• Marketing y Medios, Friday, August 10, 2007 11:45 AM

Nascar is making a push to attract more Hispanic fans with marketing and promotional efforts to bring more of them -- and interested sponsors -- to the track. Currently, only about 9% of the racing circuit's fans are Hispanic vs. 16% for the NBA, 13% for the NFL and 12.9% for Major League Baseball. (All trail Major League Soccer, with a whopping 35%.)

In the last few years, Nascar has launched the Mexico Corona Series and an annual Busch Series race in Mexico City. It also has a "Drive for Diversity" program to develop African American, Hispanic and women drivers and crew members, as well as urban and ethnic marketing efforts. One challenge is that many of its fans found motorsports as kids, a connection still in its infancy in Hispanic communities. Jim Obermeyer, managing director of brand and consumer marketing at Nascar, says the company took a big step in October, when it signed a five-year pact with ESPN Deportes TV and radio for exclusive rights to Nascar programming.

"There is a big opportunity to grow their Hispanic fan base, but they want to convert those fans to actual paying customers, not just TV viewers," says Robert Tuchman, CEO of TSE Sports & Entertainment. "Hispanic sponsorship budgets will continue to grow, and Nascar wants to position itself as a vehicle to reach that market."

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