If being attached to “Herbie Fully Loaded” didn’t derail NASCAR, perhaps nothing can. What was once chided as the “hick” sport by the uninitiated now is the hot ticket in American pop culture.
Books
Who needs Fabio when most any NASCAR driver can rev a woman’s engine?
Author and NASCAR fan Pamela Britton did the math–women like to read romance novels, and 40 percent of NASCAR’s 75 million fans are women–and came up with a lucrative bottom line: the NASCAR romance novel.
Britton’s “In The Groove,” about a romance between a former kindergarten teacher and a famous NASCAR driver, became the first fiction book licensed by NASCAR.
“It is a romance novel, but I will see men buying the book–not just for their wives,” Britton said. “I’m always signing books for guys. They are impressed with technical aspects. I work hard in making it authentic.”
But Britton remembers being scoffed at by publishers for years. “NASCAR wasn’t mainstream in the mid-’90s. Nobody would touch it with a 10-foot pole.”
Now fans line up at races wanting pictures and autographs.
Britton said her publisher plans to release 17 NASCAR-themed romance books by different authors next year. “They really took the idea and ran with it,” she said.
Movies
NASCAR has had a hand in several big-budget movies in recent years.
– Disney/Pixar’s “Cars” has grossed more than $190 million in the U.S. in less than a month.
– As an aspiring NASCAR driver, Lindsay Lohan took the VW bug through its paces in “Herbie Fully Loaded.”
– Will Ferrell (above) takes his turn as driver Ricky Bobby in “Talladega Nights,” which opens in theaters Aug. 4.
TV
NASCAR makes sure its drivers are plastered on as many screens as possible, says the league’s entertainment guru Dick Glover. Here are some of the NASCAR’s appearances during the past two years:
– Jimmie Johnson as himself on “Las Vegas”
– Carl Edwards as homeland security agent Jim Hill on “24”
– Casey Mears as himself on “Days of Our Lives”
– Jamie McMurray on MTV’s “Cribs”
– Brian Vickers on MTV’s “TRL”
– “NASCAR Drivers: 360” on FX lets viewers follow drivers’ lives off the track.
– Joliet rookie driver Sean Murphy is competing for a shot at the Busch Series on a proposed reality show, “Racin’ for a Livin’.” Visit vote4sean.com.
Fashion and fragrance
– Add NASCAR high heels to the list of bikinis, leather jackets and purses that have come out or are due soon.
– Nothing like the smell of burning rubber and exhaust fumes to drive the ladies wild. Stock up on Daytona 500, a new men’s cologne from Elizabeth Arden in stores this month. For $30, you can “experience the thrill of a scent that embodies the confidence, power and intensity of men daring enough to race in the ultimate adrenaline rush.”
Celebrity
Jeff Gordon made a splash in June when he announced that he is engaged to Belgian model Ingrid Vandebosch. “American Idol” might as well make Nextel Cup appearances part of the show’s contract, judging from visits by Carrie Underwood, Fantasia, Josh Gracin, Bo Bice and Ryan Seacrest. But the star power is not limited to them. Adam Sandler, Usher, Jaime Pressly and the Red Hot Chili Peppers have visited tracks this year.
