Start your engines

Whiskey, running moonshine and police chases may be where NASCAR has its roots, but today's National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is anything but your father's or grandfather's NASCAR.

NASCAR's popularity boomed during the last 15 years to become a huge spectator sport and mover of licensed products. For some perspective on the size of the property, in 1990 NASCAR licensing accounted for about $80 million, according to NASCAR managing director of licensed products Blake Davidson. Today it accounts for some $2 billion. Any retailer, manufacturer or distributor would like to get a chunk of that. And that's doable.

“We have 43 teams racing each week,” says Davidson. “And we are always looking into ways to tap the regionality of the drivers; how to tap into other markets; new distribution points.”

The fact is the retail soil of NASCAR is fertile according to statistics released by the organization:

• Seventy-five million fans (one in three Americans) follow NASCAR
• Number-two watched sport on television
• Seventeen of the highest attended sporting events in the U.S. during 2002 were NASCAR events
• Eighty-nine percent of fans associate quality with products containing the NASCAR logo
• Hard core fans spend more than $700 on licensed products annually and consume eight hours of NASCAR programming weekly.
• Percentage of Americans age 12 or older who have attended sporting events in the last year:
• Major League Baseball 37%
• NASCAR race 21%
• NHRA race 18%
• PGA tournament 12%
• LPGA tournament 6%
• Men's tennis match 5%

Source: ESPN Sports Poll/TNS Interseach

“We have an advantage over many sports that our season is 10 months long and from coast to coast,” says managing director of retail of NASCAR Don Rothwell. “That makes for a large fan base. We are not the southeast sport or the sport with pockets of fans anymore.”

Rothwell says there are currently 170 licensees ranging from action figures by McFarlane, puzzles and activity books from Bendon Publishing and plush bears from Boyd's Bear. Just about every category that fits into a toy retailer's mix of product can be found with a NASCAR license.

Retailers can take advantage of the ever-increasing television exposure, using it as sort of unpaid infomercial. Neal Pilson, president of Pilson Communications and former president of CBS Sports, is a television consultant to NASCAR. He told Playthings that before 2000, 66 percent of races were on cable and 33 percent were on network TV. Today that statistic is reversed.

“We flipped it,” says Pilson. “And because of that we now have 30 percent more viewers.” That translates in 30 percent more possible consumers of NASCAR products.

“Increased television exposure benefits retail and sales of NASCAR-licensed goods,” he says. “Network television has created a much greater awareness of the sport.”

And parlaying that exposure with guidance and advice from NASCAR itself creates a successful retail formula. NASCAR encourages dialogue and interaction with retailing partners.

“We like to meet with retailers and try to find out what their objectives are,” says Rothwell. “We see how knowledgeable they are about the sport and drivers and try to raise their level of education. That let's them develop relationships with key licensees,” he added.

“We say to [retailers], 'How can we support you with promos,'” explains Rothwell. “We advise them to start small, and we help them with what products may be best for their area. For example, Dale Earnhardt Jr. is national, he sells everywhere. But you have regionality. A guy like Ricky Cravin, who is from Maine, will probably sell best there than many other drivers. We help retailers make correct key decisions [about product choice].”

At the retail level Wal-Mart probably does more than anyone according to Rothwell, with Target and Kmart also very strong. Interestingly, Belk's, the nation's largest privately owned department store chain was noted as doing a “very good job” with NASCAR. “Belk's has leveraged NASCAR by developing focused areas that show off several types of product,” says Rothwell.

For a full list of NASCAR licensees, visit www.playthings.com/nascar.