It's Good To Be The King
Written by Patterson Belser, Thursday January 22 2009
(Look, kids, a cheesy logo!)
There is a king in the NASCAR garage for the 2009 season. He is a larger than life figure, taking the nation by storm for some years now. He is the face of a corporation and a beloved character by many. A king that people have come to recognize as a driving force. Yes, he is an impending character, but that is part of his charm. No, no, not that king (thanks, Hopper), but a character of equal stature and glory.
We here at Playerpress.com/NASCAR have covered many stories regarding the teams, mergers, tracks and drivers during this silly season leading up to the upcoming 2009 NASCAR regular season, but there has been little-to-no discussion of the new Stewart-Haas Racing team. You remember this team, the one where half of an entire race team was just given to Tony Stewart for free? Yeah, that’s the exact one I am talking about. The two-car team will feature Tony Stewart in the number 14 Chevrolet and Ryan Newman, who recently left Penske Racing after some lackluster seasons, who will be running the number 39 Chevy.
While we have done little coverage on the Stewart-Haas organization, that all ends here, as there’s a new king in town. Burger King has thrown their crown into the NASCAR world (oh, I slay me) and their money into the Stewart-Haas team to become a sponsor of Stewart’s number 14 car. The home of the Whopper signed a multi-year deal with the team, and will be featured on the 14 car for two races this coming season. The Burger King paint scheme will be seen on Stewart’s car for the July Daytona race and the September Dover race.
Stewart, in discussing the deal, says, “I'm extremely happy to welcome Burger King Corp. to the team and really proud to be associated with such a great brand…I am a huge fan of Burger King restaurants, especially of the Whopper Sandwich, and even received my own customized BK Crown Card!” Now, according to the Burger King website, we are supposed to “Think of the BK Crown Card as (our) key to the WHOPPER Sandwich kingdom.” Just what I need, an easier way to pay for greasy Burger King fare.
Tony, Tony, Tony…are you really going to open yourself up to jokes about your waistline by saying how much you love Whoppers? My main question is, how many of those cool cardboard crowns does he get?
Though, I do think that I better understand the timing for Burger King’s release of the new “Angry Whopper”, which is quite the tie-in to the Stewart-Haas deal. That Smoke has quite the temper, as we all know.
The deal between Stewart-Haas Racing and Burger King not only features paint schemes for Stewart’s car for two races in the 2009 campaign, but also allows for Stewart to be involved in some upcoming Burger King commercials. I am having flashbacks of the “Wake Up With the King” commercial that is possibly scarier than any horror movie I have ever seen.
I am picturing a scene in which Stewart wakes up with the King next to him in bed, and Tony grabs his helmet and smashes the King in his face. Take that, comically oversized cranium.
Does this mean that Smoke will have to wear Flame cologne?
(Thanks to TallGlassofMilk for pointing me in the direction of the team logo)
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4 comments
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I didn't see that one? Last I read was your Robby Gordon article, which frankly, I didn't know some of that about him. Makes me think that if he could get some tech behind him, that he'd be more of a threat in Cup. It is hard, being a Win - errr - Sprint Cup fan, to like him very much, though. I was interested, when doing the David Berkeley interview, that David bought a car from Randy Pobst, who will be running the 24. David said that he got to run some laps with him, which is incredibly cool. How did I miss your article?
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Did you read my Rolex 24 article?
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I do what I can. That Burger King King scares the (expletive deleted) out of me. But I love to throw in those links. The link attached to the "...throw in their crown" line has become one of my favorite sites in the world. Nothing like a rimshot at your beck and call at all times.
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Patterson, loved the article!