#97 Sponsor? UPDATE 7 Sunday Announcement? heard nothing: rumor floating around that Newell-Rubbermaid may be a sponsor for the #97 Roush Racing team and driver Kurt Busch. But sources with the team say they have not heard that at all(3-5-2001) UPDATE: actually hear the sponsor will be Sanford with their Sharpie Marker Line being featured, Sanford is owned by…..Newell Rubbermaid. An announcement could come in Texas in a few weeks, if that is the sponsor. Sharpie will also be the title sponsor of the race at Bristol in August, the Sharpie® 500(3-6-2001) UPDATE 2: Roush Racing, which fields four Winston Cup, two BGN and two CTS teams, has had several high-profile sponsors and two dot-com companies leave or reduce their participation because of economic reasons. Despite losing companies like Northern Light, Exide and John Deere, Roush has been able to find new sources of cash, company president Geoff Smith said. Smith said he expects to add sponsors for rookie Kurt Busch’s #97 Winston Cup car and for one of the two trucks. Gain detergent recently agreed to back Jeff Burton’s Busch car(Atlanta Journal Constitution)(3-7-2001) UPDATE 3: the weeks Speedway Scene mentions Pizza Hut as a possible sponsor for either the #97 or one of the Roush CTS teams(3-10-2001) UPDATE 4: Roush Racing President Geoff Smith expects to announce a sponsor for Kurt Busch’s Winston Cup team and the truck team of Chuck Hossfeld at Bristol. He would neither confirm nor deny that the sponsor would be Sanford, the company that manufactures Sharpies. Earlier this year it was announced that Sharpie would sponsor the August Bristol race(Winston Cup Scene need to be a subscriber to read online)(3-15-2001) UPDATE 5: hearing the announcement will probably be at Texas and not Bristol that Sharpie®/Sanford/Newell Rubbermaid will be Kurt Bucsh’s sponsor. Hearing the car will be primarily black with a white hood having “Sharpie” in black letters with a blue Sharpie pen underneath it on the hood. The lower left side of the car is blue … the lower right side of the car is red (almost like somebody’s been scribbling on it with a … Sharpie) or an all black with a red “Rubbermaid” logo. Sharpie is on the quarter panels and Paper*Mate is on the deck lid(3-22-2001) UPDATE 6: Roush Racings sponsorship announcement set for Sunday at Texas will include programs for both the #97 Ford Taurus driven by Kurt Busch as well as one of Roushs two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series programs, which have run sponsorless for rookie drivers Nathan Haseleu and Chuck Hossfeld this season(NASCAR.com Buzz)(3-30-2001) UPDATE 7: There was a morning news conference at which team owner Jack Roush announced that beginning with next weekend’s race at Martinsville, Kurt Busch’s #97 Fords will be sponsored by the Newell-Rubbermaid organization through the Sharpie brand of permanent markers and Rubbermaid home products. The company will also sponsor Chuck Hossfeld’s #50 team in the Truck series(That’s Racin’)(4-1-2001)
