Don’t Forget The Current Fans

 
In the celebration of Izod becoming the title sponsor for the (Izod) IndyCar Series, the common theme coming from most people – myself included – has been that the league needs to leverage Izod’s marketing expertise in order to land new fans. That’s true.

However, I listened to Curt Cavin being interviewed the other night by Kohl Kirkland on Planet-IRL’s podcast. Curt brought up a good point in saying that the IRL has a two-sided job. Their mission is to attract new fans while keeping the current fans happy. That’s true also.

As most people have gathered by now, I am not a NASCAR fan. But the Izod IndyCar Series can benefit by learning from NASCAR’s mistakes. Although I have poked fun at their provincial mentality, NASCAR did move quickly away from its grass roots…perhaps too quickly.

NASCAR built its fortune on running at many tracks located in small towns. Have you ever been to Bristol, TN? How about Rockingham, NC? Perhaps you’ve been to Darlington, SC or N. Wilkesboro, NC. I’ve been to every one of these towns although I’ve only attended a race at one of…Darlington. These are all charming little towns but they are not what anyone would describe as major population centers. I am qualified to make that statement as I grew up in a relatively small town myself. Jackson, TN had probably less than 50,000 people when I was growing up there.

The point is, when NASCAR started leaving some of those towns behind in favor of Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas – Ft. Worth and Las Vegas; it ruffled the feathers of the longtime fans. Although it’s not always easy to follow the logic of a NASCAR fan, this one was pretty easy. They felt used, abused and jilted…and for good reason. They were the ones who had built that sport. Without the allegiance (and money) of the hardcore NASCAR fans, there would not have been a NASCAR today. It would have never been more than a regional sideshow never getting past the roots of moonshiners and bootleggers tuning up their cars in order to outrun the “revenuers”.

NASCAR did what it felt like was the best way to grow their sport quickly. It’s hard to argue with their success in this decade, but they acted at the expense of alienating some long-term fans.

Although most who have followed the Izod IndyCar Series would consider this a good problem to have, the league may have to make some tough decisions down the road. Izod has the potential to bring an entirely new demographic to our sport. Everyone seems to be in agreement that they need to do that, but what will these same people have to say if the hip, young metrosexual fans start to overrun our sport? Will we still be as welcoming as we are now saying we will be? I’ve been saying for months that we shouldn’t shun any new fans we get, as NASCAR did theirs – but I said that thinking that they would come in and conform to “our” way of doing things. Being the father of two in their early twenties, I should know better.

Should the Izod IndyCar Series be lucky enough to be faced with such a dilemma of having a hoard of new fans, they’ll have a new problem on their hands – how to retain the new fans and keep them interested while not alienating the core of us who have stuck with this series through some thick and a lot of thin. Like I said – it’s a nice problem to have, but it could actually become a serious problem.

As we have seen with Danicamania, many of those fans were nothing more than curiosity-seekers. A lot of them left about as quickly as they showed up. How loyal will new fans be? The league shouldn’t cast their lot with the new fans because they will have no real staying power or loyalty to the series – not at first, anyway. They won’t be attracted to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway because of their admiration for Jim Hurtubise or Lloyd Ruby. Their fascination with Indy and the series will be that it is a cool place to meet other cool people.

If the hipster dudes lose their interest after a few years after the league sold its soul and forsook its core fan base, the damage could be irreparable. We have seen that almost fifteen years later, there are still a lot of hurt feelings among open-wheel fans that felt betrayed. To kick aside what is left in favor of a fickle, self-absorbed new demographic would be unconscionable.

So there is what the Izod IndyCar Series may be faced with in a few years – and that’s if the Izod marketing arm accomplish what we all hope it can. I don’t envy those in the marketing department. They will have two distinctively different groups to pacify; the new fans who like the speed and glamour of the Indy lifestyle along with those of us who have lived and died with this sport and embrace all of the rich traditions that come with it. They will not appreciate Jim Nabors singing “Back Home Again In Indiana” just as we don’t care to have Kanye West as part of the pre-race activities. It will be an interesting juggling act.

I am not known to be the most open-minded individual, especially when it involves accepting something that is a little out of my comfort-zone. But I am still a proponent of welcoming any new fans we can get. Of course, that will change when they want to discontinue milk in Victory Lane in favor of Evian due to the fact that dairy farms might be cruel to animals. Then, we’ll have a problem.

George Phillips

The Forgotten Chassis

With everyone – myself included – making so much fuss over having multiple chassis in the Izod IndyCar Series, we forget that this current rules package of cars that was introduced for the 2003 season, once contained three competitors. Besides the current Dallara which “graces” every spot on the grid nowadays; there was also the Panoz, which most teams abandoned after 2005. Then there was the forgotten chassis – the Falcon – which was approved by the IRL along with the other two in May of 2002 for use in the 2003 season, yet never saw its way to a starting grid.

Distancing IndyCar From NASCAR

 
Now that we are almost two weeks removed from the giddiness of the Izod title sponsorship announcement, everyone has had time to let everything soak in a little bit. I’ve made it clear that I was not excited at all in all of the rumors leading up to the announcement. But after it was all over, I was feeling as warm and fuzzy about it as everyone. Now that the glow has subsided and real logic has had a chance to set in, it’s a perfect opportunity for my cynicism to return. But it hasn’t.

An Evening With IndyCar Bloggers

For two hours last night, the IndyCar bloggers ruled the airwaves. Well, that may be taking it a little far, but for twelve of us that asked (read: begged) to be on Curt Cavin & Kevin Lee’s radio show on 1070 The Fan in Indianapolis, we commanded a little space on the Indianapolis airwaves as well as a few bits of bandwidth on the web.

Just What Happened To “Just Al”?

 
While second and third generation drivers Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti have begun to cross into veteran status in the Izod IndyCar Series; another third generation driver, Al Unser III, continually sinks into deeper obscurity. From arguably open-wheel racing’s true first family, Al Unser III once seemed as if he would follow the same footsteps as his successful father, grandfather, great uncle and cousins. Somewhere along the way, a lack of funding and bad breaks intervened.

Memorable IndyCar Memorabilia

 
I’ve always been a little intrigued when visiting friend’s homes and seeing the amount of time, energy and money they have put into creating a shrine to their various favorite sports. I say intrigued because that conveys a combination of envy, bewilderment and fascination – fascination as to where they get the money to devote to their favorite pastime, while they can’t cover their kid’s tuition.

Changing My Opinion On Izod

It’s no secret that I have not been overly impressed with the persistent rumors that Izod would become the title sponsor. Well yesterday, the rumors became reality. From what I have read and heard since the official announcement was made at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I’ll have to say I’m more impressed than I was expecting to be.