THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 11, 1996 TAG: 9609110637
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 69 lines
In the 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup season, Lake Speed's Ford will carry the name of one of the most unusual sponsors ever to sponsor a stock car - the University of Nebraska.
Actually, the three-year sponsorship is a complex marketing arrangement involving the university, former Cornhusker football star Trev Roberts and corporations that want to get involved in both NASCAR and the university's national championship football team.
``The sponsorship will benefit three parts of the university, - academic, athletic and general scholarship funds,'' said Gordon Grigg of Empire Management Group in Charlotte, who put together the program.
Wait a minute. Doesn't sponsorship mean spending money, not receiving it?
``Trev Alberts put the money up to put the University of Nebraska on the car,'' Grigg said. ``We designed the program so that the car is self-funded. I don't want to give away how we did it, but there's a lot more involved than just the standard endorsement program.
``Some of the program will involve corporate sponsors in the state.''
The University of Nebraska Ford show car was shown at the Nebraska football game last weekend and when it was unveiled in Lincoln the night before, more than 9,000 people came to see it, Grigg said.
``It's a huge deal,'' he said. ``It's the first time that any university has gone out and done a program like this. He said the full sponsorship for Speed's car is for three years ``with a step up each year.'' Grigg wouldn't say how much the sponsorship is other than ``it's millions of dollars.''
``We've had other colleges already calling,'' he said. ``There's no reason we couldn't have a collegiate series in NASCAR. Clemson, Michigan, Colorado, Penn State, Tennessee, Florida State, all of these schools have an interest. Hopefully, we'll be able to bring three or four new sponsors to NASCAR next year.''
TOO LONG: NASCAR may see this weekend's marathon endurance run at Dover Downs International Speedway as one of the necessary varieties of stock car races for the Winston Cup series, but the drivers are becoming ever more vocal in their dissent.
Jeff Burton, a third-year driver still looking for his first victory, was the latest to join the anti-500 bandwagon in regards to Dover.
``How do I say this politely? It is too long a race,'' Burton said.
Burton said fans have told him the 500-mile races at Dover in the spring and fall, each of which last between four and five hours, are too long.
``The drivers feel the same way,'' Burton said. ``At Dover, you end up getting lured into running too hard. So we race hard at Dover out of necessity for a race that last five hours. You can race there for two and a half hours and not be halfway. That's just terrible at a place that always seems hot.
``And when you wreck there, you tend to get hurt. When you wreck, it's a hard hit. You can't do your team a bit of good if you're still sore from Dover when you go to Martinsville.''
Dover is tough even in the pits, as Burton's crew chief, Buddy Parrott, can attest.
``With about 50 laps to go, they hauled me off on a stretcher,'' Parrott said, referring to the Dover race in June. ``I thought I had a heart attack. (He didn't have one). I got a little uptight. Dover is a stressful place. It's tough on you.''
NO MORE CHANGES: Burton was also not shy to expound on his displeasure with NASCAR's latest aerodynamic changes, which change spoiler and air dam heights to the benefit of the Chevys and the detriment of the Fords.
``I don't know, I get pretty upset,'' he said. ``We've developed now the best racing we've seen in Winston Cup in probably the last three years. I think they're at a point now where they need to leave it alone and let it be settled on the race track. We know the Fords are not going to be as good at Dover compared to the Chevy as we were at Michigan.'' by CNB