CART Pilots on TV

[Liz]

FINALLY I have seen the da Matta promotion on Speedvision (I watched the ALMS race for 10 hours yesterday) and I must say it was very well done - although it does make da Matta look very tiny, he's such a cute and funny guy that he'll be a good spokesman for CART if they get him out in front of the crowds. (In person he is not such a tiny fellow and has a "figure" much like Jacques.)

I also saw one starring Mikey in a tank top, and I confess that I did not know who it was for the first 10 seconds or so! I thought it was a wrestler. In his driving suit he looks fat. In a tank top you can see that ain't fat!

They need to get out there and make more of these spots. For one thing it will convince people that CART pilots are indeed athletes, and for another thing it will show that they're personalities...and by showing the "little guys" like da Matta it will emphasize that there is still a place in sport for those who are not built like Bucolic Buffalos. I actually think this is a good way to promote CART as most people are not 6'10" and 300 lb.

[Liz]

The Target commercials showing JPM and Vasser from childhood to the championship are good ones too - shows that you have to start young in order to make it all the way to the top, and gives an idea of their backgrounds too.

And I like the poster they've come out with too: "We're new in town, could you direct us to the finish line?"

[Nuvolari]

The two commercials from recent years that stick in my mind are the FedEx spot in which a customer is given Gil making the delivery in his race car as an option . . .

And one (don't even remember the product) featuring a youthful Zanardi (complete with voiceover by the man himself) failing his driver's test in Italy after opening his door just at the moment a hapless bicyclist arrives.

The solution, Alessandro says, was to grow up to drive cars without doors!

[Jay]

Liz, have you seen Jacques in person and not in his driver's suit? He doesn't look that big. He is reasonably well built, but still quite slim looking. For some reason he always wears an extremely baggy driver's suit that makes him look a lot bigger than he really is. Most wear tight fitting clothing.

[Liz]

Cristiano isn't that "big" in person - he is the same height and weight as me - but if you've seen Jacques without a shirt (I have in a picture) he is quite well muscled and so is da Matta. I was impressed! But Cristiano is such a little boy it's fun to listen to him.

The Zanardi commercial was advertising CART, I think. There were a couple of other ones but I don't remember those.

The Gil commercial of course was my favourite, although he didn't say anything in it....