If there is anybody Bush has got wrapped up, it is these guys.
In Sun Belt, Politicians Vie For NASCAR Dads
By Liz Clarke
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 2, 2003; Page A01
In 2000, it was soccer moms. Today, the demographic that's most in demand by political strategists converges at racetracks Sunday afternoons to whoop, holler and shake a fist at the souped-up Fords and Chevys whizzing past. They're called "NASCAR dads."
"They are middle- to lower middle-class males who are family men, live in rural areas, used to vote heavily Democratic but now usually vote Republican," explains Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "That's the definition of a NASCAR dad, and there are a lot of them."
And the National Rifle Association, as well as Senator Bob Graham (D-Fla.), are staking considerable sums on the belief that if NASCAR can sell its fans on Pennzoil motor oil and Budweiser beer, why not the Second Amendment and the next president of the United States?
The NRA, whose billboards now adorn a half-dozen NASCAR speedways, sees stock-car racing as a means of bypassing the mainstream media and appealing directly to the Americans who support its agenda.
Graham, whose presidential campaign fields the "Bob Graham for President" NASCAR truck, sees auto racing as a way of forging a connection with rural voters by tapping into the passion they feel for American-made cars and the hardscrabble racers behind the wheel.
It makes eminent sense to Virginia-based political strategist David "Mudcat" Saunders, who is credited with identifying the potential significance of NASCAR dads and developing the first successful statewide strategy to woo them. The beneficiary was Virginia gubernatorial candidate Mark Warner, who slapped "Warner for Governor" on the side of a Ford F-150 for a 2001 NASCAR race at Martinsville Speedway as part of his Saunders-inspired campaign strategy. Warner went on to claim 51.4 percent of the rural vote, becoming the first Democrat to carry Virginia's rural electorate in a generation.
"If you're going to send a message of hope to rural America, there is no better vehicle than NASCAR," says Saunders, now an adviser to Graham's presidential campaign.
Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president and CEO of the NRA, agrees.
A longtime NASCAR fan, LaPierre oversaw creation of NRA Sports three years ago as a means of promoting the organization's recreational activities, which he felt were getting buried under a barrage of negative media commentary. The upshot was a deal with Speedway Motorsports Inc. that led to trackside billboards and radio spots at NASCAR speedways in Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, Las Vegas and elsewhere. NRA Sports is also considering sponsoring an NRA car in NASCAR's Grand National division.
"NASCAR Nation is NRA Nation," LaPierre says. "The people at NASCAR races are your hard-working, average tax-paying Americans that are raising their families and putting their kids through school. They are patriotic. They own guns. They hunt, and they go shooting and they love the Second Amendment, which is what we're about, also. It's where America is, to tell you the truth. If you want to find mainstream America, go to NASCAR."
Once confined to the rural Southeast, NASCAR has exploded in popularity over the past decade, drawing race-day crowds of more than 100,000 in such markets as Miami, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. And its 75 million fans are uncommonly loyal to the companies that sponsor the cars and drivers they love. It's that passion that makes NASCAR so compelling to advertisers, says John Miller, director of business development for Roush Racing, who negotiated the "Graham for President" truck deal.
NASCAR "sponsorship is a much more flexible and much more active medium than buying a 30-second television spot or a regional ad," Miller says. "It goes to the next deeper level of connection to the person. It reaches them when they're doing something they enjoy and are in a receptive atmosphere. It's a really powerful way to communicate."
Data compiled by Joyce Julius and Associates backs that up. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based sponsorship research firm tracks the exposure that companies receive during broadcasts of sporting events and converts that exposure to dollar figures.
In its first two races, the "Graham for President" truck got an estimated $223,000 worth of TV exposure, according to the firm. Winning its inaugural event at Kansas City helped boost that figure, with TV cameras lingering on the Graham logo throughout the celebration in Victory Lane.
The NRA's trackside billboards have reaped more than $1.3 million worth of exposure so far this season. LaPierre is delighted with the return.
"It's good for the brand," LaPierre says. "It's positive. We get so sick of the negative stuff that ends up in the newspaper. This is a way for us to get around the filter of the negativity and NBC, ABC and CBS and to be out there with America."
But NASCAR wouldn't necessarily be an effective medium for just any politician, Saunders warns. "If you're not the right messenger with the right message, it will come off as disingenuous," he says.
Sabato agrees, illustrating with a quick rundown of Democratic hopefuls.
Senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) "could pull it off," Sabato says. Former Vermont governor Howard "Dean -- I don't even think NASCAR fans know who he is. And Hillary Clinton would be booed, no question about it."
Of the bunch, Saunders believes Graham has the strongest appeal to NASCAR dads.
"He was raised on a dairy farm in South Florida, and that right there says a lot to a NASCAR fan," Saunders says. "He's from the birthplace of NASCAR. He counts the France family [NASCAR's founders] among his friends. It's just such a very natural fit. I mean, he's a quail hunter!"
But if the trend continues, it could raise thorny issues for NASCAR executives, who decide which products and messages are acceptable sponsors and which are not. Until recently, that line has been fairly easy to draw.
Explains Jim Hunter, NASCAR's vice president for corporate communications: "We reject products that we feel are detrimental to the image of the sport."
NASCAR deems beer an acceptable sponsor, for example, but not hard liquor.
Viagra currently sponsors Mark Martin's Ford. But NASCAR rejected a sponsorship proposal from a condom maker a few years back. Hunter concedes that stance might be reconsidered today if a condom sponsorship were "tied into some educational program."
But the shift from commercial speech to political speech is far more nuanced.
According to Hunter, NASCAR starts by rejecting all inflammatory statements of a sexist, political or religious nature.
Political candidates may print their name and the office they're seeking on a car. But they're barred from touting their political views on the sheet metal.
For example, a "Pat Robertson for President" car would be acceptable. A "Pat Robertson, Right-to-Life" car presumably would not. Similarly, a "Ralph Nader for President" would pass muster. A "Ralph Nader, Stop Global Warming" car likely would not.
"Those are all gray areas that we would look at and review and then give the person a reason for why we didn't think that was good for the sport," Hunter said. "We might say, 'Put something else there.' We'll work with everybody."
Jesus is an example.
NASCAR initially balked, fearing some fans would take offense, when born-again racer Morgan Shepherd asked if he could put an image of Jesus on his car last season after failing to find a traditional corporate backer. A compromise was reached, with Shepherd permitted to decorate his hood with the image of a cross and the slogan, "Racing with Jesus."
"We found that acceptable," Hunter said.
But what if a polarizing political figure wanted to campaign on a race car? Louisiana's David Duke, for example?
"I think we would look at that as long as there were no symbols or anything tying a candidate to their extreme position," Hunter said.
But NASCAR will run into legal trouble, Sabato warns, if it becomes selective in its politics.
"The courts have made clear over the years that once you decide to allow some political speech, you cannot ration it and ban other political speech," Sabato says. "You can't pick and choose, letting the leadership of NASCAR say, 'Well, this candidate is acceptable, and that one isn't.' Or 'This political message is okay, but this one isn't.' " And that's why Charlotte-based sports marketing executive Max Muhleman believes that NASCAR ought to take a cue from the rules of polite dinner conversation and simply avoid politics and religion altogether.
"Just because NASCAR has a strong reach doesn't mean that there isn't a limit to it," Muhleman says.
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