NASCAR "comes down to the moves of just four men” -- Rick Hendrick, Jack Roush, Richard Childress and Joe Gibbs. Their four teams “eat up sponsorship money like it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet.” But for “every check cashed by the Big Four, there’s a bounced check and a closed up race team somewhere else.” And sources estimated that “anywhere from four to six cars could be toast by the start of 2009” (SI.com, 7/3). Driver Jeff Burton: “The sponsorship game is really hard right now. I think you’re going to see more of it. The reality is we’re going to see less sponsors in the garage than we did last year. People are less willing to make the investment because of the tough economic times we’re in” (BIRMINGHAM NEWS, 7/4). Meanwhile, several Chip Ganassi Racing employees indicated that the organization is “looking to cut another 30 jobs from its stock-car operations” after letting 71 employees go last week when it shut down the No. 40 Sprint Cup car driven by Dario Franchitti. In Jacksonville, Don Coble wrote, “Many of those who lost their jobs last week apparently didn’t take the news well. In fact, the team had 12 police officers on hand to keep order” (FLORDIA TIMES-UNION, 7/6).
SALE ON TURN FOUR: In L.A., Jim Peltz wrote Motorsports Authentics (MA) announced that it would “cut prices of [NASCAR Sprint Cup Series] team jackets by $30 and standard die-cast car models by $10, among other reductions," beginning with last Saturday’s Coke Zero 400. The promotion is called “Whip Inflation Now,” the same name given to former President Gerald Forld’s '74 attempt to "encourage the public’s help in curbing rising prices." MA President & CEO Mark Dyer: “We know times are hard for all Americans right now.” Dyer added that price cuts “apply to sales at tracks and online” (L.A. TIMES, 7/4).
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