Dick Trickle Memorial emerging: The beginnings of the Dick Trickle Memorial at the Rudolph Community Park (Wisconsin) are slowly beginning to emerge from the grassy field, thanks to the hard work of those dedicated to preserving the racing legend's memory. Trickle, a central Wisconsin resident and stock car racer, died by suicide May 16, 2013, in Iron Station, NC at the age of 71. His former central Wisconsin racing buddies choose to focus on Trickle's life and contributions to the racing community. Less than a year after Trickle's death, friends joined together to build a memorial in Trickle's boyhood home of Rudolph. This weekend not only marks the second anniversary of Trickle's death, but also the second annual Dick Trickle Memorial Celebration at the Rudolph Community Park, the site where the building of the memorial is underway. Sunday's event also kicks off a summer of 12 race event appearances by committee members to raise awareness and funds for the memorial. More information at
dicktricklememorialproject.com.(
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune)(5-16-2015)
Sponsorship All-Stars in NASCAR: With a quarter of the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season in the books and ahead of this weekend's Sprint All-Star Race, certain drivers and brands are emerging as sponsorship all-stars. The 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion #4-Kevin Harvick is leading the way. Not only has he led the most laps, but Harvick tops all drivers in providing his team's sponsors the most time-on-screen during 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race broadcasts. With nearly 7 ½ hours of television time in the first quarter of the season, Harvick's sponsors combined to receive 10% more exposure time than the next closest competitor. Harvick's primary car sponsor, Jimmy John's, has acquired the most media value among primary car sponsors through the first quarter of the season, followed by Lowe's, Shell-Pennzoil, Nationwide, Haas Automation, Target, FedEx, Dollar General, Furniture Row and Miller Lite. Repucom Executive Vice President Peter Laatz said, "Performance is one of the more prominent indicators for car sponsor exposure in NASCAR as evidenced by the brands you see with the highest media value to date. Eight of the top 10 cars have made at least one trip to victory lane."
Furniture Row is a newcomer to the top 10 primary car sponsor list tracked by Repucom. Due to outstanding performance this season by Martin Truex, Jr. and the No. 78 team, Furniture Row has received more media value to date than it did in the entire 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Truex is the only driver besides Harvick to have 10 top-10 finishes this season. The top overall brands in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series during live-race broadcasts are Sprint, Chevrolet, Toyota, Ford and Nationwide. Nationwide moved from a NASCAR series entitlement sponsor to become the primary car sponsor of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 2015. Nationwide has also received extensive brand exposure through broadcast sponsorship segments and on-air graphics during NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.(
Repucom)(5-16-2015)