Are racing teams paid by M1, Castrol, etc.?

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You always see racing vehicles with massive graphics on their cars advertising Mobil 1, Castrol, Pennzoil, etc., etc.

I've always wondered about the "relationship" between oil manufacturers and the racing teams - do the manufacturers PAY the racing teams (i.e., sponsorship, etc.) to put those huge graphics on their cars or do the teams really believe (and use) in those oils and that's why they graphics are there, etc.

Years ago I spoke to the Nissan Racing Department and the guy I spoke to suggested I use M1 in my Nissan truck based on how impressed he was from tearing engines down (their racing cars) and how clean they looked, etc., etc. So I've always wondered - do they believe in the oil they're advertising on their cars/trucks or are they just pimping Brand X because they're getting paid to do so?

Ed
 
Those are paid sponsorships for the most part. Sometimes it is a contingency sponsorship where you are paid by that company if you have that sticker on the car and finish in a certain spot or do something specific in the race.

Sometimes they use the products, sometimes they don't. If a certain product did not work on a specific application, the race team would not substitute reliability for a sponsor's product.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Those are paid sponsorships.

Sometimes they use the products, sometimes they don't. If a certain product did not work on a specific application, the race team would not substitute reliability for a sponsor's product.


Oh...interesting, thank you. So just because they're paid to advertise a given product, they have no obligation to USE that product???

Ed
 
Originally Posted By: Ed_Flecko
Oh...interesting, thank you. So just because they're paid to advertise a given product, they have no obligation to USE that product???

Ed


All depends on the contract. Sometimes the series Entitlement sponsor contract overrides individual team contracts.
 
The details of a Sponsor/ Racer/ Race Team contract, are highly variable. In some cases the Sponsor just provides money. Sometimes it's money and product. Sometimes it's just product.

Then there are times it's just based on contingency. Ie: If you win, and you have the Companies name on your vehicle, they'll pay out some predetermined amount of money.

Then there are the Racers that get no sponsorship or contingency money, but like the look of the stickers.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: Ed_Flecko
Oh...interesting, thank you. So just because they're paid to advertise a given product, they have no obligation to USE that product???

Ed


All depends on the contract. Sometimes the series Entitlement sponsor contract overrides individual team contracts.


Case in point: Shell sponsorship in NASCAR. The contracted fuel supplier is Sunoco. I think there may have even been a ruling that Shell had to limit their on-car advertising to lubricants because of that, although they still advertised gasoline during commercials using their sponsored driver.

NASCAR does get pretty funny at times (I know could end the sentence right there...) when it comes to team sponsorship vs. series sponsorship. A few years back, Pepsico was a big sponsor of Hendrick Motorsports, while Coca-Cola was a big sponsor of the NASCAR series. When a car went to victory lane, big cases of Powerade (a Coke product) were brought out and set on top of the winner's car. But if one of the Hendrick drivers won, he would climb out and before doing anything else, very violently shove all the Powerade on the ground while their crew handed them a Gatorade (Pepsi product). Before too many weeks went by, a rule came down banning the winner from knocking the series sponsor's product off their car.

And then there were the wireless carriers like Alltel, Cingular/AT&T, and Verizon that pretty much had to give up sponsoring teams after Nextel and then Sprint took over primary series sponsorship.
 
Back when Carl Edwards raced for Roush Fenway his car used Valvoline Next Gen every race.

Saw something kind've funny watching this past weekend's race,a Ford car with a "corvetteparts.com" sticker on it :^)
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Back when Carl Edwards raced for Roush Fenway his car used Valvoline Next Gen every race.


Bet he's using Joe Gibbs oil this year...

Penske used Mobil while they were the 12 car sponsor, presumably now they use SOPUS oil of some sort and the Stewart/Haas cars have the Mobil sponsorhip. Teams are not always really forthcoming with what oil they use, though moreso now than when they could use a special engine and oil for qualifying that was different from the race engine and oil.
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Back when Carl Edwards raced for Roush Fenway his car used Valvoline Next Gen every race.

