Dirt’s Big Three/ Gordon Gambles on Vegas Crew Chief / Open Wheeler Goes MacGyver/ The Numbers Back Up Where NBC Dropped the Ball
Dirt’s Big Three
When Dirt Motorsports announced the addition of the three former NASCAR tied employees last week, probably not many of you out there got excited. Why are these three so special? The hiring shows the dedication of Dirt to make their program work. While the company had a good staff in place, the new hires will be able to elevate Dirt’s program to another level not often seen in grass roots racing. Once you get away from NASCAR’s top levels, it can be tough to show a sponsor or investor your worth. Tom Deery handled NASCAR’s touring and weekly racing series. Rob Butcher was a major player for International Speedway Corp.’s marketing partnership and integrated media. Ben Geisler managed or placed more than $100 million in sponsorship and activation funding while at Next Marketing. These folks understand marketing to corporate America. Something grass roots racing needs to improve on. Am I knocking all of grass roots racing marketing people? No. I am just saying that Dirt has invested in a group of three men that they believe will help set their organization apart.
Gordon Gambles on Vegas Crew Chief
Open Wheeler Robby Gordon will have nine-time World Series of Poker champion Phil Hellmuth, Jr. on top of the pit box Sunday as a celebrity crew chief for the race at Las Vegas.
Open Wheeler Goes MacGyver
Joshua Harris with the News Topic reports that Open Wheeler Ryan Newman when MacGyver Monday, using a Leatherman to help control a fire at a restaurant where he was eating. The former USAC driver was eating at Sledgehammer Charlie's in Lenoir, North Carolina with friends when the building filled with smoke. The News Topic reports that Chris Barlowe, Jeffrey Rocks and Newman climbed up on the roof of the building to remove the vent system cover. While Newman used his Letherman to get the top off, the other two used fire extinguishers to help suppress the fire until the fire department arrived.
Open Wheeler Busch Las Vegas Entries
9 Kasey Kahne
10 John Andretti
11 Paul Menard
14 Tracy Hines
18 J.J. Yeley
32 Jason Leffler
33 Tony Stewart
34 Paul Tracy
38 AJ Foyt 4
43 Aaron Fike
60 Carl Edwards
66 Ken Schrader
77 Burney Lamar
Media News
IRL Drivers Blitz ESPN
Helio Castroneves is a scheduled guest on Thursday’s Cold Pizza on ESPN2. Fellow IRL driver Dan Wheldon appeared on “Mike & Mike in the Morning” ESPN Radio, Cold Pizza and participated in an espn.com chat.
The Numbers Back Up Where NBC Dropped the Ball
According to the Sports Business Journal, from February 13-19, NBC’s nightly prime-time Olympics coverage seven of the 10 highest-rated sports shows for the week. The network also turned in half of the top 14 most-watched shows overall for the week. So why are their numbers down? Well four and eight years ago the internet was not as prevalent and there are more channels to watch now. But we have already covered why they lost in a previous blog. Here is what they could do to improve. According to reports, the most popular growing sport this year was curling, yet curling never made primetime. Hockey was promoted for weeks leading up to the Olympics, yet hockey was not promoted. The NBC networks did show the two sports live in the early hours and daytime. According to the SBJ, NBC showed 6:51:03 of speed skating. Figure skating had the second and fifth most airtime. Skiing took in the third and fourth positions. Idea for 2010. Air a little hockey and curling. Also let us see the whole program with out switching around to other sports. When NBC switches, we switch. Link
When Dirt Motorsports announced the addition of the three former NASCAR tied employees last week, probably not many of you out there got excited. Why are these three so special? The hiring shows the dedication of Dirt to make their program work. While the company had a good staff in place, the new hires will be able to elevate Dirt’s program to another level not often seen in grass roots racing. Once you get away from NASCAR’s top levels, it can be tough to show a sponsor or investor your worth. Tom Deery handled NASCAR’s touring and weekly racing series. Rob Butcher was a major player for International Speedway Corp.’s marketing partnership and integrated media. Ben Geisler managed or placed more than $100 million in sponsorship and activation funding while at Next Marketing. These folks understand marketing to corporate America. Something grass roots racing needs to improve on. Am I knocking all of grass roots racing marketing people? No. I am just saying that Dirt has invested in a group of three men that they believe will help set their organization apart.
Gordon Gambles on Vegas Crew Chief
Open Wheeler Robby Gordon will have nine-time World Series of Poker champion Phil Hellmuth, Jr. on top of the pit box Sunday as a celebrity crew chief for the race at Las Vegas.
Open Wheeler Goes MacGyver
Joshua Harris with the News Topic reports that Open Wheeler Ryan Newman when MacGyver Monday, using a Leatherman to help control a fire at a restaurant where he was eating. The former USAC driver was eating at Sledgehammer Charlie's in Lenoir, North Carolina with friends when the building filled with smoke. The News Topic reports that Chris Barlowe, Jeffrey Rocks and Newman climbed up on the roof of the building to remove the vent system cover. While Newman used his Letherman to get the top off, the other two used fire extinguishers to help suppress the fire until the fire department arrived.
Open Wheeler Busch Las Vegas Entries
9 Kasey Kahne
10 John Andretti
11 Paul Menard
14 Tracy Hines
18 J.J. Yeley
32 Jason Leffler
33 Tony Stewart
34 Paul Tracy
38 AJ Foyt 4
43 Aaron Fike
60 Carl Edwards
66 Ken Schrader
77 Burney Lamar
Media News
IRL Drivers Blitz ESPN
Helio Castroneves is a scheduled guest on Thursday’s Cold Pizza on ESPN2. Fellow IRL driver Dan Wheldon appeared on “Mike & Mike in the Morning” ESPN Radio, Cold Pizza and participated in an espn.com chat.
The Numbers Back Up Where NBC Dropped the Ball
According to the Sports Business Journal, from February 13-19, NBC’s nightly prime-time Olympics coverage seven of the 10 highest-rated sports shows for the week. The network also turned in half of the top 14 most-watched shows overall for the week. So why are their numbers down? Well four and eight years ago the internet was not as prevalent and there are more channels to watch now. But we have already covered why they lost in a previous blog. Here is what they could do to improve. According to reports, the most popular growing sport this year was curling, yet curling never made primetime. Hockey was promoted for weeks leading up to the Olympics, yet hockey was not promoted. The NBC networks did show the two sports live in the early hours and daytime. According to the SBJ, NBC showed 6:51:03 of speed skating. Figure skating had the second and fifth most airtime. Skiing took in the third and fourth positions. Idea for 2010. Air a little hockey and curling. Also let us see the whole program with out switching around to other sports. When NBC switches, we switch. Link
posted by Blake Johnson at 3:23 PM
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