Western Railroad Discussion > Nascar and trains

Kind of off topic, but not sure where else to post this. Last night I was watching the Nascar Atlanta race from last Sunday when I saw one of the cars was sponsored by CSX and I was wondering why UP or BNSF doesn't do this too. Great PR opportunity!

Dave Toussaint
Riverside, CA
SoCalRailFan.com

---

That 24 car has some catching up to do

CSX serves the South East where NASCAR is a religion.

That car already looks like it had a tie at a grade crossing with a train...

James Nelson
Thornton, CO
www.flickr.com/mojaveflyer

WrongWayMurphy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That 24 car has some catching up to do


Dunno who to follow this year ,now that my boy has come home to race.Might go for Geoff ,as it is his last fulltime year.
Regards,dK

SoCalRailFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was wondering why UP or
> BNSF doesn't do this too. Great PR opportunity!

The main question comes down to cost/benefit analysis. How much is this advertising going to cost vs. what will they gain from it? How many of your average NASCAR viewers are in any way potential railroad shippers, and is there any way that they're going to be swayed in their decision to ship via rail by way of an exceptionally expensive decal that may or may not get seen or recognized by people.

- Jeff Carlson

The last few years there have been a lot of single race, full car sponsors and I think this was one of those times. I could be wrong but I would be willing to bet that since CSX is clearly advertising grade crossing safety there probably is some economic advantage to do so in this instance. Maybe Georgia has a tax rule that says you can deduct the cost of safety advertisements or something like that. CSX still gets some marketing value and they don't have to pay much for it.

DKay Wrote:
> Dunno who to follow this year ,now that my boy has
> come home to race.Might go for Geoff ,as it is his
> last fulltime year.
> Regards,dK

Yeah, I'm kind of lost too. Here's one for you guys - who remembers far back enough to know that #24 belonged to Cecil Gordon back in the '70's? Those were the days............. RIP J.D. (#70)

Have fun, be safe,
Bruce "Doc" Jones Sierra Madre CA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/15 10:15 by DocJones.

I was thinking he meant Geoff Bodine, but he's already retired. I suspect he means Jeff Gordon.

I got into Nascar when #4 was the Morgan McLure team with the yellow Kodak car, made famous by Ernie Irvan in the early 90's.


DocJones Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> DKay Wrote:
> > Dunno who to follow this year ,now that my boy
> has
> > come home to race.Might go for Geoff ,as it is
> his
> > last fulltime year.
> > Regards,dK
>
> Yeah, I'm kind of lost too. Here's one for you
> guys - who remembers far back enough to know that
> #4 belonged to Cecil Gordon back in the '70's?
> Those were the days............. RIP J.D. (#70)
>
> Have fun, be safe,
> Bruce "Doc" Jones Sierra Madre CA

bnsfsd70 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SoCalRailFan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I was wondering why UP or
> > BNSF doesn't do this too. Great PR opportunity!
>
> The main question comes down to cost/benefit
> analysis. How much is this advertising going to
> cost vs. what will they gain from it? How many of
> your average NASCAR viewers are in any way
> potential railroad shippers, and is there any way
> that they're going to be swayed in their decision
> to ship via rail by way of an exceptionally
> expensive decal that may or may not get seen or
> recognized by people.
>
> - Jeff Carlson

One might also ask the "main question" about steam locomotives and Heritage Units. Then again, maybe, like steam locomotives and Heritage Units, the Nascar sponsorship is more about public relations and less about advertising. CSX isn't touting their service, they are attempting to make people aware of crossing safety.

And didn't it just figure that the safety ad was what got bashed?
On the other hand, it got a lot of air time and the crumpled sheet metal gets the point across.

Rebecca Morgan
Jacobsburg, OH

To Pasadena Sub -
Oops, my mistake. I meant #24 and just edited my post. My bad. I sure remember Geoff Bodine. Not so sure about Morgan McClure. Anyone remember the late J.D. McDuffie? OK, this is a railroad board but a lot of us like other stuff too.
Webmaster, thanks for your patience in leaving this up.
BTW, I cut my "railfan teeth" on the Second District. Spent a lot of time around the Pasadena Depot. That was about 1961.

Have fun, be safe,
Bruce "Doc" Jones Sierra Madre CA



PasadenaSub Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was thinking he meant Geoff Bodine, but he's
> already retired. I suspect he means Jeff Gordon.
>
> I got into Nascar when #4 was the Morgan McLure
> team with the yellow Kodak car, made famous by
> Ernie Irvan in the early 90's.
>
>
> DocJones Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > DKay Wrote:
> > > Dunno who to follow this year ,now that my
> boy
> > has
> > > come home to race.Might go for Geoff ,as it
> is
> > his
> > > last fulltime year.
> > > Regards,dK
> >
> > Yeah, I'm kind of lost too. Here's one for you
> > guys - who remembers far back enough to know
> that
> > #4 belonged to Cecil Gordon back in the '70's?
> > Those were the days............. RIP J.D.
> (#70)
> >
> > Have fun, be safe,
> > Bruce "Doc" Jones Sierra Madre CA

NASCAR; where they can only turn left and go in circles.Reminds me of an old saying; "When in trouble, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout". Please give me Formula 1 or the Rolex Sports Car Series any day. Those folks can turn either way and go faster. Let the flames begin.

William Jeffers, P.E.
San Dimas, CA

Oh they run road courses and have to turn right too. I miss the old Indy series before there was the second league and everything fell apart.

I'm a Hendricks Motorsports guy myself. If one of them don't win then I like to see one of the nice guys/gal win IE: Harvick, Kahne, Biffle, Patrick, Hamlin, Kenseth.

engrbill47 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NASCAR; where they can only turn left and go in
> circles.Reminds me of an old saying; "When in
> trouble, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and
> shout". Please give me Formula 1 or the Rolex
> Sports Car Series any day. Those folks can turn
> either way and go faster. Let the flames begin.

Dave Toussaint
Riverside, CA
SoCalRailFan.com

engrbill47 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NASCAR; where they can only turn left and go in
> circles.Reminds me of an old saying; "When in
> trouble, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and
> shout". Please give me Formula 1 or the Rolex
> Sports Car Series any day. Those folks can turn
> either way and go faster. Let the flames begin.

And POS junkers.

Posted from Android

DocJones Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> DKay Wrote:
> > Dunno who to follow this year ,now that my boy
> has
> > come home to race.Might go for Geoff ,as it is
> his
> > last fulltime year.
> > Regards,dK
>
> Yeah, I'm kind of lost too. Here's one for you
> guys - who remembers far back enough to know that
> #24 belonged to Cecil Gordon back in the '70's?
> Those were the days............. RIP J.D. (#70)
>
> Have fun, be safe,
> Bruce "Doc" Jones Sierra Madre CA


Ah yes. Remember the good old days of NASCAR - Petty, Pearson, Yarborough, Allison etc...back before it became so sterile with every car looking identical so you can barely tell a Chevy from a Ford.

And to add a RR tint to this post, part of the fun of going to the Dover races in the 70s and 80s for me was the drive along the NEC where I'd look for a train to out run us.

Speaking of NASCAR... what track was it that has the NS running right next door, behind the backstretch seating? Bristol?

bodkin6071 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Speaking of NASCAR... what track was it that has
> the NS running right next door, behind the
> backstretch seating? Bristol?

Edit... upon further research, the track in question was Martinsville...

---