Sprint’s NASCAR Signal Very Weak at Detroit Auto Show

January 15, 2008

By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

What’s worse, the title sponsor of NASCAR’s premier series having a racing themed booth and not having a Cup car on display, or having a show car on display? If you’d asked me before I set foot in the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) this week, I’d have said having a car would certainly be better than no car at all. I would have been wrong.

Walking the main concourse just off the show floor, Sprint had a fairly large display set up touting their wares and promoting their sponsorship of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. I was thrilled to see the black and yellow Sprint booth and couldn’t wait to see what kind of ’08 Cup information they were passing out to the world’s media. The closer I got to the display the more optimistic I got. Maybe they’ll be a more diverse display of NASCAR at the show this year, I thought to myself.

As I got up to the booth however, I not only was disappointed to see very little substantive Cup Series information, I was nearly floored by Sprint’s complete lack of attention when it came to promoting the sport they paid millions to sponsor. I wish the NASCAR marketing people were able to see the image of their sport that Sprint was presenting to the automotive world this week, I think they’d be on the phone with Winston by the end of the day.

What was so bad about the display? The “show” car. This thing was terrible.

It sat in the middle of their booth with a big 08 on the side touting the new season. It was covered in the usual sponsor decals in the usual places and proudly bore the new Sprint Cup Series decal just ahead of the A-pillar. So what was the big deal? It wasn’t a COT, it was last years model- and not a very good representation of last years model at that. It looked as if they’d bought Clint Bowyer’s car from the Daytona 500 last year, banged out a few of the dents, put some air in the tires and did a cheap wrap job on it.

The paint scheme was the worst I’d ever seen, 90% flat black with a yellow Sprint logo on the hood and the afore mentioned 08 on the door. It was by far the worst representation of NASCAR I’ve ever seen in public, next to fans throwing bottles and cans onto the track after a Gordon win.

Elsewhere on the show floor amidst the new models and concepts, the only other nod to NASCAR was at the Toyota display where Kyle Busch’s #18 M&M’s Camry was on display. They had a booth next to it where you could get your picture taken sitting in the “Fan Dangler”, the suspended lawn chair that followed cars around the track (and eventually crashed into the turn 1 fence) in Toyota Motorsports commercials last season. While not a big display, you could at least tell that Toyota was not only proud to be a part of the NASCAR scene, they also cared enough to do a bit of home work for their display.

Ford, GM and Dodge had rally cars and street racers mixed in with their production cars, but nothing NASCAR related to be found. While it’s disappointing the other manufacturers chose not to devote even an inch of their floor space to the sport, they came out looking better than Sprint did.

I understand that Detroit isn’t the heart of NASCAR country, and that the NAIAS happens during the ramp up activities in Daytona, but the auto show held here each January is one of, if not the biggest automotive media events in the world. What better way to spread the gospel of NASCAR across the globe?

While I doubt NASCAR will heed my advice and rent some space on the floor next year, I hope they’ll at least have a chat with the folks at Sprint and prevent another ugly, outdated, poorly painted, poorly displayed, sorry excuse for a show car from being the face of NASCAR at next year’s show.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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