When Budweiser seriously went NASCAR racing in 1984, with owner Junior Johnson and drivers Darrell Waltrip and Neil Bonnett, I set up the PR operation. I hired Bob Latford to go to all the races and handle the day-to-day details. My other mandates from Bud were: 1) Address DW's image problem (he was routinely booed during driver intros in those days); 2) Try to change the media's perception that two-car teams couldn't work in what was then Winston Cup (none had been truly successful at that point).
The high-profile, two-car sponsorship by The King of Beers upped the ante in NASCAR in several ways. Business of Racing pressures and expectations were a relatively new thing in the garage area, at least on that scale. About the only thing drivers used to carry back then was a helmet bag. (In our modern era, so-called PR people now have that "honor.") But people like me, and the Bud brand and sports marketing directors and managers would come through the gate carrying briefcases. Years later, Waltrip admitted old-school drivers like him would cover their faces and laugh at the sight of the briefcase carriers, and call such people "sillies."
These days, of course, drivers routinely have expensive leather briefcases, and also tote around iPads and laptops. That's what the BUSINESS of being a NASCAR superstar requires. Trust me, the times of giggling and pointing fingers at the "sillies" is ancient history, right there with white cotton driving uniforms and open-face helmets.
This came to mind last week, when Forbes proclaimed Jimmie Johnson America's Most Influential Athlete for the second consecutive year. Forbes says Nielsen and E-Poll surveyed over 1,100 adults about dozens of well-known athletes to measure their likeability and whether they are considered influential to marketers.
"Influential," of course, is subjective. Forbes admits it can mean different things to different people. Forbes' story noted that "some may see an athlete as influential in his sport, while others see him as crossing over and being influential in society at large." This year's best example of that is Tim Tebow, who rocketed to No. 2 in the rankings.
Wins and championships certainly define Johnson's on-track career, but have no doubt, Mr. 2-Time as Forbes champion is a significant definer of his off-track career. Johnson admitted as much: "Not only is it very good for me and my career and what I do in the race car and my brand, I think it's very good for NASCAR as well." Emphasis mine: "My brand."
Considering Johnson's historic run of five consecutive Sprint Cups ended in 2011, and thus changed the nature of his media coverage, perhaps retaining the Forbes crown was a bit of a surprise. To me, though, it's absolutely no surprise that Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s long winless streak helped contribute to his plunge from third to seventh in the rankings. The news was even worse for Jeff Gordon. Despite a return to victory lane three times, Gordon dropped off the list completely. Contributing factors: A major shift from corporate to cause-marketing sponsorship. And Pepsi and Chevy aren't activating their relationships with Jeff the way they once did.
Forbes wrote that Johnson's "talent and guy-next-door demeanor endears him to fans, as well as to marketing chiefs of brands like Chevrolet, Quaker State and Lowe’s . . ." But a clear reflection of the NFL's status as America's dominant most popular sport came with quarterbacks taking six of the top 10 "poll positions."
Remember that come Chase and Countdown season.
For all of the success that has come to the Petty family, there sure has been a lot of hurt, too. I found last week's official statement from Victory Junction (a camp for sick children founded as a tribute to the late Adam Petty) terribly sad. A dispute with the VJ Board of Directors punted Pattie Petty (Adam's mother, Kyle's wife) to what was called a "goodwill ambassador position as Chairwoman Emeritus." The statement, issued in the name of Victory Junction COO Austin Petty (Pattie's son) referred to VJ having "extremely high ethical standards" and referenced his mother's situation as one that "involves ongoing negotiations between an employee and employer." I bet there are a lot of empty chairs around the Petty family dinner table. SAD. (Full disclosure: I've donated money and commercial time to VJ.)
Congratulations (I think) to my friend Gordon Kirby, marking 40 years of motorsports coverage. Read his reflections here:
http://www.gordonkirby.com/categories/columns/theway/2012/the_way_it_is_no332.html
FAST LINES: Take note, NASCAR and IndyCar fans -- The World of Outlaws' points lead has changed SEVEN (7!) times already this season . . . Congratulations and have a great night to Kenny Bernstein, John Force and Richard Childress, who will be inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega this Thursday. (I'm a Hall voter and all three were on my ballot.) NHRA announcer Bob Frey will present Bernstein, NHRA President Tom Compton will do the honors for Force, and NASCAR President Mike Helton will be standing up for Childress . . . Let me tell you the group not complaining about the lack of Sprint Cup wrecks, which has set off some in the media and grandstands -- Car owners . . . As is being proven more and more often in racing, letting some people have a Twitter account is akin to handing some people a loaded gun . . . How desperate is ABC to get eyeballs on its Sunday morning news program? It invited The Mad Hater to be on the media panel.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
F1 NEEDS 'AMBASSADOR' ANDRETTI and GURNEY
This is supposed to be the season when Americans are reawakened to Formula One. That, of course, is because the world championship is scheduled to return here in November at the new -- and still controversial -- Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
So far, I can't say I've seen much interest. (Too bad since there have been an unusual four different winners for four different constructors in the first four races.) The news out of CotA has been at least as much negative as positive, what with management issues and construction delays. Bernie Ecclestone buddy Tavo Hellmund got the rights to the event but then had a falling out with the CotA main investors and -- surprise! -- a lawsuit followed. The track's money men worked out their own deal with Bernie and work is said to be "on schedule." (Whatever that means.) This much I'll bet you on: For the opening F1 race, the facility won't have nearly all the upscale features heralded in those heady early days of the project.
What with the early season GPs happening in places like Australia and China, the time zone differences have left U.S. TV viewers with the choice of watching in the middle of the night, or replays up against other motorsports programming. Bernie and the FIA went ahead with the Bahrain GP last weekend, taking a big check despite internal political turmoil. There were protests and at least one team, Force India, was affected. As I wrote last week, it was a mistake for F1 to go. I'm writing this before everyone and everything is scheduled to be packed-up and shipped-out. I'm hoping that happened safely. If so, Bernie and Boys will say "Told You So!" as they smile at the nice fat bank deposit. Sorry, that doesn't make it right.
A bit of welcome good news filtered out of CotA last week. The track has teamed up with Pirelli (and are "excited" about it according to the lead of the "news" release) in a much-needed promotional partnership.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect is a road show featuring the Lotus show car and driving simulator. According to CotA, the tour will include visits to Montreal, the Monterey Classic Car Show, Denver, Chicago, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, Cleveland, South Florida and Austin. A Formula Expo has been announced in Austin for June 16-17 and is supposed to include the chance for the public to meet some F1 drivers.
Considering America's ticket buying public knows as much about the drivers as they do rugby stars, and that the U.S. media has precious little access to interview the likes of Hamilton, Vettel, Schumacher, Alonso, Rosberg and friends to build name recognition here, I'm surprised and disappointed CotA hasn't taken what -- to me -- is an obvious step.
Why not hire Mario Andretti and Dan Gurney as official "ambassadors" for the event? Both are household names everywhere. Both are legends. Both are respected figures in the history of Formula One (Mario, of course, being the 1978 world champion.) Both are great with fans and the media. Mario is based on the East Coast and goes to most of the IndyCar races. Dan is on the West Coast and heavily involved in the DeltaWing Le Mans project.
Mario and Dan would give potential ticket buyers credible people to deliver the sales pitch. They'd give media legitimate spokesmen to interview. The list of positives stretches from Monaco to Melbourne.
I can't believe CotA hasn't already brought Andretti and Gurney into the fold. Now's the time. It should be part of Austin's Formula for Success.
Fred Rhue -- a name you might not know or remember but should -- died last week. It was Rhue, as vice president of automotive finishes for PPG Industries, who helped make Business of Racing history by authorizing a then-unprecedented $1 million point fund for the 1981 CART series. It was Rhue who also was wise enough to hire Jim Chapman to run PPG's CART series sponsorship. That business union resulted in landmark things like the PPG pace cars, the all-female PPG pace car driving team, the PPG hospitality tent (where deals were made and relationships formed) and a major sponsorship with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As CART's first communications director, I got to know Fred well. I liked him a lot and respected him even more. He was a gentleman and a very smart business guy. His daughter, Becky, married driver Scott Brayton, who she met as Scott was racing in the CART series at that time. Thanks, Fred, for all you did. God Bless.
FAST LINES: The Long Beach Grand Prix and NHRA's 4-Wide Nationals are supposed to be two of the most important races of the year, yet both were covered only in USA Today's notes column. And ALMS' round in LB got zip -- not the way to start for the series' new PR director . . . Interesting timing -- NASCAR's visit to the White House last week came on the same day President Obama took on the oil industry. Tony Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet was displayed with prominent Mobil ID. It was also tax day . . . Congratulations to Corinne Economaki, the former National Speed Sport News publisher, now executive director of the North Carolina Motorsports Association. The NCMA Board chose well and chose wisely.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
So far, I can't say I've seen much interest. (Too bad since there have been an unusual four different winners for four different constructors in the first four races.) The news out of CotA has been at least as much negative as positive, what with management issues and construction delays. Bernie Ecclestone buddy Tavo Hellmund got the rights to the event but then had a falling out with the CotA main investors and -- surprise! -- a lawsuit followed. The track's money men worked out their own deal with Bernie and work is said to be "on schedule." (Whatever that means.) This much I'll bet you on: For the opening F1 race, the facility won't have nearly all the upscale features heralded in those heady early days of the project.
What with the early season GPs happening in places like Australia and China, the time zone differences have left U.S. TV viewers with the choice of watching in the middle of the night, or replays up against other motorsports programming. Bernie and the FIA went ahead with the Bahrain GP last weekend, taking a big check despite internal political turmoil. There were protests and at least one team, Force India, was affected. As I wrote last week, it was a mistake for F1 to go. I'm writing this before everyone and everything is scheduled to be packed-up and shipped-out. I'm hoping that happened safely. If so, Bernie and Boys will say "Told You So!" as they smile at the nice fat bank deposit. Sorry, that doesn't make it right.
A bit of welcome good news filtered out of CotA last week. The track has teamed up with Pirelli (and are "excited" about it according to the lead of the "news" release) in a much-needed promotional partnership.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect is a road show featuring the Lotus show car and driving simulator. According to CotA, the tour will include visits to Montreal, the Monterey Classic Car Show, Denver, Chicago, Phoenix, Houston, Dallas, Cleveland, South Florida and Austin. A Formula Expo has been announced in Austin for June 16-17 and is supposed to include the chance for the public to meet some F1 drivers.
Considering America's ticket buying public knows as much about the drivers as they do rugby stars, and that the U.S. media has precious little access to interview the likes of Hamilton, Vettel, Schumacher, Alonso, Rosberg and friends to build name recognition here, I'm surprised and disappointed CotA hasn't taken what -- to me -- is an obvious step.
Why not hire Mario Andretti and Dan Gurney as official "ambassadors" for the event? Both are household names everywhere. Both are legends. Both are respected figures in the history of Formula One (Mario, of course, being the 1978 world champion.) Both are great with fans and the media. Mario is based on the East Coast and goes to most of the IndyCar races. Dan is on the West Coast and heavily involved in the DeltaWing Le Mans project.
Mario and Dan would give potential ticket buyers credible people to deliver the sales pitch. They'd give media legitimate spokesmen to interview. The list of positives stretches from Monaco to Melbourne.
I can't believe CotA hasn't already brought Andretti and Gurney into the fold. Now's the time. It should be part of Austin's Formula for Success.
Fred Rhue -- a name you might not know or remember but should -- died last week. It was Rhue, as vice president of automotive finishes for PPG Industries, who helped make Business of Racing history by authorizing a then-unprecedented $1 million point fund for the 1981 CART series. It was Rhue who also was wise enough to hire Jim Chapman to run PPG's CART series sponsorship. That business union resulted in landmark things like the PPG pace cars, the all-female PPG pace car driving team, the PPG hospitality tent (where deals were made and relationships formed) and a major sponsorship with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As CART's first communications director, I got to know Fred well. I liked him a lot and respected him even more. He was a gentleman and a very smart business guy. His daughter, Becky, married driver Scott Brayton, who she met as Scott was racing in the CART series at that time. Thanks, Fred, for all you did. God Bless.
FAST LINES: The Long Beach Grand Prix and NHRA's 4-Wide Nationals are supposed to be two of the most important races of the year, yet both were covered only in USA Today's notes column. And ALMS' round in LB got zip -- not the way to start for the series' new PR director . . . Interesting timing -- NASCAR's visit to the White House last week came on the same day President Obama took on the oil industry. Tony Stewart's No. 14 Chevrolet was displayed with prominent Mobil ID. It was also tax day . . . Congratulations to Corinne Economaki, the former National Speed Sport News publisher, now executive director of the North Carolina Motorsports Association. The NCMA Board chose well and chose wisely.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Sunday, April 15, 2012
CATCHING UP
This week, let me catch up on a few items . . .
