Full Throttle

NASCAR and the All-American Soap Box Derby have teamed up to launch the first national advertising campaign centered around the derby.

The print and broadcast spots will feature NASCAR Nextel Cup star Jimmie Johnson, last year’s series runner-up and this year’s points leader, who recently became the national spokesperson for the soap box derby.

The new campaign, titled “Wind Tunnel,” is part of NASCAR’s effort to raise awareness for the derby. A 30-second commercial created by Jump Co. of St. Louis, which will begin showing this month, shows Johnson assisting a group of children as they go through the steps of building a Soap Box Derby car.

The spot is set to air during NASCAR race broadcasts on FOX, FX, NBC and TNT, as well as other NASCAR-related programming on Speed Channel.

But I wonder; Aren’t they preaching to the choir a bit? Obviously it’s aimed at attracting kids to the Derby and not NASCAR, but why not double the effort. Place ads on Choppers or Rides on Discovery Channel, something that may attract young gearheads to the Soap Box Derby and NASCAR?

Then again, who am I to suggest anything based on common sense to some high-falutin’ over paid (”pass the cappachino please.”) PR exec.

Source: That’s Racin’