== NASCAR ==
For a brief period in 1997 and 1998, Tabasco sponsored a [[NASCAR]] [[Winston Cup]] team. They announced in 1997 that they would sponsor the #35 [[Pontiac]] driven by [[Todd Bodine]], owned by [[Bob Hancher]].  The team debuted at [[Lowe's Motor Speedway]] and finished a promising 26th place.

That optimism soon disappeared in 1998. Being a new team, they had to qualify on time alone, without provisionals.  They failed to qualify for the first three races of the season. Surprisingly, no concerns were voiced by Tabasco, considering the high-pressure stakes of NASCAR. At last, the team lookied like it was ready to gel, with a tenth-place finish at [[Atlanta Motor Speedway]]. Then, they missed the next race at [[Darlington Raceway]].

The team missed three out of the next four races, with the race they did make resulted in a 39th place finish. A practice accident took Bodine out at the [[California 500]], where [[Wally Dallenbach Jr.]] filled in. Bodine would be back on board for the [[Coca-Cola 600]] in late May, finishing 28th.

June 6th saw Bodine's last ride in the Tabasco Pontiac, at [[Richmond International Raceway]]. In his brief tenure, Team Tabasco only managed to qualify in five of the first thirteen races (one was when Dallenbach filled in). Bodine was released by ISM after that June 6th race, in an attempt to turn tjings around. This move was done without the sponsor's knowledge. 

Bodine was replaced by [[Loy Allen Jr.]], [[Gary Bradberry]], and [[Jimmy Horton]] were scheduled to fill in. After only running one in the next three race, Hancher sold the operation to [[Tim Beverly]] and his driver [[Darrell Waltrip]]. The Beverly-Waltrip team had run [[Chevrolet Monte Carlo]]s and intended to continue to run them. In their first race, the [[Brickyard 400]], Waltrip started dead-last but climbed through the field to finish 13th. This caused outrage at Tabasco, who had heavily invested heavily in Pontiacs in their marketing program. Lawsuits ensued between Tabasco and Hancher. The team was forced to run Pontiacs, and Waltrip's best finish that year was an 18th at Richmond. Other than that, the team's preformance was poor, and Tabasco left the sport at the end of the year.