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Question:
Your four companies are largely responsible for the growth and success of
the series, obviously any reconciliation has to make sense to your
companies. My question is what would make sense if it came to the point
where there was some kind of exchange?
Potter (Mercedes): "I don't think a public statement at this time, from the
perspective of Mercedes-Benz, would be counter productive. Andrew has said
many time that these are things that need to go on behind closed doors. I
understand why you want us to answer that question, but, I hope you prefer
that eventually a solution emerges rather than talk about it and have
something said in public wind up being a barrier to a solution rather than
providing facilitation."
Question: Let's talk about Cleveland for a minute. There has been some talk about
this race going away. From your standpoint how important is this race?
Potter (Mercedes): "It's always great to be in a major metropolitan area.
I love going to natural road courses, as a club racer they are great races
to drive. But when you race on the natural road courses we are on the third
or fourth page of the sports section. But, when we are in Cleveland or
Detroit this event owns the town for a week. There isn't a person, who is
not in a coma that doesn't know that CART is racing in Cleveland this week.
It is the biggest thing going on in Cleveland this week. From a local
standpoint all of these type of events are terrific."
Scott (Ford): "This is probably one of the best races on the circuit. Like
Steve said, being in a metropolitan area is very important to the series."
Unger (Toyota): "It gets into the bigger picture. How many races is the
optimum number of races, 16, 18, 22, 24, 26? What is the optimum to have
within the United Stated, in North America and other countries? Then to
have to balance that between how many short ovals, how many superspeedway
races, how many road circuits, how many temporary circuits? It is a very
fine balance. There is no doubt that it helps the visibility of the sport
to be in a major metropolitan area. I don't think there is anyone who can
argue that. The issue comes from one of balance. Is there a better
opportunity out there somewhere? Perhaps not. If you are getting good
exposure, on TV throughout the week, getting coverage, getting newspapers
and getting fans than it makes sense to stay where you are. Unless
something two or three times as big come along then it doesn't make sense to
stop coming."
Clarke (Honda): "Obviously it is a large metropolitan area second only to
the exposure that we get in Long Beach. It is a unique race in that it is a
road course but everyone can see the whole track. It is a very appealing
race to Honda and from a competitive standpoint I know that all of our
drivers love it. It offers so many opportunities with different lines
through the corners and braking patterns. It would be a shame to move it."
Question: It wouldn't be moved is all for of you guys wanted it, would it? You guys
are saying what a great event it is but at the same time you walk outside
and people are talking about it ending. How do you explain that?
Potter (Mercedes): "Well we are not race organizers. That decision is
between CART, IMG and the city of Cleveland."
Question: It doesn't involve you guys?
Potter (Mercedes): "Not in a direct fashion. I would like to think that
CART calls us up every time they go to make a decision. I can tell you
though that is not the reality. I think CART knows our position on what
kind of events we think are good for us. We have those general discussions
but at the end of the day, all kidding aside, it's really IMG's decision and
CART's decision and you know what, it's a business decision. If it doesn't
make sense financially to the primary parties involved, those being CART and
IMG, then it won't happen. If it does make sense than it will. It's a
market economy."
Question: You have all said it is a tv show. I have a two part question. As soon as
the race is over the coverage is over. In NASCAR you see faces and in CART
you see helmets. How can that be addressed? Number two, when will we see
Greg Moore selling a Mercedes or Scott Pruett selling a Toyota or Jimmy
Vasser selling a Honda or Adrian Fernandez selling a Taurus? The mentality
in America, and Tony Stewart is a good example of that, is that your can't
understand the drivers in open wheel racing. At least in NASCAR Tony
Stewart says he can understand what the drivers are saying, with the
exception of Ward Burton of course, but I would like you to answer why we
are not seeing your drivers selling cars?
Scott (Ford): "Well we struggle with that very point and it has to do with
priorities within our division and budgets. Right now we are wrestling with
our TV package because we have six new vehicles to launch next year. You
have only so many dedicated TV commercials. Where you are probably going to
see these drivers, and where we are using them like our NASCAR drivers, will
be in PSA's similar to the ones we are developing right now with NHTSA and
Michael Andretti. But also through our Tier 2 advertising, which is our
local dealer organizations, because again, we are trying to get our
advertising down closer to the actually customer that is going to buy the
product. It is a concern and something we want to do but there are
priorities within the company related to how money is allocated on vehicle
products we have to launch. When you start going down to thirty second
commercials from sixty second commercials and you have a lot of things to
say it is difficult to do that through a racing message. If it has to do
with safety and certain things like that then I think we can use it and we
want to do that but again priorities within the company that make it
difficult to do that."