I always find it interesting how people choose to spend their money. In the case of Texas Motor Speedway, for last weekend's NASCAR weekend, track boss Eddie Gossage unveiled his new TV studio-like set in the media center (right). Impressive, certainly, but perhaps a surprising use of the capital improvements budget. "It is important that Texas Motor Speedway always be first, best and most creative in all aspects and how we present ourselves to the world through the media is another tool," said Gossage. "There is no one else in professional sports, not to mention motorsports, that has such a set in its press room. It is a big step forward for not only 'The Great American Speedway,' but for auto racing as well." Special drafting chairs position those on the set at the right height to show their sponsors more prominently. Texas, of course, is an SMI-owned track. I keep waiting -- and hoping -- ISC will OK the funds to upgrade Phoenix International Raceway's infield facilities, including garages, media center, medical building and parking. That's surely needed -- more, I wonder, than the latest spending on Michigan International Speedway.
I can't say who sent me the E-mail, other than it was a journalist reporting on both NASCAR and IndyCar, but the point was made that the PR people who need to be reading this blog the most are the ones who don't. Which is not a surprise.
On a related note: As I noted the other week, no team or sponsor or track or sanction should employ a PR representative without proof he or she has, at least, passed a basic Newswriting 101 course. Journalists don't care that someone is "proud" or "excited" about a new sponsor -- it would be NEWS if they WEREN'T happy. That's about as basic as it gets. Unfortunately, Bryan Herta Autosport and Circuit of the Americas don't get it. Herta's new publicist was back at it again last week, with a lead graph of a so-called "news" release that the team is "proud to announce" sponsorship of an Indy Lights car. Graph three told us said sponsor is "so excited" about the deal. CotA, meanwhile, was "proud to announce" a new investor. Too bad those involved don't understand what a turn-off this is to legitimate media. In my case, it leads to an immediate push of the "delete" button.
Formula One should not go to Bahrain. The reasons are so obvious I don't know why this is still an issue. Well, check that, I do know: MONEY.
Here we go again: Jeff Gordon NEEDS a win.
And, now, so does Jimmie Johnson. (You thought this category was reserved for Dale Jr.?)
Roush Fenway's Nationwide program is hurting for sponsors (Trevor Bayne wasn't even entered at Texas), so it was a bad move when winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. thoughtlessly used a Terrible Towel to cover over sponsor IDs on his uniform in victory lane Friday night. Where are the PR people who are supposed to be observant enough to notice this sort of thing?
In a similar vein, it was disrespectful for Michael Schumacher to sit with his uniform pulled-down for the world feed TV interview after China GP qualifying. I'm surprised the FIA would put up with this since it's so concerned about its image. A fine would be meaningless but I'd penalize Schumacher and Mercedes one world championship driver's and constructor's point.
I didn't watch much of the Texas Nationwide race, only flipping on occasionally. I didn't even think about where Danica was running until 50 laps to go. She was 20th at that time and finished eighth.
I'm about ready to admit standards of what is acceptable are gone. In the worst move since video of Carl Edwards' flip into the Talladega catch fence was used to sell tickets and promote TV viewership (remember, people were injured), Fox hyped Sunday's morning news program all week with word that host Chris Wallace would offer a "touching" tribute to his late father, Mike Wallace, the TV news legend. Respect went out the door in the name of an extra ratings point.
So Howard Beale has filed a $70 million lawsuit against his former employer Al Gore's lefter-than-Daytona's turn one network, which counter-sued The Mad Hater. Count me as one who is cheering for this to go all the way to trial, even though I'm sure it will be settled for an undisclosed amount. I can't help but wonder what the evidence-gathering process, known in legalese as "discovery," might reveal about both Keith Olbermann and Gore -- personal stuff they don't want in the public domain.
How out of touch with reality is ESPN's Michael Wilbon? He described the horrendous, disrespectful version of our National Anthem played before the NCAA men's basketball final as "authentic." I guess so -- if you ignore almost 200 years of American history. Apparently Wilbon's ego has gotten so big it covers his ears.
I don't like that CBS bends over and permits Augusta National to dictate journalism (for fear of losing the prestigious broadcast rights), but I will say this about the Masters' telecast: How refreshing to watch a sporting event where the announcers know to park their egos and allow the event and the athletes their rightful place in the spotlight. Was anyone at NASCAR paying attention? Just wondering . . .
Whit Watson, the TV lightweight who will forever be remembered by racing fans as the NASCAR know-nothing ESPN inexplicably had host rpm2night the night Dale Earnhardt was killed, showed up on The Golf Channel's Masters coverage. Nit Whit was paired with obscure tour player Notah Begay and formed one of the worst TV combos in recent memory. Not Dan Rather-Connie Chung terrible, mind you, but B-A-D. CNBC's Melissa Lee-Simon Hobbs is another bizarre pairing, making you wonder what those high-priced network execs and producers are thinking. The late Mark Haines and Erin Burnett were boffo together on CNBC. I'd say today's best duo are Fox News Channel's Martha MacCallum and Bill Hemmer.
I think Jeg Coughlin Jr. is the best pure driver in NHRA's Pro Stock class. He's back after a one-year hiatus and his family's Jegs.com mail order business is an important part of the Business of Drag Racing. My April "Drags, Dollars & Sense" column on CompetitionPlus.com is 10 Q&As with Jeg:
http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/editorials/20794-knight-talking-business-with-jeggie
USA Today explains how the New York Yankees media train their players. I've used some of the tools described in the story. A lot of people in racing should pay attention to what is revealed here:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/yankees/story/2012-04-12/Yankees-player-media-training/54238364/1
[ more next Monday . . . ]
I always find it interesting how people choose to spend their money. In the case of Texas Motor Speedway, for last weekend's NASCAR weekend, track boss Eddie Gossage unveiled his new TV studio-like set in the media center (right). Impressive, certainly, but perhaps a surprising use of the capital improvements budget. "It is important that Texas Motor Speedway always be first, best and most creative in all aspects and how we present ourselves to the world through the media is another tool," said Gossage. "There is no one else in professional sports, not to mention motorsports, that has such a set in its press room. It is a big step forward for not only 'The Great American Speedway,' but for auto racing as well." Special drafting chairs position those on the set at the right height to show their sponsors more prominently. Texas, of course, is an SMI-owned track. I keep waiting -- and hoping -- ISC will OK the funds to upgrade Phoenix International Raceway's infield facilities, including garages, media center, medical building and parking. That's surely needed -- more, I wonder, than the latest spending on Michigan International Speedway.I can't say who sent me the E-mail, other than it was a journalist reporting on both NASCAR and IndyCar, but the point was made that the PR people who need to be reading this blog the most are the ones who don't. Which is not a surprise.
On a related note: As I noted the other week, no team or sponsor or track or sanction should employ a PR representative without proof he or she has, at least, passed a basic Newswriting 101 course. Journalists don't care that someone is "proud" or "excited" about a new sponsor -- it would be NEWS if they WEREN'T happy. That's about as basic as it gets. Unfortunately, Bryan Herta Autosport and Circuit of the Americas don't get it. Herta's new publicist was back at it again last week, with a lead graph of a so-called "news" release that the team is "proud to announce" sponsorship of an Indy Lights car. Graph three told us said sponsor is "so excited" about the deal. CotA, meanwhile, was "proud to announce" a new investor. Too bad those involved don't understand what a turn-off this is to legitimate media. In my case, it leads to an immediate push of the "delete" button.
Formula One should not go to Bahrain. The reasons are so obvious I don't know why this is still an issue. Well, check that, I do know: MONEY.
Here we go again: Jeff Gordon NEEDS a win.
And, now, so does Jimmie Johnson. (You thought this category was reserved for Dale Jr.?)
Roush Fenway's Nationwide program is hurting for sponsors (Trevor Bayne wasn't even entered at Texas), so it was a bad move when winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. thoughtlessly used a Terrible Towel to cover over sponsor IDs on his uniform in victory lane Friday night. Where are the PR people who are supposed to be observant enough to notice this sort of thing?
In a similar vein, it was disrespectful for Michael Schumacher to sit with his uniform pulled-down for the world feed TV interview after China GP qualifying. I'm surprised the FIA would put up with this since it's so concerned about its image. A fine would be meaningless but I'd penalize Schumacher and Mercedes one world championship driver's and constructor's point.
I didn't watch much of the Texas Nationwide race, only flipping on occasionally. I didn't even think about where Danica was running until 50 laps to go. She was 20th at that time and finished eighth.
I'm about ready to admit standards of what is acceptable are gone. In the worst move since video of Carl Edwards' flip into the Talladega catch fence was used to sell tickets and promote TV viewership (remember, people were injured), Fox hyped Sunday's morning news program all week with word that host Chris Wallace would offer a "touching" tribute to his late father, Mike Wallace, the TV news legend. Respect went out the door in the name of an extra ratings point.
So Howard Beale has filed a $70 million lawsuit against his former employer Al Gore's lefter-than-Daytona's turn one network, which counter-sued The Mad Hater. Count me as one who is cheering for this to go all the way to trial, even though I'm sure it will be settled for an undisclosed amount. I can't help but wonder what the evidence-gathering process, known in legalese as "discovery," might reveal about both Keith Olbermann and Gore -- personal stuff they don't want in the public domain.
How out of touch with reality is ESPN's Michael Wilbon? He described the horrendous, disrespectful version of our National Anthem played before the NCAA men's basketball final as "authentic." I guess so -- if you ignore almost 200 years of American history. Apparently Wilbon's ego has gotten so big it covers his ears.
I don't like that CBS bends over and permits Augusta National to dictate journalism (for fear of losing the prestigious broadcast rights), but I will say this about the Masters' telecast: How refreshing to watch a sporting event where the announcers know to park their egos and allow the event and the athletes their rightful place in the spotlight. Was anyone at NASCAR paying attention? Just wondering . . .
Whit Watson, the TV lightweight who will forever be remembered by racing fans as the NASCAR know-nothing ESPN inexplicably had host rpm2night the night Dale Earnhardt was killed, showed up on The Golf Channel's Masters coverage. Nit Whit was paired with obscure tour player Notah Begay and formed one of the worst TV combos in recent memory. Not Dan Rather-Connie Chung terrible, mind you, but B-A-D. CNBC's Melissa Lee-Simon Hobbs is another bizarre pairing, making you wonder what those high-priced network execs and producers are thinking. The late Mark Haines and Erin Burnett were boffo together on CNBC. I'd say today's best duo are Fox News Channel's Martha MacCallum and Bill Hemmer.
I think Jeg Coughlin Jr. is the best pure driver in NHRA's Pro Stock class. He's back after a one-year hiatus and his family's Jegs.com mail order business is an important part of the Business of Drag Racing. My April "Drags, Dollars & Sense" column on CompetitionPlus.com is 10 Q&As with Jeg:
http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/editorials/20794-knight-talking-business-with-jeggie
USA Today explains how the New York Yankees media train their players. I've used some of the tools described in the story. A lot of people in racing should pay attention to what is revealed here:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al/yankees/story/2012-04-12/Yankees-player-media-training/54238364/1
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Sunday, April 08, 2012
THE KING's THINGS . . .
(An old tradition continues anew here, transferred from another venue.)
When I'm King of the Racing World . . .
Ferrari will design, build and enter a car in the Indianapolis 500.
And win.
Melanie Troxel will have a locked-in, rock-solid five-year sponsorship in either Funny Car or Top Fuel (her pick) with a good activation/PR budget so she can truly become the on-and-off-track star she should be.
Max Papis will win a Sprint Cup race, setting off one of the most emotional winner's circle sessions in racing history.
Several swarrow cactus plants will be planted under the white line exiting turn 2 at Phoenix International Raceway to discourage drivers from cutting down on the apron to pass. Make them step-up to the challenge of the dogleg.
T. Wayne Robertson will be elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Ditto, Linda Vaughn.
Rush Limbaugh will be grand marshall at the Daytona 500.
Ditto, Sarah Palin.
NHRA will go all-out with manpower, ideas, effort and budget for one season in the PR/national media relations/publicity arena. The results will be so good Tom Compton will want to -- no, NEED to -- come back for more.
Mario Andretti will wave the checkered flag at the Austin and New Jersey U.S. Grands Prix.
Michael Schumacher will win another Formula One race -- then immediately retire -- for good.
There will be a truly American Formula One team -- U.S. owners, designers, crew, chassis, engine, sponsors and drivers.
After he retires from full-time NASCAR competition, Jeff Gordon will win the Rolex 24, Sebring, and Le Mans.
Steve Kinser will drive a Tony Stewart-owned car in the Indy 500.
Mark Martin will win the Daytona 500 or Sprint Cup championship.
There will be ONE American sports car series, with races at the classic venues like Sebring, Watkins Glen, Road America, Daytona, Laguna Seca and Road Atlanta. And, yes, Indianapolis.
Said series will have a robust prototype class, with strong factory participation, and a separate GT class. That's it -- one race, two classes. Anything more is too confusing even for ardent fans (anyone who tried to understand Sebring this year knows that I'm saying is true.)
The World of Outlaws will have a solid, season-long TV package, including live and delayed telecasts.
Road America will be a permanent fixture on the IndyCar schedule.
Roger Penske will have NHRA Top Fuel and Funny Car teams.
Penske will field Porsche's new prototype at Le Mans, with an All-American driving lineup -- Scott Pruett, Brad Keselowski, Patrick Long and Graham Rahal.
Pruett will be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated under the headline: "America's most underappreciated racer."
The specific, factual cause of Jimmy Clark's fatal accident will be determined once and for all.
The moment he retires from driving, Dario Franchitti will go into the IndyCar TV booth.
Jim Chapman will be inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Hall of Fame.