Saw something kind've funny watching this past weekend's rac,a Ford car with a "corvetteparts.com" sticker on it :^)


I can guarantee you he was not using off-the-shelf Valvoline products.
 
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Back when Carl Edwards raced for Roush Fenway his car used Valvoline Next Gen every race.

Saw something kind've funny watching this past weekend's rac,a Ford car with a "corvetteparts.com" sticker on it :^)


I can guarantee you he was not using off-the-shelf Valvoline products.


I wouldn't be so sure.

"When the Valvoline racing team approached Edwards with our new recycled oil, we were met with a healthy amount of skepticism. And for good reason. NextGen Conventional Oil, while proven on the streets of America, had yet to be tested under the 750 horsepower conditions of a NASCAR track. Through three grueling rounds of horsepower, endurance and on-track testing, it made a believer out of Edwards, becoming his racing formula of choice."

Source: http://nextgen.valvoline.com/nextgen_on_track.html
 
NASCAR engines are probably less demanding on oil now than they've ever been in the past (not to say they're exactly "easy" on oil). But no longer are they hitting over 10,000 RPM with sliding-contact tappets. They've moved into the 1980s and have roller lifters now, plus they have gear ratio rules that top them out below 9K rpm at most tracks now. Also they have to run the same engine for qualifying and race, so they don't use super thin oils for qualifying anymore.

They probably could use an off-the-shelf street car oil and get away with it under the current rules package- though I bet none of them actually do so, regardless of what gets implied in advertising. 10 years ago, no way.
 
In F1 the oil and fuel sponsorship on the car is usually who is supplying the teams with product. They are often a major sponsor (Title sponsor in the Mercedes team). The oil is not what you will find on the local auto parts store. It is generally a group IV and/or group V base and is a very guarded secret in its composition. Fuel on the other hand is not far removed from common (ethanol free) petrol. Only 1% is allowed to be of non-hydrocarbon composition.

Some examples;

Mercedes AMG is Petronas Oil and Fuel
Ferrari is Shell Oil and Fuel
McLaren is ExxonMobil with M1 oil and Esso fuel
 
You already know that nobody sticks big, ugly graphics on their race car just cause they kinda like the product.
This is sponsorship money in motion.
In the minor leagues where there is no real money, supplying oil or tires or fuel alone will buy you a sticker, and teams may actually compete for the priviledge.
In the really big leagues, that sticker will cost you well into seven figures.
You should look at old race car photos.
The cars look so clean without sponsor's advertisments plastered all over them.
 
NASCAR Drivers likely don't even know what oil is in their engines, well except the Gibbs drivers.

Teams and drivers are paid spokespersons, and paid advertising. I'm sure they also get free product. Product that gets used in semi trucks, company pickups and cars, etc. They sure aren't using PYB in any race cars.
 
Originally Posted By: Ed_Flecko
Years ago I spoke to the Nissan Racing Department and the guy I spoke to suggested I use M1 in my Nissan truck based on how impressed he was from tearing engines down (their racing cars) and how clean they looked, etc., etc. So I've always wondered - do they believe in the oil they're advertising on their cars/trucks or are they just pimping Brand X because they're getting paid to do so?


Ironically, NISMO, and Nissan Racing have been sponsored by (and are supposedly using) Motul products for many years now, despite M1 0W-40 being the 'factory fill' on the 'Godzillas' (GTRs).
 
Pennzoil is famous for supplying their 0w-40 off-the-shelf oil for Penske Indycar (the Dodge SRT oil). This is because of the engine rule "Oil – Can use only lubricating oil that is readily available to the general public through retail methods." Of course its great oil, and Penske gets money, a win-win.
Indycar is interesting. According to that rule, one could run M1 Racing 0w-30 too, since its available in speed shops and Amazon. Some simply use M1 0w-40 though, so any LL-01, MB229.5 can likely do the job in that 10,000 rpm turbo engine.
 
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