Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Andretti won’t have Kool sponsorship

Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2002 | 9:24 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Andretti Green Racing will be moving from CART to the Indy Racing League next season without the team's longtime sponsor, Kool cigarettes.

Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation on Tuesday announced that it would end its motor sports sponsorship program at the end of this season. The company's Kool brand has sponsored CART's Team Green -- purchased by Michael Andretti earlier this year -- since the 1997 season.

"The decision to end our motor sport sponsorship program was a very difficult one to make," Ludo Cremers, Brown & Williamson's divisional vice president, said. "Our Team Kool Green sponsorship program has played a key role in the revitalization of the KOOL brand in the United States.

"However, the brand has evolved and the fit with motor racing has become less and less optimal, making it increasingly difficult to achieve an acceptable business return on our motor sport investment."

Brown & Williamson invested more than $120 million in motor sports sponsorship since 1996, the company said in a release.

"Brown & Williamson and Kool went above and beyond what many sponsors offer in sports, lending their name not only to teams but also to driver development programs in the Indy Lights and Toyota Atlantic series," CART president and CEO Chris Pook said. "They proved that there are many ways to do business in this sport and paved the way for others to follow their successful business model."

Andretti, who will move to the IRL next season with Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan as his teammates, said last week he expected the Motorola, Archipelago, 7-Eleven and Klein Tools brands to remain as sponsors with AGR next season.

Da Matta, who is on the verge of wrapping up his first CART title, reportedly has signed a contract to drive in Formula One next season with Toyota. The CART points leader and six-time race winner this season is under contract with Newman-Haas Racing for next season, but it is believed Toyota would buy out da Matta's contract.

Halliday, who joined Fernandez Racing last December, served as co-owner and technical director as well as race engineer for Adrian Fernandez.