Editor’s note: This story is revised from the print edition.
Believing it is establishing the sort of millennial-friendly event that can marry motorsports with pop culture, Chip Ganassi Racing this week will unveil plans for year two of the Ganassi Sound Garage.
The event, which Ganassi Racing executives created as a way to introduce less-car-obsessed millennials to the typically older-skewing world of motorsports, was held for the first time last September at Ganassi headquarters in Concord, N.C. The first year featured singer Cassadee Pope performing before an invitation-only audience of social media influencers plus Ganassi drivers.
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Singer Cassadee Pope joined Ganassi drivers at last year’s Sound Garage.
Photos by: GANASSI RACING (2)
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This year’s event, set for Oct. 5, once again will be at race team headquarters but will feature a bigger audience — up from just over 200 to upward of 1,000 — and a new act in country-rock band A Thousand Horses, which like Pope is signed to Ganassi Racing sponsor Big Machine Records. The show, which will be replete with social media tie-ins such as a photo booth and a red carpet where attendees can snap selfies with celebrities, generated 42 million social media impressions last year.
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The event will feature social media tie-ins like this photo both.
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Ganassi Racing once again is using Dallas-based social media agency MVPindex to select social media influencers who have the best chance of making viral content.
“It provides us another platform outside of cars on the track to engage our current partners and new partners,” said Steve Lauletta, president of Ganassi Racing. “It’s an exciting promotion that’s linked to our team and drivers and a market of consumers that everyone’s trying to get to.”
Big Machine, McDonald’s, Target and DC Solar are among the brands that will activate this year, and there are “others we’re not yet ready to announce,” Lauletta said, including brands not currently aligned with Ganassi Racing.
Ganassi drivers in attendance will include Kyle Larson, Brennan Poole and Dylan Kwasniewski from NASCAR, IndyCar’s Sage Karam and Global Rallycross’ Steve Arpin and Brian Deegan.
“It always needs to lead back to our core business, and our core business is we’re a race team,” Lauletta said. “We’re never going to lose sight of the fact that that’s why we’re doing it. We’re doing it to bring new fans to our team and to our sport.”
