We see lots of posts about how the racing was 30 years ago and how the cars were built 30 years ago.
Did you ever wonder how the cars were sponsored 30 years ago and how those sponsors justified their sponsorship? Did you ever wonder how much it cost to hook up with a major league NASCAR driver and team back in the day?
If not... quit right here. If so, read on.
My wife came across these documents yesterday while organizing one of our spare rooms.
In the 1980s I managed motorsports programs for Blue Bell, Inc. and our Wrangler Jeans sponsorship of Dale Earnhardt/Bud Moore/Richard Childress/Rod Osterlund/Robert Gee/Ed Whitaker, as well as event sponsorships. Later I managed NASCAR, IMSA and NHRA programs for The Southland Corporation's 7-Eleven / CITGO / Chief Auto Parts sponsorships of Kyle Petty, Petty Enterprises, Wood Brothers, Jefferson Racing, Derrike Cope, Bob Glidden, Billy Meyers, Bruce Jenner, Klaus Ludwig, Doc Bundy and Lyn St. James.
Some sponsors simply painted their names on cars and waited for the publicity and dollars to roll in. Our programs were organized very differently. We considered our particular race market event won before race day. What happened on the track was gravy.
Remember these are 1983 dollars... 30 years ago.
Since neither Blue Bell, Inc. nor Southland Corporation exist today, this is no longer proprietary information. Many of these pages would be very boring to the average reader, but if you wonder what it cost and how sponsors justified the expenditures, read on to see budgets and programs for 1983 and 1986.
--
"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 12/05/16 04:00:58PM
