Car Racing Taking Kids Down Tobacco Road? -- Barrage Of Cigarette Promotions Sends Bad Message, Critics Say

ORLANDO, Fla. - J.J. Barry stands in the shade of a Camel cigarette pack, a 10-foot inflatable - anchored with ropes like a balloon float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - that is the towering backdrop for International Motor Sports Association's 12 Hours of Sebring in March.

Its shadow provides J.J. - more of a stock-car racing fan - a cool place to relax as he thumbs through his driver trading cards.

"See? I have a whole bunch of them," the 10-year-old boy from Osceola County, Fla., says. He wears a T-shirt bearing Ernie Irvan's stock car, stamped with a Winston logo.

"Do you want a card?" he asks, offering a hand-size photograph with a Winston Cup Series banner hanging behind driver Michael Waltrip, who has a Winston patch sewn on his fireproof racing suit.

Scenes like that ignite this controversy: Minors are inhaling cigarette advertising because, health officials say, the tobacco industry is violating a 23-year-old statute intended to shield them from it.

The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act of 1969 prohibits the promotion of cigarette brands over electronic communications media. Yet it didn't prevent R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. from beginning two years later its sponsorship of televised Winston Cup Series stock-car races - such as the Daytona 500 - and Camel GT Series events like Sebring.

Health officials say it's no coincidence, charging that the tobacco industry found a way to circumvent the law without

interference from the Justice Department, which hasn't cited the companies with the standard $10,000-per-violation fine.

Nat Walker, Winston Cup Series senior director and the company's spokesman on that issue, said: "Poppycock. Cigarette ads have been governed since 1969. It's a law we haven't broken. We sponsor the sport. We aren't advertising; the Justice Department agrees."

Critics say Justice is blind, that it doesn't see the cigarette billboards and displays at every race as televised promotions and that it fails to recognize the logos plastered all over the cars and tracks as advertisements.

"Winston has cleverly packaged themselves so that the name Winston is said as a part of our natural vocabulary - Winston Cup, Winston Points, Winston Series, Winston Tower," said Dr. Alan Blum, author of an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that details how in his opinion the tobacco industry breaks the ban. "The law is broken right in front of the Justice Department's face."

Tobacco logos are visible from every camera angle:

-- Winston Cup signs decorate the winner's circle and a track's walls without the surgeon-general's warning because the logos aren't considered ads.

-- Track-wide Camel banners stretch over the finish lines of motorcycle and sports-car events, where Joe Camel hangs out in his dark shades.

-- Philip Morris Inc. puts its Marlboro-coated cars among those racing in the Indianapolis 500, the Marlboro 500 and the Marlboro Challenge, featuring the season's top 10 drivers.

That flood of logos trickles down to the Daytona International Speedway's souvenir shops. There's a poster-size Winston ashtray, Winston-decaled comic books, cups and T-shirts. There's Joe Camel leaning on a cardboard motorcycle, at eye level to a child.

The sights give health officials a headache. "We've all been beating our heads against the wall," said Joe Marx, a spokesman for the American Heart and Lung Association. "The problem is the tobacco industry basically does what it wants. It's politics. They have the money and the lobbying power."

There are opposing groups mustering strength.

Doctors Ought to Care (DOC) - a coalition of doctors who want to stamp out the tobacco-industry sponsorship of motor sports - are turning heads in the smoke-free vs. smoke-filled sponsorship fight for airspace.

LITTLE GUYS' WARNING

The smoke cleared for Fred Elsass, a driver on the National Hot Rod Association's Winston Drag Racing circuit, after three friends died four years ago.

They weren't killed in a ball of flame. They died of lung cancer.

"I had smoked for 31 years," said Elsass, 51, who has been competing since 1975. "I quit smoking four years ago. I felt someone was sending Fred a message."

Elsass then sent one to Winston: He refused to put a Winston decal onto his car or to wear it on his racing suit. He didn't want to be labeled a hypocrite.

Winston, which sponsors the hot rod association, wouldn't let him collect one of its paychecks without the logo. Elsass received the following letter:

"Dear Mr. Elsass,

You do not have to display the Winston decal to win purse money. . . . We do, however, reserve the right to pay WINSTON point fund money only to those competitors who do. Given the extent of our involvement with the sport, I don't believe this is asking too much.

Sincerely, R.P. Masten (July 25, 1991)."

Masten, senior manager of the Winston Drag Racing Series, would not comment concerning the letter.

Elsass sent the letter to several organizations, including DOC, which used its own money and private donations to begin sponsoring Elsass' car last fall, calling itself the Little Guys Racing team.

"We've received a lot of support from fellow drivers," said Eric Solberg, executive director of DOC and a crew member of the team.

Just above the car's racing stripe are the words: "Warning: Cigarette Ads can Influence Children."

INDY'S SMOKELESS ENTRY

A national network audience saw a smokeless entry in last Sunday's Indianapolis 500. Dr. Eric Blum has provided the bulk of the $400,000 sponsorship needed for Tom Burns Racing's Indy Car entry, which qualified with Dominic Dobson as the driver.

The car's logo read "The Real Winner's Circle," designed with a symbol striking through a cigarette pack.

