AT&T to sue NASCAR to place logos on Burton’s #31
Quote selected text Published March 16th, 2007 in NASCAR News
The cell-phone industry’s ruthless fight has spilled over into NASCAR, and landed squarely on the hood of Jeff Burton’s #31 Chevy. AT&T’s wireless unit, formerly known as Cingular Wireless, planned to file a lawsuit later on Friday in Atlanta’s U.S. District Court against NASCAR.
The suit will center around AT&T’s sponsorship on the #31 Chevrolet driven by Burton. The car has traditionally been sponsored by Cingular, with its familiar orange paint scheme. Though federal regulators approved AT&T’s acquisition of BellSouth and its wireless unit Cingular on Dec. 29, NASCAR will not allow AT&T logos to appear on the #31 car because it would violate its current agreement with Sprint Nextel, which owns the naming right to NASCAR’s top series.
“We’re filing a lawsuit to protect the right to transition from Cingular to AT&T on the #31 car,” AT&T spokesperson Clay Owen said Friday afternoon. NASCAR officials were not immediately available for comment. Burton’s car will continue to sport the Cingular Wireless paint scheme for this weekend’s Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
- AT&T, NASCAR hearing over injunction set for Aug. 2
- AT&T in court with NASCAR once again to try get logos on the No 31-UPDATED 2
- Court won’t move up NASCAR’s AT&T appeal
- RCR allowed to run AT&T logos tonight, Judge denies NASCAR’s delay request
- Italy/Hungary Warned: Stop F1 Cars from Running Tobacco Logos
i dont think its that big of a deal, and im aggravated that nascar doesnt let Robby Gordon put motorola on the car, i mean seriously, i have a nextel and its made my motorola, theyre not competitors. At&T should be allowed on the car, theres no reason, if nascar wont let put the decal on the car, then either nextel or nascar should be paying that team the same ammount that the pending sponsor wants to pay, or would pay, cause its not fair, if nascar doesnt give them pensions, to me they cant tell them they cant have a certain sponsor emblem on there car. Drivers dont need pensions, they get alot of money, just racing, which is from help from the sponsors which money is given to the team.