Defy’s name will appear on both James Hinchliffe’s (l) No. 5 and Marcus Ericsson’s (r) No. 7 carsARROW SCHMIDT PETERSON RACING
The Indianapolis 500 will "likely be the first time a CBD sponsorship will be featured during an official IndyCar race" after Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (ASPM) on Thursday announced a partnership with CBD-based sports drink Defy, according to Robert General of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR. The product’s name will appear on both James Hinchliffe’s No. 5 and Marcus Ericsson’s No. 7 entry. As the CBD market continues to grow across the country, it is fair to wonder "how big of a sponsorship effect" it can have on IndyCar. General notes CBD has been legal in Indiana since March '18, and the growing CBD industry has the "potential to become a new revenue source for teams." That comes amid plenty of examples of "drivers struggling to find sponsors," including Kyle Kaiser's No. 32 car from Juncos Racing. Defy and ASPM said that they "wanted to 'check off all the boxes' before releasing the sponsorship into IndyCar." ASPM Team President Jon Flack said that fellow team sponsors, IndyCar and NBC were "all open to and approved the idea of allowing sponsorships that advertise products containing CBD." General notes though the THC level in Defy is "said to be well below the 0.3% allowed, IndyCar drivers can’t drink it because CBD is on the organization’s banned substance list" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 5/17).
