Posted on 06/18/2003 9:54:13 AM PDT by rattrap
Reportedly, NASCAR is ready to stop smoking.
And, instead, take up talking on the cell phone while driving at very high speeds.
So, not to worry, big-time stock car racing fan. Supporting your sport's title sponsor still will come with certain health risks.
For 31 years, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco -- and specifically its Winston brand -- has been racing. For three decades the corporation forged a powerful relationship with race fans, promising that they would never have to be without breath-taking speed, clothes that smelled like they were used to wipe down a crematorium smokestack, and a persistent, Les Miserables-quality cough. Winston Cup racing just kept getting bigger despite the fact that so many of the customers kept dying young during the season.
They say NASCAR has scheduled a news conference Thursday to announce that wireless provider Nextel will take over the heavy (oh, like $80 million) work of sponsoring the circuit. Racing can breathe easy, literally and figuratively.
Not a beer company. Not Mountain Dew or Coke. Not Spam. Not the makers of rifles or engine additives. None of the usual suspects, but rather the very symbol of clean industry and modern times.
I can almost hear the command to start next year's Daytona Hands Free 500 now: Gentlemen, set your cars to vibrate!
And this momentous announcement reportedly will not be made anywhere in the cradle of stock car racing, unless they've moved Times Square south of the Mason-Dixon line and forgot to inform the media. Supposedly, representing the drivers will be a recently divorced four-time Winston Cup champion and aspiring male model from Indiana, rather than a Petty.
Need any more proof of how urgently NASCAR wants to dress itself up in a cloak of sophistication and stretch its appeal beyond its Southern core? Seems almost every major move the circuit makes -- whether it's lining up a new sponsor or moving race dates from traditional tracks to new far-flung venues -- is done with the idea of altering the sport's very soul.
With the switch from the Winston Cup to, what -- the Nextel Plate? -- might we foresee a completely remade future? One in which the infields will be stripped of Confederate flags and the sound of Lynyrd Skynyrd over the roar will be replaced by thousands of cell phones beeping out the William Tell Overture.
Shouldn't we expect our Miss Nextels to be much more stable and serious-minded than our Miss Winstons? Too late to help Jeff Gordon, but not the many generations of drivers to follow.
Granted, NASCAR drivers may be among the worst professionals to speak for the cell phone business. After all, they seldom have to worry about roaming charges since they're just driving in a circle. But I have every confidence in Nextel's marketing people to make this work.
Change is not always a bad thing. The day that racing removes its nicotine-stained fingers from Big Tobacco's pockets is one to be celebrated. Breaking a connection with that foul industry - whether voluntary or not - can only benefit racing's image. And giving that product one less outlet to get around advertising restrictions is a downright community service.
For sure, this is going to work out better for your average sportswriter. Under the old regime, free cigarettes were strewn all about the press room at every race. It was the most obvious example of the world-wide conspiracy to kill us all off. But, now, I can hardly wait until the first Atlanta race next season to load up with cell phones.
It is about time that racing went on the patch. And then a good nights and weekends plan.
On a side note, did anyone watch Gordon/JPM Tradin' Paint?
From yesterday: NASCAR trying to change its white face
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