Internet find: Treasure trove of CART/Marlboro documents

[FCYTravis]

While googling for information about the Barber Saab Pro Series, I unintentionally stumbled on a Web site that warehouses millions of scanned documents that became public record in tobacco company lawsuits.

Not surprisingly, there are literally thousands of documents in the Philip Morris archive related to Marlboro's sponsorship of CART. Marketing plans, sponsor proposals and agreements, race programs, a complete handbook to the stillborn CART race in downtown New York, and much more.

A choice quote from a 1990 internal memo written by a PM marketing exec after a meeting with CART executives:

Overall, stressed tobacco issues becoming more sensitive. I sensed that they know that PPG does not plan to renew as series sponsor at end of '92 season. Really encouraged Marlboro to consider series sponsorship now. They suggested series sponsorship rather than team sponsorship. I had a good laugh.

This, and much more, can be found here: http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/?mode=listing&pattern=CART&document_code=&date_op=&date=&records_per_page=25&sort_by=swishe_rank

[Chief]

Oh god....where did it all go wrong?:shakehead


CART BACKGROUND Championship Auto Racing Teams, Inc., the official sanctioning body of the PPG Indy Car World Series, was founded in 1978 as a more marketable and progressive alternative to the then conservative governing body of the United States Auto Club (USAC). The co-founders of CART, prominent team owners Roger Penske and U.E. "Pat" Patrick, set out to develop and promote a more visible and marketable open-wheeled racing product than the existing USAC club schedule. They did so by increasing responsiveness to competitors, sponsors, promoters, news media and fans to insure that racing would be treated like a "major league" sport. CART's inaugural season started on March 11, 1979, at Phoenix International Raceway and concluded 14 races later with its first champion, Rick Mears, winning over $400,000 for the season.

In 1980, PPG Industries, Inc., became the series sponsor of CART and, after one year, helped to make the series the richest in motorsports history in 1981. At the same time, network television interest in the sport peaked and the first flag to flag coverage of a 500-mile Indy Car event was provided by NBC at the Michigan 500. With continued exposure came continued growth with milestones coming in:

- 1983, with a guaranteed television agreement for all events;
- 1986, with motorsports record prize money of $15.5 million dispenses;
- 1989, with CART's first ever $1 million event purse announced at the Detroit Grand Prix.

1992 and beyond will be banner years for Indy Car racing with a total of six individual $1 million--event purses and more than $25 million at stake during the 17-race schedule. Attendance figures continue to grow, as well, with average event attendance in 1990 hitting an all-time high of 87,900 on race day and 199,400 over the typical three-day race weekend.

Indy Car's continued growth and eleven straight years of series-wide national television exposure have come as a result of a fulfillment of its original concepts and direction. Hence, the expansion of Indy Car events into major U.S. and International cities such as Detroit, Vancouver, Surfers Paradise (Australia) and now New York City in 1993.

[nrc]

Oh god....where did it all go wrong?:shakehead:tony:

[Chief]

nrc....now, with Indy only TV contracts on the horizon it places the sport squarely back in the '70s.:cry:

[SteveH]

While googling for information about the Barber Saab Pro Series, I unintentionally stumbled on a Web site that warehouses millions of scanned documents that became public record in tobacco company lawsuits.


In other words, you've gotten access to Jim Wilke's hard drive. ;) :D

[indyfan31]

In other words, you've gotten access to Jim Wilke's hard drive. ;) :D
LMAO! The same thought crossed my mind.

[Andrew Longman]

1992 and beyond will be banner years for Indy Car racing with a total of six individual $1 million--event purses and more than $25 million at stake during the 17-race schedule.

I'm a little confused because my search shows 16 races on the 1992 schedule, including Indy, but anyway

The TEAM program pays $1.2 million for 16 races for approximately 26 cars. That's $31.2 million. That excludes about $15.2 million in prize money, $13.2 million of which comes from Indy.

In 1992, Indy prize money was $7.5 million so I don't know whether to include that in the $25 million CART claim. It wasn't a CART race after all, so lets say you add it to the CART purse.

That's $32.5 million for teams in 1992 and $46.4 million 16 years later.

According to this http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl $32.5 million in 1992 is worth $50.7 million today.

SO TG grew the sport not only in negative terms but below the rate of inflation and far lower than the economy grew.

[Accipiter]

Oh god....where did it all go wrong?:shakehead

December 30, 1959 at an undisclosed hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_George)

[jcollins28]

Oh god....where did it all go wrong?:shakehead

About 9 months after A.J Foyt had his way with Mari Hulman George.

[Gnam]

That New York race is interesting. Basically, a 1.24 mile 'round the block type track at Ground Zero. (West, Vessey, Church, Liberty). Two days only, support races include Bike Messenger and Taxi Cab Competitions. wild

[Chief]

As in 1978, 2008 is all about mIndy except IMS now shares a bit more of it's wealth (out of necessity for it own survival) with owners. Of course that's more out of necessity than series prosperity.

