Indy 500 wasn’t in Marlboro country; team drops logo

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There’s no gas in Gasoline Alley, no carburetors on Carburetion Day — and no Marlboro in Marlboro Team Penske.

Just three days before the Indianapolis 500, Roger Penske’s racing team agreed to remove the Marlboro name from its cars to avoid a possible violation of the 1998 tobacco settlement.

The decision left Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves driving cars with plain white sidepods — usually the sign of a low-budget team that lacks major sponsorship.

“I’m just here to race,” Castroneves said, looking at the blank spot on his car as it sat in the garage in Gasoline Alley before the final practice. “Maybe they should put our names — Helio and Gil.”

The race won’t be smoke-free, however.

Hollywood, a leading brand of cigarettes in Brazil, will have its name on Felipe Giaffone’s car Sunday. The settlement does not cover foreign companies that sell outside the United States.

Thus, “Marlboro Team Penske” joins the lexicon of such outdated Indy terms as Gasoline Alley and Carburetion Day — the cars haven’t used gasoline since the mid-1960s and carburetors were last seen here more than 40 years ago.

Penske’s cars carried the Marlboro brand name and logo during qualifying and most practice sessions this month.

But the National Association of Attorneys General, a group of state officials who oversaw the tobacco settlement, raised questions about the legality of promoting Philip Morris at last Sunday’s Indy 500.

Under the settlement, Penske’s team is allowed to use the Marlboro name when it competes on the Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) circuit.

The Indy 500, however, is sanctioned by the rival Indy Racing League. Penske, who was part of a CART boycott of Indy the last five years, decided to return this year with cars that met IRL guidelines.

CART opened a slot on its schedule to allow its teams to compete in the Indy 500. Penske thought that made it possible for his teams to retain the Marlboro name for Sunday’s race.

“We came to Indianapolis based on CART sanctioning the Indy race for CART teams,” Penske said. “To me, this is an international event, like the Masters, which is open to everyone.”

The issue may simply be a matter of semantics. While CART allowed its teams to race at Indy this year, IRL is the sanctioning body for the race.

The Indy 500 is part of the IRL’s 13-race schedule and does not count toward the season championship in CART.

Also, Penske removed the Marlboro name from his cars when they took part at an IRL event in Phoenix this year as a warmup for Indy.

“The company has argued that CART gave permission for its teams to participate in IRL,” said Sean Connolly, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office, which oversees enforcement. “While that may be true, there’s different rules, different cars. We believe they are two separate events.”

Cigarette companies, a major backer of auto racing, have come under increased scrutiny in recent years around the world.

R.J. Reynolds maintained its sponsorship of Winston Cup racing, but abandoned support of NASCAR’s short-track series. Formula One teams are not allowed to display cigarette advertising for grand prix events in England and Germany.

Under the 1998 settlement, cigarette companies are allowed to keep just one “brand sponsorship,” which applies to athletic, musical, artistic, or other social or cultural event.

The Marlboro name was removed from Penske’s cars before they went out for Thursday’s practice, and it had also been taken off the sign above the team’s garage.

However, Penske and his crew were still wearing clothing with the “Marlboro Team Penske” logo. With two off days before the race, he has time to line up generic driving suits, pit attire and pit equipment.

And don’t forget the welcome mat at the garage. It still bore the cigarette’s brand name.

“We think this is the right thing to do,” said Penske, whose team is racing at Indy for the first time since 1994. “It’s important that we run the race.”

Brendan McCormick, a spokesman for Philip Morris, said his company would maintain its financial support of Team Penske for the race, even though it won’t benefit from the exposure.

“The top priority was being able to work out a resolution to this issue,” he said. “It was less important for us to have the Marlboro name present.”

Philip Morris has sponsored Team Penske for 11 years and will have the Marlboro name back on the car for the June 3 CART race at Milwaukee.

“This is a long-term sponsorship,” McCormick said. “They have been very supportive of our commitment to deal with this issue, and our commitment is still there for them. We’re hoping things go well this weekend.”

The company plans more talks with the attorneys general group after Sunday’s race.

“We want to clarify what the agreement says so there is no ambiguity,” Connolly said. “The agreement the tobacco companies signed was very comprehensive. We anticipated disputes like this arising from time to time. We’re pleased that the company took steps to address our concerns. We need to ensure that everybody is on the same page.”