Move Over GM - Ford’s Taking Over As Official Bristol Motor Speedway Vehicle
Photo Illustration by Heather Seay/ Tricities.com
Goodbye, GM… hello, Ford! That’s the word at Bristol Motor Speedway as the track joins forces with the Tri-Cities and Charleston Ford Dealer Advertising Groups to make Ford the official vehicle of the world’s fastest half mile. The new 3-year deal, starting this year, replaces a sponsorship previously held by General Motors.
In a release posted on the Bristol Motor Speedway’s website, the Speedway reported that the sponsorship opportunity was initiated by the Tri-Cities and Charleston Ford dealers, independently of Ford Motor Company, through their dealer group advertising fund. The site quotes Bristol Motor Speedway President Jeff Byrd as saying, “It is exciting for us to renew our partnership with Ford here at Bristol Motor Speedway. We had a strong relationship with them the first two years after Speedway Motorsports Inc. purchased the track and teaming up with them again in partnership with the dealers of this region is a good fit.“
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Reader Reactions
Glad to hear the local dealers took advantage of this opportunity! Dealers aren’t filtering money from corporate for sponsorships. Dealerships are independent small businesses that sell Ford vehicles and obviously want to promote the brand to increase sales on the local level.
It’s also important to remember that while Ford supported the government loans for Chrysler and GM, they did not face the same near term liquidity issues and did not ask for any loan money.
What wins on Sunday, sells on Monday.
I guess the CEO’s at Ford sold their corporate jets to sponsor BMS racing? How crazy is that? Since NASCAR has made racing as boring as it could possibly get why would anyone pay hard to come by cash to watch it anyway? Things like this is why these big 3 should go under, it’s really stupid investments during hard times!!
The article says the deal was made with “Tri-Cities and Charleston Ford Dealer Advertising Groups” independent of Ford Motor Company. But the question remains as to where the money would be coming from. If the dealers aren’t selling enough cars where will they get the money for this?
Ford did not take bailout money yet. They said they were gonna hold off and try to do their own restructuring first. I am kind of surprised that during a restructuring and reports today that their sales have dropped by 32% that they would undertake such a sponsorship. Oh well, at least GM isn’t spending that bailout money on the track sponsorship.
Just as a matter of opinion of course…Ford needs to look at building a more appealing car…they haven’t produced much that has been pleasing to the eye in awhile.
Ummm ... Only GM and Chrysler took bailout money. Maybe that is why GM is pulling out and Ford is stepping in.
That’s why my daughter lives at home. She works in fast food and can’t afford to pay a full rent amount, take care of a child, and pay a car payment on what she makes.
Our tax dollars at work. Glad to see the bailout money has helped someone. No wonder the American people were against this.
Being that times are tough you would think they would save money. Regardless its the skyhigh profits that allow people to pay insane amounts to sponsor these type events anyway. Its the little extra we all pay that does it.
Great waste of money. Oh how I hope the big 3 tank !
Soooo, this is what they do with the government bail out money? What a joke!!!!! How about lowering the price of their vehicles? We looked at a new truck the other weekend and as my husband told the salesman, no wonder GM, Ford, etc are going bankrupt. $42,000+ for a truck:( Bring back our jobs and factories from Mexico and China, then maybe we will be able to aford to buy a new vehicle. Retail and fast food don’t pay crap!!!!!! Maybe some of these executives, race car drivers, ball players, government officials, etc need to share their bonuses and yearly paychecks. You think???
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