Piper was a NASCAR sponsor

bfergie10

bfergie10

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So I'm watching some of the NASCAR coverage waiting for the 500 to start and their showing some old stuff to kill some time. They showed the finish of the '88 Daytona 500. Bobby Allison won with his son Davey in 2nd. They showed some victory lane footage and I thought I saw Bobby wearing a Piper hat. Sure enough, google turned up some pictures of the Piper sponsored car.

Does anyone remember these?

12_Donny_Allison-vi.jpg


12-vi.jpg


bobbyallison12_piperaircraft.jpg


ba-010.jpg
 
bfergie10 said:
So I'm watching some of the NASCAR coverage waiting for the 500 to start and their showing some old stuff to kill some time. They showed the finish of the '88 Daytona 500. Bobby Allison won with his son Davey in 2nd. They showed some victory lane footage and I thought I saw Bobby wearing a Piper hat. Sure enough, google turned up some pictures of the Piper sponsored car.

Does anyone remember these?
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Aircraft manufacturers used to be MUCH bigger companies. They are literally faint echoes of what they once were -- and with that loss of size went a lot of sponsorships. NASCAR was just one of them.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Aircraft manufacturers used to be MUCH bigger companies. They are literally faint echoes of what they once were -- and with that loss of size went a lot of sponsorships. NASCAR was just one of them.
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Dunno. Boeing, Raytheon, Lockeed-Martin, others... all still enormous companies.

There's aerospace companies that played the Defense Contractor games and survived, even thrive, today.

They're not supported by their GA aircraft anymore, though. So, no need to Market to anyone outside of the Beltway and the Pentagon.

If it wears a uniform with stars on the shoulder boards to work, and works in a big brown building - that's where the Marketing dollars will go toward these days.
 
Back when that was taken Bobby had an aviation company that was developing a turbine STC for Aerostars and the Piper tie in was a good marketing ploy... When he was critically injured at Pocano and lost most of his brain functions that STC conversion cratered.....

Ben.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Aircraft manufacturers used to be MUCH bigger companies. They are literally faint echoes of what they once were -- and with that loss of size went a lot of sponsorships. NASCAR was just one of them.
Click to expand...

or, much more likely, NASCAR sponsorship was a hell of a lot cheaper back then.
 
The old photos are interesting... Look at ol Bobbie with his beer gut running in the big leagues... Today the drivers have flat bellies and personal trainer sculpted musculature... The 500 mile races are endurance contests in machines running on the razors edge of letting go into the wall and beer muscle don't cut it anymore...
 
Dr. O said:
The old photos are interesting... Look at ol Bobbie with his beer gut running in the big leagues... Today the drivers have flat bellies and personal trainer sculpted musculature... The 500 mile races are endurance contests in machines running on the razors edge of letting go into the wall and beer muscle don't cut it anymore...
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unless you're Tony Stewart
 
Those are interesting photos. I worked at the FBO in Daytona for several years in the early 80's. Bobby Allison was one of the friendlier guys who would pass through that time of year, always taking time to chat with us. As for the Piper tie-in, I seem to remember Bobby receiving an Aerostar from Piper (N number ending in 'BA') and him landing it on the track for some kind of promotional event.
 
Yeah, I agree. I'm sure sponsorship back then cost just a fraction of what it does today. A lot in the sport has changed. Back then, the pit crew was your brother Darryl, and your other brother Darryl. Now they are pretty much professional athletes.

I still call myself a fan even though I thought it was better 10 or 12 years ago or more. Hopefully this season will okay. Jimmy Johnson just wrecked, so that's a good start(hope he's ok though).
 
Car racing ranks right up there with paint drying competitions...

And I tried -- went to The Monster Mile (Dover) for some big race. Spent two hours in total deafness. It's surely the most un-social spectator event ever devised. Most folks wore radio headsets.

Well, gee -- I coulda done that at home and not had beer spilled on me...
 
dmccormack said:
Car racing ranks right up there with paint drying competitions...

And I tried -- went to The Monster Mile (Dover) for some big race. Spent two hours in total deafness. It's surely the most un-social spectator event ever devised. Most folks wore radio headsets.

Well, gee -- I coulda done that at home and not had beer spilled on me...
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True. Only us uneducated rednecks have any appreciation for racing. :D
 
bfergie10 said:
True. Only us uneducated rednecks have any appreciation for racing. :D
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I'll take Rally, MotoGP, or F1 racing over NASCAR personally. Tecate's Baja 500 / 1000 is great fun too.

You want fun, watch a little two liter rally car go tearing down a gravel road, into a field (whoops), to a dirt road, to some cobble road, et al. Heck, in Finland you can go rally racing just about every weekend against regular folks. You don't need $100k, or even $25k, just a couple hundred Euro for a POS 2 liter car.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
JesseD said:
I'll take Rally, MotoGP, or F1 racing over NASCAR personally. Tecate's Baja 500 / 1000 is great fun too.

You want fun, watch a little two liter rally car go tearing down a gravel road, into a field (whoops), to a dirt road, to some cobble road, et al. Heck, in Finland you can go rally racing just about every weekend against regular folks. You don't need $100k, or even $25k, just a couple hundred Euro for a POS 2 liter car.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

This was a good read http://jalopnik.com/5497042/how-a-500-craigslist-car-beat-400k-rally-racers
 
dmccormack said:
Car racing ranks right up there with paint drying competitions...

And I tried -- went to The Monster Mile (Dover) for some big race. Spent two hours in total deafness. It's surely the most un-social spectator event ever devised. Most folks wore radio headsets.

Well, gee -- I coulda done that at home and not had beer spilled on me...
Click to expand...

Well, yeah. It's boring to watch them turn left repeatedly for 500 miles.

Formula 1, on the otherhand, is a magnificent thing. Granted it has its boring moments, but those cars are a thing of beauty and to be there in person and hear it.... ahh just the thought I get..... well, let's just say it is on my top 5 list of things to do. And come Austin in November, I will be there. :D:D
 
YEEEEEE HAAAAAAWWWW YA'll, It's time for some circle drivin'. I've been to Talladega, won't do that again. WAY TOO many people. My aunt lost an eye when Bobby Allison wrecked there in 1988 I think it was.
 
So does this mean Piper has money these days?:confused:
 
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