• USA TODAY , Monday, July 21, 2008 10:30 AM

GM is cutting back its motorsports advertising, putting in jeopardy its sponsorships of teams, tracks and all the ancillary marketing that goes with racing. Expected among the biggest losers is Nascar-related spending of $120 million to $140 million a year.

Nascar last year began to transition to a so-called Car of Tomorrow in which all race cars would have the same generic body, differentiated with stickers depicting headlights, taillights and grille, as well as the car number and source of the engine. The move has taken some of the pizzazz out of racing, says Peter De Lorenzo, editor of AutoExtremist.com and a consultant to some automakers. In severe financial times, promoting something so unrelated to actual products GM sells doesn't make sense, he says.

"Nascar was more effective ... when there was some sort of product identification and connection to the manufacturers," De Lorenzo asserts. Racetrack owners are scrambling to hammer out new contracts, hoping to replace some GM corporate money with ad support from local dealers.

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