Full Throttle

Brittany Smith, 16, quickly declared NASCAR boring.

“All they do is drive in circles for 12 hours,” said Smith, unaware that she was sporting the jacket of 2006 NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson while she shopped for another jacket.

“To be honest, I don’t know why these jackets are so popular,” Smith’s mom Carolyn O’Brien said. “It’s just a fad that’s in.”

Keara Adams tried on a red Budweiser jacket. She had some knowledge of Dale Jr after he appeared, along with Danica Patrick, in the latest Jay-Z video. (The YouYube Video is available here)

Keara’s final selection came down to color, her favorite hue is red. She settled on the red Office Depot jacket instead although she hadn’t heard of Carl Edwards before.

What’s driving these teens into the NASCAR marketplace?

NASCAR has been “urbanized” and what “Bubba” wears at the track Sunday has taken its place alongside Hip-Hop fashion icons like FUBU, Sean John and Phat Farm.

NASCAR spokesman Scott Warfield said the trend started about five years ago and has picked up momentum since. The movement has become so strong even the unwanted has found it’s way into this new section of the marketplace.

After Dale Jarrett threw Robert Yates and Ford under the bus sales of his UPS merchandise slowed to a crawl at the track but boomed in the “Urban Nation.”

“To the redneck race fans, that’s no good,” store owner Jennifer Sugg said. “Out here, everyone loves UPS. They love the UPS colors. They don’t know who Dale Jarrett is, but it doesn’t matter. I have parents out here buying jackets for 2-year-olds. They want their 2-year-olds to be in style.”

M&M’s and Kellogg’s are also hot products with the teen set.

Shearreatta Allen bought two jackets including the Wonder Bread jacket of fictional driver Ricky Bobby from the movie “Talladega Nights.” She said, “I like the Wonder Bread jacket because it best describes me: Fresh.”

What would the world be like without at least one reference to Talladega Nights?

DON’T answer that!

The question now is will HWSBO & Co leverage this new found market into something that would increase ticket sales, TV ratings, or both? The most direct venue, and one that is already part of the auto racing scene, would be to advertise during Formula D and D1-GP events.

A NASCAR, Drifting connection isn’t without precedence. The Mopar D1 All-Star Duel featuring the D1 stars competing against NASCAR stars Kasey Kahne, Bill Elliott, Robby Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Casey Mears was held last August at Irwindale Raceway.

Previously I’ve offered the opinion a new identity could be forged for the Series if joint Busch Series/Drifting events were held. Given the apparent attraction of the Hip-Hop nation to NASCAR merchandise maybe the time has come for more cross-series promotion.