214 replies to this topic

[Mohican]

Some nominations:

1975 WKRT-entered Alfa Romeo 33TT12, sponsored by Redlefsen sausages.
1976 March 761, sponsored by John Day Model Cars.
1976 Surtees, sponsored by Durex contraceptives.
1976 Hesketh, sponsored by Penthouse magazine
1989 Onyx, sponsored by Moneytron (who ? believe the founder/CEO ended up in jail)
the current Viagra-sponsored Nascar team

But there must be many others; am throwing the field open.

[McRonalds]

Now, wasn't Art Merzario sponsored by a funeral business during the '79 season - I think it was during the Italian GP. I saw pictures of the car - but I don't know which sponsor was that funeral business in question.

A real strange case of sponsorship... :

[McRonalds]

...another unusual sponsers I remember were shown on the Theodore cars in '81: the 'Moulin Rouge' and the 'New Shop Sex Shop'.

I'm looking for pictures of both cars - I seen them somewhere in my archive. There's a very funny story about the 'New Shop Sex Shop' sponsorship in Marc Surers biography - when Teddy Yip pulled down the stickers in an outburst of range.

[Zoe]

In 1994, the Pacific team was to be sponsored by mid-season by, believe it or not, "Black Death cigarettes". For obvious reasons, the sponsorship deal never materialised after what happened at Imola.

Zoe

[Liam]

Simtek were sponsored by a rich women from Monaco, who put her first name on the rear wing of the car. I actually can't remember her name!

The Jordan team were sponsored by the Irish Government for a few years in the mid ninetys, having Ireland written just under the cockpits.

[McRonalds]

Don't forget the Newcastle United sponsored Lister Storm.

And (strange enough) Autopolis (the Japanese circuit) sponsored Benetton in 1991. I don't know what was the reason for this deal. I remember a similar case in the early 80ties, when there was a BMW sponsored by a campaign 'Save the Nurburgring) - wonderful car...

[carlos.maza]

Mc Ronalds:

I seem to remember Arturo Merzario's sponsor was "La Varesina" or something like that.
Yes, it was during the Italian GP at Monza. The side panels of the rear wing were painted in black with the sponsor's name and a cross.

Carlos

[mikedeering]

Weren't Tyrrell sponsored by a TV show "Xena - Warrior Princess" at Silverstone in 1998.

As for the Jordan-Ireland deal - I guess it was the Tourist board who sponsored them. I remember at Magny Cours in 1994 the logo was changed to read "Ireland 1 Italy 0" in reference to a recent World Cup football match. In revenge, Minarid ran at the next race with "Italia IN Ireland OUT" on the side of their cars following Ireland's exit from the competition!

[Vitesse2]

The all-girl pop band Atomic Kitten sponsored a car in last year's European Le Mans Series.

[LittleChris]

Regarding Zoe & Liams comments, IIRC the rich women ( Barbara someone ?!?) was a personal sponsor of Roland Ratzenberger & Death Cigarettes were actually with Simtek finalising a sponsorship deal at Imola 1994. Of course it never went ahead after the tragic events of that weekend.

[fines]

There have been a number of funny sponsors in USAC, like "Silverfloss Sauerkraut", "Minnesota Serendipity", "Tecumseh Community Mutual Fund", "Sea Snack Shrimp Cocktail", "21st Amendment", "Vetter Windjammer" (The Katzenjammer Kids?) and - wait for it - "Indy-on-a-Shoestring"!

[McRonalds]

Originally posted by carlos.maza
Mc Ronalds:

I seem to remember Arturo Merzario's sponsor was "La Varesina" or something like that.
Yes, it was during the Italian GP at Monza. The side panels of the rear wing were painted in black with the sponsor's name and a cross.

Carlos

aaaargh, that's macabre

I remember Russian sponsorship on the '91 Life. Or was it just a gag?!

[Ross Stonefeld]

Ive seen some odd sponsors in the junior ranks. The Pits N Spits BBQ Audi was good fun

[McRonalds]

When Berlin applied for the Olympic games 2000 there was an AMG entered Mercedes in the German Touringcar championship completely sponsored by Berlin 2000. I remember the drivers were Keke Rosberg & Ellen Lohr. Funny idea.

