LVMS gets record Cup sponsor

Thursday, Oct. 14, 1999 | 10:57 a.m.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway has negotiated what is believed to be the most lucrative single-race sponsorship in auto racing for its NASCAR Winston Cup race in March.

CarsDirect.com, an Internet website that allows consumers to purchase automobiles on the World Wide Web, has agreed in principle to serve as the title sponsor for the March 5, 2000, Winston Cup race.

According to industry sources, the title sponsorship fee is in the neighborhood of $1.9 million, which would be a record for a Winston Cup race.

Chris Powell, general manager of LVMS, confirmed that the Speedway has held talks with CarsDirect.com, but would not comment on the financial details of the proposed deal.

"We have negotiated a deal, but we don't have a signed agreement -- but that's not to say that we don't have full belief that it will be (signed)," Powell said. "We're looking forward to getting the agreement signed and moving forward with an announcement in a few weeks."

Powell said a formal announcement on the race sponsorship likely would be made during the first week in November.

It is believed that the richest Winston Cup race sponsorship deal struck to date is in the $1.5 million to $1.6 million range per year.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway was able to command a better deal than any other Winston Cup track because of the television ratings this year's Las Vegas 400 garnered on ABC. The race, won by Jeff Burton and witnessed by more than 130,000 spectators, drew a 6.0 rating (approximately 16 million viewers).

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority served as the title sponsor of the 1998 and 1999 Winston Cup races, but elected earlier this year not to renew its sponsorship due to budgetary constraints. The LVCVA paid LVMS $1.7 million per year to sponsor both the Winston Cup and Indy Racing League events at the Speedway.

Next year's Winston Cup event at LVMS will be called the CarsDirect.com 500 and would give the Speedway two sponsorships involving Internet websites; the IRL race here last month was sponsored by Las Vegas-based website Vegas.com.

CarsDirect.com is believed to be the only Internet site that offers consumers the ability to order, finance and set up delivery of new automobiles -- and even trade in their old vehicles -- online.