Public relations people will figure out the "old school" way of building solid one-on-one relationships with the media is the RIGHT way. That means actually TALKING to journalists.
The mainstream media will figure out that drag racing is the most AMERICAN of all motorsports.
One NASCAR weekend will go by without one mention of "Danica".
I'll do my best Tony Hulman impression giving the "start your engines" command somewhere before moving on to that Great Speedway Media Center in the Sky.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
When I'm King of the Racing World . . .
Ferrari will design, build and enter a car in the Indianapolis 500.
And win.
Melanie Troxel will have a locked-in, rock-solid five-year sponsorship in either Funny Car or Top Fuel (her pick) with a good activation/PR budget so she can truly become the on-and-off-track star she should be.
Max Papis will win a Sprint Cup race, setting off one of the most emotional winner's circle sessions in racing history.
Several swarrow cactus plants will be planted under the white line exiting turn 2 at Phoenix International Raceway to discourage drivers from cutting down on the apron to pass. Make them step-up to the challenge of the dogleg.
T. Wayne Robertson will be elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Ditto, Linda Vaughn.
Rush Limbaugh will be grand marshall at the Daytona 500.
Ditto, Sarah Palin.
NHRA will go all-out with manpower, ideas, effort and budget for one season in the PR/national media relations/publicity arena. The results will be so good Tom Compton will want to -- no, NEED to -- come back for more.
Mario Andretti will wave the checkered flag at the Austin and New Jersey U.S. Grands Prix.
Michael Schumacher will win another Formula One race -- then immediately retire -- for good.
There will be a truly American Formula One team -- U.S. owners, designers, crew, chassis, engine, sponsors and drivers.
After he retires from full-time NASCAR competition, Jeff Gordon will win the Rolex 24, Sebring, and Le Mans.
Steve Kinser will drive a Tony Stewart-owned car in the Indy 500.
Mark Martin will win the Daytona 500 or Sprint Cup championship.
There will be ONE American sports car series, with races at the classic venues like Sebring, Watkins Glen, Road America, Daytona, Laguna Seca and Road Atlanta. And, yes, Indianapolis.
Said series will have a robust prototype class, with strong factory participation, and a separate GT class. That's it -- one race, two classes. Anything more is too confusing even for ardent fans (anyone who tried to understand Sebring this year knows that I'm saying is true.)
The World of Outlaws will have a solid, season-long TV package, including live and delayed telecasts.
Road America will be a permanent fixture on the IndyCar schedule.
Roger Penske will have NHRA Top Fuel and Funny Car teams.
Penske will field Porsche's new prototype at Le Mans, with an All-American driving lineup -- Scott Pruett, Brad Keselowski, Patrick Long and Graham Rahal.
Pruett will be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated under the headline: "America's most underappreciated racer."
The specific, factual cause of Jimmy Clark's fatal accident will be determined once and for all.
The moment he retires from driving, Dario Franchitti will go into the IndyCar TV booth.
Jim Chapman will be inducted into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's Hall of Fame.
Public relations people will figure out the "old school" way of building solid one-on-one relationships with the media is the RIGHT way. That means actually TALKING to journalists.
The mainstream media will figure out that drag racing is the most AMERICAN of all motorsports.
One NASCAR weekend will go by without one mention of "Danica".
I'll do my best Tony Hulman impression giving the "start your engines" command somewhere before moving on to that Great Speedway Media Center in the Sky.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Sunday, April 01, 2012
A LITTLE HONEST REPORTING REVEALS THE FACTS
Over the last year, a lot has been written and said about the possibility of the IndyCar series returning to Phoenix International Raceway. The overwhelming majority of it inaccurate because it was not properly "reported" from the standpoint of real journalism.
Last year, in the midst of this fog, I was the only reporter to actually interview the three key players: PIR President Bryan Sperber, IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard, and ISC President John Saunders. When I wrote here and said elsewhere there would be no 2012 race, it was because I had bothered to go out and actually gather the FACTS. (How basic is that?) To this day, a few of the most serious offenders, co-opted by Bernard, still have not even tried to interview Sperber. Another one did FINALLY outreach to Sperber -- basically because he was embarrassed into it.
OK, what's new on this front? Here's the latest, as of last Friday, as reported by me in the Arizona Republic:
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/30/20120330could-indycar-make-return-pir.html
I'd say it's about time for a bunch of media people (Kevin Lee, you're on the pole) -- and a bunch of chatroomers -- apologize to Sperber after bashing him last year for supposedly refusing to talk to Bernard. I say that because their man Randy is now "on the record" as having apologized to the PIR prez.
It's a sad commentary on the state of fandom that a story like this is twisted into a chance to criticize NASCAR, PIR, ISC, safety, Las Vegas, each other and, yes, me. Fans are entitled to their own enthusiasm, but not their own "facts." The most laughable from the chatrooms was the one that former PIR owner Buddy Jobe kicked-out CART because he didn't like Carl Haas controlling the catering. I worked for Carl at that time -- he had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY CATERING BUSINESS. So-called "fans" who anonymously push out this kind of junk only hurt the sport they claim to love.
The headline in last Friday's USA Today sports section -- Fox considers converting Speed to general sports network -- might finally shed some useful light on the big management changes at the motorsports channel late last year.
"That Fox might convert its Speed channel, now . . . in 82 million households, to a general sports network would simply create another Lilluptian to tie down Gulliver-like ESPN . . .," read the story. Which went on to suggest they go after Major League Baseball's cable rights after the 2013 season.
Whatever one thinks of Speed's collection of automotive "lifestyle" programming -- I don't watch a second of it -- one also has to wonder: What would happen to the auto racing event and news coverage? I'm sure NASCAR, and probably Formula One and Grand-Am would continue. As for all the others . . . ???
FAST LINES: I recently had the pleasure of meeting writer Steven Cole Smith. If you aren't reading his excellent stories in AutoWeek and elsewhere, you should be. His April 2 AW piece on the mess that was trying to understand Sebring proves my point . . . It's a pleasure to say Tommy Kendall is a friend of mine. But here's a memo to the Twitter crowd offering the "idea" of TK in the IndyCar announce booth. It's been tried -- TWICE. Which is not to say he shouldn't be there. It's just to say this isn't new . . . Since nothing seems too outrageous to be true in today's "real" news world, it's hard to imagine some PR people still think it's OK to put out fake April's Fool "news" stories figuring people will get that it's a joke. This is stupid and should end . . . Speaking of stupid, how many references were made to Martinsville hot dogs last week? Enough of that, too . . . So now Keith Olbermann has been fired by Al Gore! What's next for The Mad Hater? An anchor gig on Al Jazeera would seem perfect. Or, if he wants back into "sports," play-by-play of pro wrestling. Best move for Olbermann: Partner with a fellow Worst Person in the World, Andrew Craig. They deserve each other.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Last year, in the midst of this fog, I was the only reporter to actually interview the three key players: PIR President Bryan Sperber, IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard, and ISC President John Saunders. When I wrote here and said elsewhere there would be no 2012 race, it was because I had bothered to go out and actually gather the FACTS. (How basic is that?) To this day, a few of the most serious offenders, co-opted by Bernard, still have not even tried to interview Sperber. Another one did FINALLY outreach to Sperber -- basically because he was embarrassed into it.
OK, what's new on this front? Here's the latest, as of last Friday, as reported by me in the Arizona Republic:
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/30/20120330could-indycar-make-return-pir.html
I'd say it's about time for a bunch of media people (Kevin Lee, you're on the pole) -- and a bunch of chatroomers -- apologize to Sperber after bashing him last year for supposedly refusing to talk to Bernard. I say that because their man Randy is now "on the record" as having apologized to the PIR prez.
It's a sad commentary on the state of fandom that a story like this is twisted into a chance to criticize NASCAR, PIR, ISC, safety, Las Vegas, each other and, yes, me. Fans are entitled to their own enthusiasm, but not their own "facts." The most laughable from the chatrooms was the one that former PIR owner Buddy Jobe kicked-out CART because he didn't like Carl Haas controlling the catering. I worked for Carl at that time -- he had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY CATERING BUSINESS. So-called "fans" who anonymously push out this kind of junk only hurt the sport they claim to love.
The headline in last Friday's USA Today sports section -- Fox considers converting Speed to general sports network -- might finally shed some useful light on the big management changes at the motorsports channel late last year.
"That Fox might convert its Speed channel, now . . . in 82 million households, to a general sports network would simply create another Lilluptian to tie down Gulliver-like ESPN . . .," read the story. Which went on to suggest they go after Major League Baseball's cable rights after the 2013 season.
Whatever one thinks of Speed's collection of automotive "lifestyle" programming -- I don't watch a second of it -- one also has to wonder: What would happen to the auto racing event and news coverage? I'm sure NASCAR, and probably Formula One and Grand-Am would continue. As for all the others . . . ???
FAST LINES: I recently had the pleasure of meeting writer Steven Cole Smith. If you aren't reading his excellent stories in AutoWeek and elsewhere, you should be. His April 2 AW piece on the mess that was trying to understand Sebring proves my point . . . It's a pleasure to say Tommy Kendall is a friend of mine. But here's a memo to the Twitter crowd offering the "idea" of TK in the IndyCar announce booth. It's been tried -- TWICE. Which is not to say he shouldn't be there. It's just to say this isn't new . . . Since nothing seems too outrageous to be true in today's "real" news world, it's hard to imagine some PR people still think it's OK to put out fake April's Fool "news" stories figuring people will get that it's a joke. This is stupid and should end . . . Speaking of stupid, how many references were made to Martinsville hot dogs last week? Enough of that, too . . . So now Keith Olbermann has been fired by Al Gore! What's next for The Mad Hater? An anchor gig on Al Jazeera would seem perfect. Or, if he wants back into "sports," play-by-play of pro wrestling. Best move for Olbermann: Partner with a fellow Worst Person in the World, Andrew Craig. They deserve each other.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Sunday, March 25, 2012
NON-NEWS SHOULD COST 'TEAM'
The IndyCar season began last weekend, after an off-season during which we learned that a track can be too good for racing (something I've never heard before having been in the sport for more than four decades), that Dallara's quality control systems aren't what they should be, that the car builder doesn't have the respect of its suppliers the way one would expect, that there are new rules and rules makers (and judges), and that the financial viability of many events isn't sound -- especially oval races.
The Big Talking Point for 2012 is engine manufacturer competition. Chevrolet won Round 1, in St. Pete, with Helio Castroneves.
One off-season news item that crackled my Business of Racing antenna had to do with a revision to the series' TEAM program. Others have written at length regarding the details of this deal, which pays $1.2 million to included teams. When Newman/Haas Racing announced it would not compete in '12, that left open two spots. Randy Bernard decided to establish some standards, including what a potential participant could bring to IndyCar in terms of sponsor activation and media exposure. I say that's entirely justified.
The problem is, some of Randy's teams don't have a clue how to get media coverage. The old-school art of "pitching" story ideas seems as foreign as Rubens Barrichello to a lot of people. Some don't even know the basics of writing a proper news release. Of particular irritation to me is the winning team whose new "publicist" constantly sends out useless non-news releases that always begin by saying the team is "proud" or "excited" to announce something or other. I got another one of these last Thursday during the run-up to St. Pete.
Clue I: It would be NEWS if the team WASN'T "proud" or "excited."
Clue II: Successful publicists know news releases are written for the media, not team owners or sponsors.
Stuff like this is a complete waste of the media's time. As soon as I see something like this, I press "delete." And I know I'm not the only one who does the same.
Note to Randy: Any "professional" IndyCar team that can't prove it has a publicist who has passed a basic Newswriting 101 course should not get one single cent.
Sorting out racing penalties is always a messy affair -- the 1981 Indianapolis 500 forever being the ultimate example -- but the outcome of Hendrick Motorsports' appeal of NASCAR penalties to its No. 48 at Daytona is instructive. Or, it should be.
Come this off-season, NASCAR should revise its National Stock Car Commission structure and policies. The three panelists, selected from an established list, are not announced in advance (fine with me) but as soon as I saw that John Capels and Leo Mehl were on the Hendrick case, it was no surprise at all that the original penalties were upheld. Beyond their other resume items, both are old-school/tradition-bound former sanctioning body executives. Of course they were going to side with NASCAR.
It's time to reduce the total number on the commission list. It's time to say no more than one member per hearing can be linked to any one group. (Examples: No more than one former sanctioning official, no more than one former driver, no more than one former team member, etc.) And, in all phases of the case, at least one of the "judges" should be made available to the media immediatley afterwards so the ticket-buying public can understand why the decision was made. That's called transparency -- and it's greatly needed in racing's messy penalty appeal process.
Meanwhile, see this week's "Unconventional Wisdom".
