Ways to make CART a better product

[KC]

Looking at ways for CART to improve its public profile with the non-racing public, I have a few ideas I have seen other series do and some other common sense programs.

1. Take a page from the ALMS and on an evening before the first practice/qualifying session take all the drivers and team principals along with 4 or 5 back up cars and have a big presentation in the city where the event is being held. These have been a huge success for the sports cars and it places your product right in the crosshairs of every media outlet in the area. Make it a free event and urge people to bring out their kids and allow everyone to get close and check it out. Have a few of the drivers do some burnouts and drive the cars around. Those who have never seen a race car in person are always impressed.

2. Make sure that all the CART Charity and other public events are publicized in every media outlet. CART and its drivers do a lot of work in the cities they visit and they must be seen doing this good work. Not one person can ever look badly on the drivers, domestic or foreign, who are visiting kids in a cancer hospice or helping in a soup line or even visiting with the local troops. Send a driver and a car to as many grade schools on race week as possible for show and tell. Kids love this stuff and they can well become fans.

3. CART needs to extend free passes to as many local celebs as possible. When local dignitaries are seen at the events it lends more credibility to the event. This has worked well at Long Beach making it into a quasi-Monaco. Also give out passes to local orphanages and such and make sure this is also publicized. This has worked huge for NASCAR and other ball-and-stick sports. Make sure plenty of pictures of the kids hanging out with drivers are taken.

4. CART needs to buy a fleet of cars (4 or so of last year’s cars) to be used as display pieces that travel around the country and appear at major corporate sponsor sites (ie: Ford dealerships, Bridgestone tire dealers, etc). Make sure that the local public knows through local radio and TV announcements. NASCAR teams have used this for a long time to burn their brand name and sponsors into the public eye. A group of four cars with their own truck and trailer can cover specific areas of the US, Canada and Mexico quite easily.

5. Make sure that CART’s sponsors employ the car and driver in their ad campaigns. This is one area CART has not pressed enough on. Ford needs a CART car in the ads for their products as does Bridgestone. CART needs to get one or more of the big US beer makers back into the fold. Their sponsor schemes are synonymous with auto racing in America. Who does not know the color and scheme the cars of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rusty Wallace. Public identity is part and parcel of NASCAR’s success.

6. CART also needs to expand their presence on CBS television. Speed Channel is great and all but is essentially a premium channel and is not available in all markets. Normal terrestrial TV is. The CBS Racing Series this year did an excellent job with a sport they previously had little to do with. How good could it be as they get better?


7. CART needs to hook up with the ALMS and possibly the AMA Superbike series to co-host events. Imagine CART holding the Laguna Seca round the day before the big Superbike race. Imagine CART holding a GP the day before the 12 Hours of Sebring. Imagine a CART/ALMS doubleheader at Washington DC. All of these fans are road racing friendly and the crossover could be beneficial. Make sure all the racers are hanging together and checking each other’s equipment out. Maybe even offer some test drives.

8. CART also needs to offer assistance to any of its teams that want to race the Indy 500. Nothing twists their tail more than rolling into town, taking their trophy and leaving big hickeys on their girlfriends. Maybe the teams could pool resources and form mega-teams? I know the media outlets love to make a point of it when an outsider does well. How would it look with a big blue Ford oval on the winning car at the Indy 500? How would it look with CART badges on the winning car and driver’s suit of the Indy 500 winner?

Anyone else have any to offer up?