A fine example of how NASCAR screwed Penske.

[HoneyBadger]

http://www.nascar.com/news/101210/verizon-history-in-nascar/index.html?eref=/news/business

Verizon backed up its loose tie to the Cup car by using the same black-and-red paint scheme on both the No. 12 Nationwide and No. 12 Cup cars. The only difference between the two was that the Nationwide car featured a Verizon logo, while the Cup car featured a Penske Racing logo.

The hope was that the similarities between the cars racing Saturday and Sunday would be strong enough that consumers would associate both with Verizon in the same way they associated Marlboro with the red-and-white, unbranded Ferrari car in Formula One.

NASCAR, which has final say over the paint schemes of the cars, approved the No. 12, and Penske Racing president Tim Cindric and NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston called the paint scheme agreement a good compromise.

"Everything about the sport is conflict and compromise and cooperation, and that's what happened here," Poston told NASCAR.COM in 2009.

Verizon Wireless targeted the Daytona 500 in 2009 as the moment when it would trumpet its new presence in NASCAR. It branded a dozen smart cars that toured and passed out fliers on Daytona Beach; it rebranded a popular local spot, the Ocean Deck, as the V Lounge for four days; and it used its retail store across from the speedway as the site for driver autograph signings.

The promotions were the cornerstone of a yearlong activation campaign comparable to the more than $10 million the average primary partner spends to activate in NASCAR.

Verizon planned to supplement its spending around town with a creative buy on Fox during the race. Together they developed a plan to superimpose Verizon logos electronically on the roll bars and interior of the No. 12 car during in-car shots during the race, similar to the way the yellow "1st & 10" marker is applied during a football game. It tested the idea at the Bud Shootout, the week before the Daytona race.

On race day, word spread that Sprint and NASCAR didn't like the idea. NASCAR called a meeting with Fox, Verizon and Penske executives and said they couldn't apply the Verizon logo to the No. 12 car during the race broadcast.

NASCAR threatened to black flag the car driven by David Stremme if the logo appeared during the race broadcast. Verizon executives abandoned the plan rather than risk affecting the race, sources familiar with the meeting said.

Even though the Verizon logo shows up during EVERY NASCAR television broadcast, just like AT&T does. But that's okay, since NASCAR and FOX/TNT/ESPN are getting the money from it -- it's not okay for race teams to get money from those sponsors though.

The first problem is one that's been beaten to death here, exclusitivity (which doesn't really exist since competing sponsors advertise on NASCAR races all the time).

The other problem is NASCAR, which makes billions of dollars a year, competing with teams for sponsorship. This can only hurt the sport. Like I said, NASCAR already gets money one way or another from Verizon -- but Justin Allgaier's out of a ride because it's only acceptable for NASCAR's partners to get money from them.

Even during the Winston Cup days, there were other cigarette companies sponsoring racecars, there were other beer companies sponsoring race cars, etc. Now, in the Brian France era, that's changed.

I remember one year, Motorola sponsored Robby Gordon but couldn't put their logo on the car because Motorola made phones (even though Motorola made, almost 100% exclusively, Nextel phones)... but Motorola, a company that makes a ton of electronic products, couldn't sponsor Robby because they make one or two phones for AT&T.

Next up, they'll say Best Buy can no longer sponsor Allmendinger because they sell phones. Best Buy sells Sprint phones, but they sell the iPhone to so they'll be banned from NASCAR... call me crazy, but I can see it happening.

Brian France is going to destroy the sport.

 

[JustMe]

I'm not calling you crazy because I can see it happening too.

 

[HoneyBadger]

I'm not calling you crazy because I can see it happening too.

Wouldn't surprise me at all. Brian France just doesn't seem to understand that, if teams don't have sponsorship to compete and can't race, you have no product to sell to your advertisers.

I just can't believe it's been two years and we're just now hearing about this. After Hamlin and Newman were penalized for comments on ESPN and on Twitter, people on here asked what else NASCAR was hiding? Sounds like we're finding out.

 

[HoneyBadger]

The worst part is that NASCAR doesn't realize Justin Allgaier (a talented driver with a huge following who has a lot of potential as a future star) is now without a ride because of NASCAR's business policy.

Verizon found it was worth it to go to IndyCar and sponsor cars there where the series would welcome them than it was to continue sponsoring Penske even in Nationwide.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Or maybe they do realize and don't care that their policies are driving young talent out of the sport.