FAST LINES: ABC kicked-off its IndyCar coverage by telling the media it would focus on "story-telling." Hmmmm. See my Sept. 6, 2010 blog, which won an International Automotive Media Awards gold medal for commentary . . . If, like me, you need a one-stop reference book, then you need the National Speedway Directory. There's a listing for just about every track in the U.S. and Canada, plus sanctioning organizations, publications, schedules and museums. Go to http://speedwaysonline.com/to order . . . Per what I wrote last week, NHRA has added 20 pounds to the Harley-Davidson bikes . . . As a follow-up to what I wrote last week, one of the top teams in all of American racing now has its PR people compile reports after each race detailing interviews, media contacts, etc. I'm surprised they are just starting to do this as I was routinely doing such reports for clients back in the 1980s. But I see this as welcome progress and will continue to press the decision-makers for more -- and better -- "service" to the media . . . I just received a letter from "Friends of Rick Hendricks" asking for my vote for the 10-time NASCAR Cup champion for the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Twice in the letter he is referred to as "Hendricks." Embarrassing.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
The Big Talking Point for 2012 is engine manufacturer competition. Chevrolet won Round 1, in St. Pete, with Helio Castroneves.
One off-season news item that crackled my Business of Racing antenna had to do with a revision to the series' TEAM program. Others have written at length regarding the details of this deal, which pays $1.2 million to included teams. When Newman/Haas Racing announced it would not compete in '12, that left open two spots. Randy Bernard decided to establish some standards, including what a potential participant could bring to IndyCar in terms of sponsor activation and media exposure. I say that's entirely justified.
The problem is, some of Randy's teams don't have a clue how to get media coverage. The old-school art of "pitching" story ideas seems as foreign as Rubens Barrichello to a lot of people. Some don't even know the basics of writing a proper news release. Of particular irritation to me is the winning team whose new "publicist" constantly sends out useless non-news releases that always begin by saying the team is "proud" or "excited" to announce something or other. I got another one of these last Thursday during the run-up to St. Pete.
Clue I: It would be NEWS if the team WASN'T "proud" or "excited."
Clue II: Successful publicists know news releases are written for the media, not team owners or sponsors.
Stuff like this is a complete waste of the media's time. As soon as I see something like this, I press "delete." And I know I'm not the only one who does the same.
Note to Randy: Any "professional" IndyCar team that can't prove it has a publicist who has passed a basic Newswriting 101 course should not get one single cent.
Sorting out racing penalties is always a messy affair -- the 1981 Indianapolis 500 forever being the ultimate example -- but the outcome of Hendrick Motorsports' appeal of NASCAR penalties to its No. 48 at Daytona is instructive. Or, it should be.
Come this off-season, NASCAR should revise its National Stock Car Commission structure and policies. The three panelists, selected from an established list, are not announced in advance (fine with me) but as soon as I saw that John Capels and Leo Mehl were on the Hendrick case, it was no surprise at all that the original penalties were upheld. Beyond their other resume items, both are old-school/tradition-bound former sanctioning body executives. Of course they were going to side with NASCAR.
It's time to reduce the total number on the commission list. It's time to say no more than one member per hearing can be linked to any one group. (Examples: No more than one former sanctioning official, no more than one former driver, no more than one former team member, etc.) And, in all phases of the case, at least one of the "judges" should be made available to the media immediatley afterwards so the ticket-buying public can understand why the decision was made. That's called transparency -- and it's greatly needed in racing's messy penalty appeal process.
Meanwhile, see this week's "Unconventional Wisdom".
FAST LINES: ABC kicked-off its IndyCar coverage by telling the media it would focus on "story-telling." Hmmmm. See my Sept. 6, 2010 blog, which won an International Automotive Media Awards gold medal for commentary . . . If, like me, you need a one-stop reference book, then you need the National Speedway Directory. There's a listing for just about every track in the U.S. and Canada, plus sanctioning organizations, publications, schedules and museums. Go to http://speedwaysonline.com/to order . . . Per what I wrote last week, NHRA has added 20 pounds to the Harley-Davidson bikes . . . As a follow-up to what I wrote last week, one of the top teams in all of American racing now has its PR people compile reports after each race detailing interviews, media contacts, etc. I'm surprised they are just starting to do this as I was routinely doing such reports for clients back in the 1980s. But I see this as welcome progress and will continue to press the decision-makers for more -- and better -- "service" to the media . . . I just received a letter from "Friends of Rick Hendricks" asking for my vote for the 10-time NASCAR Cup champion for the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Twice in the letter he is referred to as "Hendricks." Embarrassing.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Sunday, March 18, 2012
HOW OBVIOUS IS THIS?
It's called customer service. And there's not enough of it throughout American business these days, including the lack-of-service from auto racing PR people to their customers, the media.
I've experienced this -- AGAIN -- in recent weeks. I wouldn't need the fingers on one hand to count the team/sponsor/sanction PRers who called in advance of the NHRA Nationals at Firebird International Raceway and the NASCAR weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. That exact number would be THREE. In total.
And how many actually came by the Arizona Republic work areas at those two events to say hello and offer help? That exact number would be NINE. In total.
Now, I've spent a little time myself in the racing PR game. Could someone please explain to me how someone can be paid to be a "publicist" and yet never speak to media covering an event?
This problem isn't new, but it is getting worse. As I've said before, I blame the team owners and sponsor managers who apparently pay so little attention they don't realize how badly they are being represented. And, believe it or not, my experience is some of the biggest teams/sponsors are the worst offenders.
It used to be a company would hire it's own PR rep, or contract with an agency, to service the media in support of a sponsorship. While there was always the problem of some agency person "pitching" a racing story one minute, and soap the next, the system usually worked because the sponsor had direct control over its representation and that provided accountability.
A lot of the time, anyway. But not always. Before last October's Arizona Nationals, I received an E-mail (in response to one I had sent a week earlier) from Ford's agency rep, asking if I'd be on-site at the event that began the next day. !!! Nothing like doing your homework well in advance to know what media will be there to work with! At least that was better than Ford's on-site "representation" at PIR the other week -- three days came and went without one word from the automaker's transcriber (who provided material in a user-unfriendly format) -- who sat just a few feet away from the Republic's area.
Actually TALK to journalists? Hell, why would he think THAT was important to do?
Some years ago, team owners decided to create in-house PR staffs -- a new profit center for them. Shame on the sponsors who blindly went along with this. These team people take their orders from the owner, who more often than not, doesn't want the driver bothered with such nonsense as interviews that might help produce publicity for the bill-paying sponsor. (Gotta carry the driver's helmet, you know.) This is how the system started to fall apart. That, and the reckless practice of allowing driver business managers to make PR decisions which they are unqualified to make. From a media standpoint, I'll say this loud and clear: That is a something that is to be resisted at every turn.
The humanity is disappearing from this sport, and in general, our society. Way too many people think 140 characters on Twitter represents professional relationship building. As I said to a senior NASCAR official in a private, one-on-one, face-to-face conversation at PIR: There will NEVER be a substitute for the sound of the human voice, a handshake, a look in the eye.
THAT is professional relationship building.
If you need more proof, read this: http://dkconcepts.com/fortheloveofracing/publicist-publicity
As the late Maine U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith once said: "There is nothing more effective than a handshake and a little conversation."
When -- if EVER -- will racing's PR people learn this basic truth? I am, and will continue, working on this issue at high levels of the sport's decision-making chain.
FAST LINES: The Formula One season opened with some of the ugliest cars in the series' history and Ferrari in disarray -- both BAD news for the Business of Racing . . . The film Senna is now available on DVD. Learn more at http://www.sennamovie.com/ . . . Troubled Circuit of the Americas didn't renew its funding for Rick Benjamin's The Checkered Flag post-Formula One show on SiriusXM. That, of course, makes no sense since this is the payoff year after last season's investment in trying to build American interest in F1 -- but that's the way it's been with the CotA project since Day One . . . Speed's horribly over-produced opening for the Australian Grand Prix, featuring six former world champions, was just the latest example of this trend to grotesquely overdo things in TV. KISS . . . The news that Paul Brooks is ending his long tenure with NASCAR as senior vice president and president of NASCAR Media Group is a very important story and comes at a time when the media landscape is changing almost daily and talks are underway for a new TV deal for 2015. Despite the Daytona 500's impressive Monday Night NASCAR prime-time TV total audience, ratings through three races are down from last year's uptick season, a worry . . . Will the automakers who turned down the chance to power the DeltaWing turn out to be biz savvy or PR blind? Nissan took the plunge and the radical car made some demonstration laps at Sebring last weekend . . . Hendrick Motorsports' penalty appeal was denied, which is what most often will happen when two of the three panelists are former sanctioning body executives . . . Good for IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway they have a deal with DreamWorks Animation for a July 2013 animated feature film, Turbo. But it's ridiculous for the media cheerleaders to be pumping this up like it's going to do for that series what Days of Thunder did for NASCAR. Those of us with good memories recall some of these same people predicting that's what Driven would do for Champ Car.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
I've experienced this -- AGAIN -- in recent weeks. I wouldn't need the fingers on one hand to count the team/sponsor/sanction PRers who called in advance of the NHRA Nationals at Firebird International Raceway and the NASCAR weekend at Phoenix International Raceway. That exact number would be THREE. In total.
And how many actually came by the Arizona Republic work areas at those two events to say hello and offer help? That exact number would be NINE. In total.
Now, I've spent a little time myself in the racing PR game. Could someone please explain to me how someone can be paid to be a "publicist" and yet never speak to media covering an event?
This problem isn't new, but it is getting worse. As I've said before, I blame the team owners and sponsor managers who apparently pay so little attention they don't realize how badly they are being represented. And, believe it or not, my experience is some of the biggest teams/sponsors are the worst offenders.
It used to be a company would hire it's own PR rep, or contract with an agency, to service the media in support of a sponsorship. While there was always the problem of some agency person "pitching" a racing story one minute, and soap the next, the system usually worked because the sponsor had direct control over its representation and that provided accountability.
A lot of the time, anyway. But not always. Before last October's Arizona Nationals, I received an E-mail (in response to one I had sent a week earlier) from Ford's agency rep, asking if I'd be on-site at the event that began the next day. !!! Nothing like doing your homework well in advance to know what media will be there to work with! At least that was better than Ford's on-site "representation" at PIR the other week -- three days came and went without one word from the automaker's transcriber (who provided material in a user-unfriendly format) -- who sat just a few feet away from the Republic's area.
Actually TALK to journalists? Hell, why would he think THAT was important to do?
Some years ago, team owners decided to create in-house PR staffs -- a new profit center for them. Shame on the sponsors who blindly went along with this. These team people take their orders from the owner, who more often than not, doesn't want the driver bothered with such nonsense as interviews that might help produce publicity for the bill-paying sponsor. (Gotta carry the driver's helmet, you know.) This is how the system started to fall apart. That, and the reckless practice of allowing driver business managers to make PR decisions which they are unqualified to make. From a media standpoint, I'll say this loud and clear: That is a something that is to be resisted at every turn.
The humanity is disappearing from this sport, and in general, our society. Way too many people think 140 characters on Twitter represents professional relationship building. As I said to a senior NASCAR official in a private, one-on-one, face-to-face conversation at PIR: There will NEVER be a substitute for the sound of the human voice, a handshake, a look in the eye.
THAT is professional relationship building.
If you need more proof, read this: http://dkconcepts.com/fortheloveofracing/publicist-publicity
As the late Maine U.S. Senator Margaret Chase Smith once said: "There is nothing more effective than a handshake and a little conversation."
When -- if EVER -- will racing's PR people learn this basic truth? I am, and will continue, working on this issue at high levels of the sport's decision-making chain.
FAST LINES: The Formula One season opened with some of the ugliest cars in the series' history and Ferrari in disarray -- both BAD news for the Business of Racing . . . The film Senna is now available on DVD. Learn more at http://www.sennamovie.com/ . . . Troubled Circuit of the Americas didn't renew its funding for Rick Benjamin's The Checkered Flag post-Formula One show on SiriusXM. That, of course, makes no sense since this is the payoff year after last season's investment in trying to build American interest in F1 -- but that's the way it's been with the CotA project since Day One . . . Speed's horribly over-produced opening for the Australian Grand Prix, featuring six former world champions, was just the latest example of this trend to grotesquely overdo things in TV. KISS . . . The news that Paul Brooks is ending his long tenure with NASCAR as senior vice president and president of NASCAR Media Group is a very important story and comes at a time when the media landscape is changing almost daily and talks are underway for a new TV deal for 2015. Despite the Daytona 500's impressive Monday Night NASCAR prime-time TV total audience, ratings through three races are down from last year's uptick season, a worry . . . Will the automakers who turned down the chance to power the DeltaWing turn out to be biz savvy or PR blind? Nissan took the plunge and the radical car made some demonstration laps at Sebring last weekend . . . Hendrick Motorsports' penalty appeal was denied, which is what most often will happen when two of the three panelists are former sanctioning body executives . . . Good for IndyCar and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway they have a deal with DreamWorks Animation for a July 2013 animated feature film, Turbo. But it's ridiculous for the media cheerleaders to be pumping this up like it's going to do for that series what Days of Thunder did for NASCAR. Those of us with good memories recall some of these same people predicting that's what Driven would do for Champ Car.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Sunday, March 11, 2012
WRETCHED EXCESS
It's standard practice at every NASCAR race: Drivers high in the point standings, or otherwise newsworthy, are made available to the media for group sessions either in the press room or at their haulers. It's known in the biz as a "media avail."
It was no different at Phoenix International Raceway the other week, where I was part of the Arizona Republic's coverage team. Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, etc. fielded questions. I was there for some of these sessions and not for some others, but had a chance to review transcripts.
To me, the most noticeable thing was not any answer. It was the questions. At virtually every avail, somebody asked a Danica question.
