This Battle Is Brought to You by NASCAR

The pursuit of money has been America’s favorite pastime for as long as anyone can remember. The Rockefellers, Morgans and Huntingtons set the standards for greed with their monopolistic adventures when the nation was emerging from the shadows of Europe.

Nothing, apparently, has changed.

NASCAR, not content with having become one of the biggest cash cows in sports, and making billionaires of the France family, is now biting the hands that feed it, so it can stuff its cashbox with even more money.

At stake is the heart of the stock car racing empire -- sponsorship.

Without corporate sponsor money, teams could not finance the $10 million to $15 million a year it takes to compete in NASCAR’s top-of-the-line Nextel Cup series. But NASCAR, the organization, has its sponsors too, and sometimes conflicts arise.

The problem came to a head recently when NASCAR exerted its authority in ruling that Powerade, a brand of Coca-Cola, one of its “Official Family of Sponsors,” should take priority over Pepsi, a sponsor of several prominent teams, and its Gatorade brand.

An oversized plastic blue bottle of Powerade has intensified the conflict.

As soon as a car rolls into Victory Lane after winning a Nextel Cup race, a NASCAR hireling places a replica of the energy drink on the roof of the car. Drivers such as Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and defending Cup champion Matt Kenseth, whose careers have been financed in part by Pepsi/Gatorade, have not been pleased. One reaction was to knock the bottle off the car while emerging from the driver’s side window.

Then Mike Helton, NASCAR president, ordered drivers not to touch the bottles.

Johnson, after winning at Pocono Raceway two weeks ago, responded by placing a Lowe’s placard in front of the bottle, a move that brought him a $10,000 fine from NASCAR.

Gordon, who may be the smartest driver to ever run the high banks at Daytona -- and a teammate of Johnson with Hendrick Motorsports -- won the Brickyard 400 last Sunday at Indianapolis and circumvented the edict by stopping his car on the track before he reached Victory Lane. He and his crew then kissed the yard of bricks at the start-finish line.

“I’m sure I’m going to get in some kind of trouble over it,” the four-time Cup champion said at the time. “But you know what? Right now I don’t care.”

Rick Hendrick, owner of Gordon’s No. 24 car, was summoned to NASCAR’s trailer for a lecture on Victory Lane protocol. This led to a watered-down apology that all but ignored the sanctioning body.

“Sunday’s Brickyard 400 was one of the most special moments I’ve ever experienced in this sport,” Hendrick said in a statement. “I really wanted to win that race and kiss the bricks to honor my father.” His father died July 14 at 84.

“Nonetheless, I owe an apology to the George family [which owns the facility], along with everyone at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The celebration was emotional ... but it became obvious that we had unintentionally disrupted the Speedway’s program in not driving to Victory Lane after the checkered flag. Speaking for everyone at Hendrick Motorsports, I personally called Mary Hulman George on Monday to apologize for any actions that may have been perceived as being disrespectful.”

Gordon said, “I didn’t [stop on the track] purposely ... to make sure that the Powerade bottle wasn’t on my car. I went out there because that’s where I wanted to celebrate with my team. Too often these days, as big as the sport has gotten, and I understand it wouldn’t be as big as it is today and we wouldn’t be able to race at this level without all the TV, media, fans and sponsors, but to me, we take away so much from these victories when we pull into Victory Lane and it’s all about getting the interview and it’s all about mentioning the sponsor. I just want to jump up and down and hang out with my guys.”

Helton and NASCAR accepted the apology, but Helton added, “This situation is now behind us. Moving forward, we are confident all our teams will respect and respond appropriately to time-honored post-race protocol during their celebrations.”

Time honored? Who is he kidding? The only time-honored protocol was when Bill Broderick, Unocal’s so-called “Hat Man,” orchestrated Victory Lane ceremonies for more than 20 years -- handing one cap after another to the winning driver as each sponsor captured it on film. It was no big deal then, for instance, putting a Miller cap on a driver after he’d won a Budweiser-sponsored race, or vice versa.

According to Forbes’ list of America’s richest people in 2003, brothers Bill and Jim France, whose family owns NASCAR, shared No. 195 on the list with net worth listed at $1.2 billion each. Isn’t that enough?

Speedboats

The Long Beach Sprint Nationals will offer two days of national championship American Power Boat Assn. racing this weekend at the Long Beach Marine Stadium.

Featured will be circle boats, personal watercraft and classic V-racing, all competing at the birthplace of West Coast powerboat racing. The Southern California Speedboat Club has hosted races at the Marine Stadium annually since 1942.

“It’s a chance to see it all in powerboat racing,” said Ross Wallach, SCSC commodore. “All racing classes will be vying for both [regional] series and APBA national points and every racer would love to win at legendary Long Beach. It’ll be intense.”

