Sponsorship, or lack thereof has been on the mind of just about every team executive in NASCAR this season. While the year has been rough for the sponsorship market as a whole, in no place has it hit harder then in the Truck Series.
The biggest anomaly in the series are the amount of experienced, winning drivers that have been affected.
Take defending champion Johnny Benson. He became the latest victim of the economy this week after Red Horse Racing shut down his unsponsored team. I believe the only time the team actually had any deal was at Daytona with K&N. The rest of the time the truck has remained white.
Now he hear Timothy Peters is joining Red Horse from his own fledgling organization. Peters’ biggest asset is the Strutmasters sponsorship he brings with him.
Todd Bodine doesn’t quite know Johnny’s plight, but he has been driving race-to-race all season. Every time Bodine has been on the cusp of reaching his final race, sponsorship has come through and they have been able to continue. The brilliant thing this team has been doing is publicizing their struggle and they have gotten a lot of great exposure as a result.
Germain ran several very small sponsors early on in the season (which were plugged heavily during the broadcasts), and then signed Copart for the last several races. Copart has three races remaining with the team this season. After that the team finds itself in a familiar situation.
Another former champion feeling the pinch is 26-time winner Mike Skinner. He joined Randy Moss Motorsports this season after Bill Davis Racing folded. Skinner brought with him a partial sponsorship from Exide and some support from Toyota, but he and most especially his wife Angie have been working very hard to put together smaller deals for the holes in his schedule.
They have had everything from Daytona Beach law firm Rue & Ziffra to Bad Boy Mowers on the truck. Mike and Angie, instead of waiting and hoping on others to find deals, took the initiative and are keeping Mike’s career alive and still very vibrant.
Unfortunately NASCAR has been less than enthusiastic about furthering the Truck Series. It has become the overlooked series, almost an after thought by the sanctioning body. If you want an example of this look at purse money. Just something to consider; the top grossing driver, in terms of purse money, in the Cup Series is Tony Stewart. He has pulled in $3,459,120. In the Nationwide Series, Kyle Busch is tops; he has earned $506,620. In the Truck Series Todd Bodine holds the crown with $286,875 in winnings. He is not the norm either. The points leader at the moment, Matt Crafton, has pulled in $130,000 less than Bodine. While it is true it’s a little cheaper to run in the Truck Series, it’s not that much cheaper.
Another big issue the series faces is a lack of media exposure. While they have been making ratings strides on Speed, the untapped market is very large. Despite the extensive amount of programming that covers the other series, the Truck Series has very often left out in the cold.
And now we have reached the point where fewer than 30 trucks will even actually finish the race. At Texas there were only 22 trucks running at the end. This weekend there are 32 on the entry list and I counted at least six start and parks.
It’s hard not to commend the teams who are actually fighting and going the distance. I can’t say enough times how much I love the Truck Series. It is the most fun to be around and the best racing you’ll see most weekends. Unfortunately NASCAR has been slow to give the series the credit it deserves. It will be interesting to see how the remainder of the season plays out for those sponsor-challenged teams.
