Beer and NASCAR are a match made in heaven, and it’s been that way forever. But on track the battle between the brewers was far from a love story, in fact it bordered on hate.
Fans of oval racing will remember the brands associated with their favourite driver almost as much as they do the car. It’s a part of the sport’s rich folklore.
But those brands - notably Budweiser, Coors and Miller - were not just in it for the eyeballs the sport delivered. They also wanted to win, and beat each other, real bad.
The topic was up for discussion during the latest episode of the Dale Earnhardt Jr podcast - the Dale Jr Download. Dale Jr went deep on it, along with fellow NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace and show producer Mike Davis.
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'Those beer companies - they hate each other'
Wallace, sponsored by Miller for most of his glittering career, was asked about that rivalry and he recalls how brutal things were.
“I tell you what, it was like the big three in Detroit - if a Chevy beats a Ford, everybody talks about it. Well, Miller guys, they did not want to hear that Budweiser car beat that other car.”
Dale Jr said things were exactly the same on the other side of the fence as he admitted: “Our Budweiser guys are the same way. When they looked at the finishing order, they wanted to know where the Miller car was and where the Coors cars were.”
Earnhardt felt at times he was racing the other beer brands as much as he was his driving rivals. A point that Wallace rammed home emphatically.
Rusty said: “I’m not sugarcoating this at all, I know you know what I’m about to say man. These beer companies, I don’t care what they say - they hate each other. They don’t like each other - understand what I’m saying right now.
“Budweiser hates Miller and Miller hates Budweiser, that’s just the way it is. It’s so competitive it’s incredible on the field.”
Taking it to a whole new level
If we needed any more detail on how tough the rivalries were, Davis provided it with an exclamation point.
“Not only did they hate each other but we learned really quick that even for Anheuser Busch, there was multiple brands and the brands didn’t like each other!
“Everybody’s like ‘you know what would be cool, you run a Bud Light car’. Do you understand, that would almost be as bad as running a competitive beer brand car.
“Like the Budweiser guys paid for that, they didn’t want Bud Light on their car.”
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