You can say what you want about Sarah Fisherâ??s ability to drive a race car, but she continues to be one of the most savvy
marketers in the Indy Racing League. For a team owner operating on a shoe string budget, she gets more press and attention
per penny than any other driver by far.
Fisher is on area billboards, is a favorite on talk radio shows and is even a regular guest host on WZPL-FM 99.5. She constantly gets her name and image out in front of people. Behind Danica Patrick and Helio Castroneves she is the most recognizable IRL driver to the general public, and sheâ??s done all this while not even racing in half the seriesâ?? races.
Fisher has learned to take advantage of her status as one of the few females in the sport without resorting to swimsuit photo shoots. Sheâ??s done it by positioning herself with the right organizations that put her in the public view. This week is a perfect example.
Fisher has made a splash yesterday and today with her partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation. She is appearing in a bright pink race suit and re-designing her car to match. She did so with the blessing of her primary sponsor, Dollar General. And why not? DG is getting a ton of publicity. No, itâ??s not NFL-type publicity, but for the IRL, itâ??s pretty darn good.
You could argue, dollar for dollar, Dollar General is getting as good a value from Fisher as Target and its partners are getting from its high-octane partnership with Target Chip Gannassiâ??s IRL effort. You could probably argue theyâ??re getting a better value.
Sure, Ganassiâ??s drivers are at the front of every race, but they donâ??t get themselves near the off-track attention Fisher does. This week already, Fisher has appeared on ESPN and Fox News and several local news outlets.
Earlier this month, when one of her sponsors surprised her with a back-up car, there were 436 on-line news and blog mentions of the event. And how many times did you read about IRL series leader Ryan Briscoe?
Ok, so Fisher canâ??t do road races. But she sure can navigate the serpentine world of motorsports marketing.
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Now let the haters vent.
Keep it up, Sarah, and one day you will reap the rewards of your hard work!
Good for Sarah....but how telling is the above statement for the series and AOW as a whole? Frankly, that's the pathetic IRL.
GO SArah go. I meen it, go.
I like the new confuse them campaign you are trying out. Innovative but it won't work. Everyone knows who the IRL haters are. They are the ones ripping the series on a daily basis. Good try though. As the old '70's t-shirts said, If you cannot dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Z7XLfT5m698/SOJqKWhDvyI/AAAAAAAAAA4/q8Crbo6AP9c/S760/race+car+driver.bmp
Can the hapless IRL come up with ANYTHING original?
the IRL: Meatball ain't Legge
9 - IRL
5 - Basketball
4 - NFL
1 - Baseball
1 - Soccrer
The NFL is the biggest sports story in this city and entire country, but it only get's 1/4 of the coverage here...switch it up, please.
network devoted to just isn't enough?
thanks for posting this about Sarah. I have been a big fan of her for a long time,
and fail to see why some of the big teams haven't taken advantage of her
popularity with fans and her marketability with sponsors.
Glad to see her team is running well on a low budget, and hopefully with a
backup car and maybe some more sponsors, she'll be able to compete on the
ovals next year.
It IS all about EARL, and all about copying, aping, mimicking everything CART has done before. sarah doesn;t make a move without EARL confirmation, and evidently she hasn't an original thought either.
The IRL: Meatball < Legge
Sarah....good for you. Its a feel good story.
Geez........
Ok, so Fisher can’t do road races
Wow, Anthony. Absolutely brutal dude. An interesting editorial piece.
WHO CARES????? I mean, REALLY?
Legge is in DTM (I think), CCWS dead.
This is Sarah Fisher, her effort, her sponsor, her racing team.
Big steaming pile of crap.
the IRL: Can't even think the word original...
Hooey, the conclusion about you is that you are just taking up good oxygen that someone else could be using. So, take a breath and hold it.................................
Everybody else with a brain and compassion, give it up for Sarah! Yay!!
What do you call Speed TV? Pretty sure that is a whole network dedicated to motor sports.
Berwick Guy is clinging to Sarah like front engines, all ovals and roadsters. It's over man, Tony George duped all you guys into thinking the IRL was all about you...it was in fact all about him. Sarah's feel good story is great but bottom line is she ain't got a chance...not with Penske, Ganassi, AGR out there. I feel bad for Sarah, she was duped too. :(
Legge = British
Sarah = American
What are you talking about???
CART II... so what? CART I died so we need CART II.
I'm always willing and ready to give kudos to someone who has the desire, passion and energy to accomplish their mission. And, certainly, as you point out, it may be mission impossible. Nonetheless, look how far this may carry Sarah in life to be a success personally. She's like the little engine that could so to speak. I think it's more admiration than anything for someone to work hard against almost impossible odds. I understand all the stuff about TG. DaHooey made certain of that sometime ago. But, I still am not willing to throw all of the participants and support people under the bus because they are involved and trying to make something out of nothing.
Take this in another direction: Scott Dixon for example. To me, he is a great driver even though he's stuck in TG Land and driving a Dallara. Is he on par with someone like Mario? Not in my book, since he didn't come up through the tough racing days of slick ovals and dirt tracks. But, today is what it is, and only time will tell how the racing world will see Dixon and others after they are done racing. I can still appreciate someone like Dixon for what he has accomplished no matter how tarnished others want to see it.
Does that make sense?
I can appreciate Dixon as well for his accomplishments. I just feel using the same car, year after year, with the same setups, does that for you....and it tarnishes the accomplishments many-fold.
Yet, tomorrow when Anthony writes the 2009 Sonoma TV ratings were a 0.2 and the IRL puts out it's press release stating all key metrics are up with a straight face, I hope you and all the rest of the Indy 500 / IRL enablers see the lies. TV ratings have dropped 50% each year for the past 2 years at Sonoma.
Somethings wrong and many here just skirt the issues...and the speedway just goes along with it's business as usual attitude. When is that going to change? Frankly, I believe the ending of the IRL BRAND is the first step on the road to making Scott Dixon and Sarah Fisher realise their potential in Indycars. We are hand wringing over 0.2 TV ratings from a sport that captured 2, 4, 6, 8's and higher TV ratings. When is someone gonna call a it for what it is...a FAILURE.