Hooters is a restaurant that sells burgers, chicken, seafood, Tex-Mex cuisine and alcohol. They are best known for their waiting staff, who are primarily young women who wear revealing outfits.
In NASCAR, they are best known for sponsoring Alan Kulwicki during his 1992 Championship season. They most recently sponsored Chase Elliott for a few races each season.
Cup Series History:[]
Hooter’s sponsored Larry Moyer for 1 race in 1988 and Mark Stahl for 2 races in 1990. In the spring of 1991, Stahl failed to qualify for the Motorcraft Quality Parts 500 at Atlanta. Desiring to sponsor a car in the race (since Hooter’s is headquartered in Atlanta), they left Stahl’s team and moved to Alan Kulwicki’s #7 team. At first it was a 1 race sponsorship, but soon the chain sponsored Kulwicki for the remainder of 1991, the whole season in 1992, and the first few races of 1993.
Kulwicki, along with the Hooters chairman’s son, were killed in a plane crash near Bristol, Tennessee on April 1, 1993, as they were flying back to Bristol after attending a sponsor appearance in Knoxville. Hooters did not sponsor a car for the rest of the 1993 season.
In 1994, Hooters returned, sponsoring Loy Allen Jr. for the full season, and in 1995, they moved, along with Allen, to the #27 Junior Johnson team. Allen was released from the #27 team early in the season, and was replaced primarily by Elton Sawyer.
In 1996, Hooters moved to sponsor the #1 Pontiac driven by Rick Mast for the full season. At the conclusion of 1996, Hooter’s left the sport temporarily.
In 2002, Hooters returned to the sport to sponsor Brett Bodines’ #11 team. They left the team midway through the 2003 season.
In 2017, Hooters returned to the sport to sponsor Chase Elliott for a select number of races. They continued to sponsor Elliott and the #9 team in a few races each season and was set to conclude sponsoring Elliott at the end of 2024, but the deal ended prematurely as Hooters was unable to meet its obligations to Hendrick Motorsports.
Hendrick Motorsports then sued Hooters of America, LLC for $1.7 million plus interest for unpaid sponsorship fees on July 30, 2024, stating that the deal was to pay the team four installments annually totaling $1.75 million. Hooters had only paid a partial $45,000 payment in March and failed to pay the second annual payment. On March 21, 2025, Hooters agreed to pay Hendrick Motorsports $900,000; and on March 31, 2025, Hooters of America filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.