It wasn’t too long ago that NASCAR was on the biggest power play in professional motorsports. It had all the top tracks, was culling drivers from the best of the rest of the country, and had the most fans (and money) behind it by far.
None of this could make it more apparent than the increasingly silly nature of the sport’s “silly season,” the time of year when drivers started announcing future plans. When I was growing up, usually drivers knew no earlier than October or November where they’d be the next year. Now, stars were signing multi-year contracts as early as May.
It even still borders on the ridiculous, as the concept of signing a contract for “the season after next” still comes into play (Kasey Kahne, anyone?). But the absurdity of the NASCAR silly season has been toned down as the money’s stopped flowing quite as freely through the garage.
During that time frame, IndyCar was on the bottom of the American motorsports food chain. Yes, the Indianapolis 500 still mattered, as it always will. But NASCAR was the top dog, and the Daytona 500 had arguably surpassed Indy. The NHRA had political stability. The split between Grand-Am and American Le Mans was hurting sports car racing, but not as bad as the still-divorced IndyCar and Champ Car hurt open-wheel racing; Grand-Am and the ALMS catered to different niches of sports car racing, and shared a majority of drivers, as they still do.
Most open-wheel drivers weren’t signing contracts until February, right before the beginning of the season. Many had to bring their own sponsorship. Now, we’re in the midst of an offseason that is seeing almost every worthy driver get a ride, and plenty of teams secure funding on their own.
What changed?
The keys here are political stability and room for growth. IndyCar eventually bought out Champ Car, the first action to help bring the sport back together, but just because the two warring factions have unified doesn’t mean that their supporters have done the same. To this day, old Champ Car fans resent the Dallara chassis, calling it a “crapwagon;” meanwhile, fans of the original all-American, all oval Indy Racing League despise the addition of road courses and foreign drivers.
But it was the decision to bring in Randy Bernard as IndyCar CEO that began paying the highest returns. Current fans in the know deify Bernard as the sport’s savior; while one man can’t take credit for everything, it’s easy to understand why.
Before Bernard left Professional Bull Riders, IndyCar was stuck with an outdated car, an underperforming schedule, no marketing charisma whatsoever, a star driver with only one win, and little positive momentum. Since he’s come in, all of that has changed. There’s a new car on the way with multiple manufacturers, some new races with great potential, a fresh look, the potential for some new (and, importantly to some, American) superstars, and things don’t look to fall off track soon.
Clearly, Mike Kelly and the folks at IZOD are to thank for the boost in marketing savvy, and no fan can thank them enough for helping revitalize the sport for other potential sponsors. They’re cool, trendy, and really seem to understand the heritage of the Indianapolis 500 and the essence of what makes open-wheel racing so great. But they can’t be the ones to go around and solicit new engine manufacturers or commercial partners; they are their own entity. That’s the new IndyCar administration’s job, and they do it well.
Compare that to NASCAR, which has seen a whole bunch of bad news under Brian France. The list of problems reads like a nightmare. Declining attendance at overbuilt tracks. Declining TV ratings with broadcast partners who undermine the races with poor coverage or excessive commercials. A divisive racecar that has improved safety at the expense of entertainment. A Chase format that the folks up top still can’t seem to get right. An underachieving Dale Earnhardt Jr. and five-times-consecutive champion Jimmie Johnson. It goes on.
It seems that the only thing that Brian France has carried over to NASCAR from his father’s and grandfather’s leadership is an iron fist, a strong-willed belief that the fans will eventually take what you give them, no matter what. France’s comments at Homestead this year implied that he was woefully out of touch with the common race fan, the people that NASCAR built its success with, implying that the sport was absolutely fine and hinting at even more alterations to the Chase, including a second potential points reset in the final few races to guarantee a big finale every year.
While France tries to impress the media in hope that the fans and sponsors will follow, Bernard has taken the opposite approach. So far, it’s been working out. Fans are beginning to rediscover the sport, and the subsequent new list of partners would make any race fan drool. Witness Chevrolet, Lotus, Mazda, Sunoco, and Verizon Wireless. Witness the addition of a dozen official partners this year alone, from car rental services (Avis) to gourmet popcorn (Just Pop In).
