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As a Jeff Burton fan (Go 99) and likely a NASCAR fan-here's a good one for you. I used to work for a major oil company. About 10 years ago the NASCAR fuel contract was coming up. and Union 76 was thinking about pulling out-very few stations in the east,especailly the southeast so they thought they weren't get much of a bump from being the "Official fuel of NASCAR". All of the majors were lined up to bid on the contract-Exxon, Mobil, Amoco-that is until they found out that if they took over the contract they would have to remove ALL of the buried gas tanks at all of the WC tracks and replace them with fiberglass. EPA rule-when a gas station changes ownership (and all of the "gas stations" at WC tracks are considered just that-gas stations) all steel tanks must be removed, surrounding soil remediated, and the tanks replaced with fiberglass. When the potential bidders found this out the all said "thanks but no thanks"-so the contract reverted back to 76 almost by default.

Somehow, your post rings painfully true.

Fireball Roberts would feel out of place today in any event.

Maybe I should dig out those old Sterling kits afterall.

As a season ticket holder at Texas Motor Speedway, since it's infamous opening date, and a lifelong speedfreak. Even having done a bit of Motocrossing and Enduro work earlier in life, I very much understand where these guys come from.
There will always be a sponsor, because as just with NASA, we must always go faster and further than we have before.
Coors or Bud or Miller or etc, is more than willing to jump in.

The fuel story kind of struck a personal tone, as back in my youth, we popped a telecom manhole cover and found about six inches of gasoline floating on top of the usual murk.
The station across the street was eventually shut down and replaced by a...McDonalds.