Four NASCAR drivers team with OCC for custom bikes

Some of NASCAR's top drivers are lending their names to Sunoco and Orange County Choppers for a promotion that will launch this fall and reward one winner with a custom motorcycle.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson are each designing a motorcycle valued at more than $50,000 as part of the promotion. Orange County Choppers, a custom shop born in Montgomery, N.Y., in 1999 and made famous by the Discovery Channel show American Chopper will build the motorcycles.

The four motorcycles will be unveiled June 29 in Loudon, N.H., at a photo shoot with the four drivers. The photos will be used to create "hero cards," which are similar to baseball cards, only larger. Sunoco's hero cards probably will be 6 inches by 9 inches with a shot of the driver and his bike on the front and statistics and facts on the back.

The hero cards will be available at most Sunoco retail stations in September and October with a 10-gallon purchase. To enter the promotion on a Sunoco Web site, consumers will have to collect cards of all four drivers and match the cards together like a puzzle until a code forms on the back. By entering the code at the Sunoco Web site, consumers will be registered to win the grand prize of a custom motorcycle built by Orange County Choppers.

The promotion will be supported with print, radio and online advertising. Sunoco is covering the cost of building the bikes, as well as the hero cards and other related materials.

Sunoco, the official fuel of NASCAR, in the past few months worked out a deal to become the official fuel of Orange County Choppers, which meant installing a branded pump in the shop's garage and the occasional product placement on the show.

"We've been thinking about ways that we can tie the two partnerships together," said Chris Buitron, Sunoco's senior brand marketing manager.

"We're really excited to get the quality of driver that we've gotten."

Orange County Choppers has been moving in more of a sports direction in the past few years, obtaining licenses from the NBA and the NHL to produce bikes with team logos. The winner of this year's EDS Byron Nelson Championship on the PGA Tour also received an OCC bike.

Sunoco and OCC first worked together last year when Sunoco asked for a custom bike that could be auctioned, with the proceeds going to Victory Junction Gang Camp.

"This is an especially good fit because the demographics of the NASCAR fan matches up so well with motorcycle riders," said John Sohigian, OCC's senior vice president of marketing. "Plus, a lot of the drivers ride motorcycles off the track. We've had Tony Stewart in the shop, we've had the Pettys."

Buitron said the bikes don't include an affiliation with the drivers' sponsors, although Stewart predictably went with orange on his bike.