Verizon, shut out of NASCAR due to restrictions on wireless service providers in its Sprint-backed top series, will shift over $10 million to IndyCar sponsorship activation. That’s kind of a big deal.
This just leads to another crucial observation: IndyCar has almost infinite room for growth. “The split” left the American open-wheel world with a bunch of scorched earth and a long regenerative process. But now that the soil is a bit more fertile, and the costs are still relatively low, the sport should be able to support a renaissance.
Again, compare that to NASCAR. The days of 50 fully-funded teams are long gone. Sponsorship costs are so high that most companies consolidate with the biggest teams and share space on top drivers’ cars instead of giving some of the little guys a chance. The sport is overvalued and underperforming, and it shows with the loss of longtime, big-name sponsors like Old Spice, and the minimized roles of sport mainstays like Kellogg’s, Interstate Batteries, and Valvoline.
What’s the result of all of this?
With NASCAR now deemed “untouchable” by many potential sponsors, their funds are shifting over to IndyCar, which is able to welcome them in with open arms and significantly lower prices. The racing may not be much better than it’s ever been since moving to a spec vehicle, but the buzz is infinitely more positive.
It leads to drivers like Tony Kanaan landing on their feet within a month of losing a major backer. It leads to a bonanza of sponsorship deals for Team Penske. It leads to young drivers like James Hinchcliffe, Pippa Mann, and Charlie Kimball getting deals to move up, or at least being considered to. It leads to major funding for Simona de Silvestro, the sport’s biggest overachiever and perhaps its next female race winner.
And now we have 16 drivers and teams locked in before the new year – almost a 25% increase from where we were at this point last year. That will comprise the majority of the field, and that’s a huge step forwards from where we’ve been.
IndyCar has never done things the “NASCAR way,” and likely never will as long as Bernard is in charge. It can’t, and it doesn’t have to. There’s no reliance on the past - just the opportunity to build a better future for open-wheel racing in the States. And with NASCAR's list of problems growing yearly, it may not be as hard as you'd think for the Indianapolis 500 to become the crown jewel of American motorsports once again.
Showing posts with label NASCAR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NASCAR. Show all posts
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Opinion: Two Sanctioning Bodies at a Crossroads
You’d think it impossible, but the IZOD IndyCar Series nearly upstaged NASCAR’s best and brightest this past weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway without even staging a race. And although they didn’t quite pull it off, they certainly did their damnedest.
For one, Danica Patrick made her much-discussed return to the Nationwide Series. That wasn’t too successful, as an early-race accident put her off of the lead lap for the final 190 out of 200 laps, rendering her goal of a top-15 impossible. But Patrick did begin to grasp some things by the end of the event, and did manage to score her best career stock car finish (let’s ignore the fact that it was 30th).
The next day, the sport’s top names – CEO Randy Bernard, top driver Dario Franchitti, and SMI CEO/track mogul Bruton Smith (the man whose purchase of NHMS has greatly upgraded the facility) joined track promoter Jerry Gappens and New Hampshire governor John Lynch to announce next year’s return of the series to Loudon.
The press conference lasted nearly 30 minutes, and touched on topics from NHMS’ potential loss of a Sprint Cup race date (especially if the IndyCar event is a great success) to other potential additions to next year’s IndyCar schedule, especially other SMI tracks like Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Charlotte.
Dario wheeled his No. 10 Target Dallara-Honda out on the track for a few hot laps in between the national anthem and starting command for the Cup race, and although TNT’s cameras didn’t catch it, thousands of longtime NHMS ticketholders sure did. IndyCar has come a long way from where it was in 1998, the final year that NHMS hosted an open-wheel event, which was won by Tony Stewart (before he was Tony Stewart).
