Oct. 27 newsstand: Looking forward to SEMA

IRL marketing momentum
For weeks, we've wondered what "big announcement" for the IRL was coming on Halloween at the SEMA show. We've heard it is "big," with potential driver, team and series implications. The Indianapolis Business Journal lets the cat out of the bag a little bit, looking ahead to the Oct. 31 announcement, plus ones in the near future (including one Jan. 1).

Notable: The IRL is rolling out "category" sponsors, in energy drink, motor oil and soft drinks. Each is expected to be a multi-year, multi-million dollar sponsorship deal, and each is expected to be activated in other ways, through signage/displays in stores, et al.

The energy drink sponsor is anticipated to be Frank's Energy Drink, an Austrian drink named for Frank Stornach, an Austrian native who has spent much of his time in Canada. He is now a millionaire, making much of his $$ in the automotive and horse racing industries.

The story said IRL officials denied that Lucas Oil is the official motor oil, but the story also anticipates that it is the announcement it expects to see Wednesday. The soft drink is a deal with a major company that is noted as "intriguing." Coke & Pepsi are really the only two major soft drink companies left, and (you'll need to scroll down to notice this) Pepsi has recently lost the pouring rights at ISC tracks (and therefore is no longer spending on sponsorship of races at said tracks). IMS, however, is a Coke track -- at least for now. There has also been some speculation that Budweiser/Anheuser Busch might increase (ahem, renew) its open-wheel involvement now that it has curtailed its NASCAR sponsorship, pulling back from sponsorship of the Busch Series, being the "official beer of NASCAR" and switching its sponsorship from Dale Jr. to Kasey Kahne.

Quotes:
From motorsports marketing consultant Mel Poole: "A multiyear deal is a comitment. It takes time to develop ... promotion strategies and this shows their new corporate partners are ready to do that."
From Terry Angstadt of the IRL: “We have an unprecedented level of sponsorship activity and opportunity in the Indy Racing League right now. We have a level of aggression and professionalism that we simply haven’t had before.”
From Zak Brown of Just Marketing (who is also trying to land a title sponsor): "We’re not going to get Kellogg’s selling corn flakes in the IRL. We’re looking for lifestyle products, electronics, technology and things that involve affluent, discretionary spending. This is not about competing with NASCAR. The IRL has a different consumer than NASCAR.”

Sam's southern sojurn (now 0-for-6)
Sam Hornish Jr. had another DNQ in an attempt to enter this weekend's NASCAR race at Atlanta, where he had been optimistic going in. Yahoo also mentions Sam's struggles in this "OW exodus" rehash.

Dario's southern sojurn
Dario Franchitti continued his run through NASCAR's minor leagues today, starting third and finishing 32nd at Memphis, largely thanks to getting into a couple of incidents. Winner David Reutimann was impressed with Dario, saying "For a guy's second race, it was pretty amazing, pretty impressive. I'm not sure what he's got in store for us. He's going to do nothing but get better, and he's already good.'' (Uh, the guy has won an Indy 500 and an IRL championship. I don't think it's his second race, unless you don't count non-stock car experience).

Other Dario stories, from Autosport and Fox Sports.
Lee Spencer's Fox Sports story is worth a read ... one of the best of the Dario features to date.
Dario talks about how his back surgery in 2004 helped him realize how lucky he is. He also mentions his flying episodes during a return to Kentucky Speedway for testing. "I wanted to see if there was still a dent in the wall. That was a big one and completely avoidable. My knees took off the steering wheel. (The accidents) were a small part of it — a very small part of it. I've done what I wanted to accomplish and the timing coincided with a call from Chip. So it all worked out."

Also, from Dario: "Do I expect to win this week? Probably not. But I'm here to run up front and be competitive. That's why Chip hired me. Chip wants to be successful, I have no doubt about that. And I know I'm going to be pushing hard to give it everything I have — and I know Juan is too."

The Gang on Helio
Jeff Olson gives his take on Helio's participation in DWTS.
Says the author: "Something about what he’s doing is honestly entertaining and honestly good for racing. ... Castroneves knows exactly how many people are watching him dance, and he knows the potential to boost his true calling."

The latest fad
One thing you notice as you read a lot of motorsports news is that the NASCAR media horde has a very uncanny way of being like a pack of dogs -- one person coins a storyline and the rest follow in line. A few weeks ago, it was the talk of the "open-wheel exodus" (and they even piled on about the "exodus" at the move of Patrick Carpentier and Buddy Lazier's truck one-off, when neither guy has had a full-time IndyCar ride in a couple of years). Anyway, the new storyline is "how will NASCAR's xenophobic redneck fan base accept the furriners?" (which is a question I posed years ago when Christian Fittipaldi started trying to run cabs, but alas ...). The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has one such story.

And finally
Another business story. Bruton Smith threatened to move Lowe's Motor Speedway -- the site of the worst single moment/race in IRL history -- over political posturing a few months back. The point of conflict? Bruton wanted to build a dragstrip and the county said "no." Now, Bruton says he's 90% certain he's going to move LMS out of the county and bulldoze the current track. All over a political squabble. It's amazing the $$ some people in racing will spend out of spite. Given Bruton's indifference/hostility towards all things not NASCAR, something tells me IRL cars won't be welcome at this version of LMS, either.