Every once in a while, a perfect sponsor comes along.
In racing terms it would have to be NASCAR and its Winston Cup. Not only was pretty much everyone smoking cigarettes back in the day, but some, like this race car driver, even smoked during the race.
This in-car footage is of famed NASCAR driver Dick Trickle lighting up a Winston Light while the track was under a yellow-flag caution period during the 1990 race at Talladega Superspeedway. Only a NASCAR driver would ever think of having a lighter installed in a race car.
Wow. How times have changed…
Makes you want to light up a Camel, doesn’t it?
No. No, it doesn’t.
And now I wonder – were they paid to install that lighter, and to smoke during the race? Cause I doubt very much the influencer scene has changed much beyond the tech used…
Wow… that is some creative thinking.
It never occurred to me that smoking during the race was a big publicity stunt.
I’m beyond sad that I live in a world where it would even occur to me.
“Winston tastes good, like a cigarette should!” Then there was the Marlboro Man, Virginia Slims: “You’ve come a long way, baby!”, “I’d walk a mile for a Camel!”, “For that clean Kool taste in your mouth!”, etc. Who would think of putting a cigarette lighter in a NASCAR?
I needed the cigarette lighter to plug the tire pump into in my Miata MX5 to pump up a tire. I couldn’t find it. I limped over to the CarMax next door to the office, filled up my tire, and drove to the dealer. Those guys couldn’t find the lighter either. Turned out it’s way up under the dash on the passenger side, almost impossible to reach. Our Mazdaspeed3 has three or four lighter plugs easy to access.
That’s crazy. Even if people don’t smoke as much anymore, the whole ‘cigarette lighter’ has become the ‘power-point’ and people certainly need them to charge phones and such.
Under the dash. How silly.
The MX5 has USB ports for charging devices, but the cigarette port should be easy to access to plug in the tire pump that came with the car.
Even if the car didn’t come with an air pump specifically to be plugged into the lighter, they absolutely should have put it in a better place.
What if you wanted to light up a smoke? You’d be screwed.
I believe Mazda was making a statement about smoking in the placement of the lighter plug.
Oh Lord oh mighty save me from this! Either make smoking illegal and round up the smokers and out them.in internment camps… or leave them alone. The arrogance of installing a cigarette lighter where it cannot be used to light up a Marlboro!
The Frontier Restaurant across the street from UNM was the first restaurant in the nation to ban smoking. It totally changed the clientele and image of the Frontier and became an iconic restaurant in Albuquerque. A few years after that, Albuquerque started banning smoking in public places, and smoking bans eventually caught on nationwide.
When we lived in Madrid, Spain, in the second half of the 90s, it was difficult to adjust to so many smokers, and smoking allowed everywhere.
I’m not sure where smoking should or shouldn’t be allowed. I’m a reformed smoker myself, so I have mixed feelings.
However, I am 100% certain that smoking in a convertible is OK. Give the driver a lighter!