Granted, NASCAR sure gave IndyCar some help in the interest department as the race soldiered on. The massive gap between cautions, over 200 laps, had some taking to their Twitter accounts and praying for debris cautions. But in perhaps the greatest proof ever of the theory of relativity, the race that seemed to drag on was actually on pace to tie or eclipse the record for fastest race ever at NHMS until Juan Pablo Montoya crashed out.
All the discussion over the past few weeks about drivers lacking respect for one another vanished. Listening to Stewart apologize for getting into Kurt Busch in the media center, in a last lap battle that Busch called “fun” no less, suggested that such arguments had lost some of their bite.
And all of the hype surrounding Joe Gibbs Racing over the past month or so vanished as Kyle Busch fell back at the end, Denny Hamlin spent time off the lead lap, and defending race winner Joey Logano was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, those who wondered if Jimmie Johnson had finally lost a step were treated to a nice helping of their own words as he fought back from a poor early pit stop for the victory.
This brings NASCAR back to Daytona for its Independence Day spectacular, and at a perfect time – as the series begins to limp from the loss of new and interesting storylines, and the re-emergence of the same old song and dance up front.
IndyCar, on the other hand, heads into the second half of its season at Watkins Glen with more momentum than it’s ever had since reunification in 2008. Promoters are fighting to put their events on its schedule, chassis manufacturers are fighting to put their cars on track for 2012, and best of all, the drivers are fighting for three distinct championships, with all still very up in the air.
Next weekend’s events will be very interesting to see where momentum takes both niches of motorsport. Will NASCAR produce a story for the ages coming out of Daytona, or will IndyCar continue to nibble away at the big picture and increase its market share? We can only watch and find out.
For one, Danica Patrick made her much-discussed return to the Nationwide Series. That wasn’t too successful, as an early-race accident put her off of the lead lap for the final 190 out of 200 laps, rendering her goal of a top-15 impossible. But Patrick did begin to grasp some things by the end of the event, and did manage to score her best career stock car finish (let’s ignore the fact that it was 30th).
The next day, the sport’s top names – CEO Randy Bernard, top driver Dario Franchitti, and SMI CEO/track mogul Bruton Smith (the man whose purchase of NHMS has greatly upgraded the facility) joined track promoter Jerry Gappens and New Hampshire governor John Lynch to announce next year’s return of the series to Loudon.
The press conference lasted nearly 30 minutes, and touched on topics from NHMS’ potential loss of a Sprint Cup race date (especially if the IndyCar event is a great success) to other potential additions to next year’s IndyCar schedule, especially other SMI tracks like Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Charlotte.
Dario wheeled his No. 10 Target Dallara-Honda out on the track for a few hot laps in between the national anthem and starting command for the Cup race, and although TNT’s cameras didn’t catch it, thousands of longtime NHMS ticketholders sure did. IndyCar has come a long way from where it was in 1998, the final year that NHMS hosted an open-wheel event, which was won by Tony Stewart (before he was Tony Stewart).
Granted, NASCAR sure gave IndyCar some help in the interest department as the race soldiered on. The massive gap between cautions, over 200 laps, had some taking to their Twitter accounts and praying for debris cautions. But in perhaps the greatest proof ever of the theory of relativity, the race that seemed to drag on was actually on pace to tie or eclipse the record for fastest race ever at NHMS until Juan Pablo Montoya crashed out.
All the discussion over the past few weeks about drivers lacking respect for one another vanished. Listening to Stewart apologize for getting into Kurt Busch in the media center, in a last lap battle that Busch called “fun” no less, suggested that such arguments had lost some of their bite.
And all of the hype surrounding Joe Gibbs Racing over the past month or so vanished as Kyle Busch fell back at the end, Denny Hamlin spent time off the lead lap, and defending race winner Joey Logano was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, those who wondered if Jimmie Johnson had finally lost a step were treated to a nice helping of their own words as he fought back from a poor early pit stop for the victory.
This brings NASCAR back to Daytona for its Independence Day spectacular, and at a perfect time – as the series begins to limp from the loss of new and interesting storylines, and the re-emergence of the same old song and dance up front.
