Tums not a stranger at bringing relief to racetrack (cont'd)

"The other aspect of the sport that is attractive is the sheer number of people."

For those people, Tums Racing has engineered a national promotion to win an Ultimate Race Weekend getaway later on this season.

There's also a Web site, www.TUMSracing.com, which will launch just before the Texas race, featuring details about the program as well as schedules for appearances and other vital information, and the Dinermobile program will hit 18 tracks and other community events this year.

One of the neatest features of the new Web site is the Tums Track Tour dining guide for the NASCAR circuit. Full of dining tips and favorite places from drivers, team owners and media members (the real experts on any question involving food), it is a must-have for race fans.

Tums has banked its considerable market presence on NASCAR team sponsorship rather than other sports because of the unique mix of opportunity the sport affords its sponsors, Kollitz said.

"We really come at it from four different points," Kollitz said. "We have our on-track sponsorships, our at-track activation, partnerships with the trade and our reach into the home. From other sports, we don't have any sort of depth like we do at NASCAR.

"For example, we'll sample at a few NFL games, a few baseball games, doing some program ads for the Super Bowl, but nothing with the comprehensive scale that we have with NASCAR."

Kollitz is somewhat unique among program managers in the sport, as he has had some racing experience.

"A good friend of mine, his father was involved in SCCA racing and in Indy cars, and I would travel with him to four, five, six races a year and get a look at what went on behind the scenes," Kollitz said. "I've always had that interest, growing up.

"Having that experience, it helps me relate to what the race fan would like and what would resonate and what doesn't. It's definitely helped in the learning curve, let's put it that way."