Food 4 Less & Irwindale Speedway Announce Major Sponsorship Pact
22 April 2000
Irwindale, Calif. - - (April 21,2000) Food 4 Less Warehouse Stores and Irwindale Speedway today announced a wide ranging sponsorship pact between the price impact chain and the Speedway that includes: status as the Official Grocery Stores of Irwindale Speedway, the title sponsorship of the track's super-popular Super Late Model Series, and a special series of four "Food 4 Less Fast 4 Shoot-Outs" featuring the top Food 4 Less Super Late Model qualifiers going four laps for a solid $1000 winner-take-all payoff. The first such Shoot-Out is already scheduled for Saturday, May 6 at the Speedway. "I don't think that any other weekly short track in the country has a program anything like this," said the track's VP of Marketing Pat Patterson. "We are very pleased that Food 4 Less has decided to make Irwindale Speedway such an important part of their southern California marketing strategy. This adds a great deal of strength and credibility to our regular NASCAR weekly racing program here at the Speedway." "We feel that our participation in NASCAR's Featherlite Southwest Series with Mark Reed, and the NASCAR Winston West Series with Joe Bean allows us to capitalize on the excitement that racing brings," said Tom Thomas, Group Vice President of Non-Perishables for Food 4 Less. "In addition, we can give back to the communities we serve through the Muscular Dystrophy Association with Mark's car and the City of Hope with Joe's. "We are very excited that our partnership with Irwindale Speedway as its Official Grocery Stores will give us a southern California venue to stage promotional events that will benefit both our customers and our members. I'm sure," Thomas went on, "that the combination of this premier ½-Mile speedway and the premier Warehouse Food Store operation will be an unbeatable item." Food 4 Less, which operates almost 100 price impact warehouse stores in southern California, FoodsCo in northern California, and Price Rite in Nevada, works with many high profile vendor partners such as Coca-Cola to augment and leverage their involvement in the fast moving world of motorsports promotions. "We expect to be working with a good number of Food 4 Less' product partners here at Irwindale," Patterson indicated. "It just makes good sense to everyone involved. This really is 'L.A.'s ½-Mile Super Speedway' and our marketing partners are very eager to participate here on an regular basis over our 36-week, March through November schedule." In addition to putting their name on the Food 4 Less Super Late Model Series at Irwindale, the food chain has also taken title sponsorship to two of the three NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series races on July 29 and October 7 of this year. The newly-named Food 4 Less Super Late Model Series cars have really become a hot item at the Speedway. With some 48 cars cueing up to go at it for the 30 main event starting slots on Opening Night March 25 and continuing on into the season with full fields and fierce competition. "Our NASCAR Super Late Model fields look almost like 'Tour' races; these cars are perfectly prepared, beautifully painted, and very well-driven," explained Patterson. "And, when a company like Food 4 Less steps up and puts their name on a already great product as this NASCAR division is, well, we think the sky's the limit." Tickets for the all Irwindale Speedway events are now available 24 hours a day seven day a week via the world-wide web at Tickets.com. They may also be purchased by phone at (626) 358-1100, or in person at the track box office Tuesday - Saturday. The Speedway is located at 13300 E. Live Oak Avenue directly off the 605 freeway between the 10 and the 210.