IndyCar, on the other hand, heads into the second half of its season at Watkins Glen with more momentum than it’s ever had since reunification in 2008. Promoters are fighting to put their events on its schedule, chassis manufacturers are fighting to put their cars on track for 2012, and best of all, the drivers are fighting for three distinct championships, with all still very up in the air.
Next weekend’s events will be very interesting to see where momentum takes both niches of motorsport. Will NASCAR produce a story for the ages coming out of Daytona, or will IndyCar continue to nibble away at the big picture and increase its market share? We can only watch and find out.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Opinion: Dual Title Format Another Innovative Concept
Yesterday, the IZOD IndyCar Series announced its intent to award championships to drivers based on their mastery of the series' two types of tracks. The driver who scores the most points on ovals, as well as the driver who scores the most points on road and street courses, will be awarded cash bonuses. Of course, the series' overall champion will still receive the biggest prize at the end of the year. The two trophies will be named in a fan vote after two open-wheel icons.
The dual championship format is the brainchild of IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard, who wanted to find a way to engage and bring together the two different demographics of open-wheel fans in America - the oval fans who are more inclined to spend IndyCar off weekends tuned into NASCAR, and the road and street course fans who likely spend some of their time watching sports car racing. Bernard wanted to play up the immense diversity of the IndyCar schedule, which, with its even split between the two types of tracks, is like no other series in the world.
On one hand, awarding extra championships begins to saturate the series. It awards certain drivers for proficiency on one type of track, while almost admitting to their lack of skill on the other. For example, drivers like Danica Patrick and Ed Carpenter would be able to contend for the oval title, but wouldn't stand a chance for the road course championship; meanwhile, Justin Wilson and Will Power should be among the top drivers in road course points, but may struggle on the ovals.
Also, nobody has ever legitimized this sort of thing before in any other sport. Sure, unofficial tallies are often made, especially in NASCAR. During last weekend's NASCAR broadcast from Talladega, the broadcasting crew noted that Elliott Sadler scored the most points in the four superspeedway races last year. Similarly, fans keep track of the best road course and short track drivers, and so on and so forth. But NASCAR does not, and never has, awarded some sort of bonus for being exceptional at one type of track over another.
On the other hand, however, this is a daring move that contributes to Bernard's making his mark on IndyCar, a sport which desperately needed a breath of fresh air at this time last year. Other series have their own championships-within-a-championship, such as the Michelin Green Challenge in the American Le Mans Series, which awards bonuses to the teams with the most efficient and environmentally friendly cars over the course of the season. But only IndyCar can award this sort of championship based on two very different styles of tracks.
It's also almost a given that the eventual winner of at least one of these titles will be the IZOD IndyCar Series champion at the end of the year. IndyCar.com posted a table with the drivers who would have won these bonuses over the past five years. In 2005, 2007, and 2008, the overall series champion scored the most points on ovals, and last year, champion Dario Franchitti scored the most points on road courses. In the only exception year, 2006, oval champion Dan Wheldon actually tied series champion Sam Hornish Jr. for overall points, but Hornish won the title tiebreaker on more wins. In effect, one of the two winning drivers is almost guaranteed to take away the big prize at the end of the year.
The only conceivable way that the oval or road/street course champion wouldn't win the big prize at the end of the year is convoluted at best, and involves some quirks. Because the series has nine oval races, compared to eight road and street course events, the season finale at Homestead/Miami Speedway is left off of the oval championship. To win the overall title without winning one of the smaller ones first, one driver would probably have to be in second place in both disciplines, and then have a great Homestead weekend while the oval and road/street course champions would falter. (Because the best drivers in the IZOD IndyCar Series usually run up front at all tracks, because they more often than not drive for Roger Penske or Chip Ganassi, it's highly unlikely to expect the oval champion to be poorly ranked on street courses, and vice versa.)
This new dual championship format also opens up marketing ideas for low-budget teams looking to put together solid overall programs. If a team is torn between two drivers, one an oval ace and the other a road course maverick, they can split the schedule between the two and attempt to run for the individual championships. It probably won't happen, sure, but if somebody fails to get oval clearance a year or two down the road, it may be an attractive option for a team to consider.
