AT&T Inc., owner of the largest U.S. mobile phone carrier, sued the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing Inc. after meeting resistance to its efforts to replace the Cingular brand with the AT&T brand on the No. 31 Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS car that the company sponsors.
“NASCAR’s refusal is apparently a result of its fealty to Spring Nextel Corp., a wireless provider that, since 2004, has been lead sponsor of NASCAR’s ‘Cup Series,’ which is a series of NASCAR’s highest profile races,” stated AT&T in a complaint for injunctive relief. The complaint, filed in federal court in Atlanta, also seeks a declaratory ruling and damages.
Bookmark to:
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i hope at&t win and put nascar back in their place instead of all this corporate bullshit they have now.
i cant agree more
I hope NASCAR is driven into bankruptcy by this suit. Stupid rednecks deserve to lose everything. NA
Dum Bone, if you hate NASCAR so much, why bother even leaving a comment? Just shows that you have enough interest in it to read about it.
screw at&t I wanna see the big shell logo on harvick’s car.
I think Alltel will be watching very closely. I don’t think this is as much about Nascar as it is Nextel.
AT&T needs to win big time so that maybe Nascar will rethink this single solitary sponser bullshit. I don’t use nextel or sprint. I use verizon. I still want to see all of the competitors out there though so we can see who does support our sport. I don’t think that any one sponser no matter how much money they spend should be able to tell Nascar what sponsers can and can’t be on the cars. Plus if that happens too much there will be a shortage of sponsers. Not only that but who is to say that when they would have the chance to sponser later on…they may say screw you Nascar….I wanted to sponser when I wanted to…not when you want me to! GO AT&T! Motorola and Shell should follow suit.
I don’t know what the fuss is about….this sponsor thing isn’t new to NASCAR. Winston kept many tobacco brands as well as non-tobacco products from sponsoring teams in the series. You guys just don’t know about business or sponsorship rights.
Remember WAY back when winston had the cup? I still have a model of the 23 smokin joe CAMEL ford. Nextel is trying to power play the other companys. Nascar needs to put nextel back in its place
ford -chevy miller- budweiser
winston -camel kodiak - skoal
purex-tide lowes - home depot
see my point. ya know there is a word for nextels bs monopoly.. isnt that what ruined bill gates?
hey serg winston-salem is competetor to camel, kodiak, skoal, do you remember those cars….. i do.
All those tobacco sponsors are owned by R.J. Reynolds, who in turns owns Winston….nice try.
OK SERG! But what about Miller and Budweiser? The facts are that Nextel used their monies to put themselves in the position that they are in and that is trying to be the soul phone suppliing sponser for Nascar and in my opinion it sucks. When Nascar accepted their money they cut any chances of the guys that work for them ever being able to get themselves a phone supplier sponser. Now that may be all fine and dandy for Nascar but what about the guys that NEED those sponsers to be able to race FOR Nascar? My son is a 600 cc series midget driver and we know first hand how hard it is to get a sponser in the first place. If Nascar cuts the chances then we get our throats cut! Take Robbie Gordon for example (Definately not a fan of Robbie!) He works very hard at staying afloat in Nascar racing. He has trouble getting sponsers due to his not so great winning record and there isn’t alot of other money involved, at least not like Hendricks money. How is he expected to survive when Nascar lets Nextel monopolize the whole phone sponsership? He has Motorola there ready jump on and sponser him but Nascar can’t let them in because Nextel is selfish. Nextel is thriving…why do they feel they have to kill everyone else in the process…just put out good quality and don’t ask like assholes and the common person will buy your product. I myself WON’T buy into themonopolizing BS and will never own a Nextel product. AT&T has every right to go after Nascar and make them pay for what they are doing to the little people.
Lol. Find me a Bud Pole Award decal on Kurt Busch’s car. If Kurt wins the pole he doesn’t get an award, just the pole. Do you see Miller racing in the Busch Series? They can’t, Anheuser-Busch won’t let other beer companies compete as sponsors and we all know those teams need sponsorship. Business is sometimes a cut-throat and I don’t think that should be surprising to us. If your son races then you should know more about sponsorship, what your son has to wear and can’t wear just to please that sponsor. If he has Gatorade as sponsor he can’t drink PowerAde or any of Coca-Cola products. If he does he loses that sponsor. Motorola was not Robby Gordon’s sponsor when Nextel took over rights. He knew very well that no other wireless company could come into the series, that was his mistake not NASCAR and Motorola did sponsor his car. Isn’t owning a business about thriving above all other companies? AT&T doesn’t care about the little people…they care about getting their money out of what they spend on sponsoring the 31 car. Most people that are complaining about this subject are new to the sport or don’t understand that a sponsor has rights to a particular team, event, series. The sport hasn’t changed in this matter and if you think it is, that’s because you are new to the sport or don’t understand it or it’s your driver being affected.
