The league's initial sponsors were Rothmans (NZ) Ltd, and the league was thus commonly known as the Rothmans National League.
Bellof had won the 1984 World Endurance Championship driving for the Rothmans-Porsche team, but decided against driving for the factory in 1985 to concentrate on Formula One.
Between 1980 and 1996, when both the Dally M Medal and Rothmans Medal were awarded, the same player won both awards on only three occasions - Peter Sterling in 1987, Gavin Miller in 1989 and Ricky Stuart in 1993.
On 28 March 1976, clubs from Indonesia, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Japan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Fiji participated in the first Hong Kong Sevens Tournament at the Hong Kong Football Club in Happy Valley sponsored by Rothmans' Tobacco and Cathay Pacific.
The sponsors after Rothmans to the present day have been: Michael Lawrie (1977–78), Berger (1978–82), Servowarm (1982–85), Vauxhall-Opel (1985–90), Vauxhall (1990–91), Diadora (1991–95), ICIS (1995–97) and Ryman (1997–present).
The combination stayed together for 1982, landing backing from Rothmans, and the new March 821 saw design work from a young Adrian Reynard.
Future (1983) 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Vern Schuppan, driving for Theodore Racing, won the 1976 Rothmans International Series in a Lola T332-Chevrolet with the final round at Surfers Paradise being washed out.