The 2021 Running NASCAR/IMSA/other racing things thread

It’s such a minor detail in the grand scheme of things. But for a sport that is so transparently desperate to attract millennial/Gen Z fans, one of the worst things they can do is come across as phony. Those generations bail at the first whiff of corporate phoniness. And 80s style blunt force PR absolutely reeks of it.

 

UGH! We fought this on a regular basis with NASCAR. The power tool company was founded by a man named DeWalt. The chemical company was founded by a man named duPont. However, DEWALT and DUPONT use all caps in their company logos, as does FOX. So Matt Kenseth drove the DEWALT Ford and Jeff Gordon drove the DUPONT Chevrolet. (Never mind that Chevrolet's logo is all caps, too.)

Explaining that all caps usually refers to an acronym went right over the heads of the PR and Entry List folks at NASCAR. Or Nascar, as the New York Times and Wall Street Journal prefer.

 

I didn't realize NASCAR had brought Jayski back from the scrap heap. That explains why there's no compelling rumor mongering on there anymore (that and it's all migrated to Twitter).

Whatever happened to the Pravda News Service that they started?

 

I don't remember the exact circumstances, but our news editor started giving me grief about NASCAR for some reason. (He thought we were the NY Times, so maybe that was it. I just don't remember.)
So for about a month, on every reference I wrote National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and he decided NASCAR was fine.

 

Is it Scuba diving at the Times?

 

I thought the AP had done away with periods on US?

 

I always refused to add in the "presented by" sponsors when covering races. It was the "Whatever 500" and that was it.
I sure as heck didn't mention car sponsors.

For NHRA events, I almost never used any corporate sponsor because the races had names: Thunder Valley Nationals, Southern Nationals, Gator Nationals, etc.