It was absolutely ridiculous. And embarrassing.
If many of those involved would actually bother to step back and take a look at the situation with a wider perspective, they might realize the truth of what I just wrote. But too many -- and too many of the organizations they represent -- are so caught-up in the Danica "story" (by the way, just what is that "story" right now?) they have lost almost all perspective and judgement of what is legitimate news.
In fairness, there also were a lot of questions about Brad Keselowski's Tweeting during the Daytona 500 red flag. More of what I'll hearby anoint as "cotton candy journalism."
Mark Martin made fun of the nonsense when, at the end of his pole winner's news conference, he referred to himself as a "Tweeting fool."
No wonder every public opinion poll shows such low standing for the media. And, despite what way too many of them think, this applies to sportswriters -- not just news reporters.
Let's get serious, folks.
PLEASE!
Speaking of ridiculous, add to the list all this chatter that Rubens Barrichello will do for the IndyCar series what Nigel Mansell did for CART.
Let me tell you, as someone who was deeply involved as the Newman/Haas team publicist when Nigel was here, there is NO -- ZERO -- COMPARISON.
Mansell came to America as the reigning Formula One world champion -- an unprecedented switch of series. He also could be controversial, charming, and had a flair that led to more than one headline calling him "The People's Champion."
Now, I like Rubens. I think he's a good guy, a good driver, and a welcome addition to the U.S. sporting scene. But he's not what Mansell was and to suggest otherwise is as dumb as all the Danica questions at NASCAR news conferences.
The "deep thinkers" like to point at all the Twitter followers Barrichello has. My questions: Just how MANY of those followers are in America? In IndyCar race market areas? Where they might actually buy tickets or move the TV ratings needle?
Mansell moved both meters. That's the point -- from a Business of Racing standpoint -- the only one that counts.
FAST LINES: Sports Business News picked-up my Republic notebook item on Matt Kenseth being the "Best Buy" in NASCAR . . . Pathetic, but true -- There are still media people and chatroomers talking about Jimmie Johnson and/or Tony Stewart driving in the Indy 500. They've said "no" how many ??? times now? And, in Johnson's case, if his wife didn't want him to do it before, why would she be in favor now, after the events of Las Vegas 2011? Enough already . . . Since I've been writing about, or otherwise around, Roger Penske since the 1970s this caught my attention -- Saturday, May 26 (day before the I500) will be "Legends Day Honoring Roger Penske" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It's the 40th anniversary of Penske's first I500 win, with Mark Donohue. There will be a Q&A and autograph session . . . The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the No. 1 sporting event to attend in the world, according to a new National Geographic book. (The Olympics are No. 2.) No other auto racing event made the list . . . Four new members (including Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Jeff Belskus) have been added to the Hulman & Co. board of directors, bringing the total to 11. The only question is: Does this strengthen or weaken Tony George's hand?
[ more next Monday . . . ]
It was no different at Phoenix International Raceway the other week, where I was part of the Arizona Republic's coverage team. Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, etc. fielded questions. I was there for some of these sessions and not for some others, but had a chance to review transcripts.
To me, the most noticeable thing was not any answer. It was the questions. At virtually every avail, somebody asked a Danica question.
It was absolutely ridiculous. And embarrassing.
If many of those involved would actually bother to step back and take a look at the situation with a wider perspective, they might realize the truth of what I just wrote. But too many -- and too many of the organizations they represent -- are so caught-up in the Danica "story" (by the way, just what is that "story" right now?) they have lost almost all perspective and judgement of what is legitimate news.
In fairness, there also were a lot of questions about Brad Keselowski's Tweeting during the Daytona 500 red flag. More of what I'll hearby anoint as "cotton candy journalism."
Mark Martin made fun of the nonsense when, at the end of his pole winner's news conference, he referred to himself as a "Tweeting fool."
No wonder every public opinion poll shows such low standing for the media. And, despite what way too many of them think, this applies to sportswriters -- not just news reporters.
Let's get serious, folks.
PLEASE!
Speaking of ridiculous, add to the list all this chatter that Rubens Barrichello will do for the IndyCar series what Nigel Mansell did for CART.
Let me tell you, as someone who was deeply involved as the Newman/Haas team publicist when Nigel was here, there is NO -- ZERO -- COMPARISON.
Mansell came to America as the reigning Formula One world champion -- an unprecedented switch of series. He also could be controversial, charming, and had a flair that led to more than one headline calling him "The People's Champion."
Now, I like Rubens. I think he's a good guy, a good driver, and a welcome addition to the U.S. sporting scene. But he's not what Mansell was and to suggest otherwise is as dumb as all the Danica questions at NASCAR news conferences.
The "deep thinkers" like to point at all the Twitter followers Barrichello has. My questions: Just how MANY of those followers are in America? In IndyCar race market areas? Where they might actually buy tickets or move the TV ratings needle?
Mansell moved both meters. That's the point -- from a Business of Racing standpoint -- the only one that counts.
FAST LINES: Sports Business News picked-up my Republic notebook item on Matt Kenseth being the "Best Buy" in NASCAR . . . Pathetic, but true -- There are still media people and chatroomers talking about Jimmie Johnson and/or Tony Stewart driving in the Indy 500. They've said "no" how many ??? times now? And, in Johnson's case, if his wife didn't want him to do it before, why would she be in favor now, after the events of Las Vegas 2011? Enough already . . . Since I've been writing about, or otherwise around, Roger Penske since the 1970s this caught my attention -- Saturday, May 26 (day before the I500) will be "Legends Day Honoring Roger Penske" at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It's the 40th anniversary of Penske's first I500 win, with Mark Donohue. There will be a Q&A and autograph session . . . The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the No. 1 sporting event to attend in the world, according to a new National Geographic book. (The Olympics are No. 2.) No other auto racing event made the list . . . Four new members (including Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Jeff Belskus) have been added to the Hulman & Co. board of directors, bringing the total to 11. The only question is: Does this strengthen or weaken Tony George's hand?
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Monday, March 05, 2012
PHOENIX WEEK IN REVIEW
I'm posting Sunday night after covering the Subway 500k at Phoenix International Raceway. I've listed a selection of links below if you'd like to read some of my Arizona Republic stories.
One important bit of news coming this week is the Hendrick Motorsports' appeal of NASCAR penalties to Chad Knaus, etc. My impression -- from what I was told off-the-record last weekend, and reading between the lines of some on-the-record comments, as well as assessing body language, is whatever penalty Knaus and team may end up with will not be to the degree originally announced.
Monday notebook (Monday Night NASCAR TV, etc.) --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/04/20120304nascar-more-weeknight-racing-after-daytona-500.html
Monday, Jimmie Johnson sidebar --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/04/20120304nascar-jimmie-johnson-phoenix-loose-wheel.html
Sunday Q&A with A.J. Allmendinger --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/03/20120303qampa-nascar-sprint-cup-driver-aj-allmendinger.html
Sunday notebook (Kurt Busch, jet dryers, etc.) --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/03/20120303nascar-kurt-busch-hoping-phoenix-racing-will-help-him-rise.html
Sunday, Sadler wins Nationwide race --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/03/20120303nascar-nationwide-phoenix-elliott-sadler.html
Saturday notebook (Chad Knaus, etc.) --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/02/20120302nascar-chad-knaus-surprised-by-suspension.html
Friday notebook (Roger Penske, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, etc. You won't read this lead anywhere else) --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/02/20120302nascar-phoenix-roger-penske-switch-ford-sprint-cup-series.html
Thursday notebook (Matt Kenseth, Kenny Francis, Rusty Wallace, etc.) --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/02/29/20120229matt-kenseth-best-buy-nascar.html
Wednesday notebook (Track prep, fuel injection, etc.) --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/02/28/20120228nascar-pir-delays-wont-slow-us.html
[ more next Monday . . . ]
One important bit of news coming this week is the Hendrick Motorsports' appeal of NASCAR penalties to Chad Knaus, etc. My impression -- from what I was told off-the-record last weekend, and reading between the lines of some on-the-record comments, as well as assessing body language, is whatever penalty Knaus and team may end up with will not be to the degree originally announced.
Monday notebook (Monday Night NASCAR TV, etc.) --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/04/20120304nascar-more-weeknight-racing-after-daytona-500.html
Monday, Jimmie Johnson sidebar --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/04/20120304nascar-jimmie-johnson-phoenix-loose-wheel.html
Sunday Q&A with A.J. Allmendinger --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/03/20120303qampa-nascar-sprint-cup-driver-aj-allmendinger.html
Sunday notebook (Kurt Busch, jet dryers, etc.) --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/03/20120303nascar-kurt-busch-hoping-phoenix-racing-will-help-him-rise.html
Sunday, Sadler wins Nationwide race --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/03/20120303nascar-nationwide-phoenix-elliott-sadler.html
Saturday notebook (Chad Knaus, etc.) --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/02/20120302nascar-chad-knaus-surprised-by-suspension.html
Friday notebook (Roger Penske, Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, etc. You won't read this lead anywhere else) --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/03/02/20120302nascar-phoenix-roger-penske-switch-ford-sprint-cup-series.html
Thursday notebook (Matt Kenseth, Kenny Francis, Rusty Wallace, etc.) --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/02/29/20120229matt-kenseth-best-buy-nascar.html
Wednesday notebook (Track prep, fuel injection, etc.) --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/02/28/20120228nascar-pir-delays-wont-slow-us.html
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
DANICA's DAYTONA
BILL FRANCE Jr. HONORED: The late NASCAR president had a statue unveiled last week outside Daytona International Speedway. Jim France (left), Betty Jane France, Brian France and Lesa France Kennedy are in front. UPDATE: I'll be on SiriusXM NASCAR radio Thursday at 1 p.m. ET with Rick Benjamin and Chocolate Myers.
As Trevor Bayne proved last year, there's a certain appeal to surprise winners.
With all due respect to John King and James Buescher, however, that didn't apply to their Truck and Nationwide victories at Daytona International Speedway. Not, at least, as it pertains to what I wrote here last week -- NASCAR's need to launch its season in the boffo way it did in 2011. At first glance, the Daytona 500's first-ever rainout and delay to Monday afternoon seemed to put a KO punch to that hope.
Until, that is, more rain pushed the race to Monday night. PRIME TIME on Fox. As I post this, the ratings aren't in, but if in fact they do turn out to be HUGE, will NASCAR and ISC give serious consideration to a permanent rescheduling to PT? (Especially if it's not up against the Academy Awards.) With the The Great American Race's move off the President's Day holiday weekend, that could well be a problem for ticket-buying fans, but something no doubt we'll read and hear about a lot more.
Congratulations to Matt Kenseth -- no surprise, there -- for winning a sometimes crazy, sometimes bizarre, sometimes routine Super Bowl of stock car racing.
Upon further review in my trained and experienced mind, though, I'm not sure how much it all mattered. It was Danica's Daytona -- and that had been ordained by the media Lords before the first wheel turned near the Florida beach.
All one had to do was watch the opening minutes of Fox's Budweiser Shootout telecast to know what was coming. Even though she wasn't in that race, it didn't take Fox a minute to showcase her, right there live-and-in-person on the set. Dear Danica was guaranteed to be making her Daytona 500 debut -- thanks to some owner points game playing -- and Fox had decided it was high time it grabbed its share of Danica away from the loving attentions offered by ESPN since 2005. Krista Voda's early Tuesday a.m. interview of a crashed-out (for the third time in three races) Patrick put a bow around the whole package.
Not that it was anything other than business-as-usual over at ESPN. "She's a better race car driver now than I thought she'd be three years from now," gushed ESPN reporter Marty Smith, obeying orders from Bristol not to miss any opportunity for breathless hype.
The most honest reaction of all Speed Weeks came from Allen Bestwick, when Danica was wrecked in Saturday's Nationwide opener. "Oh, no!," moaned Bestwick, undoubtedly echoing the thoughts of network management as visions of viewers clicking away raced through their heads.
Sunday morning, on ESPN Radio's Coach and Coleman show -- always the place for intellectually lightweight sports talk -- it was NASCAR/Danica conversation that made Brad Daugherty sound like a real racing expert. Oh, the agony for hosts like these two -- and all of the ESPN networks -- having to divert time and space away from its precious NBA for NASCAR.
(Over on Fox Sports Radio, four hours into the rain delay, a host whose name I didn't get said come the green flag Daytona fans "would be so drunk they won't remember what happened." Yes, I said this was on FOX. ESPN-like discipline to follow?)
Other than poses and sound bites, Danica did contribute video highlights which TV's bad-taste bottom-feeders delighted in. The various angles of Patrick's last-lap qualifying race crash were replayed by Speed almost instantly and, seemingly, on a continuous loop. I don't know about you, but when she hit the wall, I wasn't sure Danica would climb out OK. Which made the immediate use of her in-car camera, looking right at her, troubling to me. It was the most exploitive use of racing video since Carl Edwards flipped into the catch fence at Talladega a few years ago -- and remember, that left spectators injured. The legitimate news value of the video quickly gave way to the grotesque imperative for hype.
If you want a bottom line assessment of how ridiculous much of this got, just consider the amount of time wasted talking about how Danica positioned her hands when she was going to hit the inside wall at the end of the qual race. Much ado about nothing.
Except when it's about Danica and NASCAR. Unless you're a Patrick fan, it's going to be a long season. The media Lords and their obedient "journalists" will make sure of that.
