Can Cart become popular like Nascar or F1?

[fastracer]

Personally, I don't think that Cart will become popular like F1 but they can certainly reach Nascar's level of popularity. Under Rahal's lead they have shown improvement (in an interview with USA Today he revealed that Cart's ratings for the Michigan 500 were actually better than Nascar's Michigan 400 in 10 of the 13 main markets in the U.S.), so they have shown some potential. But if they EVER want to reach the top level they ABSOLUTLEY do the following: (not in any particular order)

1. Go back to Indianopolis!

2. Get more American drivers. If they want to market themselves as an American series obviously they have to have more than 3 U.S. drivers.

3. Show the races live! It is horrifying how ABC and ESPN treat Cart. I mean they put the races on tape delay to show some boring golf game that no one cares about and they even have the nerve to not show the end of a race so they can show golf or even show the result during the race! If ESPN or ABC did that with a football game there would be an incredible roit. If Cart wants to become a top-level sport they have to be treated like one on T.V.

4. Market themselves better! Here in the U.S. you can't watch T.V. for one hour without seeing a stupid Nascar or WWF commercial, and that is the reason both Nascar and wrestling are the top 2 viewing sports here (even though wrestling isn't even a sport). Now, do I ever see any Cart commercials...NO!!! (well except during the races) if they ever want to become a top sport they have to show more commercials.

5. Market the drivers better! In a recent poll asked throughout the U.S. about the most popular drivers, the top two were both retired! It's not like Cart has bums driving around in cars, I mean common! Montoya is very marketable but do you ever hear about them when the races aren't on?

Well that's all I can think of right now, but I would like to hear what you people can think of and if you think Cart can ever become popular.

[Crash Test]

Originally posted by fastracer

1. Go back to Indianopolis!

Agreed. But be warned...many of the folk around here are stubborn!

Originally posted by fastracer

2. Get more American drivers. If they want to market themselves as an American series obviously they have to have more than 3 U.S. drivers.

But do they want to become an American series? As we all know, the series is all over the world now, and can i say this: the world wide market is bigger and has more potential than the American market ever will. If you had a choice of a crowd of 50,000 in the States or 220,000 in Australia, which would please the sponsors etc more? Sure having races in other countries ****es off the 50,000 American's who miss the race live, but Cart comes out 170,000 people in front. As well as the Tv audience and generalised press boost in that particular international country.

Originally posted by fastracer

3. Show the races live! It is horrifying how ABC and ESPN treat Cart. I mean they put the races on tape delay to show some boring golf game that no one cares about and they even have the nerve to not show the end of a race so they can show golf or even show the result during the race! If ESPN or ABC did that with a football game there would be an incredible roit. If Cart wants to become a top-level sport they have to be treated like one on T.V.

Can't fault that.

Originally posted by fastracer

4. Market themselves better! Here in the U.S. you can't watch T.V. for one hour without seeing a stupid Nascar or WWF commercial, and that is the reason both Nascar and wrestling are the top 2 viewing sports here (even though wrestling isn't even a sport). Now, do I ever see any Cart commercials...NO!!! (well except during the races) if they ever want to become a top sport they have to show more commercials.

Is that a Cart fault, or is it a sponsors of the team's fault? Also, what networks are showing the Nascar ads, are they the TV stations that broadcast the Nascar races?

Originally posted by fastracer

5. Market the drivers better! In a recent poll asked throughout the U.S. about the most popular drivers, the top two were both retired! It's not like Cart has bums driving around in cars, I mean common! Montoya is very marketable but do you ever hear about them when the races aren't on?

True, and how should they do that?

[fastracer]

Well Crash Test, you are right about getting more spectators by going to another country. On how to market the drivers better you just have to look at Nascar and what they did. You see the drivers all over the place in commercials, on tee-shirts, etc. I was at my local mall the other day and I went to the sports department. You would not believe how much Nascar stuff there was that it made me sick (mostly because I HATE Nascar). There were more Nascar items than there were of local sport teams. Now, did I see one Cart item? No! So one answer to market themselves and their drivers is to start doing what Nascar is doing now.

