Gillian Zucker's Take: When the US economy takes off again, her track is primed to prosper

  Gillian Zucker, California's Auto Club Speedway pres, says the down economy has hurt her crowds, but she points to marketing efforts in key demographics as setting the stage for a dramatic recovery....eventually (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

    By Mike Mulhern
    mikemulhern.net

   FONTANA, Calif.
   It appears to be one of the great mysteries in NASCAR – why this sport, which has been playing in car-crazy Southern California since the late 1950s, just can't quite seem to get over the hump here in Los Angeles, why it can't produce socko crowds in what is the second-largest market in the United States.
   Of course at this point it should be noted that the National Football League doesn't even have any presence here any more.
   Still, despite NASCAR's highly-touted Danica Patrick venture, and its push this season to 'Boys, have at it,' in the words of NASCAR competition director Robin Pemberton, California's Auto Club Speedway seemed barely half full for Sunday's 500.
   Gillian Zucker, who runs this track for the France family's International Speedway Corp., says the issue is simple: It's the economy.
   And she points to strong efforts by her staff to promote this race, this sport and this track in this vast geographic area of some 24 million people.
   "I think we saw a slight increase in consumer purchasers," Zucker says of the weekend overall. "But you have to remember that this part of the country is still affected by the economy. You haven't seen the economic recovery. And there are certain pockets of the country that have been hit harder, and this is one of them.
   "We do have 92,000 seats.....and we're pretty much flat (over the crowds last year). But that's saying something, given the state of the economy.
    "The economy is very difficult in this part of the country. And the ones who are out there do care about NASCAR.
    "It's been hard-hit here, with one in 15 homes in foreclosure in the Inland Empire. People here are struggling. We hear the economic recovery is coming, and we're hoping it comes our way.
   "I think we've done the things that, when the economy does recover, we will be poised to take advantage of it."
  
   Nevertheless, Zucker is now facing speculation about the future of this track – might it lose a Cup date to the ISC's Kansas City track, which is to expand to two Cup weekends with the addition of a major casino on that property?
   However she says there are good indicators that when the U.S. economy does finally bounce back strongly that this track is primed to produce big.
      "We're seeing growth in our Hispanic fan base, approaching 20 percent," she says, pointing to the Latino market as so key to NASCAR.
    "We're seeing growth in our youth market; we've seen more kids here at the Speedway than we've ever seen before
   "We have as many programs as we can possibly squeeze in there.
   "We're doing all the things right. We're getting great support from the broadcast partners.
   "We've had great support from the media.
   "And I really feel when the economy comes back that we're poised to bounce back too.
   "We market everywhere. Bakersfield, Palm Springs, San Diego. In fact some of the inroads we've made in San Diego are pretty monumental.
   "What people tend to forget is that if you want to reach people in the Inland Empire (around this track), you have to buy LA media. It's the only way to reach people here. It's sort of like Daytona Beach – you have to buy Orlando (media).
   "Our focus is really Southern California, and we try to reach out as much as we can, through main media and grassroots efforts. We have a huge geographic area to cover.
   "It was everywhere for this event. We had so many media outlets we've never seen before. I had people emailing me as billboards went up. I had several fans write in and say it seemed like every other ad was for this race.
   "In terms of our media mix, I think it was excellent.
   "Danica brought a lot of attention to this sport, and that is great for NASCAR. We marketed her, but we also marketed Dale Earnhardt Jr. too; and that was one of our most popular packages, our two-day package was our best seller."
   But was Saturday's crowd that seemed quite off from what might have been expected with Patrick as a headliner.
   "I don't think it (the small crowd) was for lack of interest," Zucker said, repeating the economic issues facing potential fans. "I thought it was a great crowd Saturday."
    And for the weekend overall?
   "Coming into the weekend we were about flat, a little off but not significantly," she said.
   Zucker declined to offer a specific crowd estimate.
   To the speculation that this track might lose a Cup date to Kansas City, she was quick to knock that down: "All tracks are not equal. And this track is very important to NASCAR."
   And she said this track "is growing...and attracting a youth market to the sport...a diverse market to the sport.
   "We're out there creating new fans, we're out there selling the message of the excitement of NASCAR. And twice a year Southern Californians respond."
   One point: the media can look at empty seats and consider TV ratings, in trying to judge success. However, there may be a bigger picture to judge. After all, if Zucker and her people can sell NASCAR to the Southern California masses – not just tickets to the two weekend events each season, but the sport itself – maybe that's a better measure of success.
   "Out of all the ISC tracks, there is more sponsorship interest in this track than in any other track except Daytona," she says.
   "And, like (team owner) Richard Childress points out, 'To secure the kind of dollars it takes to sponsor one of these teams, you have to pull from a national budget.' So this (track and market) helps them in that selling point.
   "We've talked about why this market is so important to NASCAR: the diversity of this crowd, for one, and the youth program. And we have a lot more things going on around this track. Jeff Burton just did a children's story-time. And we have a lot of new first-time fans here; so we put together a package for them on how to 'do' a NASCAR event...including what time to get here.
    "We would get letters from fans who said 'it was great, but I got there at the start of the race, because I thought that's when I was supposed to be there...but then I looked around at all the other things going and realized we'd missed the Foreigner concert and all those things....'
   "So we put together this program to teach people about this event, about how, when you come to an event this size, what all there is to do.
   "I love this sport....and I feel grateful for this job of being able to go out and teach people about this sport. And if afterwards they tune in and watch another race on one of our broadcast partners, or they buy merchandise, or they follow it on the internet, or they come to another race somewhere else in this country, that's part of what we're trying to do here."
   
  

    

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   Gillian Zucker has the pom-poms flying, promoting her track...but crowds are still off. She blamed the economy. (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)