5 of the Most Iconic Sponsors in Auto Racing
5 of the Most Iconic Sponsors in Auto Racing
By Brian Cotnoir
Without sponsorship, racing would probably not be
as recognized globally as it is today.
From Tobacco to Petroleum, Big box stores and energy drinks & sodas,
all have made some impact in racing or another.
Some have been around for decades, while others are relatively new to
the sport. Some sponsor one driver or
team, others sponsor multiple drivers, teams and even whole racing series, but
no matter how much or how little they choose to sponsor, they have been
integral to the sports. Now just a
disclaimer, I am NOT being paid by any of these companies or brands to
promote them, this all just merely my own personal opinion.
1.) Marlboro
Auto Racing wouldn’t be where it is today without
sponsorship from Big Tobacco. Tobacco
brands like Camel, Gitanes, Copenhagen, and Rothman’s sponsored teams in
Formula 1 & IndyCar/CART. NASCAR was
sponsored by Winston Cigarettes for decades and also featured sponsorship from Skoal
and Kodiak. Growing up as a kid in the
1990’s I actually had racing posters promoting cigarette brand Camel in my
room. It’s a miracle I never grew up to
be a smoker, because smoking is—IN FACT---VERY BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH AND YOU
SHOULD NOT SMOKE!
However, the big granddaddy of them all has to be Marlboro. Marlboro began sponsoring racing teams in
Formula 1972 with BRM, but soon moved on to bigger and better teams; most
notably McLaren and Ferrari. In the
IndyCar/CART series they sponsored racing legend Roger Penske’s cars that were
always up front competing for wins at the famous Indianapolis 500. Marlboro also sponsored Motor Cycle Racers
too. For decades orange & white cars
marked with the Marlboro chevron raced around circuits all over the world and
are associated with winning in prosperity!
Drivers who raced with Marlboro sponsorship include Michael Schumacher,
Emerson Fittipaldi, James Hunt, Al Unser Jr., Rick Mears, Sam Hornish Jr.,
Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, and so many others.
2.) STP
Next to car manufacturers, petroleum companies make
the most sense for sponsorship of a racing team. In the past companies like Unocal 76 &
Sunoco have prided themselves as the “official fuel suppliers of NASCAR”. Pennzoil was once title sponsor for the
World of Outlaws Series and Lucas Oil sponsors numerous dirt racing series
throughout the Midwestern United States.
NASCAR teams also have benefited from petroleum based sponsors such as
Texaco/Chevron, Quaker State, Valvoline, and Mobil 1.
However, one petroleum company stands above the
rest; STP. In the past STP had
sponsored cars in the Indy 500 and Formula 1, but their most notable
contribution to Auto Racing was as the long time sponsor to NASCAR Hall of
Famer Richard Petty. From 1972-2000, the
STP oil company sponsored Petty’s #43 car.
Even when Petty retired at the end of the 1992 season, STP was still
there for another almost another decade.
They have since scaled back sponsorship with Petty’s team over the past
2 decades, but occasionally their bright red does appear in a handful of races
to compliment the Petty Blue on iconic #43 car.
While other sponsors have been in the sport longer such as Valvoline and
Quaker State, their contributions have come with multiple teams, while STP has
stuck (for the most part) as a sponsor of Richard Petty’s team.
3.) Target
The Minnesota-Based retail store Target was the
primary sponsor for race team owner, Chip Ganassi’s racing teams in multiple
sports. Target’s association with
Ganassi is so iconic, that I sometimes still mistakenly refer to his team
“Target Chip Ganssi” instead of Chip Ganassi Racing. Target appeared for decades on all of
Ganassi’s NASCAR and IMSA sports cars, but most noticeably where the Target
cars that won Championships and races for the better part of 2 decades in the
IndyCar/CART Series. Ganassi’s cars won
several IndyCar/CART championships and 4 Indianapolis 500’s while sporting the
red & white bullseye, and one of the most iconic images in NASCAR history
is Juan Pablo Montoya accidentally crashing his #42 Target Chevrolet into the
Jet dryer under caution the 2012 Daytona 500.
I’m sad to this day that Target no longer sponsors Ganassi’s IndyCar
team.
4.) Red Bull
Red Bull has prided itself as being one of the most
successful brands in recent racing history.
The Austrian based energy drink has a massive sponsorship presence in
extreme sports such as surfing, BMX riding, skateboarding, in addition to their
motorsports sponsorships in Motocross, Rallycross, NASCAR, IndyCar, and Formula
1! In addition to sponsoring teams in
all these series, the also own not one, but TWO Formula 1 racing teams. Red Bull Racing based in Milton Keynes,
England and Scuderia AlphaTauri (formerly Scuderia Toro Rosso) in Faenza,
Italy. The Red Bull F1 team won 4
consecutive driver & constructor championships from 2010-2013 with driver
Sebastian Vettel.
Red Bull even had a small presence in NASCAR,
owning and operating their own NASCAR team from 2006-2011, but struggles to
qualify for races and issues with drivers saw the team only score 2 wins in the
NASCAR Cup Series before shutting down their team.
While not as popular or well-known as other Big Box
stores like Walmart, Target, Home Depot, or Sears, Menards has found some relative
success in the Midwestern part of the United States. I’ve never been to a Menards, and there
actually isn’t one located within 400 miles of me, but they have one of the
most recognizable brands in Auto Racing.
John Menard Jr. has always been passionate about Auto Racing. He owned and entered his own team into
IndyCar, Team Menard. Menard would enter
as many as 4 cars into the Indy 500 each year, some years the Indy 500 was the
only race his team would enter. As a
full-time entry his drivers Tony Stewart and Greg Ray won the IndyCar
championship in 1997 & 1999 respectively.
Menard would shut down his own team in 2003, but still sponsors driver
Simon Pagenaud, who won the 2019 Indianapolis 500 with the famous bright yellow
Menard’s color & sponsorship.
John’s son, Paul Menard, would seek his own racing
future, driving for some of the biggest owners in NASCAR including, Teresa
Earnhardt, Robert Yates, Richard Petty, Richard Childress, and the Wood
Brothers. In addition to sponsoring his
son, Menards also sponsors drivers Ryan Blaney, Brandon Jones, Matt Crafton,
Frank Kimmel, Matt DiBenedetto, and Austin Sh!twreck in some form throughout
the season. You just know when you see a
bright highlighter yellow car on track at a NASCAR race, that it’s sponsored by
Menards, even without reading it. And on
top of all that Menard’s is also the title sponsor of the ARCA Series! Racing is truly lucky to have sponsorship
from a company like Menards and I hope that someday soon one will open up near
me, so I can shop there and support them.
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