PR people in NASCAR

[Speedway]

Raygan Smith of NASCAR.com has written the following piece on PR people within NASCAR. It is an overwhelmingly positive story.

http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/opinion/07/18/rswan.publicists.jgordon.tstewart.cedwards/index.html


I am curious how many of you have had experiences (good or bad) with PR folks within NASCAR. What makes a great publicist? How has the role of the PR person evolved over the years in NASCAR? Who is the best in the biz today?

 

[Bubbler]

Gentlemen! Start your hounds!

 

[jgmacg]

Next in the series:

"A Lung's Best Friend - The Hydrocarbon Particulate."

 

[ballscribe]

God. That's awful. But she did do some seriously deep investigative reporting, from the following graf:

Storylines today tend to center on driver-crew chief relationships, but I've learned the relationship between a driver and his publicist is equally as important and interesting.

STOP the frigging presses.

Then again, she is definitely a wild and unpredictable girl, from her bio:


Interests: Working out, convincing the non-believers that NASCAR is cool, watching anything and everything on TV and taking family vacations because my dad still pays, even though I've been off the payroll for years now.

Favorite Food: McDonalds No. 2 go-large, deep-fried dill pickles and any pizza found on a street corner in New York City.

Now THAT's a girl I wanna hang out with. ;-)

That's also 5 minutes of my life I won't get back. Do you think she might know that intern from Tampa?

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Gentlemen! Start your hounds!

 

[jgmacg]

Coming in August:

"Lifetime Hearing Loss - Nature's Way of Telling You That You've Got The Best Garage Access In Professional MotorSports!"

 

[imjustagirl]

Raygan's a good girl. She's a bit wild and crazy, and always hyper...she's not there to do straight driver features. She's there to do the off-the-wall stuff. She's there to be Raygan.

Is it going to win awards? No. But I also don't think it's the worst thing to appear on that site either.

 

[MichaelJackSchmidt]

I'm not a huge fan of publicists and PR folks in general, and this is just a weird article, to be honest.

But I will say that from my experience, the folks at NASCAR are among the most helpful in all of sports. For the most part, they actually "get" that news coverage of the sport enhances the brand and helps the business. They've actually come by our offices to encourage us to cover the sport more.
I don't cover NASCAR full time, but when I do write about the sport I've found that the NASCAR folks are responsive and friendly and generally make my job easier, not harder.

Now, there is a slight difference between the PR folks at the teams and NASCAR proper. Some of the teams can be tough to deal with. But even when that happens, I can call someone at NASCAR who will usually prod them into giving me what I need.

 

[imjustagirl]

You're luckier than those of us who actually cover the sport then.

 

[ColbertNation]

It always depends on the driver. Big names like Gordon and Earnhardt are near impossible to get ahold of away from their haulers. But the PR folk for the lesser-knowns can't seem to book enough interviews. PR people on the Truck series are probably the most accomodating of the big three. At least, that was my experience, such as it was.

 

[lono]

Like everything else, with NASCAR PR people, there are some very good ones and some bad ones, with most somewhere in between.

 

[GRUDGE]

media people in NASCAR

O.K. Since you wrote this I will vent.

For the most part media people who work for the tracks are excellent. I would say 90% of them are super helpful and great folks.

Media people that work for drivers/teams are about 75% good.

Media people who work for NASCAR SUCK! I can't stand doing ANYTHING with NASCAR national. I have dealt with many of them: HORRENDOUS.

 

[BYH]

I gotta say, with a screen name like GRUDGE, I saw that one coming.

 

[Tom Petty]

I gotta say, with a screen name like GRUDGE, I saw that one coming.

almost like someone started a new screen name just for this thread.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

No doubt. He should have been all flowery and thoughtful, that would have thrown everyone off the scent

 

[Angola!]

I gotta say, with a screen name like GRUDGE, I saw that one coming.

almost like someone started a new screen name just for this thread.

Well, GRUDGE signed up two months ago and hates Fox News, so they are cool with me.

 

[Tom Petty]

I gotta say, with a screen name like GRUDGE, I saw that one coming.

almost like someone started a new screen name just for this thread.

Well, GRUDGE signed up two months ago and hates Fox News, so they are cool with me.

damn you and your research.

 

[sportschick]

Momma always told if I couldn't say anything nice, not to say anything. Raygan and I started out in the same part of the world years and years ago. She writes pretty fluffy stuff.

 

[RedSmithClone]

The worst I've ever dealt with is Jeff Gordon's jackass - I mean flunky, I mean shadow, I mean ass kissing boot-licking stooge, I mean PR nightmare - Jon Edwards.

 

[BYH]

Momma always told if I couldn't say anything nice, not to say anything.

Then what the hell are you doing here?