Interviews & Articles
Millsport's senior sports business executives are available for interviews, commentary, and analysis on a number of sports marketing and sponsorship topics. To arrange an interview, please contact Chris Anderson at (214) 259-3290.
Millsport Motorsports Index: Avid NASCAR fans rate Dale Jr tops
Mar 21, 2008
Slow and savvy can win marketing race, survey indicatesBy Nate Ryan, USA TODAY
Winning NASCAR races isn't necessary in winning over fans.
Millsport, a motor sports-oriented sports marketing agency in Charlotte, thinks it has proven that by classifying 36 Sprint Cup drivers with the Davie Brown Index, which quantifies an athlete's charisma, relevance and influence on consumer behavior.
In a nationwide online survey of 300 avid fans, Dale Earnhardt Jr. ranked first, followed by Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton. But two drivers known more for their boardroom savvy than their racing success rounded out the top five: Michael Waltrip, who has four victories (all between 2001-03) in 694 starts, and Kyle Petty, who has eight wins but none since 1995.
Mike Bartelli, senior vice president for Millsport, said the results prove personality can outweigh performance when sponsors are making multimillion-dollar decisions on funding a driver's car.
"We've espoused this for years," Bartelli said. "It's about aligning with the right guy. It's not necessarily about winning races."
Other results of the survey, taken before the Daytona 500:
•Earnhardt, voted NASCAR's most popular driver the past five years, ranked first in all eight categories (awareness, appeal, notice, trendsetter, influence, trust, endorsement and aspiration).
"Some of that is natural for the publicity he receives, but the magnitude of the difference is surprising," said Bill Glenn, who developed the DBI as vice president for insights and analytics at The Marketing Arm, the parent company of Millsport.
•Open-wheel drivers who have migrated to NASCAR are struggling to make an impression on stock-car fans. Juan Pablo Montoya is ranked 27th in awareness and last in appeal, trust and endorsement. Dario Franchitti (30th) and Sam Hornish Jr. (35th) lag in awareness despite being former IRL IndyCar and Indianapolis 500 champions.
"It's a bit surprising," Bartelli said. "But the NASCAR fan is just that: a NASCAR fan."
Bartelli said the data are valuable to corporations and teams as sponsorships become harder to find in a weakening economy.
"Most of the decisions around sponsorship are still made too often through intuition and availability," he said. "It's amazing that tens of millions can be invested on whether a company likes somebody."
