NASCAR is a slave to sponsorships -- and proud of it

	Wonder Bread was almost as big a star as Will Ferrell in 'Talladega Nights.' Sony Pictures

If you came away from seeing Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby with the impression that it was a two-hour commercial for Wonder Bread, you're not alone. The company that sponsors the imaginary NASCAR driver played by Will Ferrell in the movie not only has its logo plastered all over his car and his racing suit but is constantly touted by the grateful beneficiary of all those corporate dollars.

Amazingly, in this age of high-priced product placement, Wonder Bread reportedly didn't pay a dime for its starring role in the No. 1 movie in the country. The film's writers just thought it would be funny to put Ferrell in a Wonder Bread jumpsuit. Funny, I don't remember which company's logo was on Rudy's Notre Dame uniform or which business paid for the ads that changed every inning behind home plate in the Field of Dreams cornfield.

Auto racing is so synonymous with corporate logos and sponsorship that you simply can't make an auto racing movie without them. In fact, the whole premise of the recent hit movie Cars was that a hotshot rookie was on his way to try to land a big sponsorship deal. In the end he learned that there's more to life than money and business partnerships. That message was brought to you by Disney/Pixar.

It all goes to show that NASCAR is awash in shameless commercialism to such a degree that even fake versions of NASCAR are awash in shameless commercialism. With apologies to Wonder, corporate sponsorships are NASCAR's bread and butter. NASCAR drivers don't strive for an award named after some past hero like Vince Lombardi or some ancient benefactor like Lord Stanley; they compete for the Nextel Cup. Well, the top drivers do. The lower tier of competition is called the Busch Series.

Imagine renaming baseball's minor leagues after a beverage. Try renaming the NBA Development League after a soft drink. Try naming a Major League Soccer team after Paris Hilton's energy drink of choice. OK, but the New York Red Bulls don't count -- MLS needs whatever publicity it can get. In most other pro sports leagues, the kind of shameless commercialism so apparent in auto racing would never get out of first gear.

Somehow NASCAR has completely escaped the purist resistance to commercialization that, say, baseball has. When MLB signed a deal to promote the Spider-Man movie franchise with, among other tacky touches, spider webs and movie logos imprinted on the bases in every ballpark, the announcement was met with enough radioactive venom from fans to not only give a teenager special powers but also kill the deal. But NASCAR covers every inch of its cars and drivers in corporate graffiti and nobody bats an eyelash or even notices that the eyelash helps protect officially licensed NASCAR contact lenses. Even the NASCAR Pez dispensers have sponsor logos on their miniature plastic helmets -- and instead of looking like sellouts, it makes them look more authentic. Since when does keeping it real mean signing a licensing agreement with Real Networks?