Mark Armijo and I will have coverage of this weekend's NASCAR races at Phoenix International Raceway in the Arizona Republic. Below is a link to my Sunday NASCAR preview, and the rest of our work will begin Tuesday. My now traditional Sunday Newsmaker Q&A will be with AJ Allmendinger. If you aren't in AZ to buy the paper, see our stories at http://www.azcentral.com/ . Thank you.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/02/26/20120226nascar-2012-story-lines.html
Posted a little early, but here's my March "Drags, Dollars & Sense" column on CompetitionPlus.com . It's about the future of the Arizona Nationals:
http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/editorials/20376-knight-nhra-largely-to-blame-for-az-nats-shortcomings
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Sunday, February 19, 2012
AND SO IT BEGINS
Last year's NASCAR season got off to such a great start one might have thought NASA was pushing the buttons and the starting line was at Cape Canaveral, not Daytona.
Think how those first three weeks went: Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500 pole, out-of-no where Trevor Bayne put the Wood Brothers' No. 21 back into victory lane at the Great American Race and impressed America during his media tour with a humble, God-fearing personality. Toss in Michael Waltrip's 10-year anniversary of his D500 win with a Truck series checkered flag and Tony Stewart's Nationwide series triumph. Then, onto Phoenix where Jeff Gordon got back on track with an ultra-popular victory over Kyle Busch.
Taken as a whole, Brian France couldn't have planned it much better. Or paid anyone to orchestrate it. And that rocket launch beginning provided momentum that carried through the long, LONG season. Add in five first-time winners, Tony Stewart's Chase glory, the end of the Jimmie Johnson era, and a Homestead for the ages and it wasn't surprising some key TV numbers showed a much needed boost.
One year later, France and NASCAR and the sport and the industry need it all to happen again.
One year of uptick will quickly be forgotten if the storylines aren't compelling, the racing good (or better) and the Business of Racing metrics still headed north.
Sure, a Junior or Gordon or Stewart (or, yes, Danica) victory in the Great American Race would be very good for biz. But, as Bayne proved last February, someone else can power the stock car sport to heights if it's the right he/she with the right personality and a personal story that the national media believes it just HAS to tell -- because it will attract viewers and readers.
I'm sure Brian and Co. are giving that a lot of thought this week. And hoping for another electric start for the Sprint Cup season. A wild Budweiser Shootout (too many wrecks for my taste), close Kyle Busch-Tony Stewart finish, and ESPN darling Carl Edwards on the pole isn't a bad beginning.
Here are links to three of my Arizona Republic NHRA stories from last week:
Friday, Courtney Force --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/02/16/20120216nhra-driver-courtney-force-great-expectations.html
Sunday, Jack Beckman Q&A --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/02/19/20120219nhra-arizona-nationals-jack-beckman.html
Monday, new NHRA venue in Arizona?
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/02/20/20120220nhra-future-firebird-international-raceway-question.html
FAST LINES: The fans spoke and ESPN and NHRA woke-up, with live streaming returning to ESPN3 starting with the Arizona Nationals. Congratulations, folks, you did it . . . There will be an IndyCar test this week at Phoenix International Raceway. Don't automatically assume that means the series will return to PIR in 2013. But it will help show if the new track configuration and open-wheel cars are suitable for each other . . . NHRA's Arizona Nationals featured all teammate finals: John Force Funny Cars, Don Schumacher Racing Top Fuelers, and Summit team Pro Stockers . . . NASCAR did something last week I suggested to NHRA years ago. On the eve of the Sprint Cup season, Brian France E-mailed a note of thanks and appreciation to the news media. That's the kind of gesture that is remembered.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Think how those first three weeks went: Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the Daytona 500 pole, out-of-no where Trevor Bayne put the Wood Brothers' No. 21 back into victory lane at the Great American Race and impressed America during his media tour with a humble, God-fearing personality. Toss in Michael Waltrip's 10-year anniversary of his D500 win with a Truck series checkered flag and Tony Stewart's Nationwide series triumph. Then, onto Phoenix where Jeff Gordon got back on track with an ultra-popular victory over Kyle Busch.
Taken as a whole, Brian France couldn't have planned it much better. Or paid anyone to orchestrate it. And that rocket launch beginning provided momentum that carried through the long, LONG season. Add in five first-time winners, Tony Stewart's Chase glory, the end of the Jimmie Johnson era, and a Homestead for the ages and it wasn't surprising some key TV numbers showed a much needed boost.
One year later, France and NASCAR and the sport and the industry need it all to happen again.
One year of uptick will quickly be forgotten if the storylines aren't compelling, the racing good (or better) and the Business of Racing metrics still headed north.
Sure, a Junior or Gordon or Stewart (or, yes, Danica) victory in the Great American Race would be very good for biz. But, as Bayne proved last February, someone else can power the stock car sport to heights if it's the right he/she with the right personality and a personal story that the national media believes it just HAS to tell -- because it will attract viewers and readers.
I'm sure Brian and Co. are giving that a lot of thought this week. And hoping for another electric start for the Sprint Cup season. A wild Budweiser Shootout (too many wrecks for my taste), close Kyle Busch-Tony Stewart finish, and ESPN darling Carl Edwards on the pole isn't a bad beginning.
Here are links to three of my Arizona Republic NHRA stories from last week:
Friday, Courtney Force --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/02/16/20120216nhra-driver-courtney-force-great-expectations.html
Sunday, Jack Beckman Q&A --
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/02/19/20120219nhra-arizona-nationals-jack-beckman.html
Monday, new NHRA venue in Arizona?
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/speed/articles/2012/02/20/20120220nhra-future-firebird-international-raceway-question.html
FAST LINES: The fans spoke and ESPN and NHRA woke-up, with live streaming returning to ESPN3 starting with the Arizona Nationals. Congratulations, folks, you did it . . . There will be an IndyCar test this week at Phoenix International Raceway. Don't automatically assume that means the series will return to PIR in 2013. But it will help show if the new track configuration and open-wheel cars are suitable for each other . . . NHRA's Arizona Nationals featured all teammate finals: John Force Funny Cars, Don Schumacher Racing Top Fuelers, and Summit team Pro Stockers . . . NASCAR did something last week I suggested to NHRA years ago. On the eve of the Sprint Cup season, Brian France E-mailed a note of thanks and appreciation to the news media. That's the kind of gesture that is remembered.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Sunday, February 12, 2012
FILLING THE VOID
This past weekend marked the annual transition on the American sports scene. The NFL -- the dominant U.S. sports league -- wasn't playing after a record-setting Super Bowl. What to fill the void?
Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Pebble Beach stepped forward. If all you paid attention to was ESPN, well, you would have thought the only game in town was the NBA. I've said it before and I'll say it again: The "Association" is the most over-covered sports league in this country. The fact that an unknown New York Knicks' player -- and it meant everything it was a New York guy -- had one good week was good timing for the All-Basketball-All-The-Time crowd. It took about five seconds for the shallow Jeremy Lin-Tim Tebow comparisons to flow from the media "experts." There was some baseball "hot stove" league chatter, involving the New York Yankees.
NHRA started at Pomona. It's only the first of 23 races but I have a growing sense of dread that this year's marketing philosophy is based on giving reverse gear a try. No one is going to convince me parking Larry Dixon for Khalid alBalooshi is good for the sport. Ditto Melanie Troxel on the sidelines. I'm as interested as everyone else in how Courtney Force races (look for my story on Courtney in this Friday's Arizona Republic), but she can't be expected to carry the Full Throttle series on her own shoulders. The print version of the all-important media guide was discontinued without consulting with the media and now we find out the live streaming on ESPN3 ain't happenin'. It does not bode well for a successful NHRA season, despite John Force's win to open the campaign.
NASCAR was on the sidelines, having moved Daytona back to avoid a potential Super Bowl conflict if the NFL had gone to an 18-game schedule. That changes this week as pre-Daytona 500 activities rev-up. Brian France is hoping something as headline-making as Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the pole will happen again this year.
Here's a link to my February "Drags, Dollars & Sense" column on CompetitionPlus.com: Drag racing doesn't need any more John Forces --
http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/20111-commentary-only-one-john-force-needed
Good News (for a change): A print version of National Speed Sport News will return March 23 as Speed Sport Magazine. The rights have been acquired by Turn 3 Media LLC, consisting of my friend and well-known broadcaster Ralph Sheheen (who will be publisher), Curt Moon and former Speed TVer Joe Tripp. Mike Kerchner returns as editor.
The http://NationalSpeedSportNews.com website continues. Print subscriptions are $24.95 with a digital edition for $12.95. Good luck and great fortune to all involved.
Mark Armijo and I will be covering this weekend's NHRA Arizona Nationals for the Arizona Republic, starting this Thursday. Look for my feature on Courtney Force Friday and my Q&A with Jack Beckman Sunday. If you're not here (100 years as a state) to buy the newspaper, check us out at AzCentral.com.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Pebble Beach stepped forward. If all you paid attention to was ESPN, well, you would have thought the only game in town was the NBA. I've said it before and I'll say it again: The "Association" is the most over-covered sports league in this country. The fact that an unknown New York Knicks' player -- and it meant everything it was a New York guy -- had one good week was good timing for the All-Basketball-All-The-Time crowd. It took about five seconds for the shallow Jeremy Lin-Tim Tebow comparisons to flow from the media "experts." There was some baseball "hot stove" league chatter, involving the New York Yankees.
NHRA started at Pomona. It's only the first of 23 races but I have a growing sense of dread that this year's marketing philosophy is based on giving reverse gear a try. No one is going to convince me parking Larry Dixon for Khalid alBalooshi is good for the sport. Ditto Melanie Troxel on the sidelines. I'm as interested as everyone else in how Courtney Force races (look for my story on Courtney in this Friday's Arizona Republic), but she can't be expected to carry the Full Throttle series on her own shoulders. The print version of the all-important media guide was discontinued without consulting with the media and now we find out the live streaming on ESPN3 ain't happenin'. It does not bode well for a successful NHRA season, despite John Force's win to open the campaign.
NASCAR was on the sidelines, having moved Daytona back to avoid a potential Super Bowl conflict if the NFL had gone to an 18-game schedule. That changes this week as pre-Daytona 500 activities rev-up. Brian France is hoping something as headline-making as Dale Earnhardt Jr. winning the pole will happen again this year.
Here's a link to my February "Drags, Dollars & Sense" column on CompetitionPlus.com: Drag racing doesn't need any more John Forces --
http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/20111-commentary-only-one-john-force-needed
Good News (for a change): A print version of National Speed Sport News will return March 23 as Speed Sport Magazine. The rights have been acquired by Turn 3 Media LLC, consisting of my friend and well-known broadcaster Ralph Sheheen (who will be publisher), Curt Moon and former Speed TVer Joe Tripp. Mike Kerchner returns as editor.
The http://NationalSpeedSportNews.com website continues. Print subscriptions are $24.95 with a digital edition for $12.95. Good luck and great fortune to all involved.
Mark Armijo and I will be covering this weekend's NHRA Arizona Nationals for the Arizona Republic, starting this Thursday. Look for my feature on Courtney Force Friday and my Q&A with Jack Beckman Sunday. If you're not here (100 years as a state) to buy the newspaper, check us out at AzCentral.com.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Sunday, February 05, 2012
GUIDE-LESS
In the early 1970s, in the early years of Pocono International Raceway, the press box was a slapped-together wooden structure that could seat 30 reporters. However, no matter where you sat, it was impossible to see the entire 2.5-mile tri-oval.
Now, understand, this was before the days of routine live TV coverage and monitors where replay-after-replay could be reviewed. Those of us covering on deadline -- I was by this time at the Philadelphia Daily News -- needed to be able to see what happened as it happened.
On one of the all-too-often rain days ("Poc-No-Go" we called 'em), a group of us met with track owner Dr. Joseph Mattioli, whose funeral was last week. We told him of our problem and someone wisely explained, "It's like trying to cover a baseball game without being able to see first or third base." Doc Mattioli got a little defensive and said, "What about Indianapolis? You can't see the whole track there either." As politely as possible, I told him that Pocono International Raceway wasn't the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and that what they could get away with at Indy wasn't what Pocono could get away with.
Pocono made improvements over time -- and everyone benefitted.
I was reminded of this last week, when NHRA announced there would be no hard copies of its 2012 media guide, only an online version. In justifying what was obviously a cost-saving move, NHRA noted that other sports had already gone all-digital. Quoting directly from the media notice:
"Thanks to increases in technology in recent years, it has become more practical for sports teams and leagues to eliminate printed copies and make their media guides available in digital-only formats. As many of you know, this has been an ongoing trend in major sports leagues since as far back as 2009. Many teams in the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, major colleges, and the PGA Tour no longer print media guides."
With respect, I'm sorry to tell you this, NHRA, but you're not the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, major college or the PGA Tour. You're an ultra-niche sport that has struggled for many years to get on-going, consistent, national media coverage. And, as I've written many times, I don't think that's right -- I believe NHRA is an under-covered sport that deserves more than it gets.
For NHRA to try to explain-away a bean-counting -- not a media relations -- decision by comparing itself to truly Big Time sports teams and leagues shows it's out-of-touch with reality. Fine if football and baseball and golf think they can properly service media needs by going online only. NHRA can't. That is a cold, hard, honest FACT.
