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Few wins, but Danica and Dale Jr have plenty of fans
May 24, 2008
Wins have come sparingly, but Danica Patrick, Dale Earnhardt Jr. have plenty of fans and personalityBy CRAIG DOLCH
Palm Beach Post
Their names will be prominent no matter who crosses the finish lines first at today's Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600.
Forget about wins, pole positions or lap leaders. With Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Danica Patrick, it's much more about endorsements, merchandise, Q ratings and Sports Illustrated cover shots.
Earnhardt Jr., 33, hasn't won a NASCAR race in 73 starts and hasn't finished among the top 12 drivers in two of the past three years. Yet he's been named the circuit's most popular driver for five straight seasons.
Patrick, 27, already was on top of the IndyCar marketing world when she won for the first time in her four-year IndyCar career last month in Japan.
That victory accelerated her lead in the popularity polls: At her next race, in Kansas City, Patrick became the first driver in series history to sell six figures' worth of merchandise in a weekend. She also appeared on Sports Illustrated's cover for the second time. (In 2005, Patrick became the first Indy 500 driver to be on the cover since Al Unser in 1987.)
"Danica's win was even bigger than we hoped, and we're making every effort to take full advantage of this," said Terry Angstadt, president of IndyCar's commercial division. "Can you imagine what would happen if she won the 500?"
That might even draw some attention from NASCAR die-hards ... unless Junior snaps his winless streak tonight at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, just 20 miles from his home.
Popularity contest
So which driver means more to their series: Dale Jr. or Danica?
Rusty Wallace, the former NASCAR driver who has announced IndyCar races and owns an IndyCar track, said it's not even close - Dale Jr. by a mile.
"It's definitely Dale Jr., because he's from NASCAR and that has so many more viewers and so many more people attending," Wallace said. "It's not just Dale Jr. Dale is tied so much into his late father, he has all of his dad's fans as well.
"Danica is obviously a great driver and a good friend of mine. She needed to win for legitimization, and she got that win. Danica's win has helped the IRL, but so has unification and so has Helio Castroneves winning Dancing With The Stars. It's not all Danica."
Jack Arute, who will be working his 24th Indianapolis 500 for ABC-TV, disagrees. He thinks Patrick transcends Earnhardt Jr. because of the gender and cultural issues.
"You've got to look at Danica and say she probably plays a bigger role than Dale Jr. does just because of numbers," Arute said. "There are 28 cars (in IndyCar) instead of 48 (in NASCAR), so she has more impact. She certainly has more impact when the gender issue comes into play. Anything she does goes into the mainstream beyond sports."
Bang for the buck
Earnhardt Jr. ranked 10th among Sports Illustrated's highest-paid athletes in 2007, earning more than $27 million annually from endorsements ($20 million) and salary/winnings ($7 million). And that was before last year's bidding war that ended with Earnhardt Jr. leaving Dale Earnhardt Enterprises for Hendrick Motorsports, increasing his endorsement earnings to more than $30 million.
Earnhardt Jr. replaced the red No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet with a green, white and blue No. 88 Chevy. His primary sponsors are Mountain Dew, Amp Energy Drink, and the National Guard, and he also has personal deals with Sony and Adidas. Earnhardt started his own nightclub (Whiskey River), but his sponsorship switch from Budweiser to Pepsi surely will attract even more young fans.
"It's one of the biggest sports marketing changes we've ever seen, if not the biggest, because it's happening in a sport where endorsements and sponsorships are more critical than any other sport," David Carter, executive director of the University of Southern California's Sports Business Institute, told USA Today this year. "He certainly has a real chance to build the most iconic brand ever in terms of motor sports."
Junior earns trailer loads of cash for NASCAR and his sponsors. Partly due to his popularity, NASCAR now makes 40 more times a year ($2 billion) on merchandise sales than it did in 1991 ($50 million).
"Dale Jr. merchandise has gone from about one-quarter of sales to about one-third of all sales of licensed products," said Tom Sullivan of NASCAR. "Every time he comes out with a new sponsorship or a special paint scheme on his car, his fans are going to want to buy it."
Despite his third-place ranking in the Nextel Cup points standings, Earnhardt Jr.'s sponsors amassed $150 million of comparable television exposure value from being associated with Junior during this year's first 10 races. That's $24 million more than the next driver's overall sponsorship figure ($126 million, by Jeff Gordon).
Cashing in on a win
Patrick's endorsement deals include Motorola, AirTran, Honda, Peak, GoDaddy and Tisso watches. Her annual deals are expected to increase from $5-to-$7 milllion a year to more than $10 million after her win in Japan.
Patrick's awareness by the public also is increasing. Her latest Davie Brown Index ranking, which measures a celebrity's awareness, charisma, relevance and influence, has improved to No. 7 among women (Michelle Wie is sixth in the rankings and Chris Evert is eighth). Earnhardt Jr. ranks 11th among male athletes (Tom Brady is 10th, Derek Jeter is 12th). But some factors can't be measured.
Jed Drake, who will produce today's Indy 500 for ABC, said he was talking with driver-turned-analyst Eddie Cheever last fall at Homestead about the future and what needs to happen for the IndyCar circuit.
"At the same time, we said the same word: 'Danica,' " Drake said. "She needed to win, and now she has. Danica has become the omnipresent story of this Indy 500."
Don't doubt Danica's drive
Scott Goodyear, a former IndyCar driver who's now an analyst, said he was recently asked by a friend if Patrick can win the Indy 500. Goodyear didn't hesitate.
" 'Dude, she goes into the turn at 230 miles per hour and she does not take her feet off the gas,' " Goodyear said. "There's a very small amount of people in the world who are capable of doing that. Of course, she can win."
Drake said it's his job to cover the race for the hard-core fans, but he knows that newcomers want to know how Danica is doing. He figures it'll be simple to keep track of Patrick today.
"When we show the leaders, I think she's going to be one of them," Drake said. "That would make our job easier."
As a rookie three years ago, Patrick led the Indy 500 with nine laps to go. She was told by her pit crew to slow down to conserve fuel, allowing several cars to pass, and she faded to a fourth-place finish. She recently learned that she actually had 21/2 gallons left in the tank that day.
Given another shot at Indy racing's most coveted title, don't expect Patrick to let up today.
"Winning was the step I needed to take to move into contending for a championship," she recently said. "I needed to get over that hurdle. Now I just need to win more."
Wallace doesn't rule out the chance that Patrick might someday be driving on the NASCAR circuit, which means she can settle more than a popularity contest with Earnhardt Jr. right on a racetrack.
"Who means more to their sport and who's the better driver?" Wallace said. "Man, we could talk about that all day. I think they're both very good at what they do. Danica just happens to be a little prettier."
