A million-dollar idea to liven up NASCAR racing
Sometimes, the best ideas aren’t new ideas at all.
Sometimes, the best ideas are old ideas brought up to date with the times.
From 1985-97, R.J. Reynolds sponsored something called “The Winston Million,” a $1 million bonus to any driver who could win three of NASCAR’s biggest four races in a single season: The Daytona 500, the spring Talladega race, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte and the Southern 500 at Darlington.
A simple promotion, perhaps, but a damned hard one for racers to win.
In the first year of the Winston Million in 1985, Bill Elliott won at Daytona, Talladega and Darlington to earn the $1 million bonus.
In 1997, the final year of the program, Jeff Gordon won $1 million by winning at Daytona, Charlotte and Darlington.
In the 11 years between Elliott and Gordon, nobody won the Winston Million, although on five occasions, drivers won two of the four races, thereby earning themselves $100,000 bonuses.
Elliott’s dramatic win in 1985 launched his career and made him a household name across the country. He even landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
I was there at Darlington in ’97 when Gordon won and still remember the huge publicity it generated. After the race, Gordon took a lap around the track with an armored car behind the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, throwing fake money out on the track as they lapped.
Corny?
You bet it was.
But it was also immense fun and helped generate a lot of interest for the sport, something we could use right now.
Showmanship, flair and high stakes make racing more interesting.
So I have a modest proposal: Bring back the Winston Million, except call it the Western Million because it would involve NASCAR’s spring Western Swing, plus the June race at Sonoma.
The basic structure would be the same. If one driver wins three times in the first races of the year at Las Vegas and Phoenix — remember, Vegas will have two races next year — Auto Club Speedway and Sonoma Raceway, that driver wins $1 million. Win two of the four and you win $100,000.
And just to spice it up a little, throw in 10 playoff points for winning three races in the Western Million and 4 playoff points for winning two races.
Think about it: Creating the Western Million would be easy to do.
It would generate a lot of interest with both casual and hard-core fans and it would be something that NASCAR, Monster Energy and the tracks could throw a ton of marketing muscle behind.
We’ve already seen what a home run Darlington’s throwback weekend has been with fans.
Now let’s bring back NASCAR’s grand slam.
