New sponsor for Manning

[macdaddy]

This is what I like to see...
Walker Racing has signed Air China to Manning's car!
Slowly, but surely, the sponsors are coming! The sidepods up and down the grid are filling up a bit more every weekend.
It was disappointing to see RAC disappear from Manning's sidepods, (even though their logo is still seen on his drivers suit). And so I'm glad they've found a replacement.

[ascarracinguk]

RAC is still on the front and back wing. when rac was on the side pod they werent funding that spot. it was just put there because darren is loyal to his sponsors

btw darren is certainly flying this weekend

[Testure]

Manning's a perfect example of a talented driver who's not always had enough cash to show that talent, so it's terrific to see him do so well. Maybe if the coverage in the UK (and, by extension, here in Ireland) was a bit better, they'd have been able to hold onto the RAC sponsorship. Getting an airline interested in you has gotta be good, though. Great to see them stickers appearing

[Jay]

The number of sponsors on all cars has definately increased since St. Petes when there was a lot of blank bodywork. It's not always as noticable, as most new sponsors aren't primary ones like Air China and Scientific Atlanta of PK Racing. Many are just small stickers on the cars. If you look at most of the cars, the number of those small ones greatly. Jourdain's car looks it's been slapped with a ton of bumper stickers.

[racefanatic]

It's great to see more sponsors no matter how small the sticker may be. This is exactly what the teams need right now! I'm so happy!

[Dov]

Does Manning have the Air China sponsor on both sidepods? I remember hearing 1 or 2 weeks ago that NTN had signed on as a primary sponsor and Im sure I saw it pasted on Darren's left sidepod last weekend.

[macdaddy]

From CART.com:
Sponsor Update: Manning’s #15 RAC Walker Racing Champ Car will sport the Air China logo on its sidepods beginning this weekend. Air China has entered into a marketing and business development agreement with Walker Racing for the remainder of the 2003 season to promote the Air China brand throughout the international market of Champ Car racing. NTN Bearing Corporation announced an associate sponsorship on Manning’s car last weekend.

[Dov]

Thanks for the info, Macdaddy.

[veeten]

somehow, I get the feeling that Lee won't be too peaceable about this... especially if it has anything to do with China.

[GTRMagic]

Does this mean that the cash supply from Pook and CART can now be lessened as a result of some commercial sponsors joining the party, or is the branding the way the supply gets covered up??

[StuiE]

Dov, I'm pretty sure NTN is on the top of the sidepods.

GTRMagic, ASTJ is the only team receiving money from CART...apparantly.

Oh yeh, nice to see another sponser with Walker

[Dov]

I think your right, gtr69....it was on top of the sidepods where I probably saw the NTN Bearings stickers. Im hoping as the summer rolls on, we will see more sponsors joining the series. Associate sponsors would be great, but primary sponsors would be even better!

P.S. Not trying to be nosy, gtr69, but you being on the Left Coast....aren't you up early for a Sunday?

[StuiE]

heh, my WA stands for Western Australia...and I'm about to go to bed zzzzzzzz

I remember when NTN sponsered PacWest, it looked pretty good on those cars, although I never saw the top of th sidepods in the last race so I can't be sure if it's even there....that can't be good for NTN

[Dov]

Gtr69, do you have any more bags...because I may need them. Sorry about that buddy, I no Perth is in Australia, but I thought WA stood for the state of Washington. Hey, for all I no, there could be more then one Perth. I used to think there was only 1 Toronto (Canada), but I recently found out that there are 3 or 4 smaller Toronto's in the U.S.

No, your right, NTN can't be to happy about being on top of the sidepods, but if they wanted to be directly on the sidepods....then they should have shelled out the $$$ to become a primary sponsor.

Have a restfull sleep.