[Ross Stonefeld]

There was an American Trans-AM car in 2001 sponsored by one of those missing children's network. They had a child featured on the hood and apparently it helped find the kid!

[Crazy Canuck]

Back in the 80's Paul Tracy's FF2000 was sponsored by 'ez-wider' rolling papers . The car was yellow with brown trim .

Late 70's Keke Roseberg drove in the FAtlantic series in an Excita Condoms sposored Chevron. The car was pink and was fitted with a wooden dildo gear shift! ! I'v also seen pics where the woody was attached to the nose of the car!

CC

[Paolo]

I remember March's last race in Japan (in the early 90's) when they were so stripped out of cash that they carried sponsoreship by the restaurant feeding them.... at least, so wrote Autosprint.

[Ross Stonefeld]

in 2000 British F3 champions Manor Motorsport carried the signage of the Croft Circuit for that track's weekend, and in return the circuit owner picked up the mechanics bar tab

[Rob G]

NASCAR is jam-packed with strange sponsors nowadays. Some of the cars will be carrying Muppets sponsorship at one race this year.

[Rediscoveryx]

Isn't Sarah Fischer sponsored by a leading brand of women's hygien products?

I believe McLaren were sponsored by Manchester's bid to host the 2000 olympics back in 1993

[Ross Stonefeld]

How about the Porsche 917(?) painted to look like a butcher's cut of meat. Not really a sponsor, but some strange livery regardless

[Frank de Jong]

I remember the last outing of the infamous HB-BORO (ex-Ensign) at the Italian GP 1976. Yes, Henton drove the car twice in 77, but that's a different story.
The sponsors (HB) had quit, but Larry Perkins had been given permission to use the car, providing he found the money to run the thing by himself. Anyway, without sponsorship (or money) the team drove to Italy. Their biggest supporter, Do van der Kleij, was the only one aboard who had any money with him - so he had to pay for the fuel. Therefore, he was the official team sponsor. Since he was an optician, the car was now sponsored by "Do van der Kleij Brillen". Bril is the Dutch word for glasses.
IIRC Larry was wearing glasses then - so even a case of product placement...

[ehagar]

Originally posted by Rediscoveryx
Isn't Sarah Fischer sponsored by a leading brand of women's hygien products?

She was. But last I heard Walker racing is struggling to find sponsors this year.

I think Lynn St. James had a few feminine products as well. A whole new area of sponsorship for racing.

My racing has only had one sponsor.... Bank of Mom and Dad... no racing career for me.

[Yorgos]

Brooke Bond Oxo and that mid 80's Daytona entry covered with "sponsors" signatures (they allowed anyone to sign on the car at a fee).

Yorgos

[Rob G]

Originally posted by Yorgos
Brooke Bond Oxo and that mid 80's Daytona entry covered with "sponsors" signatures (they allowed anyone to sign on the car at a fee).

Coloni did that at the end of their F1 existence in order to run Naoki Hattori at the last two races of the year.

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by fines
There have been a number of funny sponsors in USAC, like "Silverfloss Sauerkraut", "Minnesota Serendipity", "Tecumseh Community Mutual Fund", "Sea Snack Shrimp Cocktail", "21st Amendment", "Vetter Windjammer" (The Katzenjammer Kids?) and - wait for it - "Indy-on-a-Shoestring"!

Absolutely fines. The "Indy on a Shoestring" special was just that. People could pay a small fee and get their name put on the car.

With American racing having a much longer history of sponsorship, there is quite a list of odd sponsors. Far too many for me to come up with, but off the top of my head...

There was a NASCAR Dash series car sponsored by a condom company.

Also in NASCAR, female driver Tammy Jo Kirk had Underalls panties as a sponsor (they later became an associate on Sterling Marlin's Cup car and he was fond of saying: "I use all of my sponsors, well, except one" )

Early in his career, Bobby Rahal was seen walking around with a firesuit that read on the back: Cruex stops jock itch (Hey, it was a sponsor! )

One car at Indy in the 1950's (1955) was sponsored by a chinchilla ranch. Then there were the cars at Indy sponsored by chiropractic doctors (who owned the cars).

