The Latest Speedway Necessity: A Corkscrew

By Stacie Stukin

NASCAR's ratings may have fallen, but at least one Nielsen metric has gone up: wine consumption among NASCAR fans jumped 22% in 2006 compared with the previous year, according to a Nielsen Sports survey. Former racer Randy Lynch helped drive the increase as the first team owner to slap a wine logo on a stock car--in 2003--for his Bennett Lane brand,which has received 90+ scores from Wine Spectator. This year Richard Childress, owner of three Nextel Cup teams and two Busch series teams, will target first-time wine drinkers with his Childress Classic, a checkered-flag-labeled Cab Merlot. But some old-school fans like Texas racing legend A.J. Foyt aren't savoring the trend. A die-hard beer drinker, Foyt says he'll keep steering clear of wine, adding, "I've never been into crap like that."