Irwindale Speedway/Home Depot announce five race sponsorhip package
11 February 2000
Irwindale, Calif. - - (February 11, 2000) It was announced today that Home Depot would become the title sponsor for five major events in the upcoming 2000 season at Irwindale Speedway. Home Depot will put their name on all three of Irwindale's NASCAR Winston West events (June 24, August 19, and the series' finale on November 11). The NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series race on July 29 , and the 60th running of the legendary Turkey Night Grand Prix for United States Auto Club Midget Cars on November 23, will complete the five-event package that may well turn out to be to one of the biggest sponsorship commitments in West Coast short track racing history. Turkey Night is already on the ESPN2 2000 race coverage schedule. "We're very pleased that Home Depot decided to make event sponsorship at Irwindale part of their aggressive campaign to enhance their sales leadership position and to solidify their reputation as major motorsports supporters," said the Speedway's VP of Marketing Pat Patterson. "They're real racers at Home Depot," Patterson continued, "They really believe in motorsports and they believe in the fans' positive reactions to their involvement. Home Depot does a whole lot more than just lend their name on an event, we'll be working with them on a wide variety of promotions to backup and enhance this package." Bruce Merino, Home Depot's West Coast Merchandise V.P. was enthusiastic about the arrangement, "We became associated with Irwindale Speedway very late in their season last year. The Turkey Night event was huge success for us, even starting out as late as we did … Our customers really responded to our involvement with the track, and, of course, Tony Stewart's appearance there didn't hurt either." Founded in 1978 in Atlanta, Georgia, The Home Depot is the world's largest home improvement retailer, with over 900 stores in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, and Chile. Voted "America's Most-Admired Specialty Retailer" by Fortune Magazine for six straight years, The Home Depot prides itself on offering its customers the lowest prices and the highest levels of service. The Home Depot is also an Official Sponsor of the U.S., Canadian, and Puerto Rican Olympic Teams, the Official Home Improvement Warehouse of NASCAR, a Senior PGA event sponsor (The Home Depot Invitational in Charlotte, NC) and the sponsor of the Joe Gibbs #20 Winston Cup car with 1999 NASCAR Rookie-Of-The-Year Tony Stewart at the wheel. The versatile Stewart drove Steve Lewis' #19 Beast/Ford USAC Midget to a hard-fought second place (an oil pump drive belt broke on the second-to-last lap) in the 1999 Turkey Night GP event.