NASCAR WCUP: Dodge racing program on track with dealers and fans
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
June 5, 2001
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Dodge Motorsports spent the 500 days prior to the 2001 Daytona 500 counting down the days in preparation for its return to NASCAR Winston Cup racing. Now, some 100 days into the 2001 season, Dodge is seeing its heralded return deliver new fans for the Dodge teams, heightened awareness for the brand and increased traffic in Dodge dealer showrooms.
"Our NASCAR Winston Cup program is a winner," said Jim Julow, vice president, Dodge Global Brand Center. "Our goal when we launched this program was to ignite the Dodge brand with an enormous marketing campaign to leverage a competitive on-track presence. Today, there are very few race fans who don't know that Dodge has returned to Winston Cup or that Dodge is the performance brand for DaimlerChrysler. Our dealers see the excitement in their dealerships, we see it among our employees and you see it on the fans who wear the Dodge colors each week at the race track."
Dodge dealer Carl Galeana, owner of Van Dyke Dodge in Warren, Mich., agreed, giving the program high marks for building the Dodge brand. "We didn't enter this program solely to win on Sunday and sell on Monday," said Galena. "We see this as a long-term investment in charging up the Dodge brand, attracting new fans and making the Dodge name synonymous with performance. We are making incremental gains each week on the race track, but we are making phenomenal gains each week in visibility."
- Julow pointed to five areas that demonstrate the success of the program:
- * On-track performance
- * Marketing programs
- * Dealer support
- * Fan response
- * Continued engineering improvements through the one-team approach
On-Track Performance Shows Durability and Power
Dodge created a unique one-team approach to building and running race cars and teams. This one-team approach brought together racing veterans such as Ray Evernham, Bill Davis and Richard Petty with one-car team owners like Mark Melling and Winston Cup newcomers such as Chip Ganassi. Although Dodge has yet to visit victory lane, the rookie program has proven that its engines have the durability to finish races and its cars have the capability of running up front."We are extremely proud of the performance and depth of our teams," said Bob Wildberger, manager, NASCAR Operations for Dodge. "In the 100 or so days since we came to Daytona, our teams have shown that this program has a solid foundation and a lot of potential to win. Every one of our five team owners has had a Dodge that led laps this season."
* To date, Dodge has six top-five finishes, 15 top-10 finishes and two poles in 13 starts. Top Dodge finishes include one second (John Andretti at Bristol), one third (Sterling Marlin at Las Vegas), and four fifth-place finishes (Sterling Marlin at Darlington and Martinsville, Bill Elliott at Daytona and Ward Burton at Bristol).
* Dodge has three drivers in the top 20 in points: Sterling Marlin is 5th, Ward Burton is 17th and Bill Elliott is 19th.
* Dodge has led 439 laps this season: Sterling Marlin led 249, Ward Burton led 90 laps, Dave Blaney led 70 laps, John Andretti led 51 laps, Bill Elliott led 14 laps, Stacy Compton led eight laps, and Buckshot Jones and Jason Leffler each led one lap. All five teams and seven of the 10 drivers have led laps this season.
* Dodge has been strongest on the superspeedways this season. It has one-two-three starts at both Daytona and Talladega. At Daytona, it led the field with Bill Elliott, Stacy Compton and Sterling Marlin. Marlin won one of two Gatorade 125s. All 10 Dodges qualified for the field, with four in the top 10. Dodge was a serious contender all day with three Dodges finishing in the top 10 -- Bill Elliott at 5th, Sterling Marlin at 7th, and Stacy Compton at 10th. Sterling Marlin led the most laps for any single driver with 53 laps lead. At Talladega, Stacy Compton took the pole, followed by Sterling Marlin and Bill Elliott.
* Dodge's Winston Cup program has not come at the expense of its NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series involvement. Dodge has seven poles and record-tying eight consecutive wins in the first eight races. Dodge is leveraging its NCTS success with print ads such as the "Dodge is kicking everyone's tailgate" and "The winner's circle looks like a Ram showroom". The Dodge Diversity program is also being leveraged with Dodge ads spotlighting NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Willy T. Ribbs.