How long before the owners band together and strike out on there own again? Very eerie....great job ToNy.:thumbup:

[jcollins28]

Check this one...

http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2040750328-0363.html?pattern=rac%5Ba-z%5D%2A&#p1


We conducted a total of four (4) focus groups in Monterey, California on December 9-10, about 6 weeks after the Grand Prix race at the nearby Leguna Seca Raceway (October 18-20). The primary finding from this research is that few men, even if interested in car racing, understand the sport of car racing. While many men appreciate the sense of speed of especially Indy-type racing, they have little true appreciation for the technology or skill of this sport.

Unlike other sports, car racing is not compelling to watch, and has a lack of personable heroes. It is a sport that attracts some who are fascinated with cars, speed, and a sense of danger. It is recognized as a"macho sport," and Indy-type racing as a"high stakes sport," but it lacks the immediate emotion and "fan-involvement" other sports provide. Very few of the men we spoke truly fit the definition of "car racing enthusiasts."

Few among these men have much knowledge about racing circuits or the technology of the cars, understand the level of skill of drivers, are familiar with driver names, or truly enjoy watching racing. Most have experienced car racing as a television sport, watching "for a while," tiring of "watching cars go around." Even the men who express interest in this sport lack clarity of knowledge about the cars, know only a few drivers, and do not seem "devoted" to following driver records or race circuits.

They appreciate the skill, the speed, the sense of daring of the sport. They like being part of the crowd when they go. to a race, but few go to many races. Most recruited as having attended the recent Cart Race at Leguna Seca described this as their first, or one of their few times ever having gone to a Grand Prix race. Most were there for the fun of the day, appreciating the speed and daring of the sport, but not really paying that much attention to the race. Few knew who sponsored the race; almost no one knew who won the race. Most feel that the drivers are the heroes of this sport, but that the drivers lack publicity and personality compared with other sports. Few know more than a few long-time familiar driver names. No one has a "favorite".

Some surprising and not so surprising statements in there. We all know that CART had no idea how to market but till kind of alarming to see it in black and white done by a research group.

[FCYTravis]

Roger's original Marlboro contract:

http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2048640058-0082.html

[racermike]

I'm a little confused because my search shows 16 races on the 1992 schedule, including Indy, but anyway



.

Marlboro Challenge ?????

[Insomniac]

Roger's original Marlboro contract:

http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2048640058-0082.html

1989: $750,000 (Partial Sponsorship)
1990: $3,600,000 (Partial Sponsorship)
1991: $4,000,000 (Primary Sponsorship)
1992: $8,600,000 (Primary Sponsorship)

They reimbursed up to 50% of the driver salary ($400,000 maximum) for every Marlboro car.

Up to $125,000 a year for painting cars, having their logos on everything (equipment, transporter, uniforms, etc.)

PERFORMANCE BONUSES

1989:

Indianapolis 500: $100,000 for a 1st place finish, $75,000 for a second place finish and $50,000 for a third place finish

1990, 1991 and 1992

Indianapolis 500: $100,000 for a 1st place finish, $75,000 for a second place finish and $50,000 for a third place finish

CART PPG Series Championship: $100,000 for a 1st place finish

I wonder how much he gets now?

[Andrew Longman]

I wonder how much he gets now?

Surely not as much but Marlboro is pretty likely well overpaying for their (non) sponsorship because they can't advertise any other way. Those iconic red chevrons that Penske spent a few years "branding" as his own, is worth quite a lot to Marlboro. That's also a sponsorship he never has to worry about losing. He's got them over a barrel.

Same for the "bar codes" on the Ferrari.

How the state Attorneys General let them do that I don't know. It follows the letter of the law but insults the spirit of it and taunts the AG to do something.

[extramundane]

Roger's original Marlboro contract:

http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2048640058-0082.html

Those have to be fakes. I don't see John Howard's name in there anywhere.

[Easy]

Marlboro Challenge ?????

Looks like it was supposed to be an invitational race at the end of the year for pole winners a la Nascar's Bud Shoot Out or whatever it is called now.

[Insomniac]

Surely not as much but Marlboro is pretty likely well overpaying for their (non) sponsorship because they can't advertise any other way. Those iconic red chevrons that Penske spent a few years "branding" as his own, is worth quite a lot to Marlboro. That's also a sponsorship he never has to worry about losing. He's got them over a barrel.

Same for the "bar codes" on the Ferrari.

How the state Attorneys General let them do that I don't know. It follows the letter of the law but insults the spirit of it and taunts the AG to do something.

I found that odd too. Especially in F1 where they still say Marlboro when mentioning the team name. Just no logo. I don't know what to think though. I mean, on the one hand you say you can't spend your money on XYZ which seems wrong, but on the other hand the color scheme and references to Marlboro aren't gone. In the end though, not many people watch it anyway. ;) I'd probably care more about the spirit of the law if they bought red and white ad pages in magazines. They've found what appears to be an acceptable hole in it.

