A month has passed since the final checkered flag of the IndyCar Series
season. There have been several newsworthy developments since Dario
Franchitti captured his second series championship at Homestead and we
now take a look at those.
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Mike Kelly, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Creative for Philips-Van Heusen (right) greets Brian Barnhart, President of Racing Operations for the Indy Racing League, (center) and Jeff Belskus, CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corp.. Photo by Steve Swope.
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Examining the IZOD deal
First and foremost, IndyCar has now added something of substantial value
to its brand. IZOD signed on as title sponsor last Thursday, giving the
IndyCar Series its first since 2001.
What IZOD is planning to do -- although no official numbers were
released -- is utilize their marketing savvy in a serious attempt to
grow the series beyond its shrinking niche in the world of motorsports.
Quite honestly, the fact that IZOD has pledged several million dollars
in a recovering economy to a series whose ratings rivaled test patterns
and infomercials in its first season on VERSUS, is something of a
stunner.
Sponsors are driven by television ratings more than anything --
regardless of whether series officials spin it otherwise -- and the
ratings this year were nothing short of abysmal on VERSUS. And this
remains the catch-22 for the series as collectively, VERSUS did a far
better job of caring and promoting the series.
The problem is that it isn't available in enough homes, and the fallout
when DirecTV dropped VERSUS from its satellite lineup reduced even that
number.
That aside, IZOD still sees enough value in the product to make a
serious investment. The company has pledged several million dollars in
terms of activation as title sponsor and for each car on the grid as
part of the TEAM (Team Enhancement Allocation Matrix) program.
SPEEDTV.com's Robin Miller estimated the number at $10 million annually,
half of that going directly to promotions and marketing and $100,000 per
car as part of the TEAM program and potentially several million to fund
wherever IZOD's featured driver Ryan Hunter-Reay will be racing next
year (Andretti Green Racing has been rumored but not confirmed).
IZOD cultivated the partnership over a three-year period first with a
billboard of Hunter-Reay's likeness after his win at Watkins Glen in
2008. That same year the company became the official apparel partner of
the series.
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Ryan Hunter-Reay. Photo by Indy Racing League.
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The company showed their dedication to "RHR" even despite being left in
the wilderness all off-season. But in an 11th hour deal for Tony George,
Hunter-Reay drove to second place in the 2009 opener at St. Petersburg.
And now IZOD has taken the plunge as not only the series' title sponsor
but a future active marketing partner.
"Despite the recession, we have seen growth and sense the potential for
even greater opportunity as the sport is re-energized on the American
sports landscape, as well as abroad," said Allen Sirkin, president and
CEO of IZOD's parent company, Phillips-Van Heusen.
Naturally, IndyCar commercial division president Terry Angstadt agreed.
"Their strong marketing skills, national retail partnerships and ability
to bring fresh eyes to the sport have already proven powerful in our
short time together," he said during Thursday's announcement.
Rather than a traditional motorsports company, IZOD is a clothing
company and brand whose main demographic is a younger crowd. Speaking as
a rare IndyCar follower in that magical 18-34 age bracket (whose level
of fandom has been tested more this year than in any past) -- this is
exactly who IndyCar needs to target to bring into the sport.
IZOD's commitment at this time, in this economy, is very much a leap
of faith. But under the new leadership structure of IndyCar, and given
the amount of money invested by the company, this could very well be a
serious coup that Angstadt and other series officials have managed to
pull off.
Milwaukee Mile future in flux
The late Paul Newman famously said in the movie "Winning" that
"everybody goes to Milwaukee after Indianapolis." Flash forward to 2010
and for IndyCar, that ain't happening. The question is whether any
series will be going to Milwaukee next year.
The potential promoters who were announced in July, Historic Mile LLC,
have pulled out of the running. Historic Mile partners Tony Machi, a
former sports car racer and retired judge, and Jim Beaudoin, a managing
partner of a local investment firm, had idealism and hope to save the
track but the thing they lacked was investors.
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Ernesto Viso, HVM Racing . Photo by Andy Sallee.
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Last week the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the Wisconsin
State Fair Park Board was in negotiations with a new group, headed by
Milwaukee businessmen Frank and Dominic Giuffre, to secure the track's
future. Dominic Giuffre ran the track from 1983 to 1991.
The new team includes longtime IndyCar supporter John Menard, who was
reportedly interested to be the title sponsor of the series for $2
million. It is unclear whether Menard will continue to sponsor Vision
Racing and driver Ed Carpenter next season.
