Nascar Essay

Nascar was founded in December 1947 by Bill France, along with others, formed the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing or Nascar to address the issues with not having large enough tracks for the fans and also address the lack or inconsistency of rules in the “sport”. The first race held by nascar was to months after its foundation in Daytona Beach. this was a track that francis was familiar with and he could easily promote, he even races in it to promote the race. It wasn’t until 1950 that the first asphalt track would be make at the Dartington International Raceway, This also gave way to the first 500-mile classic. There most famous race wouldn’t be created until 1959 when the first Daytona 500 was held, this was won by Lee Petty

to the cheering of forty thousand fans. Nascar didn’t expand heavily until 1993 as they built its first new england track in new hamptur and soon would build the indianapolis speedway after.

They kept expanding with in 1998 with the tour consisting of 10 tracks and with las vegas joining the fold. Bill France Jr remained the ceo until he appointed his son Brian France in 2003 to replace him. Nascar to this day continues to grow and develop with the times, but still holds on to it’s roots when the gen 6 cars were released they resembled the root stock cars that they had been founded around. They keep expanding their influence and cultural relevance as they move online and into a more digital age of entertainment.

Nascar is one of the biggest entertainment providers of the 21st century. They have survived through a progressive marketing strategy and devoted fans who have nothing better to do but watch cars go around and around. There marketing

strategy has been described by Forbes’s Steve Oleski as relationship marketing that is used to engage their fans and intrigue new fans in their entertainment product. They designed their site around communication so that regardless of the platform, there fans are enjoying their product on the fans can easily communicate on the site and discuss how the races are going and what they think. They also opened the site up to social media, which would allow them not only to reach their current fanbase easily, but also opens it up to all of their fans friends to attract those who might be interested in it as well. They see that the future of entertainment is no longer the T.V., but the internet and have completely readjusted their marketing strategy and move a large part of their media online so it is easily exible to the average consumer and also prepares them for the modern generation that consumes most media on the internet. They also admit a major flaw in their marketing campaign that in the infinite reaches of the internet they only do social outreach on the popular social networking sites and that in the future they will have to change this strategy to reach a larger number of consumers. In this digital world they understand that they must evolve their marketing strategy and their platforms to survive. They understand that they must change their strategy from simply T.V. and magazines to adjust and thrive in the increasingly digital world which we live today.
From the beginning nascar needed sponsors to be able to pay their drivers a proper wage but also make tons of money alongside this goal.

There sponsorship are broken down into four categories, title, primary, associate, and official. when you see a nascar series it’s never just called the nascar cup there always called the nascar sprint cup. This is a title, they pay to be recognized as a huge supporter in turn seek massive amount of recognition as the cup are always called by the brand name like the Sprint cup. this alone produces a large amount of recognition among the nascar fans giving them a very large amount of influence over the fans. The series sponsors this year are Sprint, Xfinity, Camping World, K&N, Whelen, and Canadian Tire.The second highest is primary, they are the ones how pay to have the main colors and design for the vehicles. The average cost for this is about 8 million for a typical season of about 30 races. This is a huge marketing asset when your company's name is synonymous with the best drivers nascar has to offer. When people think of these big names like Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, and Tony Stewart, there names are synonymous with the cars they drive and the sponsors that pay to be on there cars. Some of the biggest sponsors in this category are Bass Pro, Home Depot, Cat,M&M, Stanley Tools, and Domino's Pizza. The third category is Associate sponsors is like a primary sponsorship, but much smaller as they pay to be on the car and uniform but on

a much smaller capacity. They are the smaller sponsors you typically see close to the tires of the cars. even though they have a much smaller space these spaces aren't cheap they can run up to 5 million to get a viewable ad on the car and the uniforms. some of the most well know are 3M, Dish Network, Goodyear, Craftsman’s Tools. The final category is the official category, many primary and associate sponsors pay to become the official (blank) of nascar. this is done for two reasons, one for more ads during the races, and two to make people trust the brand. For instance if you're a nascar fan you might buy Budweiser beer the official beer of nascar because you like nascar and it uses that emotional attachment to piggyback sales of of nacar. Some well known officials products are Bank of America, Kellogg, and Goodyear Tires.
The next important part is who's watching, according to the statistics the audience is about 60% between 18-44 years of age. The majority of their fans live in the south at 38%, but surprisingly the stereotypes end there with most of the fans (55%) making fifty thousand plus. An overwhelming majority of 75% own a home and most like to do outdoor activities including camping (24%), fishing (30%), and golf (18%). Fans also tend to like or attend country music(11%), monster trucks(2%), and the NHRA(1.7%). I was honestly overall suprised it not completely being watched by red necks.