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The IndyCar Road & Street, NASCAR Plate Track Paradoxes

Get ready for two mind-bending paradoxes that came into focus for me while watching the Circus Music Intensive IndyCar Long Beach race yesterday.

First, let’s review the Festival of Carbon Fiber at Long Beach. Cue the circus music …

Now, the paradoxes.

Pondering IndyCar and NASCAR Racing Brands

You can’t swing a dead cat in the marketing world today without hitting the word “brand.”

Brand brand brand. It’s all about BUILDING THE BRAND. But what the heck is that? Well, it’s WAY more than just your name and logo (think Nike and the swoosh).

Advertising giant David Ogilvy described brand as: “the intangible sum of a product’s attributes.” Think of brand by asking yourself this question: “What comes into my mind when I hear a company’s name?”

My Cactus-Based IndyCar TV Ratings Rapprochement

IndyCar?

In international relations terms, a “rapprochement” (it’s from the French, so give it that “ra-ˌprōsh-ˈmah” schwerve) is “the development of friendlier relations between countries or groups of people who have been enemies.”

Me and TV ratings, we’ve had a long running “discord.” For at least five years, I’ve thought TV ratings were a Sign of the Apocalypse for IndyCar. When 300,000 people in the whole country watch your program, that’s like having the tumor pathology report come back “CANCER.”

Or so I thought. I’m changing my view. It’s possible IndyCar is the cactus of sports.