Anyone attending recent
NASCAR races will no doubt notice the sea of red. Two of the sports most popular drivers Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
carried the color red in 2007. Kahne has changed sponsors for the coming season, but he changed to Earnhardt’s prior
sponsor, Budweiser. Therefore his fans will need to change their gear but will remain essentially the same color.
However, Earnhardt
changed colors completely with his new sponsors. Therefore, the sea of red most noticeable at all races the past several
years, shrunk by a significant share. For several years now Earnhardt has led souvenir, apparel and other NASCAR gear sales
by a significant margin. Estimates place him around a 30 percent share of all purchases made by NASCAR fans. If
this translates to the view of the crowd attending races, this would place nearly 30 percent of fans wearing his red colors
alone. If most of his fans follow him to Hendrick Motorsports (HMS), this means the color red of the race crowd could be reduced
by 30 percent. Even if some don’t follow, they are likely to move to the different colors unless they stay with
Budweiser and Kasey Kahne.
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Nonetheless the complexion
of NASCAR races is in for a significant change. So what color will it be? The color schemes of the cars that Earnhardt
will drive in 2008 are different, with three major sponsors in AMP Energy Drink, National Guard, and Mountain Dew. The color
schemes include white, black, green and blue depending on the sponsor. So what color will be most representative of Earnhardt’s
fan base? What color will the sea of red convert to? Or will there be a color that represents the Junior Nation?
The red Budweiser Chevy
is gone. For many of his fans, this is hard to take. The red No. 8 was easy to spot in the colorful array of cars
as they barreled around the track. Nothing brought the crowd to its feet like the red Budweiser Chevy coming to the front
to take the lead. The sea of red rose as one, but not any more. The good news for his fans is that Junior may spend more
time out front than he has in the past. But the massive sea of red will most likely be a splintered group of black, blue,
white and green.
Changes in NASCAR
were significant in 2007. This is just one more.
2006 StockCar Review.
