Use pace car to honor, not market

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced yesterday afternoon that Donald Trump has decided against driving the pace car in this month’s Indianapolis 500 after citing time constraints due to his upcoming election campaign.

When the announcement came out, the entire INDYCAR community breathed a huge sigh of relief. There is no doubt that Donald Trump is a very high-profile name with a huge following outside of auto racing.  His participation most certainly would have brought a bit of increased attention to the 500.  Unfortunately, he had been drawing a great deal attention to himself as of late, and it was not the type of attention that should be associated with the Indianapolis 500 and the close ties and homage it pays to our nation’s veterans on Memorial Day, especially on the centennial running of the event.  Having Trump and IMS part ways was the best possible scenario.

Now, the Speedway finds itself in the awkward position of needing to finding a late replacement.  Not only is it difficult to find an available big name at this late date, but the selected driver must also be willing to accept following Trump as a second choice.

Almost immediately after the announcement was made, speculation and debate began on who the replacement should be. Suggestions range from a US Navy SEAL to all three of the four-time Indianapolis 500 champions or the winner of the Firestone Indy Lights Freedom 100 to be held on Carb Day.

When talking about the pace car driver for the Indianapolis 500, there are two camps that people fall into (and it’s certainly conceivable that a person may actually fall into both).  The first is the group that says the pace car driver needs to be a celebrity that will bring increased focus and media attention to the event.  The second says the pace car driver should be someone with a deep-rooted connection to auto racing and the Indianapolis 500 in particular.

As much as the marketing and public relations folks on the north side of 16th Street would like to believe otherwise, the pace car driver for the Indianapolis 500 is not going to magically sell 25,000 more tickets nor increase the television ratings significantly.  Case in point: last year, when Robin Roberts, anchor for ABC’s Good Morning America and an inspirational cancer survivor, was at the wheel of the pace car leading the field of 33 to the green flag.  The TV rating for the event was a dismal 3.6, down 14% from the 4.2 the event garnered a year prior.  To her credit, Robin had done a fine job of promoting the event to her audience throughout the weeks and months leading up to it.  The rating wasn’t down because Robin didn’t do enough or because people didn’t like her.  The position simply isn’t that big of an attraction.

The exception to this is if the Indianapolis Motor Speedway goes big — and I mean really big.  About the only celebrity who would make a real impact on the event is someone of the magnitude of Oprah Winfrey or President Obama.  The key to celebrities having a significant impact is that they must be adored, if not worshipped, among their fan bases and (a very important and) their associated demographic has to be outside the typical racing populace to bring the event to the attention of those who would not otherwise follow it.

A couple of months ago, before Donald Trump was announced as the pace car driver, I was having a conversation with IMS Radio Network reporter Jake Query about this very topic.  Amazingly, when discussing which celebrity would bring the most awareness to the Indianapolis 500, we both had the same answer.  I said, and he agreed (and I can’t believe that this is actually going to be on the record now), that the person who would bring the most outside attention to the event would be Justin Bieber.  Trust me — there is nobody I would prefer to listen to on the radio less than Justin Bieber, but my nine-year-old niece and pretty much all girls within about four years of her age idolize him. That is a demographic that is currently unlikely to be drawn to the Indianapolis 500.  From a marketing standpoint, his association with the race would be pure gold.  If the broadcast teams were made aware of the number of young girls who might watch simply for Bieber’s involvement, they could make a connection for those impressionable viewers to the stories of Simona de Silvestro, Sarah Fisher, Danica Patrick, and Ana Beatriz. Through that, there’s huge potential to to create a passionate fan base that sticks around beyond the 500.  From that standpoint, the use of a celebrity pace car driver would be highly effective.  (And with that, I now hope that you might be infected with a healthy dose of brain bleach and forget that Justin Bieber was ever mentioned on MoreFrontWing.com!)

The worst thing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway can do is to hire a lame, flash-in-the-pants actor or entertainer to drive the pace car and then have to explain to 300,000 people why that person is interesting and relevant.  A perfect example of this is the pace car driver for the 2009 Indianapolis 500, Josh Duhamel.  If memory serves, Mr. Duhamel was in the “blockbuster” movie Transformers.  The problem is that very few people cared about him, and only slightly more people even knew who he was.  He did absolutely nothing in terms of bringing attention to the event and is now mostly forgotten among race fans.

If the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is unable to secure the services of a major celebrity of the caliber of Oprah or that other kid, then the best alternative (and one that many people would state as their preference) is to honor someone with the position.  For this, many people have suggested one of the legends of the Speedway such as Mario Andretti or one of the four-time 500 champions.  Another popular suggestion has been to ask a US Navy SEAL to represent the US military in general, particularly the team that recently found and killed Osama bin Laden.

In my humble opinion, these options are much better than trying to find a celebrity to market the race for IMS.  There are too many factors that go into selecting a celebrity pace car driver, and rarely is the decision solely in the hands of the track.  In many instances, Speedway partners play a key role in the invitation, such as IZOD in linking Trump with IMS this year and ABC with Robin Roberts last year.  By forgoing a celebrity and using the position simply to honor someone, many headaches and questions can be avoided.  While diverting attention away from the race and onto the pace car driver is never a preferred situation, it is especially undesirable in this 100th anniversary running of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

In any sport, and in this event in particular that has celebrated its heritage so well, there are literally dozens of legends who could be given the honor of pacing the field for the start of the race.  If the rumors of AJ Foyt’s invitation to replace Donald Trump are true, IMS has done a very honorable and wise thing.  There is no other name in the world that is more attached to Indianapolis — the connection is on par with the way that Michael Jordan is linked to the Chicago Bulls or Babe Ruth is linked to the New York Yankees.

Using the position of pace car driver to honor an individual does not need to be limited to a former auto racer, either.  In the past, non-racing pace car drivers have included Gen. Chuck Yeager, Carroll Shelby, and Gen. Colin Powell.  These men have all served the position well, and none have sought to divert attention away from the race itself.

If there were no outside forces involved, a member of the US military, particularly a member of one of the elite special operations units, would be the ultimate pace car driver, especially given current events.  However, this scenario is highly unrealistic given the security details and countless other bureaucratic knots that would need to be untangled.  In the absence of such a figure, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has made the best possible decision by inviting AJ Foyt to lead the field to the green flag if those rumors are true.

Finally, we can quit talking about the pace car driver and again focus our attention on the 33 drivers who will be following him!