AT HIGH NOON one Saturday last spring, Humpy Wheeler, general manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, was banking the elevated Turn Two at 90 miles an hour in a Ford Crown Victoria. It was roughly seven hours before the start of the first qualifying race in the Nextel All-Star Challenge, and Wheeler, who also serves as president, COO, and director of the publicly traded Speedway Motorsports, Inc., the company that owns the track, was completing his final inspection of the one-and-a-half-mile ribbon of asphalt—one of the six SMI tracks on the NASCAR circuit.

Some 150,000 people, many of them seasoned and sun-weathered fans, had camped out for days on the outskirts of the sprawling, 1,155-acre complex near Charlotte under tarps pitched against RVs—grills smoking and kegs flowing. They would later endure bumper-to-bumper and shoulder-to-shoulder traffic to crawl through the colorful panorama of exhibition booths crammed with every type of merchandise, from power tools to shampoo, before ultimately making their way to the concrete grandstands, their yellow Nextel scanner headsets firmly in place.

But a substantial portion of the audience, and the numbers are growing, would spend the day mingling and socializing with colleagues and key customers, and chatting with drivers and crew chiefs, inside catered hospitality tents and skybox suites. An even more limited number would be given coveted “hot passes,” special tickets granting them access to the “garage,” the barricaded expanse of low-slung cinderblock car ports and shiny, 18-wheel haulers where crew chiefs and drivers finalize strategy and make last-minute adjustments to their vehicles before the start of the race.

Like Speedway Motorsports, which in 2006 posted its seventh consecutive year of revenue and net income growth, NASCAR (the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, Inc.) in the last decade has catapulted to the number one slot among spectator sports, hosting 17 of the top 20 attended sporting events and boosting its audience by 19 percent, in large part because it is a sport tailor-made for business.

Not only do more Fortune 500 companies invest in NASCAR-related enterprises than in any other major league sport, but their sponsorship dollars—estimated in excess of $20 million per team annually—constitute the primary income stream for the drivers and their crews, which in turn grants the fan base of 75 million unprecedented access to their star athletes. These stars amiably adorn themselves in branded uniforms, drive cars decorated with brand logos in vivid colors, appear in print ads and television commercials to promote their sponsors’ products, and make as many as 50 personal appearances before VIPs and key customers throughout the 36-weekend season, both in race markets and elsewhere.

“These are mega events,” said Wheeler, a 50-year veteran of the business who regularly serves as the behind-the-scenes host to crowds that often top 200,000 at SMI-owned tracks including Texas Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.

“It’s the greatest sport in the world. We’ve got all the pageantry and spectacle that the Greeks and Romans did with their chariots, only our chariots have engines in them,” he said. “Half the fun is learning about it, and right off the bat it hooks you.”

Bruce Grubba is someone who happily got hooked. An account executive for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, he buys loans from mortgage brokers that are underwritten by his company. Prior to the Nextel All-Star Challenge, his boss gave him four tickets and suggested he bring three customers to the race.

“There is no parallel for a night race with the track lights on and the multi-colored cars coming around Turn Four with all the flashbulbs going off,” said Grubba, who has entertained clients at events in both Charlotte and Bristol, Tennessee, and says that doing so has definitely improved his business.

At the Nextel All-Star Challenge, Grubba, who lives in Greenville, South Carolina, obtained hot passes for himself and his three mortgage broker clients. Together they visited the hauler of Kyle Petty, who represents the third generation of a family steeped in racing—and who currently drives the number 45 Wells Fargo Dodge. Petty spent half an hour chatting with Grubba and his guests, both about his preparation for the race and about the Victory Junction Gang, a camp for chronically ill children he founded with his wife in honor of their son Adam who died in a crash.

“A company like Wells Fargo uses hospitality to really activate their program,” said Petty. “They do a lot of events and invite their customers to let them see what our sport is all about. They get to see the races, see the garage, see the cars up close. It makes them feel closer to the sport, and that’s good. We want them to feel like they are a part of our team because they really are. We can’t race without them.”