Races at Milwaukee are listed for the NASCAR Nationwide and Camping
World Truck Series for 2010, but IndyCar wouldn't be returning until
2011 at the earliest, and that's if this deal gets done.
Driver market news
There isn't too much to report other than Dan Wheldon will return for
Panther Racing after a lackluster season, E.J. Viso will not be back
at HVM Racing though the team intends to field two cars, and a deal is
close for Will Power to run full-time in a third car at Team Penske. The
Australian has spent the last couple months recovering from his injuries
in a practice crash at Infineon Raceway in September.
Also of note, 2009 Atlantic champion John Edwards will test an IndyCar
later this month but a team and track has not yet been determined. Edwards
has been linked to a jump up to the series for 2010 with Eddie Wachs and
Newman Wachs Racing, but nothing is confirmed.
In the Indy Lights ranks, Martin Plowman has been confirmed at
AFS/Andretti Green Racing for 2010. It's not likely series champion J.R.
Hildebrand will return to the class as he is worthy of a promotion to
IndyCar for 2010, but finances dictate movement and that is Hildebrand's
main hindrance.
Plowman's teammate from 2009 at Panther Racing, Pippa Mann, has tested
for Sam Schmidt Motorsports so far. Panther Racing will not resume its
Indy Lights program in 2010.
Third year the charm for Sarah Fisher Racing
Monday was a banner day for Sarah Fisher as she enters her third year
as a driver and team owner. A wealth of her sponsors, Dollar General,
Direct Supply, AAA, Hartman Oil and Tire Kingdom, have all signed on
for another season. In each case the company is back for at least their
third year with Fisher.
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Sarah Fisher, Sarah Fisher Racing. Photo by Andy Sallee.
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"They're almost like family to us," Fisher said in an interview. "It's
incredible to have a relationship where it's enjoyable to do events.
We'd hang out with them as much as we would our families."
On-track the small team --and for that matter Fisher as a small business
owner -- has grown exponentially into its third season.
The trials and tribulations of a backer pulling out just prior to the
team's debut at the 2008 Indianapolis 500 nearly knocked her off the
rails, but it's been a rally since.
"We've become quite a tight family at the shop," Fisher said. "It was
definitely a roller coaster ride, and it was my first year of marriage!
There were more bad days than good at the time, but the good outweighed
it."
Not only that, but the team said they have been IndyCar's chassis
supplier Dallara's main customer.
"We went from not even being able to pay for fuel in '08 to being 75
percent of Dallara's business this year!" she said. "But we can't grow
too big, we have to do things that make sense. If we mess up, as a small
business, it wipes us out. Every decision has to have a positive effect
on the overall bottom line."
Fisher will race in nine events and Jay Howard four in the 2010 season.
All the IndyCar world a-Tweet
Fisher (SarahFisher67) is one of many IndyCar drivers, officials and
fans who are sprucing up the off-season via their Twitter accounts
(twitter.com/username). Because frankly, what isn't worth listening to
in a 140-character message?
In a lot of cases the news has disseminated via Twitter. For instance,
I was in class during the IZOD announcement last week -- there is still
this strange thing called college that occupies most of my life -- and
missed the announcement.
But during that time the series (IZODindycar), media members and
bloggers (CurtCavin, LindyThackston, pressdog, MyNameisIRL, etc.)
and teams and drivers (notably the Tweeting kings VisionRacing) were
all keeping the Twitter-verse abreast of everything going down in
Indianapolis and New York that day.
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Paul Tracy, KV Racing Technology after the race. Photo by Yanick Gougeon.
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There's also been a renewed effort to use Twitter as a means to create
sponsorship opportunities. Paul Tracy has used his Twitter account
(PaulTracy3) to attract his followers to commit a "Shout Out" on his
personal sponsor, Monster Energy Drink's, Web site.
The hope is that enough followers and "Chrome Horn" fans will utilize
the shout outs to promote Monster into sponsoring "PT" for a full-season
ride in 2010. I'd love to see it happen.
Finally there's the much-anticipated "Winter Indy Tweetup" in December
that will see a wealth of IndyCar fans, team members, and serial
tweeters converge to do this rare thing called "meeting in person."
Oh, and discuss IndyCar topics. Vision Racing's PR ace Pat Caporali
initiated a lot of the "Tweet-ups" during the season.
I won't be attending the said "Tweetup" -- again, this weird thing
called "college" -- but I have my own random thoughts on the world of
motorsports and everything else that pops up at twitter.com/tonydizinno.
Out for now. Cheers.
