Advertising provides a valuable source of income for race teams worldwide, including here in Australia, but imagine if this didn’t exist like it was prior to 1968.
That’s right. Advertising was forbidden in motorsport prior to 1968 and was policed strictly by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS).
As a result, newspaper, tape and any other option were used to cover anything CAMS decided was against the regulations.
These rules were circumnavigated by many companies by drivers racing in corporate colours or having their sponsor as the entrant thus allowing its name to feature on the front guards.
Prime example of this was the Neptune Racing Team running in its corporate blue and Ian ‘Pete’ Geoghegan running Total then Castrol coloured stripes on his championship winning Mustangs.
Advertising became big business when bans were lifted worldwide during 1968 and in Australia, it’s believed the production car race at Bathurst contributed to CAMS opening the rules up.
It was only a slight opening as there were certain dimensions to meet, nothing was allowed above the window line, no phrases were allowed and no branding within two-inches of the race number border.
Famously, Peter Janson got around the above the window line ruling by changing his name by deed pole to NGK to replicate the spark plugs manufacturer.
In the beginning, sponsor stickers were just plastered on the side without any design, but then this switched during the early-1970s where teams took the appearance more seriously.
Cigarette brands became seriously involved during this time, with Marlboro sponsoring the Holden Dealer Team, Craven Mild supported privateer Allan Grice, then later JPS aligned with BMW and Peter Stuyvesant backed Allan Moffat’s Mazda program.
In 1995, it was announced tobacco advertisement was to be banned starting the next year forcing the exit of Peter Jackson, Winfield and Benson Hedges from the Australian Touring Car Championship.
Peter Jackson attempted to get around the rules when supporting Alan Jones’ team by changing its name to Pack Leader, but this only lasted a season.
Sponsorship plays an integral role in motorsport at all levels and the growth in the sector by attracting brands outside the motoring industry continues to occur to this day.