A NASCAR double standard?

Winston made a truck load of money selling the cup race name to Nextel. They were under the gun from SEVERAL groups lobbying with the whole smoking kills stuff (true, but I have heard it already and still smoke) so it made for a good move for the Winston people. Besides how often do you hear in the news about a lawsuit against Bud because a family got killed in a car accident with a drunk driver. Hardly ever. But some mean old lady with a hole in her neck from 50 years of 2 packs a day gets on the news a couple times a year and talks about the Camel cigerette people "forced" her to smoke and she wants millions of dollars (not picking on the girls, I have seen guys pull the same trick).

Bottom line it just fit the time in America, and is a bit of a sad commentary about how we think.

they were not forced. first, yeah, winston and rj renyold tobacco was under a lot of scrutiny for being a tobacco company and whatnot..

however, the contract came up.. they didn't wnat to put up the money..figured life would be easier if they weren't getting bad press all the time..and didn't.. then enter nextel.. and now sprint bought out nextel.

the alcohol companies don't deal with nearly half the scrutiny and negative press about stuff as the tobacco companies do. hell busch sponsers the series..and then the cup has a jack car and a bud car.. i'm also taking a stab at this..but i bet the alcohol companies esp the beer companies make more profit than the tobacco companies. i could probably do some reasearch and find out for sure..but it's a stab in the dark.

Hey, this is America, and most people can consume alcohol responsibly. It's not NASCAR's job to be 'politically correct' just so that kids won't start drinking...that's their PARENT'S responsibility!

And adults have a choice, to drink, or not to drink. And it's not going to stop alcoholism or DWI because NASCAR is far from the only sport that has sponsorship from breweries...Hey, even stadiums are sponsored by breweries...Coors Field and Busch Memorial Stadium to name two here in the States. And look at a lot of the advertising during NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL games...yeppers, advertisements for Budweiser, Coors, and Miller!

People ultimately decide what they want to drink or smoke, and honestly, there's nothing others can do about it if they're not willing to change their ways.

On that note, a few years ago (Kyle Busch was 17 at the time), at a race in California, one of the primary sponsors of the race was Marlboro. After qualifying, it was determined that Kyle Busch could not participate in the race because of the fact that he was a minor and the sponsor was big tobacco.

Let me ask you this:

How many people have driven in the Busch Series under the age of 21?

I have asked that same question for years. Why don't they ban beer ads? Alcohol kills many many people every year too. In fact when you think about it...alcohol kills more innocent people than it does the actual drinkers in car accidents. Let the other types of companies in this world sponsor Nascar and "BAN BREWERY SPONSORSHIP".

The Petty family does not put any Alcohol related stickers on their cars.If they win a pole they do not get the bonus.

The government was under pressure from the "medical groups" to push anti smoking (I started smoking at 13,but quit 11 years ago) so they started at the top and worked down.NASCAR was so prominate on TV that that was one of the first places to cut.

they didnt get forced into anything, the sponsorship contract expired and winston didnt want to resign and spend more money, thats why nextel came in

and the busch series is still BUSCH becuase they also have a contract

R.J.Reynolds (Winstons manufacturer) had to make a choice.The government told tobacco companies that they could only sponsor one sport. R.J. chose Golf. They sponsor The Vantage Championships..There is NO mention of tobacco on the sites I found,however.

I don't see a double standard. Beer and alcohol companies don't add dangerous and cancer causing chemicals to their products to keep their customers addicted.

Do you know anyone who smokes one cigarette a day?

An alcoholic doesn't become addicted because of a foreign substance added to his drink of choice. He becomes dependent on the alcohol. And, I'm pretty sure there is no direct link between alcohol products and cancer.

Or.. they make Viagra go away, and are supposedly letting Pink Taco sponsor a car. Hmmmm, what does Pink Taco allude to?