Sometimes What Goes Around Comes Around & You Want to Cheer

A lot of what they have done over the years hasn't been in the public eye or the eye of the NASCAR fan, but sponsor Pennzoil and the Pennzoil/Shell combine have been involved in some pretty questionable deals in their various NASCAR stock car racing ventures over the years as seen through the eyes of lots of racing insiders. They've been around in a lot of forms and various sponsorships, from the Chuck Rider days and on to DEI and Steve Park, as well as at RCR with Kevin Harvick, before moving again to Penske and winding up with Kurt Busch in their outfit. Again, if you weren't on the inside and didn't realize how some of their deals had been handled, crafted and put together, you wouldn't realize how shady they had been in lots of instances over the years. Originally their NASCAR deals were forPennzoil only, before the companies combined.

Like it or don't like it, everyone is aware of NASCAR having to offer some form of protection to its primary sponsors. That's why you didn't see Marlboro on Roger Penske NASCAR cars like he had on his Indy/CART vehicles during Winston's sponsorship of the major NASCAR series. Instead, he was sponsored in NASCAR by Miller Brewing, which at the time was a wholly owned subsidiary of Phillip Morris, makers of Marlboro. It used to be kinda comical to see the big Marlboro billboards during Winston Cup races at Michigan when The Captain owned the place. Even NASCAR and RJR were unable to get Penske to take those down.

That's also why the AT&T sponsorships and Alltel wireless sponsorships disappeared and why you don't see Verizon or T-Mobile around the Cup Series so long as Sprint is the major sponsor.

After the combination of Shell and Pennzoil, the company tried to emphasize its Shell gasoline brand on the Childress car and driver's uniform. NASCAR was forced to step up to the plate and protect its fuel supplier SUN Oil Company's SUNOCO brand. They forced Childress to change the car design and driver uniform to de-emphasize Shell, which had claimed it was only promoting its motor oil, not its gasoline. I myself had a little experience with this type of deal, having claimed the same thing to NASCAR and UNOCAL on behalf of CITGO when I represented the Wood Brothers sponsorship. We were more successful (wink).

I am no fan of Kevin Harvick, but I strongly believe that Shell/Pennzoil treated he, Delana and RCR very shabbily during its final sponsorship season at Childress on the #29 car. Now, Shell/Pennzoil finds itself with egg all over its face (much worse than the chocolate on MARS' face over at Gibbs) due to its "new" former driver Kurt Busch and his antics.

Much of the early racing success of Roger Penske - "The Captain" - with his multitude of various Pennsylvania-based companies was underwritten by Pennsylvania-based SUNOCO. Who can ever forget those Penske owned, Mark Donohue driven SUNOCO sponsored GM Trans-Am cars battling it out with Bud Moore's Dearborn pony cars for championships and supremacy? But as my old friend Paul Sawyer once told me, most racers are whores with helmets - both drivers and owners. So just as Rick Hendrick once proclaimed Exxon SuperFlo motor oil unbeatable in his fleet of NASCAR contenders, including the fake SuperFlo car in "Days of Thunder", but suddenly had an epihany and discovered Quaker State Motor Oil and its race winning virtues, so did Roger Penske forsake SUNOCO, the brand that "brought him to the party" for Mobil1 and then on to Pennzoil/Shell. No loyalty. Just dollars. Whores with helmets.

Methinks right now that SUNOCO is looking over at Mooresville, NC and the Penske/Shell-Pennzoil operation and laughing its ass off. I'm laughing with them.

Nice piece, Dave. Very nice!

Really great Dave. It is so wonderful to have your insider view of so many things that people like me just can't know. Even so, I still think Roger did the better thing with dumping Kurt than Joe has done by keeping Kyle. I liked your idea of the father of these delinquents starting the Busch Series racing.

Jim, your mention of the Martin 404 airplanes really brought back a memory for me. In my first year - 1970 - of working for Wrangler Jeans (Blue Bell, Inc.) in Wilson, NC I was scheduled to undergo an intensive Industrial Engineering Time Study crash course at another Wrangler division headquarters in Tupelo, Mississippi. Got to see the the Tallahachie (sp?) Bridge (Billy Joe McAllister jumped off in the song) and the Yazoo Lawn Mower Factory, as well as drink a little Jack Daniels Black Label at the old Elvis hangout, the Chickasaw Lounge.

I was flying out of Raleigh-Durham airport (RDU) to get to Tupelo, Mississippi. The date was Sunday, November 15, 1970. The afternoon before, just down the road from Wilson in Greenville, NC, the Marshall University Thundering Herd had played the local East Carolina University Pirates in a late season football game. When I opened my Sunday morning paper before departing for the Raleigh airport, I was sickened by the huge front page photo of the smoldering wreckage of the Southern Airways new DC-9 that had been carrying the Marshall University football team back from the East Carolina game to Huntington, WV. All 75 passengers aboard - the entire team, the coaching staff, administrators and plane crew - lost their lives early that Saturday evening when the plane clipped treetops on its approach to Tri-State Airport in inclement weather. It was one of our country's worst-ever sports disasters and remains so to this day.