[Easy]

Marlboro had some interesting ideas for leveraging their sponsorship and even some good ideas for the series as a whole. I'm sure a lot of good ideas were shot down with CART's weak sauce management and car/series owner self interests. Its still almost unfathomable they ran it down so far that it turned from its mighty peak into a wet fart of a series and finally nothing.

Which makes me think, 30 (almost 100?) years and management got worse with almost every regime change. Thats impressively bad.

Good find on many levels Travis. :thumbup:

[ChrisB]

Some surprising and not so surprising statements in there. We all know that CART had no idea how to market but till kind of alarming to see it in black and white done by a research group.

It looks like whoever wrote the research report isn't all that detailed either: they refer to the sport as "car racing" when most say "auto racing" and the Pace car keeps getting referred to as the "Pacer car". At least they should get the vernacular correct!



FCYTravis - do you have the specific link for that first article about Marlboro series sponsorship? I'd like to read that in bigger context. CART may not have had much going for it in 1990, but they sure got it together over the next few years, renewing PPG for much of the rest of the decade.



BTW - everyone please keep in mind that the folks in Speedway IN also had Marlboro series sponsorship in the early 70's, but blew it by allowing Viceroy to field a "super team". :rolleyes:

[High Sided]

Marlboro had some interesting ideas for leveraging their sponsorship and even some good ideas for the series as a whole. I'm sure a lot of good ideas were shot down with CART's weak sauce management and car/series owner self interests. Its still almost unfathomable they ran it down so far that it turned from its mighty peak into a wet fart of a series and finally nothing.

Which makes me think, 30 (almost 100?) years and management got worse with almost every regime change. Thats impressively bad.

Good find on many levels Travis. :thumbup:

from patricks 86 contract...

Marlboro Race of Champions One of the strategies for the promotion has been to develop a program which is unique and totally Marlboro and creates some type of hook which gives us a season-long reason to be creating news beyond our car and driver sponsorships. In addition, this program should make a positive contribution to the sport. Working with CART, the recommendation is to create the Marlboro Race of Champions.

[JoeBob]

The Marlboro Challenge happened a few times, generally as a "support event" during a race weekend.

Here's the scoop: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlboro_Challenge

[JoeBob]

Here's another Penske contract, covering where the last one left off: http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2041253291-3309.html

The October 2001 letter from Marlboro directing Penske to investigate jumping to the IRL: http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2085365239-5240.html

[JoeBob]

More fun:

Marlboro sends orders to stop all references to Helio as Spiderman:
http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2085365251-5252.html

CART pisses off Marlboro, telling them they can't use a picture of the Vanderbilt Cup as the center of one of their marketing pieces. PM says, "Why would you not want us to promote you?" http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2085363414.html

A Gil de Ferran travel itinerary. I don't know that I'd want a job where my travel itinerary includes the phone numbers of two doctors and three hospitals, including a burn center: http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2080717385.html

Oh, and can someone get the images for this one: http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2705702295A-2705702295C.html

[Andrew Longman]

Interesting differences in the contract. A LOT more money - almost double.

Lots more specifics about how logos are displayed

Organized a little different.

Surprised they started with essentially a black piece of paper.

Oh, yes, Lawyers charge by the hour.

[Easy]

More fun:


Oh, and can someone get the images for this one: http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2705702295A-2705702295C.html

Sillypony made his way into this/ :eek:

[ChrisB]

CART pisses off Marlboro, telling them they can't use a picture of the Vanderbilt Cup as the center of one of their marketing pieces. PM says, "Why would you not want us to promote you?" http://tobaccodocuments.org/pm/2085363414.html

Oh that's funny if you consider the likely reason: :rofl:

Part of the agreement CART had with the Vanderbilt family to license the Cup was for CART to make an annual charitable donation to the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center which the Vanderbilt's were involved with.

[Napoleon]

Sillypony made his way into this/ :eek:

Whatever happened to him?

These documents are interesting. It seems a lifetime ago that some of this stuff happened.

[Gnam]

Cool find Travis. :thumbup:

From one of the related documents about Marlboro using the trophy:


Marlboro does a direct mail ticket giveaway where we invite adult smokers from our database to attend local, domestic races. Our idea was to send an invitation letter along with a credential holder. Inside the credential holder would be a nice booklet with the MTP and other race information on the inside. The outside cover of the booklet [will be] a representation of the Vanderbilt Cup.

Could this marketing setback have led to the red hat brigade?

Ok, the credential holder and booklet are out. What else we got? How many hats?

[Don Quixote]

You might be onto something there.

[rosawendel]

where's the document that authorizes free product for little al?

[FCYTravis]

If you search the RJR archive for "NASCAR" or "IMSA," there's plenty in there about Camel GT and Winston Cup, as well.

Glad people are finding this useful :)

[JoeBob]

The Brown and Williamson collection has all of the Team Kool Green stuff. Like this sponsorship breakdown: http://tobaccodocuments.org/bw/1440304.html (And, if you go back to the 1970s, info on Mario Andretti's deal with Viceroy)

[oddlycalm]

Very interesting stuff Travis. :thumbup: A rare opportunity to confirm many facts we have all speculated and wondered about.

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