THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 12, 1995 TAG: 9508120162
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines
It would be safe to say that if President Clinton had visited Watkins Glen International Friday, he would have received an even chillier reception in the NASCAR Winston Cup garage than he received at Darlington Raceway in 1992 as a presidential candidate.
But it would be inaccurate to characterize the reaction from drivers and car owners to Clinton's proposed ban on cigarette advertising at sports events as furious or fiery.
For the most part, teams were going about the business of getting ready for a race, with little time to spare to ponder the controversy.
Clinton on Thursday declared nicotine an addictive drug and instructed the Food and Drug Administration to draft a series of regulations that would include a ban on brand-name cigarette advertising at sports events.
Five cigarette makers, including the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., immediately filed a lawsuit against the FDA. RJR currently spends an estimated $10 million a year sponsoring stock-car racing, including the NASCAR Winston Cup series and two of its major races.
If anyone was busy with the issue here, it was the folks from RJR, who held a mock press conference among themselves Friday morning to prepare for questions. And Chris Powell, the company's Winston Cup media coordinator, visited the drivers one by one Friday afternoon and gave them an information sheet outlining some of the company's major arguments opposing the president's move.
``We're not trying to make people's minds up for them, but we certainly want them to understand our position,'' Powell said. ``We're not telling anyone to say anything. We want them to have some artillery if they agree with us.''
``No. 1, I think it's wrong what they're doing,'' said NASCAR president Bill France as he emerged from his car after arriving at the track Friday afternoon. ``No. 2, and I guess we'll find out eventually if this is true, but it seems like they have reached further than they're authorized to under the Constitution.
``There's a lot of interpretations to this that we don't have the answers to and a lot of questions they didn't attempt to answer. It seems like they just pulled out and shot from the hip.''
Among anyone who's anyone in the garage, it was impossible to find a supporter of Clinton's announcement.
The general attitude was that if the government can do this to tobacco companies, what's next?
``If they can do that, every special interest group can make a case for having something torn up for their special interests,'' car owner Jack Roush said.
Richard Petty, who's already a skilled politician, saw Clinton's move as all politics.
``I think he's blowing smoke political-wise to get people off some of the issues he ought to be talking about but isn't taking care of,'' Petty said.
But a few folks were willing to look at the harder questions behind the issue.
As one crew chief, who did not want to be identified, said: ``Winston needs this sport more than this sport needs Winston.''
Loyalty runs deep in the conservative sport of stock car racing, so it is unlikely that NASCAR will abandon Winston, even though the sport is so popular that several other companies would probably be ready to hop in and take over.
But as Richard's son, Kyle Petty, pointed out, the trend in society has been to push tobacco out.
``The thing is, timing-wise, the time has run out on tobacco companies,'' Kyle Petty said. ``I was raised on tobacco money, so I'm not going to criticize R.J. Reynolds. But we've got to step up and be realistic. If anyone was caught by surprise by this announcement, they are fools. This has been coming on for the last eight or 10 years.
``It's just because of societal changes. They shouldn't take it personally, but these people are taking it personally. But the tobacco companies are already bound by certain advertising laws.''
And Petty pointed out that those laws, including the ban on cigarette television advertising, means that tobacco companies cannot be, and will never again be, the most effective or far-reaching sponsor for NASCAR racing.
``After all, 99.5 percent of the population can drink Coca-Cola.'' he said. ``It looks bad to say we've used R.J. Reynolds to get us to this point and now we're going to kick them out. But I don't think we're kicking them out. I think society as a whole is saying, `We don't want this anymore. If you guys want us to get off your backs, you're going to have to change.'
``I would hope that we can race for the Winston Cup for another 25 years under the rules the way they are now, but I don't see that being a possibility.'' by CNB