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Hell froze over, pigs flew, the 12th of never came and now the good ol' boys of stock car racin' are drinking wine.
They're making it too -- legally -- and NASCAR fans steeped in the beer and bourbon culture of the South are starting to break out the stemware and pop as many corks as they do burnouts.
Budweiser may be "the official beer of NASCAR," and Coors Light, Miller Lite, Jack Daniel's and Jim Beam sponsor cars, yet wine is slowly weaving its way through traffic and into NASCAR.
In the most American of motor sports, U.S. drivers get behind the wheels of American-made cars advertising mostly American-made products, and put on exhibitions of speed, power, burning tires and spectacular crashes.
Wineries are forming racing teams. Drivers are making wine and visiting tasting rooms. A North Carolina NASCAR team chief, a moonshine runner in his youth, planted wine grapes on land that once grew tobacco. At Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, the site of Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 350 Nextel Cup Series race, Pinot Noir vines are planted around the track and may produce an Infineon-branded wine one day. Race winner Jeff Gordon has his own wine brand, and took a victory gulp of Cabernet Sauvignon from the trophy cup.
"We're turning beer guzzlers into wine sippers, one race at a time," says Randy Lynch, who with his wife, Lisa, owns Bennett Lane Winery in Calistoga and the Bennett Lane Winery Ford that races in NASCAR's Grand National West Series, two rungs removed from Nextel Cup.
As NASCAR's fan base becomes more diverse, so does the product mix that's promoted at the track and on television. At races, Dockers and baby strollers are as common as beer bellies and big hair. Cigarettes have given way to cell phones as the major sponsor of NASCAR. The organization estimates that it has 75 million fans, 40 percent of them female. So it's not too great a stretch to think that wine's presence at the track could eventually steal beer's days of thunder.
NASCAR has licensing agreements for Swiss watches, fashion shoes, Halston cologne, swimwear and racing-themed Harlequin Romance novels. Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck will open a restaurant at California Speedway in Fontana, and "Iron Chef" Mario Batali is the official chef of NASCAR and will judge the Tailgate of a Lifetime Tailgating Championship in August.
Corn dogs, funnel cakes, Skoal, Bud Light and Jagermeister are still popular, yet NASCAR fans can also get shrimp, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, pink Racer Girl T-shirts, foot massages and a free skin cancer screening, as well as apply for a NASCAR credit card.
And they can chug a glass of Zinfandel.
"It's a new era for NASCAR," says Andrew Giangola, director of business communications for NASCAR. "The average national NASCAR fan is more affluent than other sports fans. In the past five years, for every two new NASCAR fans, one is a woman. NASCAR racing is the second-highest-rated regular-season TV sport (the NFL is No. 1), and it has great attractiveness to sponsors.
"Ever since a local gas station slapped a sticker on a race car, sponsorship has been a part of NASCAR. We have passionate, loyal fans, and they have a lot of purchasing power. "
Pricey sport
It's expensive to field a racing team, with all the travel, the wrecks and the salaries paid to superstar drivers, so sponsors are needed. They pay to plaster their ad slogans on cars, racing suits, caps, track walls and food stalls. Even the aerial TV cameras have sponsors.
The looks and personality of the drivers are as important as their performances. NASCAR drivers win over female fans with their all-American handsomeness, ultra-white teeth and willingness to sign autographs anywhere they go. Men love the machines, the driving skills and the women who love the drivers. Kids see clean-cut role models, most of whom are in their 20s and early 30s.
Good-looking boys show better than good ol' boys on TV and in advertisements. Poor Sterling Marlin, who's one of the oldest active NASCAR drivers (he turns 49 on Friday), is relegated to driving the No. 14 Chevrolet sponsored by Waste Management. Guys named Kyle, Kirk, Jeremy and Ryan have replaced Junior, Cale and Leroy behind the wheel.
Winery gets on track
Recognizing the mass appeal of NASCAR is Ravenswood Winery in Sonoma, a primary sponsor for three races in the 2006 NASCAR Busch Series, which is one level down from the granddaddy Nextel (previously Winston) Cup. When the Brewco Motorsports No. 27 Ford represents Ravenswood on the track, its paint scheme is white with red splashes representing Zinfandel.
Ravenswood Racing didn't run at Infineon Raceway last weekend. The winery turned its "No wimpy wines" slogan into "No wimpy wahns y'all," and was the naming sponsor of the Nextel Cup Pole Day at Infineon on Friday.
On the hill overlooking turns 7 and 8, the winery set up its Zinfomaniacs Tour trailer, complete with two 10-foot-tall plastic Ravenswood Zinfandel bottles on the roof that could be seen from the opposite side of the track and on certain TV camera angles.
