Why Do They Race?

Just for background, there are three main types of car racing that matter: IRL, of which the Indy 500 is a marquee event; Formula One; and NASCAR. Each has its own flavor. The first two are "open wheel" categories, featuring the exotic-looking race cars outfitted with sculptural aerodynamic technologies and uncovered wheels. NASCAR showcases "stock" cars that are supposed to be based on existing Chevys and Fords, but are in fact custom-built racing machines that merely resemble cars on the road. Formula One is Euro-trashy, NASCAR is down-home, and IRL is kind of lost in the middle (although of the three, it's the least expensive category to compete in).

Most casual sports fans know IRL through the Indy 500, Formula One via the international grand prix circuit, and NASCAR through the Pixar movie Cars or a famous race like the Daytona 500. Some may also know the drivers. Current Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton is a worldwide sports celebrity, and Danica Patrick has achieved pop-crossover success as both an IRL driver and a sexy pitchwoman for GoDaddy (and if she wins the Indy 500 today, she'll become the first woman in history to do so, after coming close in 2005).

The drivers race for all the usual reasons: fame, fortune, thrills, money, a fiercely competitive nature. But they're only part of the story. On the real money side, motorsports is all about racing teams and manufacturers. These days, both are struggling.

Racing is in essence an advertising/technological-development opportunity for carmakers. For example, when Toyota decided to get aggressive about its full-size truck business in the U.S., it got involved with NASCAR to get some, er, traction with red state buyers. Formula One is dominated by Mercedes and Ferrari (or was, until the current season). Technologies that make it to the everyday consumer do sometimes originate in racing. For example, F1-style paddle-shifters and semi-automatic transmissions are now common in everything from family sedans to sports cars. Sometimes, the loop is reversed: regenerative braking, which helps a Prius recharge its battery, has cropped up on the latest generation of Formula One race cars.

So naturally, when sales are down, Chapter 11 looms, and money's tight, the reliable sponsors of various racing spectacles cut back. This has created some chaos in the motorsport world. Formula One has a bankable star in Hamilton, but the sport's imperious ownership has been trying to level the competitive playing field while simultaneously contending with a variety of controversies and scandals. (Formula One is incredibly expensive, so there's always a risk that better-funded teams will be able to spend their way to victory.) NASCAR's explosive growth over the past decade has been seriously crimped by the global downturn in the car business. Indy racing has also been affected, but to a lesser extent. Of course, it's also the least popular-except over the Memorial Day weekend every year-despite having Danica Patrick in the mix.

There's a larger problem afoot: the changing nature of how automakers communicate with their customers. The value of motorsport has traditionally been to stress a carmaker's commitment to performance. For Porsche and Ferrari, longtime motorsport rivals, this is critical-people buy their cars on the assumption that large chunks of what worked on the track have found their way into the street-legal vehicles.

Elsewhere, this type of cred is increasingly unimportant. Consumers are now more concerned with the versatility of their cars and with issues such as technological integration inside the vehicle, rather than under the hood. Bluetooth connectivity and multiple DVD screens trump horsepower and race-tuned suspensions. High MPGs and reliability matter more than blistering acceleration for all but a narrowing market of enthusiasts.

Given these trends, it's easier to justify a far lower motorsport marketing and investment budget-easier, in fact, than limits on other forms of advertising, such as in print or TV. This is a (pardon the pun) drag for the racers, but indicative of a new financial reality in the auto industry. That, in turn, is going to have an impact on motorsport. We've learned a lot from the men and women who crave speed and are willing to put their lives on the line for the checked flag. But as exciting as car racing may be as a spectacle, as a business it will probably never be the same again.

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