NASCAR Banks on Automakers' Survival

Nov. 20, 2008— -- What happens if you produce a show for millions of people and some of your biggest brands bow out?

Executives at the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing hope they never have to find out. They're banking on the assumption that General Motors, Ford and Chrysler -- the nation's big three automakers that are now teetering on the brink of bankruptcy -- won't pull their support from NASCAR.

"It would be a very big blow if they were to not be with us. They're part of our heritage," NASCAR chairman Brian France told ABCNews.com. "It's part of our tradition to have Chevrolet racing around the track, and Ford, and so on."

The well-publicized troubles of the Detroit auto industry and their appeals for help from the federal government have left a cloud of doubt hovering over the automakers' racing future.

In published reports several days ago, France went so far as to say he was confident that NASCAR would survive should an auto manufacturer pull support from the racing business. On Wednesday, however, he downplayed talk of a possible post-Big Three future, telling ABCNews.com that NASCAR was "trying not to anticipate that scenario."

"We're optimistic that Congress and [the automakers] will get through this challenging time," he said.

NASCAR is doing its part to help the automakers, he said, by working with them to step up promotions of their cars, including new fuel-efficient vehicles.

Cars, like hybrids, aren't racing yet, France said, but a Ford hybrid did serve as the pace car at a Sunday race -- the last race of this year's NASCAR season -- in Miami.

The automakers are "fighting like mad" to stay in business, France said. "We're going to do everything we can to help them."

NASCAR, meanwhile, is grappling with its own economy-related woes. Though about 120,000 fans still attend each race, NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said attendance is down about three to five percent this year.

France blamed attendance declines in part on last summer's high gas prices.

"The difficulty and cost to get to our events went way up," he said.

Future Sponsors of NASCAR

Meanwhile, NASCAR teams, which operate as businesses independent of NASCAR, have had trouble finding new sponsors.

To address the challenges facing cash-strapped teams, NASCAR recently banned costly "testing" -- essentially practice runs for race cars and teams -- a move that the association estimates will save cash-strapped teams a total of $30 to $40 million.

The Big Three, overall, have a lot to gain by participating in NASCAR.

"NASCAR fans are tremendously loyal, so when they're going to buy a new vehicle, they're going to buy a vehicle that is racing in NASCAR," said Dick Berggren, the executive director of Speedway Illustrated magazine and himself, a racing fan. "The only vehicles I buy are vehicles whose manufacturers race in NASCAR. I won't buy anything else."

NASCAR, meanwhile, has its own reasons for steadfastly supporting the automakers.

For one thing, the Big Three, along with Toyota, design the engines and other crucial equipment for all NASCAR team cars. They also provide engineering and technical support related to races themselves, helping NASCAR teams adjust their cars' performance, depending on the tracks they're racing on.

In many cases, they, along with other sponsors, also provide funding directly to the teams.

"It's a two-way street when it comes to NASCAR and the automakers," Berggren said.

There is also a sentimental attachment between NASCAR fans and automakers.

"There are many fans who root specifically for the car manufacturer -- They'll root for Ford, they'll root for [General Motors'] Chevrolet, they'll root for [Chrysler's] Dodge or they'll root for Toyota," said Bob Pockrass, an associate editor at NASCAR Scene magazine.

"Not only do they root for their manufacturers, but they often root against the others," he said. "You still definitely have fans who [say] 'I'm a Ford guy and I hate Chevy,' or, 'I'm a Chevy guy and I hate Ford.'"

The drama from such rivalries, he said, adds excitement to the sport.

Excitement or not, automakers have already started pulling some of their dollars from NASCAR.

Auto Racing Losing Money

Ford recently stopped contributing money -- though it continues to provide engineering support -- to teams in its Nationwide series and Camping World Truck series. The two NASCAR racing programs are less well-known than its Sprint Cup series, which is home to famous drivers like Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The company continues to fund teams in the Sprint Cup. Ford racing communications manager Kevin Kennedy declined to disclose how much the company is spending.

"At Ford, racing falls under marketing and sales, and all marketing budgets at Ford have been cut, so there's no reason that racing should be immune to that," Kennedy said. "We've had to make some hard choices."

Kennedy noted that Ford can trace its roots back to racing -- Henry Ford's winnings from a 1901 auto race helped him start the company.

But Kennedy said he couldn't rule out the possibility that Ford would have to leave racing -- and NASCAR -- someday.

"I don't think that company wants to, but you have to be realistic," he said. "You can never say never."