What's enormously frustrating to me is, for several years now, I have been encouraging NHRA to be more pro-active in developing good one-on-one relationships with key media. I don't mean E-mails -- I mean picking up the phone and actually TALKING with journalists. There is no substitute for the sound of the human voice but NHRA, maybe more than any of the other important racing sanction organizations, has continued to slip into the de-humanized world of E-mails, texting, Twitter and so forth. I guess the budget for phone calls got cut along with the media guide budget because, at least with me, the phone hasn't been ringing.
If -- IF -- the appropriate NHRAers had worked to foster such relationships -- and then actually bothered to pick up the phone and ASK -- it would have taken maybe 10 minutes to realize what a Big Mistake discontinuing the printed guide was. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway discovered just that last year. Anyone who has ever been under deadline writing pressure knows it's much easier -- and faster -- to pick up a printed guide and find the needed information than it is to store a story, go to a website or another file, navigate through it to find the needed page and information, then click out of that and go back to the original story. Add to that the slow and inconsistent Internet connectivity at many tracks -- already burdened by the large file size of photos and video -- and that just slows the process down even further.
Let me guess: NHRA, having saved peanuts on a printed media guide, isn't going to turn around and invest substantial dollars on trackside Internet upgrades.
I'll say it again: NHRA deserves more national media coverage than it gets. Already struggling mightily to make gains on that front, it just made a dumb bean-counting decision that will make it more difficult to cover the Full Throttle series. And give media looking for a reason not to cover drag racing another excuse.
As Roger Penske told me 30 years ago, self-inflicted wounds are the most painful -- because they could have been avoided. NHRA just hurt itself with a needless, self-inflicted wound.
If only someone would have asked first.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Now, understand, this was before the days of routine live TV coverage and monitors where replay-after-replay could be reviewed. Those of us covering on deadline -- I was by this time at the Philadelphia Daily News -- needed to be able to see what happened as it happened.
On one of the all-too-often rain days ("Poc-No-Go" we called 'em), a group of us met with track owner Dr. Joseph Mattioli, whose funeral was last week. We told him of our problem and someone wisely explained, "It's like trying to cover a baseball game without being able to see first or third base." Doc Mattioli got a little defensive and said, "What about Indianapolis? You can't see the whole track there either." As politely as possible, I told him that Pocono International Raceway wasn't the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and that what they could get away with at Indy wasn't what Pocono could get away with.
Pocono made improvements over time -- and everyone benefitted.
I was reminded of this last week, when NHRA announced there would be no hard copies of its 2012 media guide, only an online version. In justifying what was obviously a cost-saving move, NHRA noted that other sports had already gone all-digital. Quoting directly from the media notice:
"Thanks to increases in technology in recent years, it has become more practical for sports teams and leagues to eliminate printed copies and make their media guides available in digital-only formats. As many of you know, this has been an ongoing trend in major sports leagues since as far back as 2009. Many teams in the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, major colleges, and the PGA Tour no longer print media guides."
With respect, I'm sorry to tell you this, NHRA, but you're not the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, major college or the PGA Tour. You're an ultra-niche sport that has struggled for many years to get on-going, consistent, national media coverage. And, as I've written many times, I don't think that's right -- I believe NHRA is an under-covered sport that deserves more than it gets.
For NHRA to try to explain-away a bean-counting -- not a media relations -- decision by comparing itself to truly Big Time sports teams and leagues shows it's out-of-touch with reality. Fine if football and baseball and golf think they can properly service media needs by going online only. NHRA can't. That is a cold, hard, honest FACT.
What's enormously frustrating to me is, for several years now, I have been encouraging NHRA to be more pro-active in developing good one-on-one relationships with key media. I don't mean E-mails -- I mean picking up the phone and actually TALKING with journalists. There is no substitute for the sound of the human voice but NHRA, maybe more than any of the other important racing sanction organizations, has continued to slip into the de-humanized world of E-mails, texting, Twitter and so forth. I guess the budget for phone calls got cut along with the media guide budget because, at least with me, the phone hasn't been ringing.
If -- IF -- the appropriate NHRAers had worked to foster such relationships -- and then actually bothered to pick up the phone and ASK -- it would have taken maybe 10 minutes to realize what a Big Mistake discontinuing the printed guide was. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway discovered just that last year. Anyone who has ever been under deadline writing pressure knows it's much easier -- and faster -- to pick up a printed guide and find the needed information than it is to store a story, go to a website or another file, navigate through it to find the needed page and information, then click out of that and go back to the original story. Add to that the slow and inconsistent Internet connectivity at many tracks -- already burdened by the large file size of photos and video -- and that just slows the process down even further.
Let me guess: NHRA, having saved peanuts on a printed media guide, isn't going to turn around and invest substantial dollars on trackside Internet upgrades.
I'll say it again: NHRA deserves more national media coverage than it gets. Already struggling mightily to make gains on that front, it just made a dumb bean-counting decision that will make it more difficult to cover the Full Throttle series. And give media looking for a reason not to cover drag racing another excuse.
As Roger Penske told me 30 years ago, self-inflicted wounds are the most painful -- because they could have been avoided. NHRA just hurt itself with a needless, self-inflicted wound.
If only someone would have asked first.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Sunday, January 29, 2012
ALL EYES ON INDY
ONE MORE: A final look from the Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction in Scottsdale -- this 1957 Indy 500 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser convertible pace car replica caught my eye.The Big Question this week is: How will Indianapolis do?
Indy, of course, has hosted major sporting events for many years, the NCAA basketball tournament up there with the Indianapolis 500 and the early years of the NASCAR Brickyard 400.
But nothing -- NOTHING -- will be like hosting the Super Bowl, which Indy is doing for the first time.
The NFL championship game has become an unofficial national holiday and much more than a sporting event. The Super Bowl is more than a game -- it's a business networking and marketing showcase, a debut for specially produced TV commercials, a celebrity and CEO magnet, and a media spectacle unlike anything else in America. With all due respect to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, none of its events ever has or ever will reach across all these societal and cultural expanses the way the SB does. On-site attendance aside, the Super Bowl blows away the I500 in terms of national importance and sporting and corporate and media magnitude.
I'm wondering how the city will present itself to the rest of the country? As the narrow-minded and provincial "Racing Capital of the World" that helped get IMS and the I500 into so much trouble? Or as a more open-thinking town with a perspective that recognizes there is a world out there beyond the borders of Indiana?
Yes, pay attention to the Xs and Os coverage of the Patriots and Giants. But, for my purposes, I'll be following much more closely how the national media reports on Indy itself. This is especially true given the teams come with the traveling New York and Boston media corps and their East Coast bias and elitism. What will they say about the city? What, if any, coverage will come to the Speedway and the IndyCar series still trying to recover from Dan Wheldon's fatal crash? Will that be brought up and sensationalized? Will the Hulman-George family itself come in for any critical coverage from the national press types in their attempt to explain to the left and right coasts why the Big Game is in -- INDIANAPOLIS! ? -- instead of Miami or New Orleans or another of the media's favorite warm-weather playground locations. (Don't dismiss this possibility: In today's media world, anything is possible.)
(Are the IMS and ICS PR departments ready -- just in case?)
And, of course, what will the weather be like and how will the city handle a big snow storm? I hope the organizers consulted with Roger Penske and borrowed from his storm plan when he chaired Detroit's Super Bowl host committee a few years ago.
For those of us who have spent so much time in Indianapolis over the years, the Big Story this week could well be how the city does, even moreso than the Patriots and Giants.
As someone who was around at the very beginning of Pocono International Raceway, I have to acknowledge the death of Pocono's founder, Dr. Joseph Mattioli. I lived in Philadelphia back when the track hosted its first 500 mile Indy Car race, the Schaffer 500, in 1971, won by Mark Donohue. I went on to cover countless Pocono events for the Philadelphia Daily News and was also there for the first USAC stock car race, the debut of NASCAR, Formula 5000 and IMSA on the infield road course and the ill-fated World Series of Auto Racing on the three-quarter mile oval for USAC midgets and sprints. I spent a ton of time around Doc Mattioli in those days, when the facility always seemed to be on the brink of financial collapse and various political controversies, and was on the opposite side when I worked for CART and Doc Joe filed a lawsuit against CART. Of all the ups-and-downs and good times and disagreements I had with him -- and there are many stories I could tell -- this much can be said for sure: There would be no Pocono Raceway without the Doc. My best thoughts are with his wife of over 60 years, Rose, and their family.
FAST LINES: Congratulations to my friend Al Pearce, the longtime NASCAR writer, named to the 2012 Virginia Sports Hall of Fame and Museum class . . . The World of Outlaws has its third different PR coordinator in three years, with Shawn Miller the new guy at the races . . . Never doubt how much horsepower NASCAR can bring to any situation. Its attorney for the on-going Jeremy Mayfield drug suspension lawsuit is David Boies, who represented Al Gore in front of the Supreme Court in the disputed 2000 presidential election . . . Benny Phillips, who died last week and covered NASCAR for something like three decades for media outlets including the High Point Enterprise, Stock Car Racing magazine and MotorWeek Illustrated, was a very nice man in my professional dealings with him. When, as a PR rep, I was able to assist him with some information or arrangements (such as at the first Brickyard 400 in 1994), he always gave me the impression he appreciated the help -- and that's rare in today's media centers. God Bless.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Sunday, January 22, 2012
'24' MEMORIES
SHOW STOPPER: It was only a show car, but Courtney Force's new Traxxas Ford Mustang Funny Car was the centerpiece of the impressive Traxxas display at last week's Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction in Scottsdale. Courtney wasn't there and overall racer participation seemed down, perhaps due to scheduling conflicts with NHRA testing and NASCAR's Hall of Fame induction ceremony and fan festival. Rick Hendrick, Roger Penske, Mario Andretti and Brad Keselowski were visitors.This weekend is the 50th anniversary running of what is now known as the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Whether the R24 or the 12 Hours of Sebring is America's most important sports car race can be debated, but I can't help but have special feelings for Daytona, because in a 24-month span I experienced both extreme ends of the endurance event's emotional roller-coaster.
In 1989, I worked the event with the Andrettis, in what was an emotional farewell for many of us. My friend Al Holbert, the Le Mans and Daytona winner, had been killed in a private airplane crash the previous September. Many of Al's guys gathered one more time to run a pair of Porsche 962s. Ours fell out in the evening, while the other car, which had John Andretti as one of its drivers, went on to win.
In 1990, I was a part of the Castrol Jaguar XJR-12 two-car team. We were running 1-2 after just two hours and stayed that way through the end. Davy Jones, Jan Lammers and Andy Wallace were the winners, with Martin Brundle, Price Cobb and John Nielsen the runners-up.
It was a fantastic experience to get to go to Daytona's victory lane. I remember that, from the time I got up to when I got back to bed, I was up for 39 straight hours (excepting short naps on a lounge chair outside the team motorhome.) I have a nice plaque from the team on my office wall thanking me for my contribution to this achievement.
Team owner, the late Tom Walkinshaw, enjoyed it immensely when, on the elevator ride up to the media box, I told the drivers that the most important part of their job was done, but there was still more work to do: Please take a deep breath and reach for whatever remaining energy they had, to interact well with the media. They did, with Jones the man in the media spotlight.
The next year, Mario, Michael and Jeff Andretti were back in a Porsche. After an electrical problem dropped our Porsche well behind after just one hour, some hard-driving by Michael throughout the night meant we took the overall lead at sunrise. Alas, there were mechanical woes, which dropped us from contention. With Mario behind the wheel, the engine blew right in front of our pits -- with just 15 minutes to go!
That's the Rolex 24. I'll be watching -- and feeling -- for all the competitors this weekend.
They say everything is bigger in Texas. Apparently, including ticket pricing at Circuit of the Americas. Just announced is the Formula One track's plans for sale of 15-year personal seat licenses ranging from $1,000 to $5,000 per seat, "depending on proximity to the start/finish line and amenities." Reminder: a PSL just gives you the right to spend more money to actually buy a ticket. Call me skeptical about a plan for a project that has been troubled for months. I assume management did its research, but if this is successful in this economy, I'll gladly offer to buy Bernie Ecclestone a 10-gallon hat.
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Sunday, January 15, 2012
AND SO IT (2012) BEGINS
JIM CHAPMAN AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN MOTORSPORTS PUBLIC RELATIONS: Bill York (left) accepts from Paul Page at January 7 AARWBA All-America Team ceremony in Indianapolis. (Photo courtesy of Dan R. Boyd.)The season officially starts for me this week at the Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction, a short drive from my home in Scottsdale.
Yes, I know, Barrett-Jackson is all about the cars. For most, that is. For me -- while I enjoy looking at the machines as much as anyone -- it's about the people. I've found you never know who you'll see at this festive automotive carnival. Last year, for example, I was walking toward the main auction area when who comes over from my left but NASCAR President Mike Helton. Another day, outside behind the stage, who comes walking by but NHRA Top Fuel great Joe Amato. Rick Hendrick, Melanie Troxel, Rusty Wallace, Linda Vaughn, Jim McGee and Ray Evernham were other racers I encountered in my "laps" around the auction site.
I look forward to seeing whoever I'll see this week. And, yes, the cars.