According to Wheeler, accessibility to the athletes is one of the ways NASCAR differentiates itself from other professional sports. “It’s just part of the culture,” he said. “When Richard Petty was at his greatest, he was so amenable to the fans he’d stay until the last autograph was signed. He set a tremendous example for drivers that continues today.”

Back in 1948, when NASCAR got its start, the businesses inclined toward participation were largely confined to the automotive and tobacco industries. But Wheeler recalls a time in the 1970s and early 1980s when he began branching out to other sectors. He extended invitations to supermarket and drug store chains like Eckerd’s, entertaining purchasing managers on race days at the track.

“We began to see this thing had a lot of legs. It had the potential to go much, much further than we ever expected,” he said. “But then their bosses wanted to come, and then their bosses, and pretty soon the presidents of these companies were attending.”

In 1984, Wheeler built trackside condominiums on Turn Four at Lowe’s—and later at the Texas and Atlanta raceways—and sold them for $90,000. They now trade hands at between $600,000 and $1.5 million.

At tracks around the country, innovations by out-of-the-box thinkers like Wheeler enabled NASCAR to broaden its collective portfolio of affiliated brands from motor oil and cigarettes to consumer giants like Tide and Crisco, and in
the process, shattered its two-toned bicep, tobacco-chewing male stereotype.

In fact, Wheeler believes that the growth of the female sector of the NASCAR audience, which now accounts for almost 40 percent, has made the sport “pretty doggone recession-proof.”

Lenny Santiago, spokesman for International Speedway Corporation—which owns 13 major tracks on the NASCAR circuit, among them Daytona, Talladega, Chicagoland, and Richmond—says that the company has seen steady growth in corporate hospitality at the NASCAR races it hosts, estimating that throughout the season more than 200,000 corporate guests pass through the company’s hospitality suites and chalets, participate in pre-race entertainment, or gain access to Torque and Octane, its two exclusive clubs located at the Richmond and Phoenix tracks respectively. The Daytona 500 alone hosts some 25,000 corporate guests, which Santiago points out is more than the total attendance—VIP and non-VIP combined—at an NBA All-Star game.

By mid-afternoon at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the sun is blazing high in the sky and the crowd inside the DuPont hospitality tent is reaching critical mass. Jeff Gordon, who has rolled down Victory Lane three times at the Daytona 500 and four times at the Indianapolis 500—and who drives the number 24 DuPont Chevrolet—is standing on a low riser holding a microphone and fielding questions from a crowd of more than 350 DuPont customers and their families, largely distributors of its automotive refinishing paint and the auto body shop owners who purchase the product.

“When Jeff wins we all know about it,” said Ray Anderson, vice president of DuPont Refinish Americas, who says the sponsorship has been particularly valuable for employee morale. “Our 62,000 global employees now have their own team. We rally around the guy as a company. There are no DuPont Yankees or DuPont Flyers.”

“We started using [the hospitality aspect of] the sponsorship with one customer set 15 years ago,” said Anderson. “Now there’s a one-in-three chance that any car being repaired after a collision will be refinished with DuPont paint.”

Troy Gates is the president of Gates Auto Body, Inc., a chain of seven auto body repair shops in Madison, Wisconsin, and a buyer of DuPont refinish products. In addition to the All-Star Challenge in Concord, Gates has attended at least three other NASCAR races with DuPont, one of them at the famed Brickyard, site of the Indianapolis 500.

Over the years, he has evolved into not only an avowed NASCAR fan, but also into an exclusive customer of DuPont’s paints, annually obtaining his certification as an authorized refinisher and frequently receiving referrals from the Web as a result of his association with the brand, which actively promotes its products to the auto insurers who account for much of his customer base.

“Being in the sky box or inside the hospitality tent makes you feel like DuPont values your business,” said Gates, who explained that 90 percent of the auto body repair industry is comprised of local, family-owned shops. “Having a direct line to management team members like Ray Anderson is pretty rare for a small company like me.”

Dan Foley, president of D. Foley Landscape, Inc., underwent a similar NASCAR conversion thanks to a relationship with Husqvarna North America, the domestic arm of the Swedish manufacturer of chainsaws, lawn mowers, trimmers, and lawn tractors, which rents hospitality suites at races in both Concord and Bristol, usually in conjunction with a daytime leadership seminar for its customers. (It has also sponsored drivers in past years.)

