When it comes to perfume, women evidently rather would part with beaucoup bucks for fancy floral fragrances than go the practical route. It seems such a waste, considering one might attract a male suitor if she simply rubbed a warm, fresh doughnut behind her ears or splashed on a dab or two of beer. Guys would come running.

And sweet-smelling men might as well forget a lady's attention unless he also is honest and intelligent and has a sense of humor and confident body language, numerous surveys say.

Well, both sexes are in luck, thanks to Sunoco, the official fuel of the National Hot Rod Association. Yes, the company that dispenses gasoline at 4,700 outlets throughout 26 states. Yes, the same corporate giant that's the official racing fuel also of NASCAR, the Indy Racing League's IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights, Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, ARCA, Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship, and AMA Pro Racing.  

Now, the old Aqua Velva advertisements told us that "a man wants to smell like a man." But thanks to Sunoco, now a man – and his leading lady – can smell like . . . um . . . a racetrack, like "the essence of racing." What could be more romantic than this new fan-appreciation gesture from Sunoco: "Burnt Rubbèr" cologne?

It's pronounced "Burnt Rub-BARE," with a French flair. "Eau de Burnt Rubber didn't really quite roll off the tongue," a product marketer at the New England Nationals told Competition Plus.

Sunoco's uniquely clever marketing campaign has bottled an understated, not-too-masculine, not-too-feminine scent and sprayed its distribution among fans who follow Sunoco Racing on Facebook.

"It's a unisex cologne," Chaz Whitney, mobile marketing manager for Sunoco and special-event manager for the Burnt Rubbèr campaign, said.

Here's the twist: No one can buy a bottle of it. One has to "win" it. It's like a Wally trophy for winning an NHRA race – earned, not bought. Whitney encouraged the curious to get online and look up www.essenceofracing.com for more information about how to follow Sunoco Racing on Facebook and possibly win a bottle of "Burnt Rubbèr."

The whole "Burnt Rubbèr" strategy is cloaked in secrecy, and intrigue.

(If that works for James Bond, then why not? However, James Bond is no Lanny Miglizzi. The NHRA's premier track-conditions expert, Miglizzi, of John Force Racing, wallows around on the asphalt and concrete at dragstrips from coast to coast. So a whiff of his uniform after a hot day at Bristol might have a different . . . bouquet, let's say . . . than a James Bond-style Brioni suit.)

Actually, "Burnt Rubbèr" is so enveloped in mystery that even its ad-agency spokesman – the one making sure the product gets before the masses – insisted that Competition Plus not reveal his identity.

We'll just call him Captain Cologne (because 1960s cartoon producers already swiped the name Odie Colognie for the wise little skunk who helped King Leonardo in the land of Bongo Congo).

According to Captain Cologne, Sunoco isn’t revealing whether this "You cannot buy it – you only can win it" marketing approach is temporary. "We're not sure yet," he said. "There's going to be more information to come. Not everyone can have one."

Apparently the plan is that people will want "Burnt Rubbèr" all the more when they see it advertised across NASCAR, IndyCar, and NHRA telecasts through November. The next "Burnt Rubbèr" on-site display at an NHRA race will be at the Oct. 1-4 Keystone Nationals at Reading, Pa.'s Maple Grove Raceway.

"It only fits for a fragrance to make it a little more exotic. We want it to be somewhat exclusive, but we still want to make it available to fans," Captain Cologne said. "The truth is we didn’t want to do it as much for major publicity. We'd love to keep it more about the fragrance itself.  It goes back to fan appreciation and Sunoco being the essence of racing . . . to thank the fans for being fans of Sunoco Racing. It's a very different way to market the Sunoco brand."

When the campaign launched Memorial Day weekend, most notably in commercials during the Indianapolis 500, the consensus reaction was "Is this real or is this a joke?"

Said Captain Cologne, "It's the real deal."

He said Sunoco consulted with parfumerie and fragrance-industry experts: "That was part of the process, to determine the actual scent. It's your typical fragrance. We tried to find something that had some hints of burnt rubber, just to make it kind of smell like what you'd smell race day."

No Sunoco fuel is in the cologne, he said: "It's strictly a fragrance." He assured that no racing tires were harmed in the production of this oddly original perfume.

Would a user get the same effect by rubbing one's head on a nitro-car Goodyear rear slick, perhaps immediately following a burnout?

Captain Cologne chuckled and said, "I wouldn’t recommend it, but that's what we're going for – doing something a little more tongue-in-cheek, trying to bring race day to people away from the track. We'll be giving [bottles of "Burnt Rubbèr"] out all summer long and maybe beyond that. So we can hopefully surprise and delight as many fans as we can online."

Sunoco, he said, wasn't at all surprised at the initial reaction from race fans.

"We knew it would be a little bit unexpected from a company like Sunoco," Captain Cologne said. "We're proud of it and the reception so far.

"It was not easy to pull off, but luckily it has been worth it. A lot of long days were involved in getting the idea ready and getting synched," he said.