Television host David Letterman's production company sponsored a driver in the ARCA race at Daytona just a few years ago.

At the short oval at Carson City, Nevada in 1970, a few of the local brothels sponsored cars until the Nevada commission ruled that was illegal advertising


Jim Thurman

[Hitch]

Hi all you MacIntosh users out there (anyone there?! or just PC users?! did you know that Apple sponsored Dick Barbour Racing in 1980 - driver was no other than Bobby Rahal - here during the Sebring sports car race.

[ehagar]

What about the checkered flag car at Le Mans? 1000 dollars a square or something.

[Pikachu Racing]

Lynn St. James had Lifetime Channel sponsor in her first IRL season

Dr. Jack Miller had Crest for most of his career

Ruger Firearms sponsored Johnny Unser stints in CART and IRL

Defunct Team Scandia put "Scandia" on most of their cars

Kevin Cogan car was sponsored by Playboy in 1989

Jeff Gordon got several one time sponsorship deals. Jurassic Park and Superman were one of them.

Melling Racing was about to get sponsored by Nebraska Cornhuskers but the deal fell through. Melling also manage to get Spam (nice big blue car), Cartoon Network (place cartoon characters in the car), and one time with a country singer I think.

Another note, Cartoon Network used sponsor the defunct Diamond Ridge Racing.

This is something involving NASCAR BGN car and wrestling. When WCW came out the nWo angle, they sponsored a BGN car driven by Kyle Petty and Ted DiBiase, who was "associated" with nWo, "manages the team." Months later, DiBiase turn to face (or fan favorite) and "went" to WCW. During a BGN race, Kyle Petty wrecked the nWo car and when it went to the garage, he was "fired" by DiBiase. Not only that, DiBiase introduced a new car with WCW sponsorship in a car driven by Greg Sacks. They even made two wrestlers, Jeff Torborg and Chad Fortune, as a tag team calling themselves WCW Pit Crew. The Pit Crew never lasted a week on TV as Torborg hurt his leg during an episode of WCW Nitro.

[Frank de Jong]

Originally posted by Hitch
Hi all you MacIntosh users out there

Apple sponsored the Gebhardt C2 car of 1984 as well.

[No27]

Originally posted by ehagar
What about the checkered flag car at Le Mans? 1000 dollars a square or something.

It's $2,000 a square:

[jondoe955]

What about the CART Portland RACE sponsored by GI JOE - which is a local army surplus store from what I understand. That is equal to the bizarre commercials speedvision ran during F1 and other races. Doesn't anyone else watch road racing in this country???

[McRonalds]

Any idea who stood behind Alex Ribeiro's 'religious sponsorship'. I think he also used that stickers during his F1 years with March & Hesketh. Don't get me wrong - I'm not against religious sponsorship, but I always thought it was some kind of sect that stood behind all this. Anyone an idea or more info?



Here's another funny one from Marc Surer - Marc was one of the kings of 'strange' sponsorship; Aeroflot stickers on his March BMW F2 during a race at Suzuka 1978. I'm still searching for his 'sexy' sponsors during his Theodore year '81 to post them...

[Hitch]

Originally posted by Frank de Jong


Apple sponsored the Gebhardt C2 car of 1984 as well.

Frank: do you have a picture of that car? Or anyone else? I really really really would like to see...

That Apple Porsche ran a Le Mans too - I saw a film about it some years ago (actually it was a film about Allan Moffat).

[Frank de Jong]

The Gebhardt:



Not as impressive as the Barbour Porsche, but still...

[Hitch]

Aaaaaaahhhhh!

Thanks a lot, Frank. I'm writing this post from my Mac Power Cube!

[Geza Sury]

Originally posted by Rob G

Coloni did that at the end of their F1 existence in order to run Naoki Hattori at the last two races of the year.

Here's the full story:

3000 sponsors for Coloni

With Chaves gone, Coloni sold their seat to Japanese driver Hattori, who had paid for his graduation to F1 by means of subscription that appeared in the Nippon press. In excahnge of 20,000 yen (about 100 GBP) 3,000 supporters saw their names written on the Coloni's sides. On the track, Hattori did 3 laps before going off and breaking the front suspension. Another 3,000 disappointed fans!

