A Sponsor Is A Sponsor...Or Maybe Not 10/21/2014 |
I
bid you welcome gentle readers, and a cordial Howdy-do
to our assigned reader of all things NASCAR, wherever this lovely autumn day
might find you. Please enjoy your time with us and tell Brian and the gang we
all said "Hey!"
It's
the lunch hour on the Friday before the Talladega Demolition Derby as I pull up
to the keyboard, which I'm sure eagerly awaits
whatever comes next. The news this week has been rather strange... in a nasty
sort of way, don't you think? Much of the talk of course, still goes back to
the "Knock 'em down, but don't run 'em over" dustup following the
2000 miles of Charlotte, which was won by Kevin Harvick, but no one noticed.
Let's
put Charlotte in the rear view mirror, shall we? By the time this finds its way
to you, we'll all be grumbling about who did what to whom and when at that big
track in Alabama... the one with the funny name. Some folks do have trouble
pronouncing Talladega, you know, but that one's easy. Try getting anyone
"not from around here" to pronounce Dahlonega. If you think they
rhyme or come even close, no cigar! Your scribe long since figured out why
she's never had much trouble with words such as those. They're Indian... the
Native America variety... in origin. I'm "not from around here"
either, but I come from Western New York originally, which was once heavily
populated by the Iroquois Nations. Here in North Georgia, it was Cherokee for
the most part, but if you learned to pronounce Canandaigua, Canaseraga,
Cheektowaga and Oswegatchie, you had little trouble getting
comfortable with having Currahee Mountain in your
back yard and knowing that "Toccoa" is Cherokee for "The
Beautiful."
Forgive
that little digression from our intended topic, which as the title indicates is
sponsorship. For today's discussion, I've selected 16 teams from the list of
those scheduled to run at Talladega on Sunday and listed them below in
numerical order according to car number. With 46
entries for the "Who's Crazy Enough to Race This 500", three cars
will not make the field, and they will most assuredly be on this list
somewhere. (Well... OK, that didn't work
out quite as predicted, but who in his right mind expected qualifying to turn
into a race for last? Quite honestly, who expected almost the entire field to
turn into a bunch of department store mannequins, strapped into race cars and doing
nothing but sitting still? I've heard that described in such ways as
"weird", "shocking", "surprising" and
"bizarre." My adjective of choice would be "pathetic." End
of discussion...)
Please,
gentle readers, pay close attention to the sponsor names listed for each car.
It's important to realize that each one, even here, which I'm sure you all
recognize as the back of the field, contributes a different amount to the team
that wears its colors. A few of these are actual regular or Primary
sponsors, meaning they contribute to the team for several races throughout the
season on a pre-arranged schedule. Some are names most of you will recognize.
Ironically, most of those are the ones involving food, though I'm not sure that
has any bearing on anything. It's merely amusing to note.
Because
you recognize the name Burger King displayed on the hood of the #83, piloted
this week by J.J. Yeley, do you seriously think their contribution to this team
is the equal of that of rival fast food baron McDonalds on the hood of Chip
Ganassi's #1 car with Jamie McMurray at the helm? Not on your life, and not
even close. It has always amazed me (This is not a new phenomenon, by any
means) how some folks can just assume that all things in racing are equal.
Uh-uh! It just ain't so McGee!
Please
understand, we won't be quoting numbers here for the
simple reason that every contract with every team is private and sealed. There
is enough "leakage" to the media that it's accepted that the best
cars today attract something over $30Million for running the 36-race season. On
the list of 16 above, some are regular runners; some used to be start and
parkers, but that practice has now been discouraged, as NASCAR finally figured
out it didn't cast them in a particularly good light. Now, those same cars run,
but at their own speed. This scribe has rechristened them, "Start and
pokers." Works for me!
In
real perspective, one might fairly say that the sponsorship for one season on
Jimmie Johnson's #48 (example only) would be close to equal that of all the
above teams, which equal just over 1/3 of the entire field. That's a disparity
that's difficult to overlook and quite frankly, impossible to overcome. It's
long been said that, "Money buys speed. How fast do you want to go?"
(Banjo Matthews)
No
one is saying that it's right, wrong or indifferent for some to have everything
and others be lucky to catch a scrap or two from the
table on occasion. The purpose here is to inform, not to argue. There have
always been rich and poor, haves and have-nots if you will, and yes, they
translate to winners and losers. On our list today, some of those sponsor names
will never be seen there again, and in truth, the money contributed toward
being a "sponsor" for a day may well be mostly spent on
"wrapping" the car in that sponsor's colors for this single race. In
those instances, the "sponsor" is certainly getting his money's worth
if the car is seen or mentioned a couple of times during the race. Can the same
be said for the company coughing up multi-millions of dollars for the same
exposure? You be the judge... and we wonder why names
such as Home Depot, UPS, Crown Royal and the like have all taken leave of the
sport.
"Yes
Virginia", there is a problem with sponsorship, and it seems to be that he
who spends the most is getting the least in return, and this race fan has a
problem seeing the sense behind that. Apparently, many of the most lucrative
sponsors are having that same problem, and they can see all the figures and how
they add up. Too many these days are not adding but subtracting, and as
contracts run out, they are not renewed or cut back from 36 races to perhaps
half of that. I'm making no dire predictions; merely stating what is and
wondering to what outcome it all can lead. What happens when the big teams run
out of sponsors? Will they then opt to settle for what the small teams now
have, creating yet another vicious cycle of cutbacks? What happens when those
teams listed above can't make it pay any longer? Just
something to think about in your spare time gentle readers.
Oh,
and just before we close... farewell Iceman... again. It's been great Terry,
but even the best of us grow old. Trust me; you're speaking to a pro here. God
bless and Happy Trails to you Texas Terry Labonte!
Now,
let's go to this week's Classic Country Closeout. There's a gentleman, long
gone from us now, that folks never really thought of as Country, but Country he
was, and as Southern as New Orleans. His name was Phil Harris, and what a
multi-talented entertainer that man was. Just to be sure you believe he really
was Country, I've chosen a segment where Phil appeared with Johnny Cash on
Johnny's show, and together they do a duet of one of Phil's signature songs,
"That's What I Like About the South." Please
enjoy...
We
have another one from Phil Harris... music to me is like potato chips. I can
never have just one... This one is a tender little love song called, "Now
You've Gone and Hurt My Southern Pride." You'll be doin'
some toe-tappin' to this one I'm thinking.
Let's
follow that up with one from Red Foley (who else?) that I finally sent off to
Darrell to put it on YouTube for me so I could share it with you. Red, another
multi-talented guy, was pretty darn good at vocal inflections and such. I've
loved this one since I was a small child and I hope you will as well. This is
called "Echoes of My Old Plantation Home."
And
for those happy to hear a female voice in our last visit, here is one of the
very best from the field of Classic Country, The Singing Rage, Miss Patti Page,
doing a song that brings lovely memories to me and I hope to you as well. Be
sure to watch the video with this one as Patti sings the enchanting waltz tune,
"Changing Partners."
Be
well gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~
PattyKay