SPONSOR TENTS!
These little shade structures have been staples of outdoor events for as long as I can remember. They add to the carnival atmosphere of the infield and give the track a chance to rake in more dough from sponsors, and the sponsors a chance to get their wares In front of the public. Here, the 3 major U.S.-based auto manufacturers that remained in 1984 have positioned themselves in a can’t miss location just inside the entrance stairway coming down from the Dunlop bridge into the infield (and before you say it: yes, I know American Motors “technically” still existed in 1984, but only just barely, and by that time they were likely so low on funds that even a kiosk at a racing track would have been a stretch).
Turning left as you descend the bridge, the first tent you come to is MoPar Performance, where Chrysler is showing off their 2 “hottest” models of the year, the Dodge Daytona Turbo Z and that popular crashing bore of a vehicle, the infamous Caravan.
A racing version of the Daytona Z sits just outside the tent as an additional “draw” for the crowd. Trying to appeal to fans of 1960’s muscle car racing with weak 80’s Turbo Sauce was probably a losing proposition, but you can’t blame the Chrysler Corporation for trying!
Immediately to the north of the MoPar tent, the Chevrolet and Ford kiosks are right in line with one another because, as the track’s time and space salesman know, god forbid one of these behemoths gets the jump on the other!
The latest high-tech Corvette rubs tires with the Camaro IROC-Z, which was selling like proverbial hotcakes (believe me, I remember; they were everywhere)! Note the “83 Vette” script; hard core Corvette fanatics will tell you that, “officially”, there never was such a car!
A hideous “Fox body” Mustang Dragster on display next to the current year’s Bronco, with a Fairmont stocker-perhaps a few years old already-as an additional “draw.” Fortunately for Ford, that Mustang will likely be a bigger draw to this crowd than Chrysler’s Daytona Turbo Z, but its not as if its a commercially available version of the car!
I got these tents from a vendor in Australia called MyCustomHotWheels; they were shipped all the way here for me to build, and while I’m mostly happy with them, I am bummed that the Chevy tent shows the lame new slogan the company is using, and not the great slogan they used from the 80’s all the way into the early 2000’s: “The Heartbeat of America.” Now that was a great slogan! I’m also not sure why the Chrysler “pentastar ” logo appears nowhere on the MoPar tent…but hey, they’re only made of paper; they’re not perfect!
So, if it seems like these 3 tents are crowded onto the north end of the main infield, leaving the other side somewhat empty, that’s by design; my intention is that something else will be in that space! As to what else that will be….well, I haven’t decided yet, but I’m sure it will be awesome, and when its there, it will be presented on right here on this ‘blog!
In addition to the sponsor tents, a few more diorama pieces of note…
I can’t believe how much those tents add. I think that was a great find! You did a terrific job putting them together! That yellow olds is way cool! I hadn’t see that before and the hearse with surfboards is a nice touch. You can really feel the excitement in the air!