Full Throttle

So I was thinkin’ - always a dicey proposition - is Pepsi the New Coke?

Not the New Coke that was a dismal marketing failure a few years ago, but the New Coke as in (”insert your favorite ‘new’ here) is the New Black.

With NASCAR/ISC having signed a 10-year deal with Coke beginning this season for DIS and most ISC tracks Fontana has become the outlier after signing Pepsi to a multi-year deal for the naming rights to the fall NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

Pepsi is the New Coke. It would seem. To me. But that’s just me and I may be the outlier.

“The Pepsi 500 will be a three-day event unlike any other race on the calendar,” said Ralph Santana, VP of sports, media and interactive marketing, Pepsi-Cola North America. “To celebrate being in the state where Jeff Gordon has such deep roots, we’re going to bring a little Hollywood to the race weekend with a Pepsi Smash concert and other innovative entertainment events that we know the fans will enjoy.”

Well that cinches in my mind.

Pepsi and it’s willing accomplices in the head office at Fontana (read: Speedway President Gillian Zucker) have resurrected the old New Coke, the failed one that sent Coke customers in every which direction but the Coca-Cola shelf at the Quickie-Mart and had a remarkable resemblance to the Edsel and Betamax.

The continued attempt at pandering to the Hollyweird crowd will lead nowhere, except just as many empty seats dressed as humanoids as seen in the past.

The Inland Empire is the place to be and where Zucker and NASCAR needs to center their marketing campaign on. Riverside and San Bernardino Counties are the fastest growing areas in California and major centers of agriculture including citrus and dairy production.

People of the Earth as the saying goes and very much like those that live in the Southeast.

There is also a very vibrant car culture in the area. San Bernardino’s “Route 66 Rendezvous,” an annual street fair and classic car show, draws a half-million people from around the world.

More specifically, a stock car culture is present and there are many dirt and paved short tracks within easy driving distance of Fontana.

The all important demographics NASCAR is looking to for growth include 1.56 million who classify themselves as Hispanic and African Americans number over one half million. All within a 50 mile radius of Fontana.

I’d be willing to bet a buck or two not a single newspaper catering to the Hispanic community has, or will carry an advertisement for this weekends event or the fall race at Fontana. I might be wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time, but mighty surprised if I am.

And did I mention the asshats in charge have axed the popular FanFest that was a feature at Fontana prior to its disappearing at last falls event?

Not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier these people.

“The trouble ain’t that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain’t distributed right.” - Mark Twain.

UPDATE: Pssst, Ms. Zucker. Maybe you should try a “Strip Show.” It’s gotta be better than anything pulled off of Hollywood Blvd.

UPDATE II: This about sums it up:

One of the laughable vanities of Southern California sports is the Fontana track’s attempts to market itself as NASCAR’s show-biz pit stop.

To hear track officials tell it, you could rub elbows with Jack Nicholson in the garage here. Bump into Angelina Jolie in the grandstand. Park next to Tom Cruise.

Apparently, they think we’re that gullible.

It’s the sort of positioning that probably looks great in memos to the suits at the Florida headquarters of the track’s owners. “We’ll leverage Hollywood into ticket sales and media buys. We’ll sell the glamor!”

Sorry my gulliable hat is in the cleaners, I ain’t buying a bit of it.

The writer adds: Promise free parking to anyone with a Raiders decal on their vehicle. (Parking already is free, but Raiders fans don’t know that.)

Shut down that Wolfgang Puck restaurant (Apex by Wolfgang Puck how pretentious is that! - ed) and open a chicken-and-waffles stand. Or a Hooters. Slash the price of beer.

Yep, again, no argument from me.