NASCAR teams smoking less thanks to QUIT Crew

Four years ago, you couldn't go 10 feet in the NASCAR garage area without seeing someone smoking a cigarette, fiddling with the pack or searching for a lighter.

Now, you can go 10 miles. At least that's the way it seems. Since Winston left as the series sponsor at the end of the 2003 season, it's something you hardly see anymore. Of course, now everyone has a cell phone instead.

Part of the reason for this is that Winston no longer brought bales and boxes of cigarettes to the track. The other reason is programs like the QUIT Crew, from official NASCAR sponsor Nicorette.

Beginning in 2005, Nicorette came aboard as an official sponsor and developed associate sponsorships with Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Petty Enterprises, Hendrick Motorsports, Richard Childress Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing and more.

How ironic is it that a company that would have been shown the gates under Winston sponsorship is now enjoying not only a solid business platform with NASCAR, but is actively helping the community as a whole?

"Honestly, when we entered the sport, I don't think we knew at what level we'd be accepted," said Steve Kapur, senior promotion manager for Nicorette. "We have tried to be respectful and there to help when people are ready to quit. We haven't elbowed our way in or pushed our way in. What's happening, and we experience this in the exhibit area every weekend, is that people are approaching us and asking for help. Overall, people are more interested in healthy lifestyles, and these are products that are consistent with what they're looking for."

Kapur oversees a program that not only brings answers to hundreds of thousands of fans every year, but has generated quite a following inside the garage area as well.

"The QUIT Crew began with us helping the guys on the race team quit smoking, not just the over-the-wall guys, but even the people back in the office and at the shop," he said. "It started when one of the guys on the Ganassi Racing crew approached us about quitting smoking. We worked with him, and a guy named Frank Vitale, who trains smoking cessation counselors all over the world on how to do this. We put together a program with Ganassi that we tested, and we had a lot of people sign up and we had terrific results in terms of people being successful." (Continued)