 

[SST55]

1993 Slick 50 300 @ New Hampshire. I was afiliated with a company in direct competition with Slick 50. We had paid the track, had the "hospitality" tent. Runt Pitman, engine builder for the #4 was there along with Swerving Irvin, the car had our sponsor decals. All was cool until the Slick people byiotched to Na$car. Now the Behrs (sp) were ok with us it was Na$car that ordered our banners down, the tent down, our truck out of the infield. Decal off the car. We could stay,,,in the stands and watch the race but no promo of the product.

Funny how Na$car decides how much you pay to become the "official" whatever.

 

[Joniki]

NASCAR threatened to black flag the car driven by David Stremme if the logo appeared during the race broadcast. Verizon executives abandoned the plan rather than risk affecting the race, sources familiar with the meeting said.

Maybe, just maybe Mayfield isn't the nut case you all tried to make him.

 

[Mopardh9]

Maybe, just maybe Mayfield isn't the nut case you all tried to make him.

I've thought all along, Call me a conspiracy theorist or whatever, but I think this is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[JustMe]

Maybe, just maybe Mayfield isn't the nut case you all tried to make him.

I never thought he was. I said the whole time that if he was a meth head, he was the cleanest and healthiest one I've ever seen.

 

[kelloggs5TLfan]

I never thought he was. I said the whole time that if he was a meth head, he was the cleanest and healthiest one I've ever seen.

Amen!

 

[MRM]

But why single him out? What did he say or do prior to all of that coming out?

 

[Go Panthers]

Anyone remember Eel River Racing?

They had a sponsor lined up with Sminoff Ice, Nascar nixed the deal and said they couldnt have hard liquors as a sponsor. Eel River closed its doors.

Then Crown Royal offered nascar money to put signs up at Daytona 2 years later, and we know nascar doesnt turn money down.

 

[carsntunes]

But why single him out? What did he say or do prior to all of that coming out?

I think that they saw how Jeremy threw Ray Evernham under the bus when he was kicked out of the 19 ride and the way he threw the Penske under the bus when he was kicked out of the 12 ride. Maybe Mayfield had some privvy info on B. France and Brian knew that he would get thrown under the bus so he threw him under the bus first, to discredit him, so whatever info Mayfield leaked would be considered hogwash from a disgruntled driver. A crack, meth head but healthy driver.

 

[carsntunes]

Back to the Penske issue. I'm not so sympathetic to the whole idea that Verizon got screwed. If they wanted to keep the sponsorship visibility, they could have kept the Alltel name that was grandfathered in. Like a "Alltel by Verizon" arrangement. There again, Verizon knew the rules about name change before they changed it. Granted, they shouldn't do business based on NASCAR sponsorship but if they wanted to, they could have made Alltel a prepaid alternative or something like that to make it fit in with the scope of their business. Penske has also had plenty of time to find sponsorship also. Childress/Burton/Cingular had the very same issue and fixed it. Maybe people don't want to sponsor Penske for a reason. They are the only Dodge camp out there with only 2 1/2 cars. They need results and if they were getting them, they would have sponsorship. The Allgaier situation is a little different. Nationwide regulars have visibility issues because of all the cup drivers in that series. Lets not confuse exclusivity arrangements with visibility issues. The whole Nationwide/Sprint cup drivers is a complete topic unto its self.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Back to the Penske issue. I'm not so sympathetic to the whole idea that Verizon got screwed. If they wanted to keep the sponsorship visibility, they could have kept the Alltel name that was grandfathered in. Like a "Alltel by Verizon" arrangement. There again, Verizon knew the rules about name change before they changed it. Granted, they shouldn't do business based on NASCAR sponsorship but if they wanted to, they could have made Alltel a prepaid alternative or something like that to make it fit in with the scope of their business. Penske has also had plenty of time to find sponsorship also. Childress/Burton/Cingular had the very same issue and fixed it. Maybe people don't want to sponsor Penske for a reason. They are the only Dodge camp out there with only 2 1/2 cars. They need results and if they were getting them, they would have sponsorship. The Allgaier situation is a little different. Nationwide regulars have visibility issues because of all the cup drivers in that series. Lets not confuse exclusivity arrangements with visibility issues. The whole Nationwide/Sprint cup drivers is a complete topic unto its self.

I disagree. Nextel changed its name to Sprint, AT&T and Verizon should've been allowed to stay.

And the Motorola issue with Robby Gordon speaks volumes to the hypocrisy. When they sponsored Robby Gordon, Motorola made all their phones EXCLUSIVE to Nextel. But they weren't allowed to sponsor Robby because they made phones (nevermind that they only made Nextel phones).



NASCAR's competing directly with the teams for sponsorship, and it's putting a lot of teams out of competition and putting a lot of drivers out of rides.