Sponsorship in sports has been prevalent since time immemorial. More often than not, it has transformed the sport it has touched, becoming synonymous with eras. For motorsport, the era of tobacco sponsorship defined its heyday.
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Formula 1 and NASCAR have been two of the premier racing series for years now. And with each of them came an iconic cigarette brand that morphed its identity, not only on track but even off it.
Marlboro has become dissolved in the fabric of F1 even though legislation has ensured that it can never be associated with the sport again. Think back to the iconic McLaren Marlboro liveries, the gold and yellow JPS Lotus, and Ferrari’s era of dominance — paraded around in a Marlboro/Ferrari red paint scheme.
NASCAR had its own Marlboro and it ruled atop America’s no.1 racing series for 33 years. In 1971, the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Corporation entered the fold and changed NASCAR forever with its Winston cigarette brand.
June 19, 2003: NASCAR entered a new era when they announced that Nextel would replace Winston as Cup Series title sponsor pic.twitter.com/ju5ucDoxud
— nascarman (@nascarman_rr) June 19, 2024
The biggest influence Winston’s title sponsorship had was also the most obvious. The championship, which was called the Grand National first became the Winston Grand National — finally being called just the Winston Cup.
But behind the scenes, Reynolds worked tirelessly with the tracks, officials, teams, and drivers to raise the sport’s stock, hitching their wagon to it. The entire face of the series was changed to incorporate the branding and ethos of what it meant to smoke a pack of Winstons.
The company rolled the dollar bills into the speedways and shortened the calendar. But most importantly, they brought a business mindset to NASCAR that was never even contemplated before. Millions were invested in advertising, marketing, and building the Winston/NASCAR brand.
Iconic team owner, Richard Childress condensed their impact profoundly when he explained, “R.J. Reynolds coming in was certainly one of the biggest. They brought in paint and built buildings and brought in media from all over the United States. And the billboards. I remember going to North Wilkesboro, and there was a big billboard about Winston and the race. That was a big deal back in the day – stuff that we never had before,” as per NBC Sports.
Simply put, Winston put NASCAR on the map. But there was another marketing angle at play from Winston’s end. Who were they competing with? Who was NASCAR competing with? Marlboro and Formula 1.
“We were always in a tussle to outdo Marlboro,” said an ex-Reynolds employee. And it worked for them in the USA. The incessant branding — the paint scheme, the grid girls, and the billboards. Everyone wanted to smoke a pack of Winstons.
But with legislation coming fast for tobacco companies, the time for Winston was up. 2003 was the last year that RJR held the title sponsor’s role in the sport. From 2004 onwards it was Nextel’s turn with a federal ban on tobacco advertisements in sports.
