Going Back to Cali: Speedway Promotes Labor Day Weekend Events

Gordon (with Rihanna) To Help Zucker (l) Promote Races At California Speedway

California Speedway, in addition to billboards, bus panels, e-mail blasts and print and broadcast ads, has launched three “major initiatives” to promote its Labor Day Weekend NASCAR races, according to Leonor Vivanco of the SAN GABRIEL VALLEY TRIBUNE. NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya’s image has appeared in four counties on signs and doorknob hangers since July with a phone number "to find out his secret."  Speedway President Gillian Zucker said that this “whisper campaign is an opportunity to intrigue somebody to the point they would want to check out a race.” There is also a viral campaign with an ad only on YouTube and MySpace, featuring a chicken "that didn't cross the road because it got run over by a race car at the track." The spot concludes by challenging viewers “not to be a chicken and to come see a race.” This campaign includes a MySpace page for the track where fans can register for contests, view more ads and read track news. The third initiative is the California Speedway Girls, a group selected from a casting call of 4,000, that will “help promote the track and its fitness initiatives on a year-round basis."  The speedway is selling a $75 calendar featuring the girls. In addition to these marketing drives, California Speedway will host “Running Wide Open” Thursday night in Hollywood. The event “appeals to the corporate clientele to support the NASCAR Foundation and creates awareness of the track and its races." The event will feature rides from Jeff Gordon on a “mini-California Speedway” (SAN GABRIEL VALLEY TRIBUNE, 8/29).