Pinty’s ponies up as new sponsor of NASCAR Canada series

Pinty's, the Burlington food company that already has heavy financial involvements in Grand Slam Curling and the Canadian Football League is determined to make NASCAR stock car racing in Canada just as popular writes Norris McDonald in the Toronto Star.

Monday afternoon it was announced the company, best known for its chicken products, had signed a six-year agreement to be the title sponsor of Canada's national stock car racing series.

Tony Spiteri, senior vice-president of marketing and research and development for Pinty's Delicious Foods Inc., said at Monday's media conference Pinty's planned to be a "passionate sponsor."

Pinty's replaces Canadian Tire, which was title sponsor of the NASCAR Canada series for the past nine years. Spiteri made it clear the new sponsor has great ambition and expectations for the late-model stock car series.

"It's pretty easy to buy advertising today in Canada, particularly in a lot of these sports," said Spiteri after the announcement, during which it was revealed the NASCAR Pinty's Series will again be part of the Honda Indy Toronto in July, something that hasn't happened since 2011.

"But what's different is that a lot of folks (companies) just ante up the coin and go to the races or the football game and that's the end of the deal, the end of the sponsorship. We've got a pretty unique opportunity to tell the story of Canadian racing and racers, and that's our plan."

Jeff Atkinson, president and general manager of the Honda Indy Toronto, was thrilled by the announcement that NASCAR was returning to race in downtown Toronto the same weekend as the Verizon IndyCar Series.

"It's very important to us as an event to have a NASCAR involvement," he said. "When we had the double-headers in 2013 and '14 (back-to-back IndyCar races Saturday and Sunday), we found Saturdays worked for us.

"To have NASCAR and the NASCAR Pinty's Series as part of our Saturday event will now allow us to connect to a new fan base, one that's associated with the NASCAR brand. Hopefully, they'll come to appreciate IndyCar racing, too."

Pinty's has been a contingency sponsor of the NASCAR Canada series since 2012 and was the presenting sponsor of three of the series' 11 races in 2015.

The 2016 NASCAR Pinty's Series season will take the green flag on Sunday, May 22, as part of the traditional Victoria Day Speedfest weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park, north of Bowmanville. Scott Steckly, of Milverton, Ont., is the four-time defending champion.

The complete 2016 schedule will be announced later, although it's expected the Pinty's race will again be part of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at CTMP on Labour Day weekend. Norris McDonald/Toronto Star