NASCAR Racers/Fox Kids Network Speech

Dee Scott

NASCAR Racers/Fox Kids Network Speech

Thank you ________

As many of you know, NASCAR – the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing – has undergone unprecedented growth in the last few years.

Live attendance at events has increased an incredible 91 percent in the past eight years, and NASCAR racing now ranks as the largest spectator sport in America.

More than 160 million viewers watch NASCAR races on network and cable television and since 1993, network TV ratings have risen 19 percent. Cable ratings have skyrocketed 33 percent in the same time span. The television audience for NASCAR Winston Cup racing is second in size only to that of the NFL.

The growth of the sport is reflected at retail. Sales of NASCAR-licensed merchandise have increased 1,100 percent since 1990, and are expected to exceed the $1 billion dollar mark this year, for the first time.

There are many reasons for this staggering growth. NASCAR provides an outstanding product based on competition, with makes and models of cars – Ford Tauruses, Pontiac Grands Prix and Chevrolet Monte Carlos – that fans drive every day on the street and can identify with.

NASCAR’s superstar athletes have earned their positions at the forefront of the sport and have built fan bases as they have worked their way to the top rungs of the competition ladder.

Even more importantly, the NASCAR fan is a remarkably loyal one who responds to corporate support of our sport by discriminantly purchasing products and services provided by those corporate sponsors.

All of this is a matter of record and is supported by survey after survey. No other sport boasts such a loyal following, with fans voting with their wallets when they choose to make purchases from companies that are part of NASCAR racing.

(PAUSE)

Draft – 2

Like any other sport or business, the face of NASCAR is changing. NASCAR has intentionally and progressively grown from a racing company into a multi-dimensional sports and entertainment company positioned for the long term.

Our sport’s sponsors include some of the largest companies in the world such as Coca-Cola, Visa and The Home Depot. As our partnerships with companies like these have grown, the relationships between our businesses have also prospered, reaching an increasingly large segment of the population.

To ensure continued growth, we are constantly searching for, studying, planning and then implementing programs that appeal to a cross-section of present and/or potential NASCAR enthusiasts.

There is no question that the kids’ market holds a key to ensuring NASCAR’s continued growth. One of our primary objectives at NASCAR is to build the base of the sport for generations to come by penetrating the youngest potential fans in every way possible.

Through the first five decades of NASCAR racing, millions of fans grew up with the sport. They watched it change from the ocean sand of Daytona Beach and the oval dirt tracks of the Southeast into the superspeedways of today. They watched the drivers ... the cars ... and the tracks change, but through those 50 years, they continued to see some of the most intense competition ever afforded by any sport.

Now, through a variety of initiatives, NASCAR has put a new generation of kids in the position to enjoy NASCAR racing in ways their parents -- and grand-parents -- never dreamed of.

We are lucky that our sport is blessed with athletes who are just as devoted as we are to increasing our family-oriented fan base.

Our athletes understand taking a moment to share a simple handshake or taking the time to sign an autograph can make a child a NASCAR fan for life.

At the same time, we know that not every child gets the opportunity to attend a race and get an autograph from Jeff Gordon. So it’s our job to take the NASCAR experience to the fans and the kids -- through brand extensions like the NASCAR Cafés and SpeedParks, expanded licensed product offerings, NASCAR Online and innovative television programming…

But I’ll get to that in a minute. First I want to back up and give you a little background on the personalities that make up our sport.

(PAUSE)

Dee Scott -- 3

We believe part of the burgeoning interest in NASCAR racing stems from a transitional phase among the leading stars of our sport. Superstars like Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip, Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott and others are among our leading competitors and are enjoying the fruits of their careers.

At the same time, however, the next five years will see an entire new crop of stars at the front of the field.

Some are already there. Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton and Bobby Labonte are among the stars new NASCAR fans -- and kids -- can identify with.

There are a host of others. Tony Stewart and John Andretti, for example, have already had an impact on the face of NASCAR Winston Cup racing.

Still others, like Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Adam Petty and Casey Atwood are in the final finishing stages of their career before entering NASCAR Winston Cup competition.

They will step up to the NASCAR Winston Cup level in the immediate future, and each of these young competitors offers the driving talent and youthful charisma that will continue to energize our sport for years to come.

Some of these drivers are as young as 18, making it easy for kids and new generations of NASCAR fans to identify with them. And in NASCAR’s integrated marketing strategy, many of these talented young drivers will play key roles in the short and long-term future of the sport.

(PAUSE)

These young drivers and the changing face of the sport offer new challenges to NASCAR as we approach the millennium. We have taken steps to offer fans, especially our youngest fans, a broad range of ways to experience the NASCAR lifestyle, ranging from visits to NASCAR Thunder stores and NASCAR-themed cafes to putting the pedal to the metal at NASCAR SpeedPark go-kart facilities and NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedway driving simulators.

In addition, NASCAR’s marketing and licensing divisions are making a concerted effort to work with licensees and sponsors who are as committed to reaching kids as we are. In February, we will add another facet to our kids marketing program with the airing of the first NASCAR-themed animated cartoon show on the Fox Kids Network.

Dee Scott -- 4

But before I get to that, let’s talk about some of NASCAR’s family-friendly and kid-friendly brand extensions, such as NASCAR Thunder stores.

(NASCAR Thunder store – slides or video showing some of the features)

The NASCAR Thunder stores are open in 13 cities across the country and offer a unique shopping experience. Licensed products are arranged in “garage bays” and non-apparel items positioned in “haulers” on the other side of the store. The floor fixtures resemble jackstand tables and racing team toolboxes. The floor is a rubberized compound made of recycled tires and the children’s area features toddler and youth apparel.