Marlboro spokesman John Payne said: "We don't have a comment."

Neither a driver nor an owner has spoken out against RJR's Winston Cup Series, which is the elite circuit in stock-car racing.

"My feeling is the drivers in our sport appreciate our sponsorship," Walker said. "I don't know of any instance where a (Winston Cup) driver has complained."

RJR last year paid drivers $2.6 million in Winston Cup point awards, which are accumulated through the 29-race circuit. Since the series began in 1971, RJR has distributed $17.2 million to drivers.

It's a rich custom that began humbly in 1971, when car owner and former driver Junior Johnson approached the company about backing the series, said Winston public relations official Ty Norris, who added that the timing of the sponsorship in relation to the 1969 cigarette ban is a "coincidence."

"It's no coincidence," said Blum, chairman of DOC, in Daytona Beach during February Speed Weeks. "They were looking for a way to get their product marketed to the young people." Items `not sold to children'

RJR's Sports Marketing Enterprise officials say they have no ulterior motives. "Our policy is that, when our items are for sale, they are not sold to children," Walker said. "We make every effort to make sure that people under 18 don't have access to our materials. . . . Our items simply don't fit (minors). We make medium and large."

But small-size, gray-and-white Winston Cup Series shirts - made with RJR's Sports Marketing Enterprises label - are available at souvenir stands on Daytona Beach's Volusia Avenue.

"Our company response to this is, first: The NASCAR Winston Cup Series logo is not a cigarette logo," Walker said, noting he had not been aware that RJR produced small-sized sportswear. "Our apparel is made for adults. . . . We do not, in any way, promote cigarettes to kids. . . . As for trading cards, they . . . are bought, sold and traded primarily by adults."

Yet matchbox cars, labeled for children ages 5 and older, are packaged with a Winston-decaled trading card. And comic books, which have NASCAR drivers such as Bill Elliott wearing Winston Cup caps, are drawn for children.

`LUNG CANCER TOWER'

They are for sale in stores that stand within sight of the Winston Tower, which holds the suites and press facilities at the Daytona International Speedway.

"Saying `the Winston Tower' is like saying `the Lung Cancer Tower,' " Blum said. "If that huge sign (12 feet tall on the tower scaffolding facing the traffic) said `Lung Cancer Tower,' it would be down in six seconds. But it doesn't. So no one questions it."

Walker countered, saying that Winston has a "generic association with the sport."

But generic implies a black-and-white label, something found in a grocery-store aisle, such as "rice" or "beans" or "cigarettes."

The Winston Cup logo is the same as the one on Winston cigarette packs. It's a maroon-and-white label, complete with a gold eagle flapping its wings, a vision that seems to contradict RJR's generic explanation. "We could quibble all day," Walker said.

TV TRIES TO AVOID LOGO

The argument seems lost when even an advocate of smokers' rights such as Rep. Craig James of Florida's fourth district, which includes Daytona Beach, differs with cigarette company officials.

"Of course it's advertising," said James, a smoker who has supported smoking sections on airplanes and in VA hospitals. "It's a subtle form, but it's advertising. No question."

Even CBS Television, which airs the Daytona 500, tries to avoid showing Winston's billboards as much as possible. "We do what we can to shoot around cigarette advertising, but many of the signs are fixed and unavoidable," said Sandy Genelius, a spokesperson for CBS Sports.

Justice Department officials would not comment directly on their interpretation of the 1969 smoking act.

DEBATE HEATING UP

But the tobacco industry is beginning to feel a nudge from groups such as DOC, recognizing them as more than nuisances.

"Do we consider Dr. Blum and his organization a threat, meaning he'd like to see us go away?" Walker said. "No. Not at this present time. Would an anti-smoking group be able to mount enough influence to enact a bill? I don't know."

The tobacco industry's finish in motor sports would open up a major sponsorship opportunity. Auto racing is moving quickly as a television marketing opportunity for advertisers. Ratings are booming for the 29 televised races on the Winston circuit.

ESPN's 3-year-old record for the largest audience for one of the events has been broken twice this year, most recently April 12 at North Wilkesboro, N.C., when the race was seen in 2.384 million households, homes in which minors are watching in their horizontal-hold stares, perhaps not recognizing the difference between what's cool and what's advertising.

"They (minors) are very name-brand oriented," Surgeon-General Dr. Antonia Novello said by telephone. "The tobacco industry plays on this, trying to market their future clientele with cartoon characters like Joe Camel.

"Children are drawn in by advertisements and associate products with images," she said.

They see the Nike shoes that Michael Jordan wears, the Winston hat on Dale Earnhardt's head. They may wear the shoes or smoke a Winston, depending on what leaves the biggest impression on them.

Then there's Joe Camel.

The cartoon character was on display when Blum took his children through an auto-racing souvenir shop in Daytona Beach. Blum glanced down at Joe Camel, then shook his head in disbelief.

"You buy two packs and get a Joe Cool lighter for free. Look here," Blum said. "I love this. It says: `Keep away from children.' Of course they're not talking about cigarettes. They're talking about the lighter. They don't want kids to get burned."