With 4 Indianapolis 500 wins, 57 total race victories, 53 poles, 7 series championships, and the owner of the 1999 Indy 500 winning entry, I'd prefer A.J. Foyt before Justin Bieber when it comes to pretty much anything, but not when it comes to the 2011 '500' pace car driver.
Nothing against A.J., I absolutely love the guy. I challenge you to find better footage than that of the angered driver unbelting, wiggling out of his ride, throwing his gloves and helmet into the seat, tossing away cowlings and pounding away at his 1982 '500' entry with a hammer. Mid-race. But he's just not what the IZOD IndyCar Series or Indianapolis 500 need in a pace car driver.
In no way do I blame IMS brass for letting Donald Trump, the originally scheduled pace car driver, go. At the time of the announcement back in early April that Trump would be piloting the car, rumors of his run at the White House were just that. Rumors. There weren't daily segments on national news programs calling into question his latest statements, or growing amounts of outrage to his repeated request for the publication of a certain persons birth certificate. Right or wrong it doesn't matter, Trump was receiving a lot of bad press, and that's obviously not something the track wants to be associated with. I can't blame them for that. But the loss of a celebrity such as Trump leading the 33-starters in their parade laps leaves a gaping hole in what could be a highly productive position.
While your searching for that nonexistent superior video on YouTube, I also challenge you to find someone that believes the TV ratings and popularity level of the series and race are where they need to be. They're absolutely not, you know that, I know that, and I'm sure the decision makers at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway know that as well.
The only way to gain ratings is to create an attraction that others want to watch and then publicize it. Pretty simple. One way of achieving that is by taking a well known celebrity and inserting them into the race festivities. Honors such as singing the national anthem, dropping the green flag, and driving the pace car have historically been some of the better ways to highlight a celebrities attendance. In doing so the announcement and both pre and post race footage of the celebs is is often aired on various television programs, and wrote about in magazines, newspapers and internet articles. With the boom in social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook in recent years, and the growing audience for celebrity gossip shows and websites, the benefits a celebrity could bring has only grown.
In a recent article written by SPEED's Robin Miller the veteran writer reports that the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has been contacted by various driver hopefuls including Andy Granatelli and representatives for Justin Bieber. If true, and I have no doubt that it is, IMS has to at least look at Bieber. Yes, he has no connection to the Speedway or racing at all, that I'm aware of. Yes, I understand that many of you can't connect with him. But he deserves a look.
Should the powers that be sign the 17-year-old to a deal tomorrow? Absolutely not. Should they do their research? Without a doubt. Fly the kid out, or for that matter go to him. Have one of the many replica Chevy Camaro's waiting along with Al Unser Jr. or Johnny Rutherford and see what he's got. If he can't handle it, fine, you've gotten some great publicity and maybe he'll attend in a different role. But if he is up for the task, you've hit gold.
Personally I'd much rather see a legend like Foyt, Mears, Unser, or Andrett leading the 33 cars around the historic 2.5 mile track. But the reasonings behind filling such a position shouldn't be made to satisfy me. They already have me, and if you're reading this they probably all ready have you as well. The decision makers need to satisfy the outsider. They need to make a choice that creates a splash, and Bieber would create a huge one. He has 9.4 Million followers on Twitter, the 2nd most of anybody. Over half a billion views on his most recent YouTube music video. Billion as in B! Type a 'J' in Google and tell me what the search engine recommends. Justin Bieber is in the top 4. I guarantee you that if Justin was driving the pace car, more eyeballs would be on the television set than if he wasn't. How it would effect ratings or attendance I don't know, but the needle would move, and media coverage would grow. And that's exactly what we need.
6 comments:
Does Justin Bieber know how to drive? Do you want a kid who's never driven anything running around IMS at 80 mph, and even faster?
No question having Bieber there would attract some younger eyeballs, but driving the pacecar could be (and likely would be) a disaster.
Your right, a disaster could happen, just as it has before. But it could of happed with Trump, Robin Roberts, Lance Armstrong or Morgan Freeman as well.
As I said in the post, I'm not saying sign him now. Test him out and see what he can do. He likely won't have what it takes. But his potential draw is worth the look.
I could not disagree more. On a "normal" year having a Presidential candidate would be a great choice to have as a pace car driver. But this is not a "normal" year as the 100th anniversary we fans wanted something that honers our history (the same will be true for the 100th running in a couple of years) Next year if you could get Bieber then great go for it but NOT this year and NOT in 2016!
I completely understand that line of thinking, but there aren't enough opportunities to be able to throw them away.
As I said. Personally I'd much rather see a legend drive, but it's not about what I want. It's about what the series and race need.
FOYT SHOULD ALWAYS BE THE ONE TO DRIVE THE PACE CAR AT INDIANAPOLIS. A CORRECTION TO YOUR ARTICAL AJ HAS 67 WINS NOT 57
If IMS could get Justin Bieber to even TRY driving the pace car it would be a huge win. I agree with this article: going to AJ as the fallback pace car driver only appeases the fans who already follow IndyCar. It doesn't move the Indy 500 and the series forward. But if you're still concerned about history and tradition, then just ask yourself, "Which one would Carl Fisher pick?"
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