
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 16, 1995                   TAG: 9503160074
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

OLD FOE RETURNS TO NASCAR RACING

When the Teamsters Union announced in Charlotte Tuesday that it would sponsor a Winston Cup car and NASCAR truck, the news was all but overwhelmed by Ernie Irvan's return to race car driving in a test at Darlington Raceway.

But the announcement by Teamsters Union Local 71 in Charlotte that it had made a six-year deal to sponsor Billy Hagan's Winston Cup Pontiacs and Thee Dixon's trucks was another good example of how stock car racing sponsorships are diversifying, even to include old foes of NASCAR.

This year's new sponsors include Spam, the MBNA credit card, the Lowe's retail chain, Burger King, World Championship Wrestling and, in the Grand National series, the Big Johnson line of humorous, ribald T-shirts.

The Teamsters sponsorship revives the Hagan team, which dropped off the series in the middle of last season because of lack of sponsorship and reappeared this year only at Daytona, where it failed to qualify for the race.

Team spokesman Gene Wilson said Hagan, who is running Pontiacs this year, expects to announce a driver soon and plans to return to the sport at the Winston Open at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 20.

The union also will sponsor a planned NASCAR Supertruck team to be fielded by Dixon, a Raleigh, N.C., businessman.

Teamsters Local 71 President Sam Carter said the union decided to spend money in racing because ``our people are in transportation and we are interested in some kind of vehicle where we can get national exposure for the Teamsters Union. This was a good way to do it.''

The Teamsters join another union, the United Auto Workers, as a NASCAR sponsor. The UAW, in a joint venture with General

Motors, sponsors the first Pocono race and the fall Charlotte race this year.

Thirty-four years ago, in 1961, the Teamsters Union was one of NASCAR's biggest enemies. Drivers Curtis Turner and Tim Flock tried unsuccessfully to organize the racers under Teamsters representation. The effort failed and the late Bill France, the founder of NASCAR, kicked Turner and Flock out of the sport for several years.

Carter said the local union's sponsorship has been approved by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and will ``put the Teamsters name before millions of race fans across the country.'' He said it will help the union's efforts ``in organizing and helping those individuals that want and need our services.''

It's safe to assume that the Teamsters involvement this time will not include any attempt to organize the race car drivers.

NO HELP FOR FORD: We all know how unhappy the Ford teams are that the new Chevrolet Monte Carlos are dominating the 1995 Winston Cup season, but it's not going to get them any help from NASCAR, at least not yet.

``We have no planned changes right now,'' NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett said. ``Obviously, competition is one of our main concerns, but I don't know that four races can create a concern. Ford had a seven-race winning streak last year in the middle of the season. Nothing is done on a knee-jerk reaction.''

by CNB