• January 13, 2004

American Content, a publishing upstart funded by Clarium Capital Management - better known as the company helmed by PayPal founder Peter Thiel - has announced its first venture: American Thunder, a magazine billed as a lifestyle magazine for NASCAR fans. The monthly mag, which debuts February 1, will launch with a rate base of 100,000; American Content hopes to grow it to 300,000 by 2005.

Clearly there's money to be made by tapping into the NASCAR audience: its TV ratings are second only to professional football and marketers across a wide range of product categories devote millions of sponsorship dollars to the sport every year. The mag expects its average reader to be 43 years old, with annual household income of $57,100.

"American Thunder will offer advertisers access to a NASCAR fan base renowned for its fanatical brand loyalty," said publisher Val Landi in a press release. "And we're the only game in town for this genre, so the potential for growth is almost limitless."