[floid2000]

Im definately worried about "our" series and it's future.
If Tony George and Bill France decide to bring the IRL under the Nascar banner we can kiss open wheel racing goodbye in America. They'll put together(probably with Penske) a Spec series with a bunch of NOBODYS driving underpowered cars. Leaving Winston cup as Americas big series and taking the last of the sponsers with them.
And OF COURSE, A.J. will be beating up anyone who dares to question his "AUTHORITIE"

[kuchi]

Well i guess it all comes to advertising and promoting. For example it was a good thing when chip ganassi promoted his champ car race, and what happened?, well it was a full house. And i mean, the answer is not getting moreamerican drivers, coz it´s not about quantity but quality, and believe me, guys from outside the u.s have quality.

[KC]

Addressing your issues one at a time.

1. Going back to Indianapolis is not going to benefit CART as much as it will Tony George. Until either one of the series is gone, the IRL or CART, the Indy 500 will remain an IRL event. CART racers may go there and poach the trophy, but it will always remain an IRL event. I speak only for myself and the people I know personally who are fans of CART when I say that Indy is more of a TV hype issue than a pure motor race. Not since drivers like Jim Clark, Jim Hurtibise, Al Unser Sr., A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti has the Indy 500 been more than just another oval race.

2. I am certainly for more American drivers in the series, as long as they are good enough. But CART markets itself as a World Series. Therefore they need a balanced field of international stars, not a NASCAR boys only club. I prefer to watch excellent drivers over any nationality favoring rules. Any race series should be about the best racers competing with exciting cars for world honors at great venues. I am glad to see drivers like Memo Gidley get the chance and run with it. But I also like to see Helio Castroneves and Cristiano daMatta get their chance as well. I think the US race fan is more interested in seeing great racing than American drivers being supported above all others. If not, they can continue to watch and support NASCAR and the WWF.

3. Television coverage is a major issue and has probably caused more of the decline in CART than any thing else. The CART board of directors is to blame for allowing the shoddy treatment from ABC Sports/ESPN. They allowed themsleves to roped into a TV contract that allows the network to shunt them aside for other programs. With NASCAR residing next year with NBC/Fox/Turner exclusilvely, there will be no excuse for anyone to not do a better job of covering CART.

4. CART has not done a good job of marketting themsleves to the non-race fan. In the US, Audi Sport North America has been running ads commemmorating their win a Mosport over BMW in the rain. It is a singularly great commercial. CART has a few of these commericials but there are seen only rarely. The sponspors also have to use their involvement as a marketting tool. Only a few of them have done so. Target is an obvious one. Havoline has in the past. Motorola has their new ad running now. Mobil One uses Aussie racing great Pete Brock (I think I got his name correct) instead of one of their CART drievrs. No offense to anyone, but mainstream Americans do not know who Brock is. He is not recognizable by non-racefans. Gil DeFerran and Helio Castroneves are more so. CART is not the only one to blame for this shortcoming.

5. Only Target has had a plan to market their drivers and they have done so with modest success. Drivers Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi and Juan Montoya are known to non-racefans because of this. The only other driver known is Michael Andretti and that is more for name recognition than anything else. A few are learning who Cristano daMatta is from his Toyota commercials but no one else is known. More commercials like FedEx did with deFerran are in order. Drivers like Max Papis would seem easy to market, but no one is tapping this resource. Brack has the looks to sell just about any product on national TV. As does Gidley and a few others.

Do any of the Canadian fans see Tracy, Carpentier, Tagliani, or other Canadian racers on TV? Does anyone know of Michel Jourdain, Luis Garcia, and Adrian Fernandez are seen on TV in Mexico? Does Montoya get ad time in Colombia? Do any of the Brasileros get used in Brasil for ad work on TV?

[Jay]

Although Greg Moore and now Patrick Carpentier are in a few MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) commercials, we never see Cart drivers in TV ads that promote the drivers too.

However, from what I have heard, some of the Brazilians do actually get Brazilian TV time.

I'll address the rest later.

[floid2000]

I dont want to start anything . This is just a tidbit you may not know. David Hobbs drove in a few Nascar races and so did Brian Reddman. just some funfacts

[Liz]

Don't know David Redman or Brian Hobbs, I'm afraid.

I agree mainly with what KC says. Indy is only an American race now and very few people in countries outside the continental US care if CART goes back there or not. Personally I don't want to do anything that would make Tony George look good - like Mario Andretti, I think the world is a better place when the twain do not meet.

And I don't care where the pilots or their parents were born; I just want to see good racing.

I've seen a couple of commercials with Paul Tracy in them - sunglasses and promos for TSN mostly. Nothing for Tags or Patrick that I remember.