"All in all, what we've accomplished is pretty amazing," said Ray Evernham, team owner and leader of the Dodge development effort. "We can't focus on what we haven't done - win. We need to focus on what we have done - develop a new automobile, get an engine program off the ground and be competitive in just 500 days. Dodge has been competitive out there and we've had cars that could win races. The No. 93, No. 9, No. 22 and No. 40 were all fast enough to win. We've just not put it all together on the race track yet. But that says an awful lot about the program and the cars. Sooner or later we're going to put it together. The dealers, the UAW, the DaimlerChrysler employees, the teams are all committed to the program and it shows."
Marketing Programs Build the Dodge Brand with Consumers and Fans
Dodge kicked off its return to Winston Cup racing with one of the largest marketing campaigns in the series' history. Print and broadcast marketing campaigns have delivered the Dodge message to millions of fans and consumers across the country.
* Dodge's print campaign created mass exposure from the start, with an exclusive Winston Cup Scene poly-bagged with Daytona 500 program, TV Guide rack hangers that had more than 10.1 million impressions in five markets, more than 7.4 million "Different Path" eight-page inserts into top magazines and 25,000 entries in Winston Cup Scene match-the-car-to-the-driver contest
* Dodge's Countdown was supported by an extensive broadcast campaign, including two Super Bowl pre-game spots, sponsorship of the History Channel special "History of Stock Car Racing" and the Dodge "Countdown" special debuting immediately prior to Daytona 500 on Fox
* Broadcast NASCAR Winston Cup coverage has provided more than $33 million in brand exposure through the first four races, while success in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series has increased Dodge broadcast exposure 71 percent, or $5.4 million in incremental exposure
Dodge is expanding this marketing program through promotions with its partners and team sponsors such as General Mills, Mountain Dew and Amoco, among others.
* General Mills created an innovative promotion to distribute team diecasts through retail outlets nationwide that delivered total packaging exposure of 42.41 million while supporting circulars and inserts had circulation of 306 million. General Mills distributed 14.2 million diecast packages, while General Mills trading cards were distributed on 4.99 million packages. A mail-in gold diecast promotion was distributed in 20.4 million boxes, and 2.82 million special Dodge Wheaties boxes featuring Bill Elliott were distributed.
* Mountain Dew, through its sponsorship of the No. 19 Dew Crew, is distributing the Dodge Winston Cup one-team message on 25 million 12-pack cases of Mountain Dew and is conducting an instant-win game on 3.5 million specially marked 12-packs for Grand Prize limited-edition Mountain Dew Dodge Intrepids.
* Amoco is running a diecast promotion at more than 4,300 Amoco retail sites around the country. It expects to distribute more than 1.2 million diecast cars displaying the Amoco No. 93 paint scheme on 1/64-scale models including the NASCAR Dodge Intrepid, Dodge Ram, Dodge Viper and vintage Dodge Charger.
Fans Show Their Support of Dodge
Fans have embraced Dodge's return to Winston Cup racing. Merchandise sales for Dodge and its 10 teams are outpacing other manufacturers as fans show their Dodge pride. Fans also are flooding the Dodge Web site and online partners for more information on the program. All os this is translating to Dodge product interest, as nearly 60 percent of Web site visitors expressed interest in purchasing a Dodge Intrepid R/T.
"The fans have been tremendous," said Evernham. "They're happy Dodge is back. That makes it easier to work hard to win. They're excited to see Dodge out there and hope to see Dodge in victory lane. Dodge dealers tell me that fans are coming to their dealerships to see the Intrepid and share their excitement for the program. That's good on two fronts - fans are supporting the program and they're are taking that support to the Dodge dealer showrooms."
* Fan demand for Dodge merchandise put Dodge among the highest-selling trackside trailers - 30 percent higher than competing manufacturers. More than 1,900 Dodge dealers are part of the licensed motorsports product retail chain.
* The Dodge Garage (www.4adodge.com * Dodge partnered with Microsoft Network and TV Guide to generate
additional online impressions. The Dodge Speedway racing game on MSN is the
third most popular game on the zone.com, recording 1.1 million hits on its
opening page while 436,664 have played the game. TV Guide Online generated
4.07 million impressions, well over of the 3.47 expected.
