Penske must drop Marlboro logos for Indy 500

The familiar red,-white-and-black Marlboro colors may be on Gil de Ferran's and Helio Castroneves' Indy cars in the 85th Indy 500, but the company decals and logos have been removed. That has been done in an effort to avoid a showdown with legal officials. The Marlboro name will be removed entirely from its cars and its presence will be minimized on support equipment and ancillary materials.

Philip Morris USA believes its sponsorship of Marlboro Team Penske at the Indianapolis 500 is consistent with the letter and the spirit of the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA). That settlement limits participating manufacturers to one brand name sponsorship annually with certain restrictions. Philip Morris elected to sponsor teams in CART as its chosen single series - the reason Ferrari, for instance, could not run Marlboro signage at last year's US Grand Prix.

In August 2000, CART sanctioned the participation of its teams in the Indianapolis 500 and in January 2001, Marlboro Team Penske announced its participation in this year's Indy 500.

Penske Racing may not have been blindsided by the situation that forced its two teams to remove the Marlboro decals from its race cars for Sunday's Indy 500, but team owner Roger Penske wasn't expecting any such development two weeks ago. During a press conference at the Speedway on May 11, Penske all but said the team expected no problems with the use of the Marlboro logos.

"We looked at it carefully," Penske said at the time. "And, you know, we are well within the guidelines proscribed."

But the state Attorney Generals, who have been leading the crackdown on cigarette marketing and advertising, obviously didn't agree. Philip Morris USA, which produces Marlboro cigarettes, announced on Wednesday that after being contacted by the Attorney Generals, it has agreed to remove the Marlboro brand name from the cars driven by Helio Castroneves and Gil de Ferran and is minimising its presence on support equipment.

Under the rules of the agreement between cigarette companies and the Attorney Generals, teams are limited to one brand-name sponsorship per year in a racing series. In a carefully-worded statement which company officials hoped would allow them to sponsor the team in the Indianapolis 500, it said, "CART sanctions the participation of its teams and drivers who choose to run in the Indianapolis 500."

The Attorney Generals said that is not the same as serving as the sanctioning body for the race. The Indianapolis 500 is sanctioned and officiated by the Indy Racing League.

"It's a matter of interpretation," said Dan Luginbuhl, the vice president of communications for the Penske Corporation. "All this just came up in the last few days after we had been here for a week and practiced and qualified."

Some on the team wonder, why the pressure from the Attorneys General came just four days before the race.

"That's the $64,000 question," Luginbuhl said.

De Ferran was at the Speedway on Thursday wearing a red racing uniform with the Marlboro removed from it.

"I'm just glad we're able to run here," de Ferran said. "I don't know much about what went on with this. I was told about this on Thursday. For me, they were able to resolve the situation and we were able to run and that is what is important to me."

Teams preparing for Thursday's Carburetion Day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway reacted to the news.

CART team owner Barry Green is running Michael Andretti in the Indianapolis 500 for the first time since 1995. His other two drivers, Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti, are both sponsored by Kool - another cigarette company.

"I have been working hard on the Kool deal and I have to rely on the Kool people to tell me what is right or wrong," Green said. "What the situation is with Team Penske, I don't know. I would still like to think I'm back here one day with Kool and the other two cars and I will be working hard to make that happen."