MediaFile

(Corrects to show Kenny Wallace, not Rusty Wallace did a similar program)

A company launched by a NASCAR fan to allow fellow race lovers to collectively sponsor a car has signed up a former NASCAR champion driver as its first recipient.

FanCar said it will sponsor two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Terry Labonte and Carter/Simo racing at the Ford 400 race on Nov. 22 in Miami, the last race of the season. The company was launched by Texan and NASCAR fan Matt Ferguson last week.

“Our sport is struggling for sponsorship,” Ferguson said in a telephone interview. “There are way too many great drivers out there without sponsors.”

Smaller teams in NASCAR have cut jobs and merged this year to survive as corporate sponsors have cut spending amid the weak economy.

For $20, each fan will be able to vote on the car’s paint scheme as well as the overall message on the vehicle, and will receive their name on the car and a certificate of sponsorship and a digital photo of the car. Before Labonte’s involvement was announced, donations had come from Alaska, Massachusetts and Canada, Ferguson said.

No longer content to watch its cars race around a track or turn up only on ESPN's Sports Center and other news shows, NASCAR is turning to Hollywood.

NASCAR, the U.S. auto racing association formed in 1948, has teamed up with Tinseltown Toons to produce an animated family film tentatively called "NASCAR: The Secret Life of Cars."

Everybody wants to be in the movie business, right? So, why not NASCAR.

The film, which is aimed at home entertainment audiences and scheduled for release on DVD, is expected to be completed in 2011 and will tell what happens in a NASCAR garage when humans leave and cars come to life, according to a press release. And if it could be as big a hit as "Cars" or "Transformers" then it may be that NASCAR will be in the movie biz for years to come.

With financial markets in turmoil and the U.S. economy in recession, we asked top entertainment and sports executives at the Reuters Media Summit for some investment advice.

Our question: "If we gave you $50,000, where would you invest?" One rule: They couldn't pick their own company. But then we thought $50,000 was too little for well heeled executives, so we switched it to $50 million. But that seemed excessive. After all, we're talking about personal investments -- so we settled on giving them a cool $1 million.

Here's what they said:

"In a pillow ... You might look at the energy sector, you might see what happens with gold. I've got cousins who work in the banking industry. When I asked them, they told me put it in my pillow. That is your answer."
-- Havas's MPG Chief Operating Officer Steve Lanzano

Can you drive really fast around tight corners? Do you lose your temper and burst into tears when other drivers cut in front of you?  If you answered yes to both questions, NASCAR might want to hear from you.

The motor racing sport could do with more exciting, emotive personalities, NASCAR Chief Executive Brian France told reporters at the Reuters Media Summit in New York.

France said some drivers might feel restricted by their sponsor contracts and not want to show too much emotion when they step out of their cars — even after a major incident like a crash.

On the slim chance that this year’s political television juggernaut has not penetrated the homes of devout sports fans, the campaign trail will lead Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama to ESPN’s Monday Night Football just hours before next week’s presidential election.

In pretaped interviews set to air during halftime of the Pittsburgh Steelers-Washington Redskins game, Obama and McCain will face probing questions from ESPN anchor Chris Berman about — sports.

“We are obviously primarily a sports network so the questions you are going to get here are going to be different than you would get with ABC News,” says ESPN spokesman Bill Hofheimer.