Reutimann's crimson car will be unveiled before Tide's A-Day game
By Don Kausler Jr. — The Birmingham News April 16, 2010, 9:53AM
This is the look of the Aaron’s No. 00 Toyota that will be unveiled Saturday before Alabama’s A-Day football game at Bryant-Denny Stadium.TUSCALOOSA — “Roll Tide” soon will have new meaning. It will suggest rolling on four wheels at nearly 200 mph.
A special paint scheme on NASCAR driver David Reutimann’s No. 00 Toyota will be unveiled Saturday at Bryant-Denny Stadium before Alabama’s A-Day football game.
David ReutimannThe crimson car will feature the official BCS National Championship Game logo. This will be the look of the Aaron’s car that Reutimann drives in the April 25 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.
How many dollars is Alabama paying for this marketing attention?
None, said Jim Carabin, the general manager of Crimson Tide Sports Marketing. That’s because Aaron’s is one of Alabama’s corporate sponsors.
“Aaron’s has a contract with Crimson Tide Sports Marketing,” Carabin said.
“The deal was, if we won the national championship, their car would be in our color with the championship logo on the hood, and they’d have die-cast replicas of the car.
“It was just kind of perfect timing. It’s pretty exciting for our fans. Many of our fans are NASCAR fans.”
This is one year after Alabama coach Nick Saban was the grand marshal of the spring Sprint Cup race at Talladega.
“How about that?” Carabin said. “You’ve got Coach Saban there one year, and then you win the national championship and get this. You can’t beat that.”
Aaron’s also is a University of Texas sponsor. If the Crimson Tide had lost to the Longhorns on Jan. 7, Reutimann’s car would have been painted burnt orange for a race this year at Texas Motor SpeedÂway.
The crimson car will sit Saturday morning in a hauler on the circle drive outside the north entrance to Bryant-Denny Stadium.
At approximately 12:45 p.m., after a noon 7-on-7 flag football game, the car will be pushed into the stadium to be displayed before the 2:05 p.m. intrasquad game starts.