I flew from Raleigh to Atlanta on either a Delta or Piedmont jet. The connecting flight to Tupelo, Mississippi via Anniston and Tuscaloosa, Alabama was to be on Southern Airways, of all carriers, one I had never flown and the airline that had crashed the night before with the Marshall football team. I was absolutely scared to death. We could see one lonely looking prop plane out of the waiting area window at the old Atlanta Airport, terminal and my group of 3 made fun of a shabby looking little prop plane we saw parked outside. Of course, that Martin 404 turned out to be our connecting flight to Tupelo. I remember we couldn't use the jetway to board - had to walk out and go up the ramp. I have never seen so much smoke when the props started turning. The entire flight I could see oil running down the wing from an engine cowling. I know I must of been white with fear. After several landings on the puddle jumper, we finally made it to Tupelo only to repeat the journey back to Atlanta two weeks later. That was the first and only time I ever flew the long ago merged Southern Airways. It was a Sunday flight I shall never forget. R.I.P. Marshall University Football team.

I cannot even begin to imagine the sadness of that weekend to your family. My wife lost her only brother just before we were married at age 19 to undiagnosed stomach cancer. He was being treated for a spastic colon, "nervous stomach" condition. Thank goodness for the advances in medicine in our lifetime that have and will save the children of other families.

ttt

Just saw an article about SUNOCO sponsoring a charity dinner event for Roger Penske in Long Beach this past spring. What a class act considering Roger's current Shell sponsorship.

http://www.rrdc.org/news/89-sunoco-comes-on-board-to-support-rrdc-e...

SUNOCO COMES ON BOARD FOR RRDC EVENING WITH ROGER PENSKE IN LONG BEACH
Sunoco, a primary sponsor of Roger Penske's racing teams from 1966-1982 and currently the official fuel of NASCAR and INDYCAR, will support the RRDC Evening with Roger Penske presented by Firestone. The third annual Road Racing Drivers Club's West Coast banquet will be held on Thursday, April 14, prior to the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (Calif.).

"The iconic Sunoco brand has been a part of Roger Penske's history since the heyday of sports car racing in the '60s," said RRDC president Bobby Rahal. "It is very fitting to have Sunoco on board as a sponsor of the RRDC Evening with Roger Penske, and we welcome their support.

"Sunoco is pleased to support the Road Racing Drivers Club as it honors Roger Penske for his outstanding career accomplishments and the tireless work he has done to promote motorsports," said Bob Owens, Sunoco's senior vice president of marketing. "Sunoco has long been associated with racing excellence, and our relationship with the Roger Penske Racing Team with Mark Donohue when they won the 1972 Indianapolis 500 with a Sunoco-sponsored car remains a prime example. This duo succeeded in capturing several sports car championships, including SCCA, Can-Am, and the inaugural IndyCar race at Pocono Raceway. For these triumphs and so many more, we congratulate Roger on a remarkable career."

Sunoco began its relationship with Penske Racing in 1966 when Elmer Bradley, a Sunoco executive, met Roger Penske while shopping for a Corvette at Penske's Chevrolet dealership in Philadelphia. At that first meeting, Penske suggested using Sunoco products in the Corvette he was entering in the 24 Hours of Daytona, including Sunoco 260 gasoline and Sunoco motor oil and lubricants. Penske even proposed putting Sunoco's iconic logo on the red Corvette's quarter panel.

The program took off when Sunoco later became Penske Racing's major sponsor. A succession of Sunoco Special Blue race cars were driven to victory lane by Mark Donohue and other Penske Racing drivers in the 24 Hours of Daytona and the USRRC, Can-Am, Trans-Am, and USAC Championship series, including the 1972 Indy 500, Penske Racing's first win at The Brickyard. Sunoco products were also used in Penske Racing's entries in the NASCAR Winston Cup series and CART in the '70s and '80s.

Over the years, the program proved to be a powerful platform for advertising and promotion, especially when tied into Sunoco's vast network of retail fuel locations. Sunoco also provided outstanding technical product support and development primarily through Jerry Kroninger, an engineer at Sunoco's Marcus Hook refinery. Kroninger designed the innovative refueling systems that later became famous as one of Penske Racing's "Unfair Advantages."

Sunoco continues to be a force in the racing world as the Official Fuel of NASCAR , INDYCAR , and over 40 other series in the U.S. and in other countries.

The RRDC Evening with Roger Penske will be held at the Hilton Hotel, 701 West Ocean Blvd, Long Beach, Calif., with cocktails at 6 p.m., and dinner at 7:15 p.m. The RRDC is pleased to announce that the event has reached its capacity and reservations can no longer be accepted.

Proceeds from the evening will help support the club's "SAFE is FAST" initiative, aimed at mentoring your drivers, and the Team USA Scholarship, which the RRDC has backed since 1997. Previous banquets have honored Dan Gurney and Parnelli Jones, drawing fans and luminaries from all forms of motorsports.