CART will become more popular in other countries outside the USA as it expands into Europe - especially if Bernie carries through on his repeated threats to move the F1 races to China, Russia, Lebanon and other places at war or regularly hit by rocket bombs and gunfire. And once the tiresome and prolonged wrangling about tobacco money is resolved, there will be more gear available. The biggest stumbling block to merchandising, IMO, is the toe dancing we have to do about tobacco branding. For example, the Team Kool Green car may not be marketed at all except in a "presentation" version that is the wrong colour scheme and is unbadged. Who would want to buy that?

[Heeltoe6]

Liz, I assume you don't get Speedvision?? David Hobbs does a lot of commentary for them(F1, Trans-Am, ALMS, garra, Legends of Motorsports, etc). Although he drove F1, champcars, and Nascar, his greratest success came in sports car, winning the 1983 trans-am champ. and also numerous endurance races and series titles which I can't really think of.

I'm clueless on Redman, I must admit.

[R]

Brian Redman is a former F1 driver, his best result coming in the 1968 Spanish GP where he finished third. He has also been driving sports cars, doing very well from what I understand.

[Jay]

ah yes, I found a little bio on the Mr. Redman. He was a top sports car driver, but quit F1 prematurely because he did not like the high pressure atmosphere.

[Hans.ca]

Brian Redman won the formula 5000 race at Long Beach in 1975. David Hobbs (also known as motor mouth together with Sam Posey) drove F5000, Can-Am and anything else with wheels on it. Jackie Oliver also drove NASCAR in I believe about 1972 or 3. This was a promotion By NASCAR to popularize NASCAR, especially in the european press.
All of the above racers are real gentlemen and I consider it an honour to have known them.

[Liz]

Our Speedvision coverage is heavily blacked out due to TSN getting the major races, so I'm not as familiar with some of the people y'all see regularly as I would otherwise be. Thanks for the information.

I have recently heard that NASCAR's audience is declining.

[fastracer]

Is it really?
I guess Nascar's fans are finally starting to realize that their sport sucks

[KC]

I think the decline everyone is looking for is a decline in sports viewership across the board in America. American football is the 800 pound gorilla of television ratings in American sports and they suffered a big decline last year. NASCAR will always be popular with racing fans but the shine has wear off of the series slightly and the ticket prices are starting to turn away fans at the track.

[enemy-ace]

VIDEO GAMES!!!
Racing games are one of the most popular genres in the gaming market. There is a ton of F1 and NASCAR games available of good quality, yet try and find a good (up-to-date) CART game and your S.O.L. Racing is better appreciated first hand and if you can't get in a Go-Kart or RaceCar then a video game simulation would fit the bill nicely. CART would also be able to reach the young who will be the future FANS!

[Nuvolari]

Once Sly Stallone's movie is released, they'll be turning away fans at most of the circuits.

[Liz]

At least until they discover CART is nothing like the movie.

[fastracer]

When is Stallone's movie coming out anyways? I haven't heard anything about it.

[kmyers]

Cart racing can become more popular.... by having more pit stops....that way there will be more passing in the street race parades.

[Heeltoe6]

fastracer: next summer

[kmchow]

Floid2000 wrote:

>If Tony George and Bill France decide to bring the IRL >under the Nascar banner we can kiss open wheel racing >goodbye in America.
>
Tony George is already working closely with Bill France. The IRL has "opened up" for several Busch and Craftsman truck races already. In return, I recall reading Nascar is helping out the IRL with finding sponsors. I have to say IRL looks nicer than CART b/c it has more sponsors like Reebok, Crane Faucets rather than CART's Visteon. The average fan doesn't know what Visteon is!!

The recent addition of McDonald's, Pioneer and DirectTV is a good sign!

So if CART wants to give Nascar a run for it's money, they better get more of Nascar/IRL type of "everyday/down to earth" sponsor. Any up for some Nescafe, Wal Mart, Spring PCS??

[enemy-ace]

Last time i checked i wasn't cheering for Big Mac's or Department stores to win races. Sponsorship for any company is about brand exposure. Sponsorship didn't make NASCAR, NASCAR received the sponsors after making itself a valuable marketing tool. If sponsorship grew on trees i would be racing tomorrow instead of going to work.

[slicktoast]

Maybe F1 if a few more drivers weep on TV. But not as popular as NASCAR, them full-fendered guys don't cry, maybe it's an opened-wheeled thing...