Visitors to the trailer were given complimentary 1-ounce tastes of Zinfandel and Chardonnay, buttons and bumper stickers, and could have their photo taken next to the Ravenswood Racing show car.
On Sunday, Ravenswood wines were sold at the trailer and concession stands, and served in and hospitality suites.
"Ravenswood built a great brand on grassroots marketing," says Jeff Lubin, marketing director for the winery that is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. "Now we've gone into event marketing, with our Zinfomaniacs Tour around the country, and the Busch Series races in Phoenix, Bristol, Conn., and Watkins Glen (N.Y.).
"It will take some time to make an impression on race fans, but so far we've gotten very positive response. We sampled 3,000 consumers on Sunday and took 507 photos of fans with the Ravenswood car. We sold four cases of wine on Sunday (the only day it was available), and it was great to see fans take their bottles to the Ravenswood Wine Garden and watch the race from there. The momentum is starting, and we'll definitely do this again next year."
The cost to Ravenswood: Approximately $100,000 per race, Lubin says.
James Wilson of Reno, wearing a beat-up ball cap and scruffy beard, tasted the 2003 Ravenswood Old Vine Lodi Zinfandel ($15) and said somewhat professorially, "NASCAR fans are becoming so much more diversified. People think we're a bunch of rednecks."
His Reno buddy, Mike Sweeney -- bare-chested, muscled, tattooed and with a shaved head -- expressed his love of Pinot Noir, described by many as the most feminine of red wines.
"I used to drink a lot of Cabernet and Syrah," Sweeney said, "but now I'm into Pinot Noir. James and I went to Roche Winery yesterday and tried their wines. Do you like Roche wine? I thought the 2004 Pinot Noir was better than the 2003."
No upturned pinkies on these guys.
Andy Konkle, director of operations for Levy Restaurants, the Infineon Raceway catering company, says 102 cases of wine were poured at the track over three days -- 1,224 bottles -- and 22,896 cans/bottles of beer. Beer is comfortably ahead in the adult beverage race, but wine is in its rearview mirror.
With his roots on Tobacco Road, in the heart of North Carolina, Richard Childress, owner of three Nextel Cup teams, surprised many by founding Childress Vineyards in Lexington, N.C. Last year, he produced and sold 28,000 cases of wine.
"Ninety percent of our business online is with race fans," Childress, 60, says. "Yet a survey we took showed that only 45 percent of the people who come into the tasting room are racing people. The others hear about us through word of mouth and pull off the interstate. People are just curious and eager to try the wines."
Childress, whose cars are driven by Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton, became interested in wine after racing in Southern California in the 1970s, when there was a thriving wine industry there. "That was before Napa became Napa," he says.
When NASCAR came to Sonoma in 1989, Childress visited wineries, often with his top driver, the legendary Dale Earnhardt Sr., who died in a crash at Daytona International Speedway, in Florida, in 2001. Childress developed a passion for making wine as well as drinking it, with some help from friend James Offenbach, owner of San Francisco's Golden Gate Meat Company.
"Racing and winemaking are alike in that people will help you out," Childress says. "A lot of people helped me get started in racing, as well as at the winery. Randy Lynch at Bennett Lane has been real helpful."
Racer to vintner
You can take the boy out of Wine Country, but you can't take the Wine Country out of the boy. Three-time Nextel Cup champion Gordon, who in his youth raced midget cars not far from the Sonoma racetrack (then named Sears Point Raceway), is one of auto racing's most accomplished drivers. He's rich, good looking and seems to have recovered nicely from a divorce that reportedly cost him more than $15 million. On Saturday night in St. Helena, in the heart of Napa Valley, Gordon announced his engagement to Belgian model Ingrid Vandebosch at the Meadowood resort.
Not only was the Vallejo-born racer raised on the fringes of Wine Country, Gordon is NASCAR's first metrosexual, with nary a hair out of place. After 350 miles of racing on a 90-degree track Sunday, he emerged from his car fresh as a daisy.
Gordon found NASCAR success early; at 25, he became the youngest driver to win the Daytona 500, in 1997, and has 74 NASCAR victories in all. Gordon launched his first wine, the Jeff Gordon Collection Carneros Chardonnay ($50), in October 2005, and plans to release a 2004 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and 2004 Napa Valley Merlot in January 2007, according to gordonline.com.
"These wines are not intended to be a novelty item, and they are not connected whatsoever with souvenir sales," Gordon says on the Web site. "Instead, they're being sold in the 'fine wine' market such as restaurants and upscale wine shops."
