NASCAR News: Winston Cup Museum to close (2nd Update)

The current brand owner of Winston cigarettes is not backing down on the pursuit of civil and criminal contempt charges against the co-owner of the Winston Cup Museum in Winston Salem, North Carolina even after the facility closed.

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Friday’s motion, which can be read in full here, centers around the Winston Cup memorabilia that was displayed and sold at the museum for nearly 20 years. This is in addition to a mobile museum display that was taken to several NASCAR Cup Series events this season.

“Defendant also continued to sell Winston-branded merchandise following the (Nov. 2) mediated agreement, including to children,” ITG said in the most motion.

ITG argued that Spencer and the Winston Cup Museum are covered by the same marketing restrictions to youths that tobacco brands are.  Sportsnaut.

The legal saga over the Winston Cup Museum has taken another twist as its co-owners prepare to shut down the facility for good on Saturday Dec. 16.

ITG Brands LLC filed a motion Friday requesting that a N.C. Business Court judge find Will Spencer guilty of criminal and civil contempt for reposting a YouTube video covering the museum’s pending demise. It submitted an affidavit from its general counsel Geraldine Barker.

The Greensboro tobacco manufacturer claims the video posted Nov. 30 by NASCAR historian Mitchell Stapleton is “disparaging and defamatory.”

Spencer linked the video to the museum’s Facebook page Dec. 1. The video had been on the Facebook page as of Sunday, but Spencer said Monday he removed it “in good faith to show we did not know we were in violation of the court order.”

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ITG claims that “Mr. Spencer and the museum plainly encouraged and aided the interviewer in his disparagement of ITG, in further violation of the judgment, by participating in and promoting the video, and then celebrating the video on the Winston Cup Museum Facebook page.”  Winston-Salem Journal

The owners of Winston Cup Museum said Tuesday they are shutting down after nearly 20 years.

Will and Christy Spencer are closing the museum at 1355 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive on Dec. 16.

NASCAR championship series items have been stored and displayed there since 2005. The bulk of the memorabilia will be auctioned from Jan. 2-14 at Mecum Auto Auctions in Kissimmee, Fla.

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