Finally some advertising billboards worth reading

by Dave Grayson

Over the years I have always been an admirer of racing’s humorous side. I especially love it when the sport’s sense of humor is intentionally presented.

Such was the case when I heard about the Texas Motor Speedway’s advertising billboards, strategically placed on prominent highway areas between Dallas and Fort Worth, that promoted their upcoming NASCAR weekend in April. The premise was rather simple, The billboards presented numbered reasons why fans should buy tickets for the race. The numbers on the ads corresponded with car numbers and drivers from NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.

One of these billboards featured a giant photo of Dale Earnhardt Jr with the following slogan:

REASON #88: STEP MOM!

Racing observers all over the country spent most of last year watching the drama unfold between NASCAR’s most popular driver and his step mom Teresa Earnhardt which in turn led to Junior’s decision to leave the company his father started and sign a record breaking deal with Rick Hendrick. The end result was Dale Earnhardt Inc, DEI, wound up losing the driver services of Dale Jr, high quality crew chiefs Tony Eury Sr and Tony Eury Jr as well as Budweiser which is simply a sponsorship program that most team owners dream about.

While I personally thought the ad slogan was extremely funny, I can understand why there was some concern from Junior’s sister and business manager Kelly Earnhardt-Elledge. This is not to imply that she was angry over the billboard. She was reported to be very cordial when she contacted the speedway to discuss the billboard. But there was a concern. Earnhardt-Elledge stated that she and her brother still has family and friends at DEI, they truly wanted to see the company succeed and they didn’t want to antagonize anyone there. But at the same time she said they were excited about the new ride with Hendrick Motor Sports and wondered if there might be way to promote that.

The Texas World Speedway directed their marketing department to come up with something different which was:

REASON #88: THAT NEW CAR SMELL!

Earnhardt-Elledge thought the new slogan was “very cool” and her brother reportedly loved it.

The speedway’s ad campaign featured other NASCAR drivers as well such as:

(Tony Stewart) REASON #20: ROAD RAGE
(Jeff Gordon) REASON #24: 82 NASCAR SPRINT CUP WINS ZIP AT TEXAS
(Jimmie Johnson) REASON #48: TWICE AS GOOD AS 24

Taking all of this into account I would like to tip my racing hat to the Texas Motor Speedway’s marketing team for an ad campaign that was very creative and very funny. I also would like to salute them for their willingness to loosen the lug nuts on purpose.