Demystifies the economics and politics behind NASCAR sponsorship--and shows how corporate deals have transformed NASCAR itself.
What began on the dusty racetracks of the rural South is now a world-class enterprise, as closely watched by Wall Street as by hometown racing fans. How NASCAR grew from its provincial roots to become a big business of international proportions is the story Mark Yost tells in The 200-MPH Billboard.
A seasoned sports and business reporter for the Wall Street Journal and contributor to the New York Times and the Sports Business Journal, Yost demystifies the economics and politics behind NASCAR sponsorship. His book takes us behind the scenes of some of the head-turning corporate deals that altered the way NASCAR does business.
From Junior Johnson’s contract with Darrell Waltrip and Mountain Dew, which announced a significant change, to deals between the likes of Dale Jr. and Budweiser, Tony Stewart and Home Depot, NASCAR and Fox Television, this book clearly tracks the subtle and not-so-subtle transformations that corporate sponsorship has wrought in recent years. And it offers a rare insider’s look at what these changes have meant for NASCAR and its devoted fans.
Contents Acknowledgments
Foreword
Introduction Fifty Years of Racing at Daytona
One A Good Old Boy Goes Courting
How NASCAR Wooed Corporate America
Two The Suite Life
Inside NASCAR Corporate Hospitality
Three Betting the Farm
The Early Days of NASCAR
Four From Rags to Riches
Junior Johnson Turns Tobacco into Gold
Five The Sponsorship Shepherds
Four Hundred Cases of Coffee and a Side of Viggy
Six Mama, I’m Gon’ Be on the TV
The Small Screen Revolution
Seven When NASCAR Comes to Town
How Much Is That Track in the Midwest?
Eight Speed Dating for Dollars
Inside the NASCAR B2B Council
Nine See the Brown Truck Go
How UPS Took NASCAR to Mexico
Ten Fantasy Accidents
Allstate’s All-Star Ad Campaign
Eleven What’s DLP?
Educating the Public at 200 Miles Per Hour
Twelve The Military Marches In
Recruiting at the Racetrack
Thirteen Bringing the Big Show to the Little Store
How Associate Sponsorship Changed the Game
Fourteen Teaching Old Brands New Tricks
A Wunderkind Helps Goodyear Leverage its Legacy
Fifteen We’re An American Brand
Toyota Comes to NASCAR
Epilogue What’s Next for NASCAR
NASCAR.com, Sept. 25, 2007
“If you have any questions about how NASCAR went from southern-based fixture to by-God sporting phenomenon, you can find the answer in Mark Yost’s new book … Some books of this type leave you gasping for air in the midst of statistics, concepts and strategies; this one doesn’t … This offering from Motorbooks is exhaustively researched … Yost’s writing style is easy and comparatively less dense than almost all of them, yet he still gets the story across in language plain and proper … This book gets a strong buy from this writer.”
Publishers Weekly
“Business and sports reporter Yost takes on the rise of NASCAR, bringing readers into the deals that have turned a Southern good ol' boy racing circuit into a clean-shaven marketing goliath.”
“NASCAR fans with an interest in business history will enjoy this 320-page book, which examines how NASCAR grew into a multibillion-dollar business through profitable advertising deals with corporate sponsors.” –Gayot.com
SpeedTVBooks.com, August 2007
Book Review by Gregg Leary
“A thought-provoking read that documents a largely untold side of NASCAR racing.”
Area Auto Racing News, Oct. 23, 2007
“The book is an interesting and fast read.”
National Speed Sport News, December 2007
NationalSpeedSportNews.com, December 2007
“Let me recommend the ideal holiday gift for a racing fan: Mark Yost’s engaging book, ‘The 200 MPH Billboard,’ subtitled ‘The Inside Story of How Big Money Changed NASCAR.’ It is an intriguing story, hard to put down … Both of these books belong in every serious fan’s library.”
Mark Yost has reported on sports and business for nearly twenty years. He has written for the Dow Jones Newswire and the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal. Yost continues to write for the Wall Street Journal Leisure and Arts pages, where he writes about the business and economics of sports, as well as Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal and other publications. Yost is also the author of Tailgating, Sacks, and Salary Caps: How the NFL Became the Most Successful Sports League in History.
