R.J. Reynolds Ends Sponsorship

The NASCAR Winston Racing Series, backbone of stock car racing programs at more than 100 short tracks nationally, including four in Southern California, will lose its lucrative support next year.

The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. announced Tuesday it is ending its 26-year sponsorship because in some areas 16- and 17-year-old drivers were allowed to compete. The move, it said, was to comply with the “letter and the spirit” of the tobacco industry’s legal settlement. This decision will not affect sponsorship of the NASCAR Winston Cup and Winston West series.

Benefiting from the $1.4-million Winston Racing Series championship fund have been Irwindale Speedway, Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino, Cajon Speedway in El Cajon and Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield.

“RJR and its Winston brand would have liked to continue this portion of our NASCAR sponsorship, but we have reached the conclusion that the NASCAR Winston Racing Series was unlikely to fulfill the requirement of the master settlement agreement due to long-standing rules regarding driver eligibility,” said Rick Sanders, president of RJR’s Sports Marketing Enterprises.

Under the tobacco industry’s $246-billion settlement of lawsuits filed by 46 states, cigarette companies are banned from sponsoring events with participants under age 18.

“We don’t expect this to have any immediate effect on our track,” said Bob DeFazio, Irwindale Speedway general manager. “We have been assured by NASCAR that they will continue with their short track program. We look forward to continuing that relationship.”

Drivers under 18 are permitted to drive at local tracks with parental consent.

Mike Helton, senior vice president of NASCAR, said his organization will continue its short-track program.

“This important part of NASCAR will continue, and we are excited about the future of our national short-track series,” Helton said.

A number of would-be sponsors have been suggested as replacements for RJR, but Helton would not speculate on a successor.

The next major shift in tobacco-motor racing relationships will occur before 2001, at which time tobacco companies will be allowed to sponsor only one sporting event, or series, a year under terms of the industry’s legal settlement. In the past, a company could sponsor as many as it chose.

This will mean the end of Winston’s sponsoring of either NASCAR stock car races or the National Hot Rod Assn.’s Winston Drag Racing series.