Hooters: latest chain to sponsor NASCAR team

Nation's Restaurant News, Dec 21, 1992 by Jack Hayes

ATLANTA--Hooters of America Inc. spent $2 million this year sponsoring the NASCAR--National Association of Stock Car Racing--team that captured the 1992 Winston Cup and carried the Hooters logo into living rooms across the nation.

The fact that Wisconsin-based NASCAR winner Alan Kulwicki -- a driver who had once been sponsored by Hardee's -- clinched the Winston Cup victory in Atlanta during the last few laps of the Hooters 500 made the payback even bigger in terms of local and national exposure.

"The numbers are phenomenal," said Michael McNeil, marketing vice president for the beach-themed dinner-house chain, which expects to end the year with 94 restaurants in 27 states. "We estimated five million people saw that [Nov. 15] race."

The NASCAR season, running February to November, tours the major Sunbelt race tracks from Daytona to Phoenix and has a big following in the Southeast. With television, however, the sport is gaining in other parts of the country.

Hooters last year became the fourth restaurant operator to buy a sponsorship from NASCAR, which is more commonly linked with automotive brands such as Valvoline, Texaco, GM Goodwrench and Ford.

McDonald's Corp., Hardee's Food Systems Inc. and Claremont, N.C.-based WSMP, the owner of Western Steer, have been NASCAR sponsors on and off during the past several seasons.

After three years as NASCAR's "Official Fast Food Sponsor," McDonald's in 1993 will enter its own car in the Winston Cup circuit -- to be driven by Hut Stricklin of the Junior Johnson racing team.

Hardee's, meanwhile, will be sponsoring a driver on the 1993 Busch Grand National tour, which is NASCAR's Triple A racing circuit. Hardee's has been a past Winston Cup sponsor, however. In fact, NASCAR celebrity Cal Yarborough is a Hardee's franchisee.

WSMP intends to continue its NASCAR "associate sponsorship" next year -- backing the car driven by five-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt.

The Hooters-Kulwicki deal --making Hooters the first restaurant chain to sponsor a current year Winston Cup winner -- continues through 1993 as well.

Next year the Hooters car will run in 30 Winston Cup races -- all televised -- in legendary NASCAR cities like Rockingham, N.C., and Taledega, Ala.

"We're running a fullblown show car that visits all locations. We think there's a real payout at the store level," said McNeil, who felt the exposure value of the Hooters 500 race was greater than $2 million. Title sponsorship for a race as big as the Atlanta event is estimated at $400,000 to $500,000.

Meanwhile, Kulwicki's win triggered invitations for him to appear with David Letterman and Jay Leno during the week of the Winston Cup trophy luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria in New York -- meaning even more exposure "because of the amount of money we're paying him," McNeil added.

Merchandising opportunities also are emerging, said McNeil, who claims children can now buy tiny Matchbox Hooters cars.

"In total value I think we're looking at $10 million," McNeil said, adding that Hooters' payback this year will be five times its expenditure. He said the company got 200 franchising calls the week after Kulwicki won the deciding Winston Cup race in Atlanta.