Prior to being invited to his first race with Husqvarna, Foley says he thought he would amount to “a wasted space.” Now he says he tunes into 90 percent of NASCAR races, either live or on television, and he’s managed to convert his father and his wife as well.

Through Husqvarna, Foley has met drivers, owners, and sports legends including Bobby Labonte, Jeremy Mayfield, and former Washington Redskins Head Coach Joe Gibbs.

“It’s like sitting on the Red Sox bench before a game,” said Foley, who is based in South Walpole, Massachusetts, and cheers for Fenway’s home team. “Husqvarna does such a nice job of balancing enough business with an amazing sporting experience that you go home with something tactical to apply to your business—and then the insider access during the race blows your mind.”

Years ago, Foley’s 40 employees worked with lawn mowers produced by six different companies. After whittling down the selection to three in 2004, his company now uses Husqvarna mowers exclusively. “I’m blinded by the orange,” said Foley, a cheeky reference to the Stockholm-based manufacturer’s
signature color. “How can you not have a warm place in your emotional bank account [after experiences like that]?”

“Husqvarna has always been known for power, precision, and performance, so we’re a natural hook-up for Nascar,” said Barbara Zerfoss, vice president of brand marketing for the North American division of the company, which, in addition to inviting as many as 60 dealers and customers into each of its hospitality suites, also offers product demonstrations at the track where prospective buyers can see the equipment in action. “Our dealers, landscapers, and arborists are all used to being around powerful engines, so being at the race and hearing that roar fuels that passion.”

By the time the klieg lights switch on, casting a hazy glow on the sky above, and the green flag is waved, signaling the start of the race, the cars are whizzing around the track in a blur of color, the deafening roar of their engines reverberating through the floors of the Crown Royal suite where the mood is decidedly buoyant.

Jim Lorenz, a senior brand manager for the Diageo premium drinks product line, which includes Smirnoff, Baileys, Johnnie Walker, and Tanqueray, is in his company’s second season as a sponsor of Jamie McMurray, driver of the number 26 Crown Royal Ford. The company’s sponsorship package allows for as many as three tiers (or assets) of entertainment for distributors and customers, including tours of pit road, where the logo-emblazoned pit boxes await lightning-fast pit stops—and a new arrangement in which a VIP customer is hand-picked to sit behind the crew chief in the pit for a portion of the race.

Among the benefits Lorenz cites are sales growth and a tightening of account relationships. But the most evident gain of all, he says, has been a 200 percent increase in the amount of feature and promotional display the brand now receives at retail and in on-premise accounts off-season.

“Traditionally, whiskey and brown spirits are promoted and featured during the holidays, in the winter months,” said Lorenz. “Now we’re being featured May through August, which have historically been softer months for us.”

“We’ve got some of the most loyal fans in sports,” said Jim Hunter, NASCAR’s vice president of corporate communications. “If they need a radiator, they buy one from a company they know supports the sport.”

Gentleman—and ladies—start your engines!  

Photo Captions:
Picture 1: Rumble and Roar—cars hit speeds of up to 185 miles per hour in a blur of color before a crowd of 150,000 at the Nextel All-Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last May, courtesy of Streeter Lecka/Getty Images.
Picture 2: Kevin Harvick, driver of the Shell-Pennzoil car number 29, celebrates his win at the Nextel All-Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, courtesy of Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR.
Picture 3: Jeff Gordon’s DuPont car number 24 open for inspection by DuPont VIP customers outside the company’s hospitality tent, courtesy of Suzanne Gannon.
Picture 4: In the “garage,” Jeff Burton’s pit crew makes final adjustments to AT&T car number 31, courtesy of Suzanne Gannon.
Picture 5: During a corporate retreat, members of LDL Financial Services’ management team use hot passes to tour the “garage,” courtesy of Suzanne Gannon.
Picture 6:  Kevin Harvick does a burnout in Pennzoil car number 29, courtesy of Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR.
Picture 7: Fans mob Nextel’s victory stage after the race, courtesy of Suzanne Gannon.