The jury is still out on how the first dual championship season will play out in the IZOD IndyCar Series, but the idea holds up to the high standards of innovation that Randy Bernard has set in his brief tenure as the sport's leader. If it improves the storylines as much as Bernard hopes, we may see the trend spread across other racing series. For now, though, we can only speculate.
The dual championship format is the brainchild of IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard, who wanted to find a way to engage and bring together the two different demographics of open-wheel fans in America - the oval fans who are more inclined to spend IndyCar off weekends tuned into NASCAR, and the road and street course fans who likely spend some of their time watching sports car racing. Bernard wanted to play up the immense diversity of the IndyCar schedule, which, with its even split between the two types of tracks, is like no other series in the world.
On one hand, awarding extra championships begins to saturate the series. It awards certain drivers for proficiency on one type of track, while almost admitting to their lack of skill on the other. For example, drivers like Danica Patrick and Ed Carpenter would be able to contend for the oval title, but wouldn't stand a chance for the road course championship; meanwhile, Justin Wilson and Will Power should be among the top drivers in road course points, but may struggle on the ovals.
Also, nobody has ever legitimized this sort of thing before in any other sport. Sure, unofficial tallies are often made, especially in NASCAR. During last weekend's NASCAR broadcast from Talladega, the broadcasting crew noted that Elliott Sadler scored the most points in the four superspeedway races last year. Similarly, fans keep track of the best road course and short track drivers, and so on and so forth. But NASCAR does not, and never has, awarded some sort of bonus for being exceptional at one type of track over another.
On the other hand, however, this is a daring move that contributes to Bernard's making his mark on IndyCar, a sport which desperately needed a breath of fresh air at this time last year. Other series have their own championships-within-a-championship, such as the Michelin Green Challenge in the American Le Mans Series, which awards bonuses to the teams with the most efficient and environmentally friendly cars over the course of the season. But only IndyCar can award this sort of championship based on two very different styles of tracks.
It's also almost a given that the eventual winner of at least one of these titles will be the IZOD IndyCar Series champion at the end of the year. IndyCar.com posted a table with the drivers who would have won these bonuses over the past five years. In 2005, 2007, and 2008, the overall series champion scored the most points on ovals, and last year, champion Dario Franchitti scored the most points on road courses. In the only exception year, 2006, oval champion Dan Wheldon actually tied series champion Sam Hornish Jr. for overall points, but Hornish won the title tiebreaker on more wins. In effect, one of the two winning drivers is almost guaranteed to take away the big prize at the end of the year.
The only conceivable way that the oval or road/street course champion wouldn't win the big prize at the end of the year is convoluted at best, and involves some quirks. Because the series has nine oval races, compared to eight road and street course events, the season finale at Homestead/Miami Speedway is left off of the oval championship. To win the overall title without winning one of the smaller ones first, one driver would probably have to be in second place in both disciplines, and then have a great Homestead weekend while the oval and road/street course champions would falter. (Because the best drivers in the IZOD IndyCar Series usually run up front at all tracks, because they more often than not drive for Roger Penske or Chip Ganassi, it's highly unlikely to expect the oval champion to be poorly ranked on street courses, and vice versa.)
This new dual championship format also opens up marketing ideas for low-budget teams looking to put together solid overall programs. If a team is torn between two drivers, one an oval ace and the other a road course maverick, they can split the schedule between the two and attempt to run for the individual championships. It probably won't happen, sure, but if somebody fails to get oval clearance a year or two down the road, it may be an attractive option for a team to consider.
The jury is still out on how the first dual championship season will play out in the IZOD IndyCar Series, but the idea holds up to the high standards of innovation that Randy Bernard has set in his brief tenure as the sport's leader. If it improves the storylines as much as Bernard hopes, we may see the trend spread across other racing series. For now, though, we can only speculate.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Pennzoil and Penske to Reunite
Longtime NASCAR team sponsor Shell/Pennzoil will leave Richard Childress Racing for Team Penske in 2011, where it will adorn the hood of the No. 22 Dodge of 2004 Sprint Cup Series champion Kurt Busch. Pennzoil will thus enter a direct business relationship with Roger Penske and his many companies.
