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Lucrative Sponsorships Boost NASCAR Salaries
from: Maxx Sports GuidesNASCAR races generate huge cash flows, especially when highly popular winning race drivers and their teams attract lucrative corporate sponsorships.
The cash flow for a cup favorite race driver like Jeff Gordon can pay for the operating cost of any little town.
This cash flow pours in from three sources: sponsorship, a manufacturer's support (which is the vehicle used), and the prize money. While the numbers generated from the manufacturer's support and prize money are naturally immense, money from sponsorships push NASCAR salaries into the five- and six-figure ranges.
Sponsorship
Sponsorships typically own several areas of the game sports car. The primary sponsor gets the car's hood and/or rear quarter panels. Over the years, advertising on the side of this car was around $12 to $16 million.
Rumors have speculated that some sponsorship has reached $20 million. The primary sponsorship also has its logos on the race driver's uniform and equipment, which also carries the company's colors.
A vivid example is Tony Stewart and his team's distinctive orange colors from the sponsoring company, Home Depot.
Major associate sponsors get the rear deck lid or the rear quarter panels plus a prominent spot to place a logo on the uniform. Most primary and major sponsors swap car areas back and forth, as they strive to make their names and logos more visible.
Associate sponsors, which often number as many as 12, pay an estimated $50,000 to $500,000, providing a substantial boost to the sponsored funds. In fact, some NASCAR salaries are boosted even higher due to the flow of cash from associate sponsorships.
On one Forbes account in 2004, Jeff Gordon supposedly made $19.3 million. However, when NASCAR confirmed Gordon's actually winnings on the track, they totalled $8.3 million. Much of his earnings were from endorsement agreements with his sponsors, plus bonus incentives (again from sponsors) and appearance fees.
Prize Money
For most veteran cup winners, prize money is icing on the cake. Yes, the winnings are sweet but they never overly fatten a driver's bank account, or make him rich. Rusty Wallace has a similar opinion about prize money, and the sentiment is shared by his winning peers.
Yet, prize money is nothing to sneeze at. Sterling Marlin's 1985 Daytona win earned him and his team $300. Jeff Gordon's win in recent years brought him five times that amount.
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