See this week's Autoweek Magazine for more details about
Dodge's return!
Wayne Graefen wrote:
>
> DETROIT, Oct 11 (Reuters) - DaimlerChrysler AG will
> announce this week that its Dodge brand is returning to the
> stock-car racing scene, ending a 14-year absence from an
> increasingly popular sport, industry sources familiar with the
> automaker's plans said on Monday.
> The German-U.S. company, which has been placing greater
> emphasis on professional racing, will announce its return to
> NASCAR's Winston Cup circuit, sources said. DaimlerChrysler is
> likely to begin racing in 2000 or 2001, returning to a sport
> made popular by drivers such as Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt.
>
> The world's No. 5 automaker, which also will return to
> Formula One racing next year after the purchase of a 40 percent
> equity in TAG McLaren Group earlier this year, has not confirmed
> the plans. NASCAR declined to comment.
>
> Stock-car racing features full-bodied American-made sedans
> turned race cars, rather than the open-wheel, single-seat cars
> used in Indy and Formula One racing.
>
> The automaker has scheduled press conferences in New York
> and at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama on Thursday and
> Friday, respectively, to make a major Dodge Motorsports
> announcement.
>
> "I can't confirm speculation on whether or not it would
> involve NASCAR," DaimlerChrysler spokesman David Elshoff said.
>
> Dodge, whose drivers have included Lee and Richard Petty
> and Lee Roy Yarbrough, last participated in a Winston Cup race
> in June 1985 after 35 years on the circuit. The former Chrysler
> Corp., which merged with Germany's Daimler-Benz AG last year,
> also raced cars under its Plymouth and Chrysler brands,
>
> Dodge still ranks as the fourth most successful brand in
> Winston Cup history with 160 wins, trailing Ford, Chevrolet and
> Plymouth, Racer Magazine editor John Zimmermann said. Dodge's
> return to Winston Cup is most likely in 2001 as next year's
> racing season is less than five months away.
>
> DaimlerChrysler has eyed a return to Winston Cup for years,
> because of the sport's growing base of highly loyal fans,
> Elshoff said. The automaker's Dodge Ram full-sized pickup truck
> has participated in NASCAR's Craftsman series since its
> inception five years ago.
>
> "The anecdotal stories and statistical figures support that
> NASCAR-Winston Cup sponsors benefit from that involvement," he
> said, pointing out Dodge's truck racing has raised consumer
> awareness of its trucks and boosted company morale.
>
> The Dodge Intrepid, whose sales rose 13 percent through
> September versus last year, is the car most likely to race in
> Winston Cup, the sources said. General Motors Corp. competes
> with Chevrolet Monte Carlo and Pontiac Grand Prix, while Ford
> Motor Co. races the Taurus.
>
> NASCAR Winston Cup racing is such an attractive opportunity
> for DaimlerChrysler because of a growing base of fans, who love
> the sport's down-to-earth drivers and have pushed television
> ratings sky-high, especially in the last 10 to 15 years, said
> Bill Doyle, vice president of Performance Research, a sports
> marketing-research firm in Newport, R.I.
>
> "NASCAR is the fastest-growing sport in the country so to
> ignore it would be ignoring such a huge slice of the population
> right now that it would be ridiculous," he said.
>
> In fact, NASCAR's fan loyalty rate in the United States is
> almost double that of fans of pro football, baseball and
> basketball, the firm said. In 1995, Sports Illustrated
> magazine's cover story on NASCAR made that issue the
> second-highest seller that year behind the swimsuit edition.
>
> "It certainly is a nationwide if not burgeoning worldwide
> phenomena," Racer Magazine's Zimmermann said.
>
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