(Video or slides of NASCAR Café)

NASCAR Cafes are more than just restaurants serving all-American meals. They are, in fact, an “eatertainment” opportunity for fans and non-race fans to experience NASCAR-style racing.

Fun, games, pieces of NASCAR history, actual NASCAR stock cars and trucks are all part of the entertainment. Patrons can have their pictures made in their favorite driver’s cars, drive one of the NASCAR simulators, participate with electronic and multimedia games and purchase licensed products and collectibles.

(PAUSE)

Throughout its history, NASCAR has been a family-oriented sport, and from its very beginning, competitors understood that without the support of spectators, the sport would not grow. From its earliest years, NASCAR has encouraged competitors to spend time with fans, and to this day, NASCAR racing has perhaps the most approachable athletes of any sport.

This dedication to sharing the excitement of NASCAR racing with its supporters has been instrumental in the groundswell of increased attendance and television ratings. NASCAR’s marketing strategies are continually reviewed and tweaked to provide additional opportunities for family-oriented programs and activities enabling even more families to enjoy the sport.

(Slides of several pages of NASCAR Online)

NASCAR Online – HYPERLINK http://www.NASCAR.COM www.NASCAR.COM – has become one of the world’s most-visited web sites. A recent survey by Media Metrix, an independent company tracking internet usage trends, found NASCAR Online was one of the top five sports web sites and one of the top 50 news, information and entertainment sites. The site records more than three million page views on race days and 30 million hits a week.

Dee Scott --5

More importantly, it offers real-time coverage of qualifying sessions and races and allows viewers to listen to live communications between drivers and crewmembers during races. Other portions of NASCAR Online offer E-commerce opportunties. In all, NASCAR Online provides information and statistics for every fan in the family, with details and summaries of every type of NASCAR racing just a click away.

In early 2000, NASCAR Online will launch a new, highly interactive section aimed at kids under 16. NASCAR themed games, driver chats, polls and educational, multimedia programs are all part of this new section.

All of us understand the value and importance of reaching kids via the Internet. For the first time, kids are a generation who literally are growing up on the Net. All of us know that our kids are more tech-savvy thanever before. The increases in chip and modem speeds have turned computers into rocketships for kids, and they spend more time online than ever before. Increasingly, they use the Net to gather news and information -- and there is no reason to believe that will change.

NASCAR continues to create a dynamic, exciting site to keep them coming back to NASCAR Online.

(PAUSE)

Two other NASCAR family-oriented marketing programs became realities with the opening of NASCAR SpeedParks and NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedways.

Most other sports provide opportuities for kids to be participants and grow up playing the sport -- whether it is baseball, football, basketball, soccer or hockey. All of us in this room remember how we couldn’t wait to drive and the thrill of earning our driver’s license. But for kids, driving in competition and experiencing the thrill of racing first-hand is a very difficult thing to do.

With that in mind, NASCAR has gone to the creative drawing board and found ways for kids to be part of the sport at an early age. Through NASCAR SpeedParks and NASCAR Silicone Speedways, we have been able to put kids behind the wheels of race cars -- sort of ...

(Video of NASCAR SpeedPark)

NASCAR SpeedPark go-kart facilities give fans of all ages and skill levels the opportunity to take the wheel and test their racing skills in actual wheel-to-wheel competition against other drivers.

Dee Scott -- 6

The SpeedPark is comprised of a variety of track formats, including ovals, road courses and children’s tracks. Young fans can drive on short oval tracks in junior racecars, while adults can try longer courses in various vehicles, including 5/8 scale NASCAR Winston Cup Series cars or NASCAR Craftsman trucks.

(Video of NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedway)

While NASCAR SpeedPark offers kids the opportunity to make competitive laps behind the wheel of a scale race car, NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedway puts kids in the driver’s seat in interactive head-to-head competition.

A dozen state-of-the-art stock car simulators that seat both a driver and an in-car crewmember allow families to experience together the thrill of racing at nearly 200 miles per hour.

Each simulator resembles an authentic stock car and sits on a responsive platform. Five 3-D display systems, realistic controls with a four-speed shifter, clutch, brake, accelerator, feedback steering and multi channel audio with 3-D Sound and simulated radio communication links make the NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedway racing experience as intense and true to life as technology permits.

Fans race against 29 other cars – 11 simulators and 18 computerized “drones” that are computer linked with each other to add to the competition. Complete with banked turns, bumping and the thrill of speed, NASCAR Silicon Motor Speedways have held more than one million races in five locations in less than two years.

(PAUSE)

As part of our strategy to penetrate the kids’s market more thoroughly, we have worked with EA Sports, Papyrus and Hasbro Interactive to create electronic games for playstations and for online computer usage. The current line of offerings will be aug,mented by new games from each between now and the Holidays.

We are working with Hedstrom with a new line of NASCAR Power Riders, battery powered ride-on cars modeled after the stock cars driven by some of NASCAR Winston Cup racing’s biggest stars. Metablocks, a Canadian company, is working on new product lines enabling kids to create race cars out of blocks and we are extremely excited about the opportunities with that company.

The structure of our sport enables us to work with two of the largest toy companies in the world. It’s unusual, because it seems that most sports work with one or the other. Hasbro Toys does a number of products for us -- from action figures to diecast cars to puzzles, board games and candy categories.

Dee Scott -- 7

Where Hasbro is focused on boys’ action items, Mattel is focused on Barbie -- and of course, Hot Wheels.

In conjunction with NASCAR’s 50th Anniversay celebration last year, Mattel created a NASCAR Barbie. All she did was become the number one collectible doll in the history of Barbie. One million NASCAR Barbies were sold. This year, Drive Thru Barbie commemorates the McDonalds’ race team, and every indication is that Drive Thru Barbie will rank right up there as well as a collectible Barbie.