After announcing last year that it had been hired "to
develop and operate a comprehensive" e-commerce system for
NASCAR's Web site, Action Performance has instead built its
own e-commerce site and there are now "rumblings in the
sports world and on Wall Street that NASCAR and Action have
gone separate ways," according to Herb Greenberg of the
THESTREET.COM. The proposed partnership between Action and
NASCAR "was considered [such] a big deal" last June that one
analyst estimated that it would add "as much as" $.55 per
share to Action's bottom line. The site was supposed to
launch in February, but "there's been little in the way of
e-commerce on NASCAR's site." Meanwhile, Action has created
its own e-commerce site at goracing.com and has been "so
focused" on the venture that "it's in the process of taking"
the site public. On the other hand, NASCAR has brought on
former Action exec Joe Mattes as a consultant to Disney's
Buena Vista Internet Group "to assist them in managing and
producing" the NASCAR Online e-commerce site. Though
neither Disney nor Mattes would comment on the matter, an
Action spokesperson said that Mattes, who was president of a
company that was acquired by Action, "was fired." The
spokesperson added that Action believes it has a
"longstanding, very positive relationship with NASCAR, and
we do not anticipate that changing," as NASCAR's site "is
just another way to sell Action's own merchandise." But
Greenberg pointed out that the "big question" remains
whether NASCAR fans will go to NASCAR's site or Action's to
buy racing collectibles (THESTREET.COM, 9/24).