This deal has an effect on Penske's IZOD IndyCar Series team as well. It will spell the end of Penske's relationship with Mobil 1, a partnership that is currently in its 20th year. However, it will also reunite Penske with a brand that backed his cars for eight years in the 1980s.
It will also mark the return of the Pennzoil brand to the Indy Racing League. Pennzoil was one of the first big primary sponsors in the original IRL, maintaining a presence from 1996 to 2005 before focusing their sponsorship dollars on NASCAR. They sponsored Panther Racing from 1998 until their exit, and among the drivers to pilot the yellow No. 4 was Sam Hornish Jr., who won championships with the team in 2001 and 2002. Ironically, Hornish now drives for Penske in NASCAR.
The return of the Pennzoil brand to open-wheel racing is not without significance. A Pennzoil-sponsored car competed in every Indianapolis 500 from 1979 to 2005, with a total of four teams taking the yellow colors to the track. Chaparral Cars, the sports car constructor founded by Texas oil magnate Jim Hall, carried the sponsorship from 1979 to 1982, winning the 1980 race and CART championship with Johnny Rutherford.
In 1983, the brand aligned itself with Penske and Rick Mears, and the results were phenomenal - between 1983 and 1990, Mears won 10 races in Pennzoil colors, including the 1984 and 1988 Indianapolis 500s. Pennzoil-lubricated Penskes also won the 1985 and 1987 races with Danny Sullivan and Al Unser, respectively.
From 1991 to 1995, the sponsorship returned to Hall and his VDS Racing. The team scored four top-10s at Indianapolis in those five years, with their best finish John Andretti's fifth place in 1991. When CART and the IRL split in 1996, the sponsorship went to Pagan Racing and Roberto Guerrero for two years, before finding a home with Panther.
There is no word on whether Pennzoil will re-assume a primary role with one of Penske's IndyCars, or just a secondary role, as Mobil 1 currently holds.
This deal has an effect on Penske's IZOD IndyCar Series team as well. It will spell the end of Penske's relationship with Mobil 1, a partnership that is currently in its 20th year. However, it will also reunite Penske with a brand that backed his cars for eight years in the 1980s.
It will also mark the return of the Pennzoil brand to the Indy Racing League. Pennzoil was one of the first big primary sponsors in the original IRL, maintaining a presence from 1996 to 2005 before focusing their sponsorship dollars on NASCAR. They sponsored Panther Racing from 1998 until their exit, and among the drivers to pilot the yellow No. 4 was Sam Hornish Jr., who won championships with the team in 2001 and 2002. Ironically, Hornish now drives for Penske in NASCAR.
The return of the Pennzoil brand to open-wheel racing is not without significance. A Pennzoil-sponsored car competed in every Indianapolis 500 from 1979 to 2005, with a total of four teams taking the yellow colors to the track. Chaparral Cars, the sports car constructor founded by Texas oil magnate Jim Hall, carried the sponsorship from 1979 to 1982, winning the 1980 race and CART championship with Johnny Rutherford.
In 1983, the brand aligned itself with Penske and Rick Mears, and the results were phenomenal - between 1983 and 1990, Mears won 10 races in Pennzoil colors, including the 1984 and 1988 Indianapolis 500s. Pennzoil-lubricated Penskes also won the 1985 and 1987 races with Danny Sullivan and Al Unser, respectively.
From 1991 to 1995, the sponsorship returned to Hall and his VDS Racing. The team scored four top-10s at Indianapolis in those five years, with their best finish John Andretti's fifth place in 1991. When CART and the IRL split in 1996, the sponsorship went to Pagan Racing and Roberto Guerrero for two years, before finding a home with Panther.
There is no word on whether Pennzoil will re-assume a primary role with one of Penske's IndyCars, or just a secondary role, as Mobil 1 currently holds.
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