Questions on Menard sponsorship for 2004...

[speedy badger]

Will the sponsorship for 2004 on the Panther car be a Menards sponsorship similar to the cars and trucks in NASCAR or will Mansville still be the primary sponsor.

Also, interesting little tidbit that I picked up on this weekend. Paul Menard has signed a two year deal to drive in the Busch series next year with an option to then move to the Nextel cup in 2006.

Is is possible that a number of Menards Cars in Nascar and IRL might cause Home Depot to expand its sponsorship to the IRL?

[JoeBob]

IRL Sponsorship isn't really the place for Home Depot to take on Menards. Remember that while Home Depot and Lowes are large, national chains, Menards is a regional player. Besides,
the Menard's racing programs are more John's hobby than serious marketing for the stores.

Menards has 180 stores in 10 states. (North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Most stores are concentrated around Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis)

Meanwhile, Home Depot has over 1,500 stores in all 50 states, eight Canadian provinces, and Mexico and Lowes has 845 stores in 45 states.

If Home Depot or Lowes want to take it to Menards, they'd bombard the airwaves with commercials in the four major markets where Menard has stores.

Racing in the IRL doesn't make much advertising sense for Menards (at least that is the opinion of the IRS) so it also wouldn't make much sense for their competitors to try to win their customers by racing in the IRL. And, remember that their NASCAR program already races in pretty much the same markets, but with better ratings and attendance.

[mnkywrch]

If they want to whack him for tax fraud or evasion or whatever fine. But I have a significant issue with the IRS determining what is "appropriate" when it comes to advertising expenses.

I wonder if they would find it appropriate to spend $33 million on telling folks about new dollar bills?

The IRL is, primarily, a Midwestern series. Menards is based in the Midwest.

[step33T]

And folks in the midwest have TV's to watch those out of town races.

The IRL has ZERO races in Brazil, but thanks to an improved TV Package will have Hollywood on the sidepod of a car again next year.

[mario]

"But I have a significant issue with the IRS determining what is 'appropriate' when it comes to advertising expenses."

Does someone know what the issue is with the IRS? I'm sure its not that they don't think the IRL is a smart place to advertise so therefore they dispute the deduction.

[step33T]

There is a link around here somewhere.

The IRS was mad at 2 things:

#1 Whether the money John kept for himself each year was "salary" or "bonus/dividends". Apparently they get taxed differently.

#2 They didn't like the accounting method of having Team Menard's bills paid by Menard Inc money. (Probably just needed to be handled differently - it's all the same money, but the IRS doesn't like THAT at all).

[speedy badger]

Originally posted by JoeBob
IRL Sponsorship isn't really the place for Home Depot to take on Menards. Remember that while Home Depot and Lowes are large, national chains, Menards is a regional player. Besides,
the Menard's racing programs are more John's hobby than serious marketing for the stores.

Menards has 180 stores in 10 states. (North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. Most stores are concentrated around Minneapolis/St. Paul, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Indianapolis)

Meanwhile, Home Depot has over 1,500 stores in all 50 states, eight Canadian provinces, and Mexico and Lowes has 845 stores in 45 states.

If Home Depot or Lowes want to take it to Menards, they'd bombard the airwaves with commercials in the four major markets where Menard has stores.

Racing in the IRL doesn't make much advertising sense for Menards (at least that is the opinion of the IRS) so it also wouldn't make much sense for their competitors to try to win their customers by racing in the IRL. And, remember that their NASCAR program already races in pretty much the same markets, but with better ratings and attendance.

I would think that advertising in the IRL makes great sense for Menards. About half of the races in the IRL are in the midwest. Plus the highest concentration of IRL fans come from the midwest. If a sponsorship for a regoinal product makes sense, then why not do it? As Step33 mentions below as a great example-A Brazilian Tobacco company has a sponsorship on a car for a product that is not even sold in the US.

[jrandrew00]

Originally posted by step33T


The IRL has ZERO races in Brazil, but thanks to an improved TV Package will have Hollywood on the sidepod of a car again next year.

That's not what I heard from my sources. Hollywood is under the same rules as KOOL is what I was told.

[step33T]

Originally posted by jrandrew00
That's not what I heard from my sources. Hollywood is under the same rules as KOOL is what I was told.

That's false.

Difference:

You can't purchase Hollywood cigs in this country. And I'm not sure of the parent of Hollywood, but they may not be a party to the Tobacco SETTLEMENT.

You can buy Kools in the US, and their maker IS a part of the Tobacco Settlement. (B&W I believe).

[BSJracing]

Only if they were in the original tobacco settlement

Beat me to it Step

[theunions]

Precisely. Remember 2001, after these rules were implemented? Hollywood sponsored Giaffone in IRL AND Kanaan in CART - which otherwise would've been a clear violation of the "one series sponsorship limit" mandate.

[Jim Wilke]

"But I have a significant issue with the IRS determining what is 'appropriate' when it comes to advertising expenses."

They don't and any number of other advertising ventures are even less appropriate: PacifiCare only markets in 8 Western states and Guam so sponsoring a car that races overseas and in Canada and Mexico would seem to make little sense.

[autoracingfan2]

Menards is on the car and so is Johns Manville. Both sponsors are good for the IRL; Menards is a midwestern chain of home improvement stores which sells Johns Manville products. The IRL is a predominantly midwestern racing series who concentrates on those people who go to Menards stores as their audience. It's a good fit, maybe more than one car with that sponsorship next year.

[speedy badger]

The Menards logo on the current (2003) IRL car was little and played 2nd fiddle to Johns Mansville. I am not saying the the John Mansville sponsorship is not important, just wondering if Menards will now be featured more prominantly. For a newcomer to the sport (viewer) who does not recognize the Menards stripe, it is not easy to see the Menard logo. It seems to me that it would be logical now to increase the Menard logo presence.

At this point, it would appear that it is not really clear how that car(s) will look next year.

[jetdoc]

How do you think Milwaukee came to be? John's been really raising a stink over the past couple of years for not having ANY races in the area where his stores are concentrated. Hence, there was an opening and the IRL took it immediately. TG does ALOT more than meets the eye y'all. Sure it's a big boon to the IRL to race there, but that's a win win for everyone involved. The basic reason we're there's over John. It's payback to him for his loyalty to the series over the years.