How R.J. Reynolds' Sponsorship, Winston Cup Became NASCAR Game Changer in 1971

• Originally, RJR wanted to sponsor one of the top teams in NASCAR, namely that of Junior Johnson.

• Winston and RJR had no compulsion against spending from what often seemed like an unlimited wallet.

• With the inability to advertise anymore on TV, RJR and Winston took what had been its massive TV marketing budget and chose to spend it in NASCAR.

After more than 20 years as a primarily Southeast-based racing organization, NASCAR entered the 1970s needing a cash infusion to help pay for increased costs of racing.

At the same time, tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds—RJR for short—was looking for a sports entity it could sponsor and attach to its hallmark cigarette brand at the time, Winston, after the federal government had banned cigarette advertising on television.

Originally, RJR wanted to sponsor one of the top teams in NASCAR, namely that of Junior Johnson. But the selfless Johnson decided the Winston money and influence would be better served with the series as a whole, rather than just for his team.

As a result, Johnson put NASCAR president Bill France Jr. and RJR sports executive Ralph Seagraves together—and the rest became history, as the NASCAR Grand National Series became the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National Series, which would eventually be shortened to just the NASCAR Winston Cup Series.

With the inability to advertise anymore on TV, RJR and Winston took what had been its massive TV marketing budget and chose to spend it in NASCAR—and spend it did, with massive promotions including the “Winston Million,” which gave any team that won three of four marquee events—the Daytona 500, the Winston 500, the World 600 and the Southern 500—in the same season a bonus of a cool $1 million bucks.

During that same season, RJR came up with another event that gave $200,000 to the winner of the brand new NASCAR All-Star Race, better known as “The Winston.” RJR also helped significantly raise prize money not only for individual races, but also for Winston Cup championship drivers and teams each season.