1995: Bobby Labonte won three NASCAR Cup races driving the Interstate Batteries Chevrolet for Joe ... [+]
In the mid-2000s, with Nascar at the height of its popularity, nationally known brands seemingly stood in line with open checkbooks to get their brands featured on a racecar. Nascar branding could be seen all over mainstream advertising, whether it was Dale Earnhardt Jr. swigging Bud on TV or a David Gilliland cardboard standup in the grocery aisle.
By 2008, however, the U.S. economy had collapsed, and Nascar sponsorships went from large multi-year deals to a patchwork of scattered associate sponsorships. Today, multi-year full sponsorships are rare.
There are exceptions, however, and one sponsorship has stood the test of time—one that arguably helped fuel Nascar’s popularity and one that is still going strong today. And it all started with a dream and a piece of paper.
At the start of 1991, Joe Gibbs was known as “Coach,” and a pretty good one. Gibbs was coach of the NFL’s Washington Redskins, now the Washington Football team. During his first tenure with the team, from 1981 to 1992, Gibbs was a two-time NFL coach of the year and led his team to three Super Bowl championships.
But he wanted more. In 1991, Gibbs turned his attention from the football team and began investigating Nascar team ownership. Gathering the assets wasn’t too hard; finding a way to pay for it all, however, was. Gibbs needed a sponsor, and finding one would almost take a miracle.
“I put together what was really just a dream on a sheet of paper,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs was unsure where to turn, until one potential sponsor caught his attention.
“I had heard about Interstate Batteries,” he said. “So I was thinking about them because it seemed like we fit. But I went to the racetrack and saw that they were on a quarter panel of car already, and so I thought they may already be tied in with someone.”
Gibbs reached out to Norm Miller, who had taken over the reins at Interstate Batteries as president and CEO in 1978 after John Searcy retired. Searcy founded the company in 1950, first selling batteries out of his red Studebaker pickup truck to wholesalers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. By 1990, Miller had expanded the company and had distributors scattered across the U.S. States and Canada. That same year, Miller became chairman while his brother Tommy took over the as president and CEO. In 1990, the company already had an eye on stock-car racing.
Nascar was still a regional sport as the 1990s began.
“We were looking for ways to grow the Interstate Battery brand,” Miller remembers. “We did research with our dealers, and it showed that 90% loved watching football and Nascar racing away from work. Nascar was starting to rise in popularity, and when we sponsored some lower-level racing, our Interstate distributors loved it. Some were vocal telling us we should sponsor a Nascar race team.
“About that time, Joe Gibbs called me out of the blue. When my assistant told me, ‘Coach Joe Gibbs is calling,’ I laughed and thought someone was pulling my leg. Turns out it actually was the NFL coach Joe Gibbs calling—the multiple-Super Bowl-winning coach of the Washington Redskins.
“We pretty much hit it off on the phone and agreed to meet in Dallas of all places (considering the rivalry between Washington and the Cowboys). Joe brought his top guys and flew down to meet secretly at night with me and with my brother Tommy, who was our president at the time, as well as our leadership team. We asked Joe a lot of questions like ‘Who’s your driver?’ Joe said, ‘I don’t have one.’ ‘Where’s your race shop?’ ‘I don’t have one.’ ‘What car manufacturer are you working with?’ ‘I don’t have one.’ Then Joe quickly added: ‘Norm, you don’t understand. All I have is a dream on this piece of paper.’”
It seemed like a “right time, right place” moment, but nothing solid came out of that first meeting. Gibbs was the first one to reach back out.
“I called him back a couple days later and said, ‘I realize this is big; could you maybe consider being an associate sponsor?’” Gibbs said. “And he goes, ‘Joe, we are thinking about doing this.’ I still remember exactly where I was when he said that. I was in the basement of my house, and I freaked out. But that is how it really played out and how we got started.”
Miller had already talked it over with his executive team and was ready when Coach Gibbs called.
“We discussed the pros and cons,” Miller said. “There were many pros and a lot of cons. And it was a lot of money. So, we prayed and discussed more. A few days later Joe called me to say he had talked to another potential sponsor but had told them that he had given Norm and Interstate Batteries the first shot. It was clear Coach was thinking we would only take an associate sponsor position with his race team. I surprised him by saying, ‘Actually Joe, we decided we want to eat the whole enchilada.’”
That “enchilada” become one of the longest and most successful partnerships in the history of the sport as Interstate Batteries became the founding sponsor of Joe Gibbs Racing.
Miller said the full sponsorship made sense from a business standpoint.
“We are an auto aftermarket product and the people who sell and install our batteries are generally car people,” he said. “As I said, we were doing regular research with our dealers to understand their needs and likes. Football and NASCAR racing were at the top of their likes. Joe Gibbs brought his experience and success in the NFL as the winner of three Super and NASCAR brought the growing national interest in stock car racing. “This guy has a track record of winning,” I told our leaders, “He even won the 1976 National Racquetball Championship for men over 35!”
During his first tenure with the team from 1981 to 1992, Gibbs was a two-time NFL coach of the year ... [+]
The first race for the Gibbs team came with the 1992 season opening Daytona 500. Dale Jarrett drove the No. 18 Chevrolet Lumina sporting a green Interstate Batteries paint scheme that would soon become iconic. While the paint scheme would become memorable, that first race wasn’t as Jarrett was relegated a 36th-place finish after a crash.
Miiler wasn’t ready to give up yet.
