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Earnhardt dominates in second Motorsports DBI
Dec 1, 2008
Earnhardt’s ‘dominance is just uncanny’ in study
By MICHAEL SMITH
Sports Business Journal
What’s in a name? A lot, according to the Davie-Brown Index’s latest study of motorsports drivers.
The index, which measures attributes such as awareness, appeal and trust, found that NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the NHRA father-daughter tandem of John and Ashley Force were among the most popular, well-liked and well-respected drivers in their sports.
They also carry a heritage and a racing name that resonates with fans.
“Legacy, family name, winning, they’re all trademarks of the top-ranked drivers,” said Bill Glenn, vice president of strategic insights and analytics for Dallas-based The Marketing Arm, which developed and conducts the study. “Junior continues to be king. He rates across the top of the charts in all attributes. We just don’t see that in the celebrity/entertainment world. His dominance is just uncanny.”
For the first time, the Davie-Brown Index broke down drivers by their series and polled only those who consider themselves avid fans for that particular sport. DBI targeted at least 300 responses for each driver and in many cases received more. Fans had to rate their interest in the sport at least an 8 on a scale of 10 to qualify for the poll. Drivers were rated in eight categories: awareness, appeal, notice, trendsetter, influence, trust, endorsement and aspiration.
The only driver whose ratings came close to Earnhardt was veteran Mark Martin. The top six in NASCAR were Earnhardt, Martin, Tony Stewart, Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards, who along with Kasey Kahne made the most significant gains.
Despite winning his third consecutive Sprint Cup championship, Johnson’s numbers didn’t move much and he ranked fifth overall. He scored well on trendsetting, aspiration and influence, but fans also said he was overexposed and he ranked 14th out of 36 NASCAR drivers in likability.
Surprisingly, Danica Patrick ranked third among IndyCar Series drivers, behind Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan. While Patrick rated very high on awareness, her likability and trust numbers were among the bottom out of 11 drivers.
In the NHRA, the Forces were followed by Tony Schumacher and Ron Capps.
