Indycar PR idea, do airshows!

[SportscarBruce]

Forgive me for the duplicate threads (the other one is in the O/T board) but IMO what Indycar racing needs more than anything else is PR exposure.

Anyway a thought crossed my head, what would the cost be for a travelling Indycar PR booth that hits the major airshows? The military bases have a desirable and probably easily attracted demographic of young and mid-30s people attracted to fast and exciting pursuits, throw in the hundreds of thousands (millions?) of airshow spectators and you have a damm good audience to target. Have a booth with a showcar, an engine on a stand, a TV playing clips of races, bumper stickers, fliers, modestly priced T-shirts, water bottles, hats, etc.

List of airshows:
http://www.airshows.com/search/search.asp?type=usalist
http://www.airshows.com/Thunderbirds_2005.htm
http://www.airshows.com/blueangels_2005.htm


Just an idea.

What I want to add is this; the three-engined jet powered truck Shockwave is appearing at the local airshow and so is a jet dragster. Instead of a showcar why not have a real Indycar? Hire a driver and a skeleton crew (that doubles as booth setup and transport), put the car on the runway and do some fast runs up and down the strip, some burnouts, and fire it up in the display area from time to time. Believe me when the engine fires up in the display the people will gravitate like bees to honey!

Get Honda involved!

[SportscarBruce]

I see people:

http://www.kites.org/aka/calendar/crowd.jpg
http://www.airventure.org/2004/galle...wd_airshow.jpg
http://www.lakehurst.navy.mil/airsho...At_Airshow.jpg
big file:
http://www.whiteman.af.mil/airshow/ImagesGal/crowd.jpg

[Z28]

I'm hearing Rocket racing, maybe become a fan.

As for the jet cars, if you've never seen them at a dragstrip as I have at the Hot Rod magazine Power Festivals they draw a huge amount of attention when they go down the strip. People literally streaming to the fences. Gigantic clouds of smoke, big bang and an almost silent whoosh (apologies to our TF member). At Route 66 in Joliet they stacked several concrete highway barriers behind the starting line to protect the suites. On more than one occasion the barriers were blown over and a couple of the windows in the suites were blown out. Even as big an IndyCar fan as I am I'll tell you now an Indy car demostration wouldn't be as spectacular or popular.

[roach]

...I'm hearing Rocket racing, maybe become a fan.

Rocket Racing League

roach

[Jimbo77]

Placing the IndyCar experience transport with the half simulator and half IndyCar setup would be nice. Placing a mock-up of an old IndyCar would be nice. Heck, the pit stop competition is real cool. A friend of mine had a blast even though he was beaten twice. I've been to so many airshows in the past and it seems though the last few years a NASCAR Aim High USAF stockcar has been at those shows. I've seen the National Guard stockcar at past airshows as well. Excellent opportunity for the IndyCar Series to promote their product.

[SportscarBruce]

^ that would fit in well in the ground display

http://www.randolph.af.mil/airshow/ground.htm

Well, I'm off to the airshow and for a bit of OW PR I'm wearing an embroidered 2002 Penske Racing pit crew shirt and a 2000 Texaco Grand Prix of Houston hat, along with radio scanner, camcorder, film, etc. CY!

[SportscarBruce]

What a fantastic show! The best airshow I've ever seen! Under the clearest blue skies too.

And note Toyota had a NCTS rig display with truck, inspection templates, flyers, ect, and Viagra had a Mark Martin car, they fired it up and people gathered!

If the San Antonio race does go forward it may be advisable to explore using this Randolph AFB airshow to promote the '07 race. The flightline was packed with spectators.

[Mindervillain]

For whatever this is worth, in 1997 I was involved in local racing in the Reno area. Trans-Am was going to be the lead series at the Reno Grand Prix, to be held in the parking lot at a local casino.

The guy I worked for was asked to get some publicity at the Reno Air Races; we got a Trans-Am show car, and in between races we ran the car up and down the tarmack while the race announcer publicized the Grand Prix.

The attention we got was unbelievable. Air race folks are gear heads, just like the rest of us (although their gears are a bit more expensive). But air races and air shows attract a lot of people who have no involvement in motor sports, but are attracted to the spectacle. Many of them are ripe for conversion into race car fans.

The Reno Grand Prix is gone, unfortunately, although the many of the barricades and much of the fencing is now in place at a rapidly growing Reno/Fernley Raceway Park. But local air race fans, as well as race car fans, still remember getting close to that Trans-Am car over 8 years ago.

[Sea Fury]

In case you're wondering what the Reno National Championship Air Races are: in the Unlimited class, each machine represents THOUSANDS of HP, MILLIONS' worth of classic (hotrodded) machinery, 500+MPH on the deck....with entrants ranging from wealthy hobbyists to ex-astronauts to Indy vets.

Check these sights and sounds out:




AUDIO: Highly-modified F8F Bearcat "RARE BEAR," back when it had a huge, slow-turning 3 blade prop.




AUDIO: One of the supporting classes: a pack of closely-matched, practically stock T-6s/SNJs/Harvards rounding the pylons.




AUDIO: A past entry (which sadly was involved in a fatal accident in the early 1990s): The Burt Rutan-designed POND RACER, powered by two Electamotive Nissan IMSA GTP engines.




The Unlimited Gold race from Pylon 1: two dueling, hotrodded P-51 Mustangs and the brutish R4360-powered Sea Fury DREADNOUGHT.





AND YOU GOTTA WATCH THIS!!!! YEAH, BABY!! UH HUH!!!!

[SportscarBruce]