[DeBora4BobbyL]

Ellen, to your first question, NASCAR stands for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing.

The sponsor thing started with Richard Petty making a deal with to put STP on his hood. Drivers used to have to pay for all the work done on their cars as well as the cars themselves. Now, the sponsors pay HUGE prices to put just a small ad on the side of the race car. I will look into the exact costs, but they pay per race, depending on the size and location on the car. If a driver trys to qualify to be in a race and fails to get in to the race, the sponsor still pays. So, most want someone who is guaranteed to be in the race. Last year, Bobby had to talk to Medagascar about postponing 1 race so he could put FedEx on his car. FedEx was going to cancel their sponsorship on the #11 car because Jason Leffler could never get into the race. He was fired and Terry, Bobby's brother as well as 2 rookies took over that car for the rest of the season.

As far as women go, currently, there are no females on the Cup and Busch series. I think there are some in the Truck series. Here's a couple of links to stuff about women in NASCAR: http://www.nascar.com/kyn/women/
http://nascar.about.com/od/otherseri...apatrick_2.htm
Just so you know, women make up at least 35% of the NASCAR fan base. But, adverstising is still geared towards men. LOL

I'll let you know when I find the exact advertising costs. I have a great article of a drawing of a race car and the cost, per race, of each advertisement. But, I am at my home away from home right now.