The Brickyard 400, the NASCAR event run at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway which makes it second run on August 5, is giving
"sponsors a boost by limiting their ranks," according to this
week's AD AGE. Clarion Performance Properties of Greenwich, CT,
the marketing agency for the Speedway and the Brickyard 400, has
played a large role in securing long-term sponsorship deals for
the event. Race sponsors are Chevrolet, Anheuser-Busch,
Pennzoil, Delco Electronics, and GM Service Parts -- and all "are
in the middle of a three-year contract aimed at stabilizing
sponsorship and promotion of the race." Brickyard wanted
stability in its sponsors and Gordon Kane, Senior VP/Marketing
for Clarion, said they "took five who came to the table on a non-
conflicting basis." Rob Winter, Dir of Motor Sports for
Pennzoil, said the limited number of sponsors offers "a unique
package that allows us to get in on the ground floor and build
the event. Often, you are buying mature properties that allow
you to just buy the logo and sit there with it." With close to
400,000 spectators expected, the Brickyard 400 is the second-
largest one-day sporting event in the world after the Indy 500,
and "in addition to on-site and in-show presence, most sponsors
have crafted promotions with retail tie-ins to the race,"
including a Pennzoil sweepstakes offering 80,000 prizes (Alan
Salomon, ADVERTISING AGE, 7/24 issue).
MESSAGE -- DON'T TAKE ON THE COWBOYS IN DALLAS: The Grand
Prix of Dallas auto race, scheduled for September 8-10, has been
cancelled because organizers fear the lack of a title sponsor and
a conflict with a Cowboys game would "keep the event from being a
success." Denny Young, VP/Sales and Marketing for Motormarketing
International of Dallas, Inc., the auto-racing branch of IMG and
owner of the race track, said they "just could not have put on a
successful event this year because we didn't have the support we
needed. ... All the big companies we talked to say they already
had boxes at the Cowboys game for that day." Officials say they
would have held the race had they sealed a deal with a title
sponsor, but an apparent sponsorship deal fell through last week,
leading to the cancellation. Race officials say they "remain
committed" to the Dallas market for the future (Mark Zeske,
DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 7/25).
