For the last 18 months we have all read and heard opinions regarding the battle between the Indy Racing League (IRL) and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART, also known as IndyCar). There is no apparent early winner in this battle. It is quite evident that both series will be around for many years to come, and both will grow and get stronger. However, in the long run, one series will clearly be stronger and more successful. The winner will be CART and the answer is quite simple. They have the right formula for the 21st century and beyond; S=P*C*T*M. Success = The right Product for the right Consumer at the right Time in the right Marketplace. Anyone who understands the concept of the global economy understands why CART's future is very sound. Here’s why: The Global Marketplace The fall of the Iron Curtain has done more to blur the boundaries between countries and continents. In addition, technology and advanced communications now make it possible for anyone in the world to enjoy a sport taking place half way around the world. A purely domestic series can succeed and prosper, but the fact that the world population is so much greater than any one country alone, means that the potential to reach far more people exists if you can export your goods (in this case auto racing) globally. The top level of any sport requires a lot of money to attract the best people and auto racing is no different. The top level of auto racing is and always will be an expensive sport and income from sponsorship is vital to the success of any racing team. Common sense tells you that if a sponsor can reach billions of people worldwide, versus millions of people domestically with it’s products, they will pay more for that value. Successful American and foreign companies alike recognize the power of the global marketplace. The largest and most successful companies in the world all sell their goods and services in domestic and foreign markets. As CART adds more races in foreign countries they will bring more value to the companies who sponsor their teams. The Right Product However, saying you want to export them, and doing so successfully are two different things. In order to be successful in any marketplace you must have a good product and you must have consumers who are interested in buying it. So does CART have a good product? You bet it does. CART has the most competitive and interesting open wheel racing series in the world. The quality of CART teams has become so good that the competition has become closer than ever. Teams you would never have thought could win races years ago now race and win with the big boys. By virtue of the fact that CART races on short and high speed ovals, street courses, and natural terrain road courses requires their drivers to possess a wider array of driving skills than any other racing series in the world. Fans around the world are beginning to recognize these facts and this has resulted in CART’S television audience to number over 1 billion people per year. Oval racing is pretty much unique to America. In the rest of the world auto racing is pretty much a road racing sport. By virtue of its agreement with the FIA, CART is required to hold only oval races outside of North America (Australia not withstanding since that race was grandfathered in) so it does not erode F-1’s appeal. That is a blessing in disguise. Although oval racing requires somewhat less driving skill, e.g., the driver is a bigger part of the equation on a road course, races on ovals tend to be more exciting because they have more wheel to wheel racing and far more lead changes. Race fans outside of America are not accustomed to this sort of excitement and when they get to see it firsthand they will become hooked. CART still gives them their beloved road racing, be it via the television. The Right Consumer At The Right Time OK, so CART has a great product, but does it have consumers who will pay for it? Yes it does and that number will double in the next five years. CART attracts drivers and personalities from foreign countries which in turn brings greater attraction to fans around the world. This was no more evident than at this years Rio and Toronto races. In Rio Brazilian driver Andre Ribiero was victorious and the local Brazilian fans stood and cheered him to the checkered flag. In Toronto Mexican driver Adrian Fernandez came home victorious and the country of Mexico went bananas. The president of Mexico even called Fernandez to congratulate him. In the Honda/Senna days of F-1, Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna was a national hero in Japan because of the success he brought to the Japanese-built Honda motor. The crowds at the Japanese F-1 race are no longer as large as they were in those days because that national pride and personal interest disappeared when Honda pulled out of F-1. But, Honda is in CART now and so too is Toyota and Japanese owned Firestone tires. Guess where CART will be racing in 1998? Japan. Expect that event to be immensely popular, especially since Honda has been so successful in CART. Because of all the Brazilian drivers in CART, and the highly competitive race in Rio last year, expect the crowd there to be over 100,000 strong in 1997. In years to come fans from all over Asia and South America will quickly begin to enjoy the product CART has to offer. What’s Missing? So what else needs to be done for CART to become the largest most successful racing series in the world? There are several areas that CART needs to concentrate on: 1. An expanded schedule. 