The responses, which according to Captain Cologne reached five-plus digits as early as mid-June, are largely because of Sunoco's choice of racers to serve as product representatives. They are NHRA's Courtney Force, her IndyCar Series fiancé Graham Rahal, and NASCAR's Jimmie Johnson. All are wildly popular, and Force and Rahal have the distinction of being second-generation drivers in their respective series.

"It has been such a fun experience making the commercial for Sunoco. It was so exciting to film something that was so different than your typical racing commercial," Force said. "I was nervous doing something like this, since it was a little out of my element being in a dress and heels at a racetrack, as opposed to a firesuit and helmet, but it was fun to do! I loved being able to show the audience a different side from the 'racer' they see on ESPN every weekend while still incorporating my 10,000-horsepower race car."

She's filmed walking down one lane of a dragstrip, wearing a short, breezy, white summer dress and heels, innocently swinging a Little Red Riding Hood-type picnic basket. But when she spreads out a cloth, lies down on the racing surface to a watch a James Dean-grade mechanic turn wrenches on her Traxxas Camaro, and begins a sensual sampling of her lunch goodies, she gives off "Big, Bad Wolf" vibes. And fans have loved it.   

"Fans were very animated and excited when the Sunoco Burnt Rubbèr commercial came out," Force said. "I think most fans were shocked to see a different side of me as well as the brand but have all supported it.

"I constantly get asked at the ropes by fans how it was making the commercial, and everyone is eager to know what Burnt Rubbèr actually smells like. I have a number of fans interested in purchasing the fragrance, but I remind them they have to win it! However, with the amount of fans that have asked, I think it is making this fragrance that much more special and rare," she said.

"I was excited to be a part of something so unique, and I loved being able to shock the audience when the three commercials went public," Force said. "The cologne was such a great spin to racing fuel by bottling it up and capturing the entire essence of every race fan's and drivers' passion of racing and the smell of burnt rubber that will take you back to every racetrack across the country."

Rahal, too, said he enjoyed the matchless opportunity and has heard positive feedback.

"It was cool for me. I have done several commercials before, but to do something as interesting and intriguing as Burnt Rubbèr was very unique," the driver of the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone said.

He said the result is a "huge response. People have loved it. In fact, I wish Sunoco was going to sell Burnt Rubbèr, because I have had so many people asking where they can buy it or find it. It's genuinely a great-smelling cologne, too, so I think it would be a big hit. But everywhere I go people ask about the commercials, which is pretty awesome."

Rahal said he also was a bit taken back by a company such as Sunoco introducing a cologne.

"I was always intrigued by it. It didn't seem like an obvious fit initially, but it's something that is so true to our sport," he said. "We all always talk about the Essence of Racing, what pulls you into this sport and makes you love it. I think the campaign really highlights that and shows what a big part of the Essence of Racing Sunoco really is. It's something that's never been done before around our sport that I know of, and that's very cool."

Rahal doesn't appear in his version of the commercial until the end. A blond female, not Force, rifles through his clothes in his absence until she finds the one satisfying item that has his scent – his racing jacket. The fact that neither Force nor Rahal was filmed with each other raised eyebrows almost as much as the very idea of Sunoco branding a perfume. But both took that in stride.

"I think that the experience of filming while Courtney was watching was also pretty intense," Rahal said. "I guess it's easy to act on your own, but when your significant other is watching you act with a female model made things pretty funny at times."

Said Force, "Sunoco was great to work with, and it was fun being able to be on set for the making of Graham's commercial, as well. These commercials bring together the true essence of racing with three drivers in three separate motorsports representing a brand that fuels racing, and it is all captured in the Burnt Rubbèr fragrance."

Johnson appears at the close of his 30-second commercial dressed in a tuxedo, locking gazes with a suggestive brunette who has taken a hands-on approach with his No. 48 Lowe's Chevy.

Captain Cologne said Sunoco chose Force and Rahal on their own merits and not because of their relationship. "We would have picked them separately, based on family history, their success on and off the racetrack. Popularity is a big piece of it. We want the people who embody that essence of racing. We knew of Jimmie, Graham, and Courtney. They all represent their individual series so well that we knew they'd represent Sunoco incredibly well. And they have absolutely, exponentially more than ever hoped. They were easy choices for us, really."   

Drag-racing fan John Crane, of Reading, Conn., said he learned about "Burnt Rubbèr" via TV advertising, "plus I love Courtney. I was watching her. I wanted to try it." He got to sample some at Epping, N.H., and said, "Now I've got it on all over me. I'm feelin' good."

Sorry, Mr. Crane. Competition Plus found out it’s not available in a body wash.

Another race fan, a woman, posted a plea to Sunoco: "Please send me a bottle! Hopefully this'll get me a man who likes racing!"

Captain Cologne loved it. "Stuff like that is what it’s really all about," he said. "Hopefully we'll be invited to the wedding!" Already his mind was racing, musing that perhaps the flower girl would spritz the guests with "Burnt Rubbèr" rather than scatter rose petals.

One never knows. After all, who would have thought a petroleum company, a major racing fuel distributor, would market a cologne at no small expense, not actively want to sell it, and turn in one of the summer's best motorsports performances?