“I … figured that even if the race team stunk up the show for a while, the stick and ball reporters and media people would be all over the story of why Joe Gibbs, a successful NFL coach will want to start a NASCAR race team,” he said. “We knew NASCAR was viewed by many sports reporters as a “Southeastern thing” having started on Daytona beach and made famous by CBS’s
Miller said he knew that Coach Joe Gibbs would bring with him millions of dollars of free publicity. And that came true after Jarrett won the Daytona 500 the following year.
“Suddenly, the Interstate Batteries brand was all over TV, radio, and print coverage (this was way before the Internet and digital media coverage).” Miller said. “We were immediately identified with major brands in North America and some like Shell were even associate sponsors on our race cars!
“We also doubled down on having Joe Gibbs, one of the best-known NFL coaches, as our new national spokesman by having Interstate Batteries become the “Official Battery of the NFL.” We put the NFL logo on our race cars, route trucks and every piece of point of sale including metal signs for Interstate dealers with the logos of their favorite local NFL team.”
Norm Miller, Interstate Batteries and Joe Gibbs weren’t afraid to push the envelope when it came to marketing in those early years. That included leveraging the Interstate brand wherever they could. It led to some humorous, if not uncomfortable moments early on starting with the 1993 Daytona 500.
“Joe and I decided that our driver, Dale Jarrett would wear a driver’s helmet painted in the colors and featuring the logo of the closest NFL team to the current week’s racetrack,” Miller said. “Interstate was founded in Dallas, so we had Dale wear the Dallas Cowboys colors for the Daytona 500 race which Joe grudgingly allowed.
“When Jarrett took the checkered flag Joe quickly radioed Dale and shouted, ‘Throw that Cowboy helmet in the back and don’t let anyone see it in Victory Lane!’ “
Dale Jarrett won the 1993 Daytona 500. Jarrett's win was his first of three career Daytona 500 wins. ... [+]
There were also several memorable TV ad campaigns featuring Miller, Gibbs and No. 18 driver Bobby Labonte, who took over for Jarrett in 1995.
“People still remember some of the crazy commercials we made with Bobby and Joe,” Miller said. “Like the one where Bobby had a foot massager and microwave in his 18 racecar and served us burritos in the back seat. There was another where Joe and I were tanning in the back of the 18 race minivan during a race while Bobby’s wife, Donna was having her hair done and their young son Tyler was playing a video game.”
Many of the ad campaigns ran during Nascar’s off-season and combined with the brand exposure on the track during the season, helped elevate the company in the marketplace.
“All of the awareness we were getting really helped when a mechanic or tech working for an Interstate dealer recommended an Interstate battery to a car owner – and they had actually heard of our brand,” Miller said.
Those ad campaigns which included print and TV and ran both during the season and the off-season set the bar for other Nascar sponsors. It showed that a Nascar sponsorship wasn’t just about decals on a racecar. Other sponsors followed and soon Nascar advertising crept into the national consciousness.
“In my estimation, all credit goes to Coach Gibbs for single handedly increasing the overall coverage of NASCAR in the 1990’s,” Miller said. “Certainly, for Interstate Batteries, Joe and NASCAR racing were game changers in our advertising and marketing strategy.”
And 30 years later that marketing strategy show no signs of slowing down. Today Norm Miller’s son Scott is president and CEO, and the company has over 150,000 dealer locations nationwide. The Interstate Joe Gibbs Racing partnership is one of the longest-running alliances in all professional sports.
“I think you dream about such things and hope but I think in this case we just seemed to hit it off with Norm and Tommy (Miller),” Gibbs said. “We got in that relationship and now it goes through with Scott (Miller). But we just hit it off. I don’t think when you first get into a relationship like this you dream of something like this happening, but it just ended up being something that was like a perfect fit. And then what happened with their company kind of correlated with what happened to us and our company, as we’ve kind of grown together. So, it’s been really productive for both businesses.”
Indeed, as Interstate Batteries grew, Joe Gibbs Racing did as well. Since that single car and first race in 1992, the team has scored 375 wins across all three of Nascar’s top touring series, as well at the Nascar-owned ARCA series. They also have seven drivers’ titles including five in the top-tier Cup series and field eight cars across those series.
Since that single car and first race in 1992, the team has scored 375 wins across all three of ... [+]
Norm Miller wasn’t expecting the partnership to last for three decades, although he admits he wasn’t really look too far ahead.
“No, my brother Tommy and I really didn’t expect it to last 30 years,” Miller said. “We were too busy trying to grow the business and expand the Interstate battery system into every county and state in the U.S., which we achieved, and every province in Canada, which we now serve, and even throughout Central and South America and across the Caribbean.
“The growth has come as we see it by God’s grace and through the hard work of thousands of outrageously dependable Interstate Batteries distributors, route managers, dealers and team members, and the brand awareness and credibility we gained through our 30-year partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series.”
The green iconic No. 18 Interstate Batteries paint scheme will be seen on track this weekend during Darlington Raceway’s Throwback weekend. Joe Gibbs’ grandson Ty Gibb’s Toyota will feature a throwback look dedicated to the first paint scheme Jarrett campaigned in the early 1990’s. The one Jarrett won his first Daytona 500 with, almost a decade before Ty Gibbs was born.
“It’s really cool,” Ty said. “You look at the old photos from the Daytona 500 win and you hear all the stories from everyone. There’s a lot of history, not only NASCAR history, but also how Joe Gibbs Racing got started. I know if it weren’t for Norm and everyone at Interstate Batteries and their commitment back in the day, we probably never would have gotten on the track. I’m really pumped to help celebrate our 30th Anniversary and our relationship with Interstate Batteries.”
For Darlington Raceway’s Throwback weekend. Joe Gibbs’ grandson Ty Gibb’s Toyota will feature a ... [+]