Question: Sam, let me ask you quickly, how difficult is it to for Michael Andretti to
say that the things that make me go fast on the race track in my Ford
powered race car are the same things that make your Ford Taurus a more
reliable vehicle?
Scott (Ford): "Maybe this is a good example of what we are doing now. We
have a TV advertising campaign with John Corbert who is a spokesperson so to
speak, even though he is not a Michael Andretti, there is a commonality
there that he affords us in our advertising across our product lines. So,
for us to take and all of the sudden slide in a celebrity for one car and
one ad it breaks up the continuity. That is the advertising agency and our
position right now. I know what you are saying and we fight this battle all
the time. As close as all of us are to the sport, racing is very popular,
and I think it sells on almost every level, and I wish we could use them
more there but there are just priorities that preclude us from doing that."
Question: Sam, does your answer mean that it is CART's job to get Michael Andretti's
face out there, not yours?
Question:
The budget and the mentality doesn't seem to be there. Isn't it your job to
promote that to the management level?
Unger (Toyota): "Again it is part of the overall strategy for the company
on a corporate level. We have in the past had our individual dealer groups
at the local level use our drivers in promotions and advertising. When you
talk about it on a national basis you have to kind of integrate the dollars
you are allocating with the overall message. But that being said, like our
friends at Honda we are trying to put faces on drivers who are piloting
Champ Cars. If you look over the past couple of years you notice that in
just about all of our Champ Car ads we try to feature individual drivers,
driver's personalities, and driver's faces, not just in our print ads but in
our TV spots that we run. For the drivers, we have determined through our
research and others that are out there, it is very important to see the
faces of these guys. But there are things that make that difficult to do on
television during the race because of safety obviously. They are behind a
helmet in a guided missile if you will. In basketball, baseball and
football, although football is a little different but they still stand on
the sidelined for a part of the game, that is part of our challenge. How do
you get that name or face recognition out there. It's difficult."
Potter (Mercedes): "I think there are issues there which are salient to all
of us. Mercedes-Benz motorsport advertising is essentially geared to the
motorsport audience. Motorsport for us is primarily about brand recognition.
But in a larger sense I am not so sure our upper management would buy into
the notion that the purpose of our advertising budget is to promote a sport.
The purpose is to leverage that. If you look at the breakdown of what
customers are interested in, to be candid, racing is still a niche sport.
Even NASCAR, it's a big niche sport but still a niche sport, it isn't the
NBA or the NFL. It doesn't have that broad appeal that necessarily makes an
athlete in that sport the appropriate spokes person beyond the borders of
that sport. That's my opinion. The other thing you mentioned in regards to
Tony Stewart and not being able to understand a foreign accent strikes me as
kind of nativist statement."
Question: But that seems to be the mentality of a lot of American race fans. . .
Potter (Mercedes): "These four brands here have two things in common. One,
we are all auto manufacturers and two we are all global companies. You may
think of Ford is a U.S. brand, and it is, but it is much more than that.
Ford is a global brand. We are all global brands. Our world doesn't end at
the Atlantic and the Pacific. The world is round. Tony Stewart may not
recognize that but as companies we do. Here is another piece of news,
that's the direction that the world is going. You know, Tony has a sponsor
that is a U.S. company and that's good and NASCAR is a very efficient way
for them to reach their audience. But frankly, people in Japan don't go to
the Home Depot but people in Japan all buy our brands. Yes, we are
international, guilty as charged, but for my brand Mercedes-Benz, that isn't
a bad thing. We are sponsors of CART and I am charmed by Gil de Ferran's
accent. You know what, I can actually understand what he was saying on his
cool down lap despite his Brazilian accent. There is a very powerful
emotional attachment which I felt was extremely powerful. That struck me
much more genuine and real than seeing a guy get out of his car, put on his
hat and say my whatever, whatever, sponsor, sponsor, car company sure ran
good today. I would much rather have something that is real than something
that is contrived."