Defending champion Doug Lightfoot of Lomita will be battling rookie sensation James Stevens of Northridge in the Grand National class, and the cracker boxes will showcase a battle between national champion Jerry Ross of Huntington Beach and his daughter Amy. Jerry will be in Tom Sampson’s P69, and Amy will pilot the California Girls P96 with Courtney Cooke.

New this year will be personal watercraft, featuring drivers such as Yamaha’s Mike Follmer of Fountain Valley and Matt Legerski of Flagstaff, Ariz., who will compete in a pair of 25-lap races around the stadium’s one-mile course. For old-timers, there will be nostalgia flat-bottom and endurance races.

The event will benefit the Foothill Unity Center, a nonprofit, nondenominational organization that distributes food to area low-income families.

Gates open at 8 a.m. and racing begins at 10. Details: (562) 633-6200.

Marathon Man

Craig Yeaton of San Dimas will try to drive in all five feature races, in four kinds of cars, at Irwindale Speedway on Saturday night. If he finishes them all, he will have driven 250 laps.

The program includes Twin 50s for NASCAR late models, super stocks, legends cars and a Figure 8 race.

“We’re in a unique position to have race cars that will run in four of the five features and we’ve got a good legends car lined up for the evening,” said Yeaton, 41, owner of Impact Sports and Entertainment, a marketing company.

“Racing that many laps is not much of a problem, but constantly changing from car type to car type -- three that race on the half-mile, one on the third-mile and another on the twisting Figure 8 course, is going to be something of an adventure.”

Last Laps

Nextel Cup driver Jeff Burton, after more than eight years of driving Fords for Jack Roush, will move to Richard Childress’ Chevrolet team beginning at next week’s Marketplace 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Burton, 37, will drive No. 30. Carl Edwards, 24, a Craftsman Truck series driver, will move into Burton’s spot in the No. 99 Roush Ford at the same race.

Another speedway motorcycle track has opened in Industry Hills. Freddie Orosco and Dukie Ermolenko are holding four AMA sanctioned races Wednesday nights at the Industry Hills Event Center. National champion Scott Brant won the opener this week, with races scheduled Aug. 18, Sept. 1 and Sept. 8. If all goes well, a full winter schedule may follow.

Saturday night speedway racing will return to Costa Mesa Speedway this week after a month off, with freestyle motocross jumping exhibitions as part of the show.

Dwarf cars, depicting 1930s and 1940s models powered by motorcycle engines, will make their only Perris Auto Speedway appearance of the year Saturday night during the CarQuest Hot August Night Championships.... Sportsman dragsters will hold time trials and eliminations Saturday and Sunday at California Speedway.

While Michael Schumacher is in Hungary winning yet another Formula One race for Ferrari this weekend, the Italian marque will be featured at the 31st Rolex Monterey Historic Races at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway. Phil Hill, who drove a Ferrari to the 1961 Formula One championship, the first by an American, will be honored, along with fellow drivers Dan Gurney and Stirling Moss.

Five racing personalities have been voted into the American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters Assn.’s roster of Legends in Racing. The 2004 inductees are car builder-mechanics Clint Brawner and A. J. Watson, NASCAR drivers Freddie Lorenzen and Hershel McGriff and pre-World War II Formula One champion Bernd Rosemeyer.

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This Week’s Races

NASCAR NEXTEL CUP

Sirius at the Glen

* When: Today, qualifying (Speed Channel, noon); Saturday, qualifying (Speed, 8 a.m.); Sunday, race (TNT, 11 a.m.).

* Where: Watkins Glen International (permanent road course, 2.45 miles, 11 turns).

NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCKS

Toyota Tundra 200

* When: Today, qualifying (Speed Channel, 2 p.m.); Saturday, race (Speed Channel, 2 p.m.).

* Where: Nashville Superspeedway (tri-oval 1.33 miles, 14 degrees banking in turns), Gladeville, Tenn.

CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES

Grand Prix of Denver

* When: Today, qualifying, 1 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 12:45 p.m.; Sunday, race, noon (Spike, 4 p.m., tape).

* Where: Streets of Denver (temporary street course, 1.674 miles, nine turns).

FORMULA ONE

Hungarian Grand Prix

* When: Saturday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 5 a.m.); Sunday, race (Speed Channel, 4:30 a.m.).

* Where: Hungaroring (road course, 2.465 miles), Budapest.

INDY RACING LEAGUE

Belterra Casino Indy 300

* When: Saturday, qualifying, 1:30 p.m.; Sunday, race (Ch. 7, 12:30 p.m.).

* Where: Kentucky Speedway (tri-oval, 1.5 miles, 14 degrees banking in turns), Sparta, Ky.

NHRA

Lucas Oil Nationals

* When: Today, qualifying, 12:30 p.m.; Saturday, qualifying, 8 a.m. (ESPN2, 5 p.m., tape); Sunday, eliminations, 9 a.m. (ESPN2, 4 p.m., tape).

* Where: Brainerd International Raceway, Brainerd, Minn.