16 races per year is not enough. CART needs to be in the marketplace and in the news year round, not just 7 months per year like it is now. The schedule needs to grow to at least 22 races per year. Still a far cry from NASCAR’s 32 races per year, but a significant improvement none the less. 2. Add more international races. CART is now in only 4 countries on 3 continents, USA, Canada, Australia and Brazil. They need to also be in Asia (Japan and China) and Europe (Germany and England, France or Italy) as well. Sponsors must be able to reach consumers with their product in every non-third world continent. When the communist government in China falls apart like it has in other counties around the world, and the Chinese marketplace opens up to fair trade, the marketing potential in China, with its massive population, will be enormous. 3. They must promote their people. CART has some great names in Andretti, Unser, and Fittipaldi, but they must do more to make the drivers and other team member's household names to race fans around the world. And it would not hurt to get a Nigel Mansell or a Jacques Villeneuve back into the fold. I cannot believe that Japan does not have someone better than Hiro that could be competitive. A good Japanese driver in the series will do wonders for the attendance of the highly rumored 1998 Japan event. CART should also consider working with ESPN to produce a show similar to RPM2Night. This show is on every night on ESPN2 and 90% of the material is devoted to NASCAR. The show is based out of Charlotte and almost every night they have a guest NASCAR driver or crew chief on the show.Fans watching the show identify with the people aspect of the sport, i.e. they become household names. That is important and contributes to the success of Winston Cup racing. If ESPN is unwilling to do another entire show then CART management should try to convince ESPN management to devote a higher percentage of the show to non-NASCAR news and personalities. 4. They must bring in more engine manufactures. CART needs to lure Ferrari, Renault and BMW into the series. Imagine having Honda Toyota, Ford, Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari, Renault and others competing. Imagine how popular a CART race in Italy would be if Alex Zanardi or even Michael Andretti (yes the Andretti name is still Italian in Italy) were driving a Ferrari powered car? One only has to watch the scene after the Italian F-1 race to understand what Ferrari and auto racing mean to the Italian fans. It is like no other spectacle in all of motorsports, including the Indy 500. 5. Improve its facilities. CART puts on a good show, but some races are less competitive than they could be if the tracks they raced on provided more opportunities for passing. Rio is a good example. The track in Rio is probably wider than any other track CART races on. That resulted in a great race with lots of lead changes. Tracks like Detroit and Australia are too narrow. All tracks should be required to be a minimum width. Safety must also be improved. The tree, like the one that killed Jeff Krosnoff this year, should be removed. Road America has many trees right behind the guard rails that need to be removed. Oval track walls are very dangerous. Research needs to be done to figure out a way tomake them absorb energy. Maybe one row of old tires tied together, wrapped in a hard plastic shell (1/8" to 1/4" thick and open at the top) and placed in front of the walls on the outside of the turns will be enough to prevent 90% of the injuries that result when the cars hit themat high speeds. 6. Maintain the right mix of technology and human skill. In my mind F-1 is too much car and not enough driver. Technology in F-1 has gotten out of hand. I feel the IRL’s formula is too much the opposite way. Not enough technology to draw the interest of the best manufacturers of cars and engines. CART has the right mixture today, but it must not forget the formula that got them to be the most competitive open wheel series in the world. 7. Improve its farm system. The Indy Lights series is the right idea, but like every Major League baseball team, and now almost every NASCAR Winston Cup team, each CART team should have an Indy Lights team with the same sponsors, car colors and car names. Fans need to identify with the farm system more. 8. Bring the cars and drivers to many high schools in America in the next 5 years. Stick and ball sports are played in every high school in America. Fans of these sports identify with them at an early age. Just bringing an Indy Car to a high school for two hours and having the students hear and feel the power of a high powered Indy Car and meeting the drivers will win over a lot of new fans at an early age. They can even give away some free tickets to a nearby Indy race. 9. Consider having drivers keep the same car number every year. When I see a black number 3 bumper sticker I know right away they are a Dale Earnhardt fan. Number 14 will always mean AJ Foyt to every Indy Car fan. To me the number 7 New York Yankee jersey will always mean Mickey Mantle. It’s called fan identity. Carrying the number 1 on your car as the previous year’s champion no longer carries the same weight as keeping the same number and maintaining fan identity. 10. Change the Series Title. CART just does not cut it. How about the CART World Racing Series (WRS)? If you are going to play in the international marketplace what better way for fans to recognize that they are watching a sport made for the entire world? Eventually the CART part can go away and fans will recognize WRS as the best racing series in the world. CART should not be too upset if the Indianapolis Motor Speedway wins their lawsuit and forces them to drop the use of ‘IndyCar.’ Fans worldwide must identify the series as one made for all nationalities.
The above editorial does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of SpeedCenterInternet Publishing, Inc., or Paul Page Productions. All editorial content is © 1996SpeedCenter Internet Publishing and may not be reprinted or retransmitted without permissionof The Editor. If you have any comments regarding the preceeding editorial, please direct them to the author: Mark J. Cipolloni |