ZIZZO (CART): "On a lighter note, there was a driver who had an answer to
Tony's statement. It was Raul Boesel and he said, 'I am sorry but english
is my third language. How many does Tony Stewart speak?'"
Question: But you are not a typical race fan. The typical racing fan wants to see
that guys face and see that reaction and hear what he has to say. The fan
wants to see the face of the drivers which is why NASCAR is having success.
Is it possible to say, and maybe difficult to say, that maybe CART has maxed
out tv wise in this country and now the focus is global?
Potter (Mercedes): "If you look at some of the research that Chilton did,
it is a year old now, that the split between the IRL and CART has split the
audience. When you talk to those people who prefer the IRL then they will
watch the IRL races if they prefer CART then they will watch CART races plus
the Indy 500."
Question:
It sounds almost in answering the question you are saying that it's too bad
the ratings are not better but we are global and that's what we really care
about . . .
Potter (Mercedes): "You made the wrong connection. We are not saying that
we are global so it doesn't matter, there are two separate issues. One is
television and it's declining role an a communication medium with our
prospects and the other issue is that we are global companies."
Question:
I thought that the question in regards to Tony Stewart raises a good point.
If you look at the top-ten of today's field you see two Americans. I am not
saying there should be ten but won't you guys at least be honest enough to
say that it would be nice to have five Americans in the top ten and we do
better in America. Instead I am hearing that we are big in Brazil and that
kind of hits me funny.
Unger (Toyota): "I don't think there is anyone that would say that it
wouldn't be better to have perhaps more Americans in high visibility and
high positions in the sport. We are a company now that produces a lot of
cars and trucks in the United States and we are going to be producing more
and more. It would be nice to have some additional American drivers out
there. But, then take that answer aside and ask why do that? One of the
things that makes CART attractive to a company like Toyota is that the sport
has gotten tremendously competitive over the past five years. Much more so
than it was back in the '70's or '80's or early '90's even when you had
three or four or five cars that were capable of winning and all of the
others were in the back of the bus. So what has happened in the last five
years that has changed that? You look down he roster and say my god, we
have some tremendously talented drivers in the series now, who, by the way,
some of them aren't American drivers. But how did they get here, well, they
are damn good drivers. So then you are faced with the decision of putting a
quota out there and limit the number of Brazilian drivers, Italian driver
and drivers from Argentina and have a quota there for American drivers. I
don't think you want to do that. You want to have the best competition out
there and I think CART does. But again, that being said, we need to look at
how we make these drivers become better known not only on race weekend but
away from the race. It starts by getting them out there, on talk shows,
television shows, at a ball game, a football game, a grand opening, just
getting them out there in front of the American public. That's the
challenges and what we are all striving to accomplish."
Scott (Ford): "I think it goes beyond the drivers too. The sponsors council
just did a survey that showed us a couple of things that go beyond the
drivers. Unfortunately CART racing is not appointment TV such as NASCAR.
You don't turn the TV on every Sunday and get a race. The average race fan
may also not understand the sport and point system like there is in golf
with dollars and cents. We also want to enhance the manufacturers' rivalry.
For instance we want it to be known that the Ford of Michael Andretti is
competing against the Honda of Jimmy Vasser similar to the rivalry we have
in NASCAR with Chevy and Pontiac. I think it can enhance the sport."
ZIZZO (CART): "If I can add something. We are harping on Americans but it
didn't hurt Mario Andretti, an Italian from becoming and American hero or
Emerson Fittipaldi who is a Brazilian."
Question: Well finding that personality to transcend the sport is the challenge here...
Potter (Mercedes): "To your point, our colleagues at Honda and Target did a
great job of leveraging Alex Zanardi's personality to motorsport fans and to
others who are just tuning in. As is the case with Dale Earnhardt, Jeff
Gordon and others within NASCAR, people know them as if they have been to
their homes without ever having shaken their hands. In CART, if a driver
has been around for five years he has been around a while. In NASCAR, they
are still a boy. One of the challenges that faces the entire CART community
is that we need more drivers, as they do in NASCAR, and say there are a lot
of places I could be but no other place I'd rather be. But, until we meet
those challenges we are never going to build the personalities that are
going to grab peoples attention."
Transcript provided by the CART manufacturers.
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