Atlanta Motor Speedway sues Pep Boys

May 12, 11:09 PMSports Business ExaminerJosh Lobdell

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Pep Boys served as the race sponsor for the Fall 2008 Atlanta Race Getty Images/Rusty Jarrett

Lawsuits really are the Sports business reporters’ best friend. They are also a valuable tool when trying to find information on the financial side of the NASCAR universe. For the most part the people associated with NASCAR try their hardest to keep information about the financial side of the sports locked away from public consumption.

Luckily for us most lawsuits are of the public record and we can use each one to add another piece to the puzzle that makes up the finances of NASCAR racing.

Now we learn that Atlanta Motor speedway is suing Pep Boys for non payment on their race sponsorship agreement. The original agreement was for the 2008 and 2009 Atlanta fall race dates and Pep Boys was scheduled to pay AMS 3 million dollars. Broken down that is 1.4 million for the 2008 fall date, and 1.6 million for the 2009 fall date.

There is a clause in the contract that calls for Pep Boys to sponsor a fall NASCAR Sprint Cup race. This year the second Atlanta date has been moved from its traditional late October date to Labor Day weekend. Technically speaking that is now a summer Sprint Cup race date.

AMS officials are claiming that Pep Boys officials did not object when the idea for changing race dates was originally floated last year. AMS is also claiming that the way the contact is worded it does not allow Pep Boys to terminate the contract for this reason.

While a lot of this is legal hair splitting it offers NASCAR fans a look at what it costs for a company to sponsor a Sprint cup race in relation to what it costs a company to serve as the primary sponsor of a Sprint Cup car.

Three million bucks buys two race sponsorship in the Chase for the Cup, NASCAR playoff System, while 20-25 million dollars buys a full 36 race sponsorship package on a Sprint Cup car. Different sponsorship models like these ones offer different levels of involvement for companies of all sizes.

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