Dealers Bring the Program to Life in the Showroom
Dodge Dealers are helping to bring the excitement of Dodge's return to
Winston Cup racing to their local level through grassroots programs that
deliver an emotional linkage to the Dodge brand, dealers and vehicles.
Dealers are involved at a local level with dedicated motorsports displays,
motorsport-themed dealership events and show car appearances
* 2,000 Dodge dealers nationwide participated in point-of-purchase
promotions to support the "Countdown to Daytona Sales Event" -- the highest
rate ever
* Dodge Dealer track entitlements are growing and include:
* Title sponsor of Florida Dodge Dealers 250 NCTS race at Daytona
International Speedway
* Title sponsor of Florida Dodge Dealers 400 NCTS race at
Homestead/Miami
* Official Car, Truck and Pace Car of the Pennzoil 400 WCS race at
Homestead/Miami
* Title sponsor of Ram Tough 250 NCTS race at Gateway
* Co-sponsor, Official Car, Truck and Pace Car of Dodge/Savemart 350
WCS race at Sears Point
* Official Car, Truck and Pace Car of WCS race at Chicagoland Speedway
* Official Car and Truck of Pikes Peak International Raceway
* Official Car, Truck and Pace vehicle of Pocono International Raceway
* Dodge City is providing dealers with a turn-key fan exhibition that
draws enormous crowds. More than 5,000 fans an hour toured Dodge City at
its Daytona debut
* Dodge City is booked at five races and two sporting events between
February and July
One-Team Approach Continues Quest for Engineering Improvements
* Dodge's extensive engineering program that built the Intrepid R/T
has been hard at work this season refining the race car engine, chassis and
aero performance. The Dodge engineers continue to work with the teams
under the innovative one-team approach, sharing data and developments to
improve the 10 teams' performance.
* "The most significant thing we've done in the last 100 days is
transition from developing a car and engine from scratch to managing an
ongoing program," said Tim Culbertson, manager, Dodge NASCAR Winston Cup
Program Engineering. "It's been a real dip in cold water to actually go
racing. It's a big change to go from building something and finding huge
gains each day to taking an existing car and looking for improvements. Now,
we're searching for four counts less drag or three or five more horsepower."
* On the engine program, Dodge has proven its durability on tough
tracks like Rockingham, California or Lowe's Motor Speedway. The engineers
are now working on:
* Continued valve train development
* Reducing engine weight through lighter, stronger parts
* Performance developments such as enhanced intake manifold designs
based on computer simulation tools
* From an aero standpoint, Dodge engineers point to speedway
performance at Daytona and the successful response to the NASCAR rules
change that gave them the front row at Talladega. Engineering is focused
on:
* Testing for more downforce. Dodge is providing the teams
opportunities to work on aero jointly or use the wind tunnel at Lockheed
* Managing air flow for different types of tracks
* On the chassis, Dodge is running complex analytical and empirical
studies of the frame stiffness and performance. It has developed computer
simulation tools and is working with the teams to utilize the tools
effectively. Dodge and the teams can study the total car performance on
specific tracks and analyze how different changes improve performance.
* Dodge continues to study safety. It is working on a number of
issues, including safety, with NASCAR. It shared a number of safety
concepts with the 10 Dodge teams and commissioned Dr. John Melvin to meet
with the teams. Independently, Dodge is applying advanced computerized
impact tools and sophisticated analyses to better understand how safety
improvements might be made. Some of the analyses are so complex that it
takes two days for a water-cooled computer large enough to fill a room to
complete a study.
In the next 100 days, Dodge hopes to bring home its first NASCAR Winston Cup
victory and improve the performance of its 10 teams. However, win or lose,
Dodge has delivered increased interest in the brand, excitement for fans and
showroom traffic for dealers. It will continue the strong national
marketing initiatives that have made the program a success with dealers and
fans. And, it will begin planning for its sophomore season in Winston Cup
racing, which is only some 300 days away.
Text provided by Dave Elshoff
Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot photos and racing art, please visit The Racing Image Galleries and The Visions of Speed Art Gallery .