You don’t know me Serg and that is obvious. Actually I have been a fan for more years than I can count. I totally understand that they can’t wear certain clothing or drink certain drinks when they are being sponsered by their competitors. They sure can’t put 2 phone sponsers on the same car, but Nascar could have left the sponsership to the teams. I don’t care for the name change due to sponsers.I sure don’t want Walmart to have their name on it either. I also don’t care for the change in the names of the tracks. Charlotte Motor Speedway was an icon in my opinion by name alone! These tracks have been named the same thing for several years and all of a sudden Nascar and the track owners want to put alittle more money into their pockets …so they put sponsers in the track names! Sponserships are the meat that we need as a racing team. What I said was it isn’t fair to the little people to put a sole sponser on a whole group! Nascar bringing in sole sponsers is cutting everyone’s chances of getting sponsers that they need. They DIDN’T have to change the name and pick up Nextel as a sole sponser. They are thinking of their pockets and their pockets only. What do they expect these little people to do to get into the sport or is that what they want…just the big dogs who can afford to? Well if that happens then Nascar is in deep trouble. This sport is what it is today because of the little people and Nascar continues to stomp on the people who built them. That is part of the reason that so many people are setting aside their love for the sport. It has become a big pile of corporate crap. I don’t want to watch the little people be trampled. Oh and by the way…90% of Nextel’s phones…are Motorola! So explain that.
The Busch series is just as bad…Sole sponsership just isn’t fair to those who are coming up in the sport!
I understand what you are telling me now…in your own words. NASCAR is changing fast….and money is the big culprit. I remember when CART would get more air time than NASCAR and now CART is almost unheard of. I don’t like to see teams close their shops because of lack of money from sponsorship and I don’t like this thing about sponsor rights, it affects many companies, not just one. NASCAR doesn’t need our money to run the series, it needs the sponsorship dollars. The tracks need our money and sponsor money to pay for team winnings and additional stuff. The same with a race team, it needs the sponsor’s money to keep running. It’s not fair to make it hard for a small team, such as Robbie and not fair to just let Cingular change to AT&T, heck Cingular is running anyway…it’s blasphemy if you have been a long time fan of the series and decide to grief over this particular detail when all along it’s been a part of the sport. I don’t know what NASCAR expects to happen to the “little people”, I don’t work for them. They just talk about sponsor’s rights. Must be allot of money.
About the Motorola issue….Motorola has a wireless pre-pay program and considered a competitor for NEXTEL.
Most of the issues that I have heard and read why fans are upset over NASCAR are these sudden changes that are happening too fast. Primary sponsor, points chase, COT (program made to help cut down on cost and help the “little guys”, expansion, high prices, favoritism (I still find that hard to believe) and well…Juan Pablo Montoya. Many just want their old NASCAR back, me…I just want to watch racing and if the sport changes…it changes. I don’t have the money to change it.
Ohh and Cybil, I enjoy your debate….I’m glad we are acting like adults. I respect your opinions and I understand them. You are more leaned toward “let them race what they brought” attitude than many “your car doesn’t fit the rules book, you can’t race.” Have a good weekend, enjoy the race at Bristol.
Nice debating with you…we all have our opinions and I sure don’t want to change yours. Just love to give mine. I love auto racing but alot of that comes from my father, mother, brother, ex-hubby and son all racing their own cars over the years. Nascar IS changing real fast and it is leaving the older crowd behind. I will continue watching even though I am not happy…but I doubt I will ever own a Nextel Phone and that is mainly due to this subject. Sadly I have to work this weekend and will be getting the play by play through my Verizon text messaging friends. I hope you enjoy the race.
I stand up to correct myself
Skoal is U.S. Tobbaco co.
camel is now RJ Renolds
But all in all we as fans ( the ones who put the money in the sponsors accounts from the start) need to stand up and voice our opinions to big bussiness.