He lives in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, but calls Brooklyn, New York, home.
How NASCAR grew from its provincial roots to become a big business of international proportions is the story this book tells. Sports and business reporter Mark Yost demystifies the economics and politics behind NASCAR sponsorship. He takes us behind the scenes of some of the head-turning corporate deals that altered the way NASCAR does business--from Junior Johnson’s contract with Darrell Waltrip and Mountain Dew to deals between the likes of Little E and Budweiser, Tony Stewart and Home Depot, NASCAR and Fox Television. And finally, his book gives us a clear idea of how corporate sponsorship has changed the very nature of NASCAR.
The 200-MPH Billboard: The Inside Story of How Big Money Changed NASCAR chronicles how NASCAR evolved from a small, Southern pastime to an international multibillion-dollar business. Since the day Darrell Waltrip first thanked God, Gatorade, and Goodyear, NASCAR and corporate America have been partners. In this book, seasoned sports and business reporter Mark Yost offers a rare inside look at those partnerships, which now include the cream of the Fortune 500.
Yost, a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal Arts and Leisure pages and a columnist for Sports Business Journal, highlights how NASCAR sponsorships have grown from Richard Petty’s record-setting deal with STP for $200,000 in 1972 to the $20 million sponsorships that are common today. He chronicles everything from the successes—and struggles—of early NASCAR legends Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson to Dale Jr.’s $10-million-dollar signing payday in 1998. He also traces the business-to-business (B2B) sponsorship model that was first developed by R. J. Reynolds in the 1970s and honed in the 1980s by Tide, Country Time, and Maxwell House.
Moving into the modern era, Yost explains why NASCAR’s fertile B2B environment is luring a litany of Fortune 500 corporations. They join the NASCAR B2B Council and get a seat in the glass-enclosed suites at the track, the new smoke-filled room where million-dollar deals are hatched. This is where NewPage Corporation sold more than 29,000 tons of paper and UPS first proposed an at-track delivery service that has grown 174 percent since 2002. It’s where Best Western met Dominoes and the Allstate girls first fantasized about Kasey Kahne. When you’ve finished reading this book, you’ll know exactly why NASCAR has become the hottest new place to seal the deal.
Mark Yost has reported on sports and business for nearly twenty years. He has written for the Dow Jones Newswire and the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal. Yost continues to write for the Wall Street Journal Leisure and Arts pages, where he writes about the business and economics of sports, as well as Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal and other publications. Yost is also the author of Tailgating, Sacks, and Salary Caps: How the NFL Became the Most Successful Sports League in History.
He lives in Lake Elmo, Minnesota, but calls Brooklyn, New York, home.
What NASCAR observers say about The 200-MPH Billboard
“Mark Yost has truly captured the essence of the business of NASCAR, a compelling story that has largely been overlooked—until now.”
— Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports
“If you have any interest at all in the business of NASCAR, The 200-MPH Billboard by Mark Yost will tell you everything you want to know about the other ‘stock’ market.”
— Peter Golenbock, author of NASCAR Confidential and American Zoom
“Author Mark Yost has brought such a complete, in-depth look at NASCAR that I am going to recommend it as the NASCAR 101 textbook for the new motorsports management program at Belmont Abbey College.”
— H. A. Humpy Wheeler, president and general manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway
“The 200-MPH Billboard is more than just a lap around the track. It shows all the politics and maneuvering it takes to run the biggest and most successful race series in the world.”
— Gary London, National Speed Sport News
“The 200-MPH Billboard thoroughly chronicles NASCAR’s rise from its humble beginnings to the consumer marketing power it has become today. It’s a thrilling fifty-plus year ride!”
— Bob Keegan, CEO of Goodyear, longtime NASCAR sponsor
Imprint: Motorbooks
Distributor: MBI Publishing Company
Publication Date: 08-15-2007
Pages: 320
Measurements: 9.00in X 6.00in X 1.25lb
