“Think about Ed Sheeran,” Penske Corp. President Bud Denker told SPEED SPORT. “I saw an MTV concert with him recently. The demographic that he has, in many cases a bunch of younger females are his fans.
“Think about filling up Iowa Speedway with a whole new demographic we haven’t had before that are going to like what we put on in terms of concerts, but also hopefully get attached to racing and come back time and time again to watch an Indy car race. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever done.”
Randy Edeker, executive chairman and executive director of Hy-Vee, would like to expand the company’s involvement with IndyCar.
“We’ve discussed the possibility of sponsoring and being a bigger sponsor of the Indianapolis 500,” Edeker told SPEED SPORT. “We’ll see that coming down the road. There are a few other tracks that we’ll take a look at and, and maybe have some presence. Road America’s one of them that we’ll take a look at coming up.
“Where it makes sense, we’ll definitely get more involved. If they’re working on some new events, then we would definitely see about increasing our involvement.”
Another positive move for IndyCar heading into 2023 is a six-part docuseries that is designed to reach a younger audience. “100 Days to Indy” will be produced by VICE Media and will air on The CW Network in the spring leading into the 107th Indianapolis 500.
The unscripted docuseries is like the popular “Drive to Survive” series on Netflix that helped catapult Formula 1 into a huge surge of popularity.
IndyCar hopes “100 Days to Indy” will connect to a new, younger audience — something that is vital if IndyCar is going to replace its aging audience.
Of all major sports, IndyCar has the largest audience of fans 50 and over and the smallest audience of fans under 35. Those are numbers that must be changed for IndyCar to be sustainable.
To continue building momentum, IndyCar must look outside of what has worked for the series in the past and not be afraid to try bold, new ideas.
What can IndyCar do to cultivate that momentum this year?
“That’s a good question,” Chip Ganassi Racing Managing Director Mike Hull responded. “The easy answer is to say just keep doing things the same way, but when you do things the same way, you are removed and it’s not going to work.
“IndyCar needs to work hard as they have been doing to find better people to work for them. Find more depth in their organization. Forecast with the race teams how to make things better. They are working on a new television contract that includes network racing and that must continue.
“Creating vitality with communication, with the generation coming along, is going to be critical for their growth and that needs to happen.”
Hull believes reaching that new audience, though initiatives such as “100 Days to Indy” will be vitally important.
“Enhancement,” Hull said. “Enhancement of the brand is what all of us should support. Because it has been proven that ‘Drive to Survive’ has worked in the past doesn’t necessarily mean that is what we should do moving forward, but we should tear the page out of that book and understand that is the direction we should be going.
“We need to get that public perception in front of more eyes. If Mark Miles and the group at IndyCar manage to be able to do that for us, then let’s get after it.
“It’s in front of us. It’s here. Let’s support it and let’s create brand awareness.
“We can do a better job as a racing entity by finding new ways to enhance and build our brand. We need to support that enhancement.”
This story appeared in the Jan. 18 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
