...In 1979, Menard invested in a $65,000 race car and hired a neighbor to drive in the Indianapolis 500.  It became a marketing vehicle for his stores and a way to shakedown suppliers.  "He was absolutely a pioneer at leveraging shelf space to get sponsors for his Indy team," says Eric Wright, research and development vice president for Joyce Julius and Associates, the most prominent sponsorship reporting service in racing.  "You see it now with Lowe's, Home Depot, Target and Best Buy, but he was way ahead of the curve."

If you wanted shelf space at Menards, you were pushed to buy a racing sponsorship.  Between 1997 and 1998, Glidden Paints spent nearly $4 million on Team Menard sponsorships; in 2002, Stanley tools an Moen each paid around $1 million.

But "the primo advertising spot, the rear right fender, the area that the TV cameras grab most," Menard saved for his on stores, notes Milwaukee Mile's Tretow.  "His team was a much about marketing his Menards stores as it was about racing."...