The metrics most-often quoted to judge the "success" of Barrett-Jackson are: How much is spent on the vehicles up for auction? And, what's the total attendance? I have a different measure: How many people are actually spending at the countless vender booths, where you can find everything from vintage gas pumps to auto art to neon signs to outdoor furniture to jewelry to financial advice. We know the "one percenters" are doing well enough to bid-up for the cars. Are the "99 percenters" doing OK enough to buy the other stuff?
I wasn't able to attend the AARWBA ceremony in Indianapolis earlier this month to present the 2011 Jim Chapman Award for Excellence in Motorsports Public Relations to Bill York. Paul Page did the honors in my absence, and read the following letter from me:
Good evening, everyone.
Jim Chapman was, above all else, a true gentlemen. So I’m sure Jim would agree with me that 2 things we don’t say often enough these days are: “Thank You” and “I’m sorry.”
Let me begin, therefore, by saying “Thank You” to Dusty Brandel and AARWBA for allowing the 2011 Jim Chapman Award to be presented at tonight’s ceremony. And “I’m sorry” that another obligation makes it impossible for me to be with you. Even more than his many professional accomplishments, Jim valued his family above all else, so I am somewhat comforted by the knowledge that it’s a family matter that requires my absence.
Not only because I am chairman of the Jim Chapman Award selection committee -- but more importantly -- because Jim was my closest friend and had a profound influence on my life and career, it’s emotionally difficult for me not to be there for the presentation. Especially since this award, for Excellence in Motorsports Public Relations, has been earned by a wonderful friend of mine and someone who has worked for decades in the spirit and example of Mr. Chapman.
Thanks to Paul Page -- a valued member of the selection committee and one of Jim’s countless friends -- for reading this and making the official presentation.
Those of you who were blessed to know Jim need no explanation why this is important. To those of you who didn’t know Jim, you owe it to yourself to “Google” his name. To learn about Jim is to make yourself a better professional -- and a better person.
I will leave it to Paul to recount Jim’s numerous achievements. It is very appropriate, though, to remember that Jim was not only Babe Ruth’s PR representative, he was the Babe’s friend and confidant. Jim remains every bit the legend in the PR business -- and not just in motorsports PR -- that the Babe is in American sports.
The Chapman Award dates back to 1991 and Jim took great pride in it. Since 2004, any PR person in any type of motorsports has been eligible. The recipient is chosen by a national committee of journalists, almost all of whom knew Jim, so they best understand the high standards required of a Chapman Award winner. I thank the committee members for their thoughtful consideration -- they all agree, it’s an honor to participate in a process that honors Jim’s legacy as well as someone who works to the highest standards of professionalism as established by Mr. Chapman.
Jim was “old school” in the best tradition. He deeply believed in the value -- and joy -- of 1-on-1 relationship building. He knew having a good professional relationship with individual journalists was important in good times -- and essential in bad times. Jim worked before the age of electronic communications such as E-mail and Twitter, but even today, I know he would agree that pressing “send” is no substitute for the sound of a person’s voice, a handshake, a face-to-face conversation. In other words, the “human touch.” Jim was a true master at making everyone feel important and welcome. That is greatly missing in today’s so-called “modern” PR -- and everyone suffers as a result -- especially the client or employer.
Tonight’s recipient is the exception. For decades, he has been a true ambassador for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and a friend to journalists around the world. I will always be grateful to him, because, even when our jobs had us representing opposite sides in racing’s political battles, he always extended a hand of friendship.
Jim Chapman played a significant role in the history of the Indy 500 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He was friends with Tony Hulman, Mari Hulman George, Tony George and the rest of the Hulman-George family. I’m glad current IMS President and CEO Jeff Belskus also got to know Jim at the annual PPG dinner Jim hosted for IMS department executives. So the family knows what a great honor it is for a member of the IMS Corporate family to receive an award named for Jim Chapman.
To the man about to be honored as 2011 winner of the Jim Chapman Award for Excellence in Motorsports PR, I must say something more than “Congratulations.” I say that the true honor is not in the award Paul is about to present you. The true honor is having your name forever associated with that of the Great James P. Chapman.
Thank you and God Bless.
I'm a member of the nominating/voting committee for the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, located in Knoxville, Iowa. Congratulations to the following members of the 2012 Hall of Fame class: Johnny Anderson, Thad Dosher, Sam Hoffman, Chuck Hulse, Colby Scroggin, Bobby Ward, Harry Hosterman, Henry Meyer, Ron Shaver, Earl Padgett, Gary Sokola and W.H. (Bill) Vandewater. The induction ceremony will be June 2.
NHRA got a welcome and much-needed boost when DieHard took the inside back cover of Sports Illustrated to herald Matt Hagan's championship. But here are a few missing words I wish would have found their way into the copy: "Drag racing," "Funny Car," "8,000 horsepower," "nitro" and even "Full Throttle." All but "nitro" were in last week's USA Today full-page ad heralding the arrival of Courtney Force.
Here's a link to my January "Drags, Dollars & Sense" column on CompetitionPlus.com. It's about how the presidential election can impact the drag racing economy:
http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/editorials/19900-drags-dollars-a-sense-a-wait-and-see-season
I'm afraid, during the holidays, too many important people in the drag racing industry missed Jon Asher's superb column on CompetitionPlus.com about what must happen to ensure the sport's survival. It's one of the best columns anybody wrote about anything all year. Here's the link. Please don't just read it. Please THINK about it:
http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/editorials/19880-up-front-facing-up-to-a-very-tough-future
[ more next Monday . . . ]
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
2011 IN REVIEW
END OF AN ERA/SIGN OF THE TIME$: The closing of Newman/Haas Racing's IndyCar series operation reflected the third consecutive year of the sport's most difficult sponsorship environment. The team, co-founded by the late Paul Newman and Carl A. Haas, won eight titles. That's me, at left, with Haas, Nigel Mansell and Newman after victory at Nazareth Speedway clinched the 1993 PPG Cup. Note the powerful lineup of corporate backers on our championship banner. Will those days ever come again?Every meaningful story of the racing year had a strong Business of Racing component. So that's how I'll conclude this blog for 2011.
I say this with respect: Even Dan Wheldon's fatal accident had profound BoR ramifications. The image of the series as a good corporate advertising and marketing place certainly being one. Randy Bernard's decision-making and leadership was another ("Untenable," Oct. 26.) And the future of the series' historical foundation on ovals.
That was probably the most important racing biz story of the year: The IndyCar financial failures at Milwaukee, New Hampshire and Kentucky were so obvious and embarrassing that even the media "experts" who had been promoting Bernard to do these deals had to admit it might not be the way to go. How this might further erode the fan base, already complaining about too many road/street courses, will play out in 2012.
The opening three weekends of the NASCAR season gave Sprint Cup a strong launch: Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the Daytona 500 pole, fresh-faced good-kid Trevor Bayne's improbable and popular D500 win, and Jeff Gordon ending a long winless streak with a Phoenix victory certainly created momentum. Add in five first-time winners (including Regan Smith at Darlington), flashes of more-competitiveness from Junior, revamped points system, Tony Stewart's Chase charge and a Homestead finale for the ages -- a tie! -- ended a successful season for NASCAR. The TV numbers were up, including in key demos. NASCAR's overall PR operation was retooled -- results to be determined. Sprint renewed its Cup deal through 2016.
On the other side, the Nationwide and Truck series clearly struggled, especially with team sponsorships. Kevin and DeLana Harvick decided to pack-in their team -- a blow to the dreams of making it Big of grass-roots racers everywhere. Roush Fenway perhaps took the biggest hit, with the redirection of the UPS and Crown Royal sponsorships. As I write, Matt Kenseth has no backing for 2012, and the exact plans for Bayne and Nationwide titlist Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are unclear.
Tracks like Dover, Michigan, California and Atlanta had a major inventory of unsold seats. Phoenix announced two grandstand sellouts for Cup. Nashville went away but, apparently, Gateway is coming back. Circuit of the Americas turned out to be a Texas-sized soap opera. Baltimore attracted a lot of people but lost a ton of money.
M&M's pulled off the power move of the year by pulling its ID off Kyle Busch's car for the last two Cup races. Controversial Kyle managed to keep his job with Joe Gibbs -- brother Kurt didn't with Roger Penske.
Red Bull shut its team doors. Roush and Richard Childress will go down a Cup car in the new year.
In drag racing, Kenny Bernstein's retirement from team ownership was not only a huge story, it was a somewhat perplexing one. He left two years of his lucrative Copart.com sponsorship on the table at a time when most everyone else is scratching for scraps. Kenny sent me a letter afterwards and wrote, "It's time to sit back, relax, and enjoy life!"
Ashley Force Hood -- as popular in drag racing as Sarah Palin at a Tea Party rally -- sat out the season in favor of motherhood and looks to do the same in '12. Track ticket sellers felt her absence. After two consecutive Top Fuel championships, the mysterious Al-Anabi Super Team went into the holidays looking a mess -- Del Worsham "retired" and Larry Dixon was "released."
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosted a successful 100th anniversary 500 -- complete with unbelievable finish -- but to what effect remains to be seen. Nationwide and Grand-Am debut on Brickyard (now Crown Royal) weekend next year. The series tried to spice-up the show with double-wide restarts and the Texas doubleheader with a draw for starting spots in race two. Las Vegas, well . . .
Grand-Am gained a little media notice by placing a bounty on dominant Scott Pruett-Memo Rojas. No matter, they won another championship. The 50th anniversary Rolex 24 comes in January, with important new bodystyles (Corvette!) that a lot of people are counting on to generate more interest from the sports car fan crowd -- such as it is.
ALMS continued to push its "green" platform but -- at least indirectly -- was hurt by the bad Solyndra headlines and various controversies about the viability of such technology. Chevy's Volt is a sales flop, took another smack with recent stories about possible problems with battery fires, and CNBC Wall St. guru Jim Creamer last week called the Volt "a failure." None of that helps ALMS sell what it is trying to sell to the highly fragmented fan base. And then there are the political wranglings over rules with the ACO in France.
The World of Outlaws again provided the most consistent entertainment value and good stories -- Joey Saldana's winning comeback from serious injuries should not be forgotten -- but the lack of a consistent TV package means too many people don't know. No "live" TV for the Knoxville Nationals is simply unacceptable.
The media world got upside-down, too. The fabled print edition of National Speed Sport News folded. Excellent journalists like Dustin Long, on the NASCAR beat, had their jobs eliminated. Too many people got their "news" from anonymous chatroom rumors and Twitter.
My friend Gordon Kirby wrote a few very important sentences the other week and I want to share them here. Reviewing NASCAR's sensational season finale and positive year, GK published:
"Meanwhile the rest of the sport cries out for leadership. It's sad that in the second century of the sport's history amid a new technology boom American auto racing is so rudderless. So many old-time fans have lost their interest in today's racing and shake their heads over the disturbing similarities between our governing classes in Washington and so much of American auto racing."
Amen.
In conclusion, what continued to bother me the most was the overall lowering of standards. It seems almost impossible to have a honest difference of opinion -- what results is anonymous personal attacks on the chatrooms. Media too often no longer seek-out all sides of a story. Too many people -- especially so-called "public relations" people -- don't bother to build one-on-one relationships with the media -- or even talk to them.
At the November NASCAR weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, Ford's on-site rep sat a few feet away from our Arizona Republic work area -- with a direct line-of-sight to see reps from the other three manufacturers over there talking with us -- and never moved from his seat to speak a word. (Sadly, this is all-too typical.) I guess Ford isn't interested in major-market publicity or selling vehicles in Arizona -- that's the impression this kind of PR indifference leaves. In February, Goodyear racing boss Stu Grant told me the tiremaker liked "technology transfer" stories (this in the context of developing a new tire for the repaved/reconfigured Phoenix oval) but whatever racing PR capability he thinks Goodyear has did nothing to follow-up and left an oh-so-bad impression. Made it seem like Goodyear wasn't confident it could produce a good tire for the new PIR. Oh, for the days of Dick Ralston, Phil Holmer, Dave Hendrich, Bill King and Carole Swartz -- Goodyear actually CARED about good media relationships in those days.
What possibly could be more basic than for a "PR" person to talk with media people?
It's too easy to push "send" when what's really needed is a phone call. It's become a very bad, but increasingly accepted, habit in American business to put into an E-mail what properly should be said in person or on the phone.
PR giants like Jim Chapman, Jack Duffy, Bill Dredge and Ralston would be aghast by what passes as "acceptable" these days. No surprise to me committee members selected old-school guy and class act Bill York as winner of the 2011 Jim Chapman Award for Excellence in Motorsports PR.
It's a Crisis of Communications within the industry -- and within our society -- and we all suffer for it. One hundred and 40 characters on Twitter is NOT how to establish and maintain a proper professional relationship. There's a right way and a wrong way of doing things and, these days and in this past year, way-way-way too many people were doing it the wrong way. I think, because it was "easier."
Going forward, I am convinced the consequences of this C of C will be profound. How can any series, any sport, any industry, any society, any culture, any country, be successful when people don't understand how important it is to talk to one another?
The Men of the Year:
http://valvoline.com/racing/behind-closed-garage-doors/2909
Thanks to each one of you who takes time to read what I write here. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays. Happy New Year.
[ more in January, or as news developments warrant . . . ]
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