Accessorize, accessorize
To prove that wine-savvy race fans aren't exclusive to Wine Country, folks everywhere can go to nascar.com and purchase several different styles of $39.99 wine opener sets, including the Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet and GM Goodwrench models. The Motorhead NASCAR model is described as "an all metal racing Piston and Connecting-Rod designed Corkscrew and an all metal Piston Head Wine Bottle Stopper," complete with "six unique engine-part stemware charms."
From moonshine to fine wine, gearheads to bold reds, and yes, wine charms, welcome to the new NASCAR.
Tires and vines
Auto racing isn't just for good ol' boys anymore, as evidenced by the growing popularity of NASCAR racing with fans from all walks of life. Wine, too, has begun to mix with the whine of engines, as several racers and car owners have become vintners. Among them:
Mario Andretti, Andretti Winery, Napa: Andretti, one of the world's most famous and beloved drivers/race-team owners, tasted multiple victories in Indy cars and stock cars, and won the Formula One world championship in 1978. He officially retired in 1994, but continued to race in the 24 Hours of Le Mans for several more years. Andretti was introduced to Napa Valley wine by the Louis Martini family, and he founded his own winery in 1996. The Andretti brand runs strong, producing reliable Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel.
Frank Arciero Sr., Arciero Family Vineyards/EOS Estate Winery, Paso Robles: Arciero purchased property for Arciero Family Vineyards in Paso Robles in 1983. Prior to that, he formed his first auto-racing team in 1957, and his crews have included some of the best drivers in Indy car racing history, among them Al Unser, Bobby Unser, Parnelli Jones, Dan Gurney, Michael Andretti and Kevin Cogan. Not content just to race cars, the family is building the Arciero Motorplex track in Yuba City. EOS represents the excellent quality of wines made in Paso Robles.
Kevin Buckler, Adobe Road Winery, Petaluma: Buckler and his wife, Debra, own the Racer's Group, a team with victories at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. His career as a car owner and driver came together in the 2002 season, when his team won the GT class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Fla., and GT title at Le Mans. He capped the season by winning the Porsche Cup, awarded to the most successful independent Porsche driver in the world. Adobe Road wines often score high with The Chronicle tasting panel.
Richard Childress, Childress Vineyards, North Carolina: Childress is the first car owner to claim championships in NASCAR's top series, formerly the Winston Cup and now the Nextel Cup (with Dale Earnhardt in 1986, '87, '90, '91, '93 and '94), the Busch Grand National (Kevin Harvick in 2001) and Truck Series (Mike Skinner in 1995), winning more than 100 races. He is also the proprietor of Childress Vineyards, in North Carolina's Yadkin Valley American Viticultural Area (AVA) near Lexington, where he produces 28,000 cases of wines ranging in price from $15 and $60.
Jeff Gordon, Jeff Gordon Collection, Calistoga: Gordon, a Vallejo native who now resides in Boca Raton, Fla., is a four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and the winner of Sunday's Dodge/Save Mart 350 Nextel Cup Series at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma -- his fifth victory on that road course. The driver has his own wine brand, the Jeff Gordon Collection, launched a year ago with a 2004 Carneros Chardonnay ($50) made by Joe Briggs of August Briggs Winery in Calistoga.
Randy Lewis, Lewis Cellars, Napa: Lewis was a professional race-car driver for 23 years, competing first in Formula Three races in Europe, then Formula 5000, CanAm and finally Indy cars, from 1983 to 1991. He raced in five Indianapolis 500s, with a best finish of 13th place. His wife, Debbie, led the timing and scoring programs for the Lewis Racing Team. Lewis Cellars is one of the highest-regarded wineries in California; its Syrah is a particular favorite of The Chronicle tasting panel.
Lisa and Randy Lynch, Bennett Lane Winery, Calistoga: Bennett Lane is the only winery to own a NASCAR team, although Ravenswood Winery partially sponsors a Busch Series car (see next item). Lisa and Randy Lynch (he's a former racer and longtime motor sports fan) operate Lynch Racing and their driver, Mike David, has the Bennett Lane Ford in first place in the NASCAR West Series points standings, despite a 29th-place finish Saturday in the AutoZone Grand National West Blue Lizard Suncream 200. Bennett Lane Winery's Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and Maximus Napa Valley red blend are both winners.
Ravenswood Winery, Sonoma: This pioneering Zinfandel producer, celebrating its 30th year, is the primary sponsor of the No. 27 Brewco Motorsports Ford for three races on the 2006 NASCAR Busch Series circuit. Although the Busch Series didn't run at Infineon Raceway last weekend, Ravenswood was the sponsor of NASCAR's Nextel Cup Pole Day in Sonoma on Friday and gave fans samples of its Zinfandel and Chardonnay at the Ravenswood Racing trailer overlooking turns 7 and 8.
-- Linda Murphy
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