I have a picture of the car, but I don't have free webspace to post it...

Originally posted by McRonalds

I remember Russian sponsorship on the '91 Life. Or was it just a gag?!

That was in 1990. The team was sponsored by a Leningrad-based industrial company 'PIC'. The soviet flag appeared in the car! However, it wasn't the first sponsor from the former 'Eastern Block', as Hungarian warehouse chain 'Skala' had appeared on the front wing of the Williams cars at the 1987 Hungarian GP.

Here you can find a picture of the Life:
http://www.forix.com...90/03039_RN.JPG

[indysteve]

Robby McGehee's car at the IRL's Gateway Indy 250 last year was sponsored by the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team. The car was painted to look like a baseball!

http://www.indyracin...es/img_5105.htm

http://www.indyracin...es/img_5118.htm

http://www.indyracin...es/img_5803.htm


Jeff Ward's IRL car was sponsored by John Mellencamp for part of last season. The name of his single ("Peaceful World") was on the side, and the name of the CD ("Cuttin' Heads") was on the front wings.

http://www.indyracin...es/img_0250.htm

http://www.indyracin...es/img_0257.htm

http://www.indyracin...es/img_0538.htm

http://www.indyracin...es/img_0284.htm


Ward's car was sponsored by Aerosmith at the Indy 500 last year.

[Rainer Nyberg]

We all remember the 'Bin Laden' sponsorship on the Williams cars...

[MrAerodynamicist]

Originally posted by McRonalds
[B]Any idea who stood behind Alex Ribeiro's 'religious sponsorship'. I think he also used that stickers during his F1 years with March & Hesketh. Don't get me wrong - I'm not against religious sponsorship, but I always thought it was some kind of sect that stood behind all this. Anyone an idea or more info?

Does that say Bollywood or Hollywood at the bottom of the nose? I'd have top say a car sponsored by the Idian film industry was quite weird, especially given the Jesus part and the facts its a non-christian country! Or iss there some other 'Bollywood' product out there?

[2F-001]

Hi Hitch - AppleMac used here too...

The IMSA March sponsored by Kreepy Krauly (robot pool cleaner, I think) always struck me as an oddity.

An old friend of mine was sponsored in Formula Ford by a soft porn magazine called ''Game''.

[ehagar]

Originally posted by No27


It's $2,000 a square:

I stand corrected.... but is that Canadian or US? dollars?;)

I thought it was a nice looking car.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by ehagar

I thought it was a nice looking car.

Nicer than average pit crew too!

[Rainer Nyberg]

It should say 'Hollywood'.
It is a local brand of cigarettes from Brazil. (Faithful sponsor of Gugelmin btw.)

[ensign14]

Yeah, $2k for a square, how much for a girl???

The best successful sponsorship - 'The Noc Out Hose Clamp Special', winner at Indy in '41.

Durex is covered elsewhere...

Ghostbusters II sponsored Pancho Carter at Indy in the 80s - also the Machinists Union were sponsors for years

[ensign14]

Re Ribeiro: Mike Lawrence says that Alex put a 'Jesus Saves' sticker in the March factory. So the mechanics put 'Green Shield Stamps' under it...

A bit better than 'but Francis scores from the rebound'...

[MrAerodynamicist]

Originally posted by Rainer Nyberg
It should say 'Hollywood'.
It is a local brand of cigarettes from Brazil. (Faithful sponsor of Gugelmin btw.)

I thought it was, but it just looked too much like a B.

[fines]

Originally posted by ensign14
also the Machinists Union were sponsors for years

Actually, they were not only sponsors but the entrant! The "International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers" - really strange that!

[David McKinney]

Steve Millen raced a Ralt RT1 in the 1981 NZ international series sponsored by Smash Palace, which was a movie then in production. The Ralt featured in a sequence in the movie, IIRC when the hero took it for a drive on the public roads...

[Hitch]

Sega of course was no unusual sponsor for the Williams team in '93, but they found an unusual place for their stickers... it looks like little Alain Prost was made for that kind of advertisement... :yawn: