Interesting comments from Roland Dane around the ownership, what was promised and what has been delivered:
https://www.speedcafe.com/
'There’s no question that the profile of Supercars amongst the broader population of Australia has slipped in recent years.
..... This issue cannot be laid at the door of the current Supercars owners, RACE, as being their fault but it is up to them to ensure that the problem is addressed rapidly and effectively.'
As the Supercars sale process developed, the marketing and public relations expertise of TLA and TGI (highly respected agencies), that was a component of the RACE bid, along with the involvement of key luminaries from that world, Martin Jolly and Craig Kelly, became a central reason why the team owners were keen to see the business of Supercars sold to RACE in late 2021. In fact, it was the central reason.
As the teams, me included, saw it, t
hese people could and would lift the profile of Supercars as a major sport in Australia by promoting it hard and using cross pollination opportunities created by the large expanse of other sporting properties that both Kelly and Jolly were involved in.
The RACE presentation to the teams in 2021 was built around the participation of Jolly, Kelly and Mark Skaife under the banner “we know motorsport”. Both Martin and Craig had extensive experience of the sport through their time at IMG (a world-famous agency) and TLA respectively.
Sadly, within weeks of the sale to RACE, the only one of this trio left with any involvement in RACE was Mark, and his motorsport expertise, whilst clearly very extensive, is not in the PR and marketing world.'
'I (Dane), for one, felt misled but, as I no longer had a day to day involvement in the sport, it was up to others to voice their concerns to RACE as these were very big boots to fill.'
'Meanwhile, after a run of great attendances at big events over the last seven months, the size of the crowd at Wanneroo was reasonable but it was a long way from the early 2000s when I first went there and you couldn’t see a blade of grass in the place.'
For the sport to be truly sustainable, this type of event at a permanent circuit needs much stronger crowd numbers. And that can only be driven by awareness in my opinion.
The RACE ownership structure was intended to bring the expertise to the table that would drive that awareness and, as I said, that marketing and media background was the major push of their original pitch to the teams.
..... RACE needs to get an old fashioned PR hustler involved as a matter of urgency who doesn’t take no for an answer. Someone hungry who doesn’t stand on ceremony and is prepared to do what it takes to get Supercars back onto the mainstream sporting agenda.'
..... But someone has to have a fully co-ordinated, forceful and sometimes controversial PR and marketing strategy, mixed with a cutting edge contemporary social media plan, in play to bring Supercars back into that broader public psyche. I don’t see any of this happening at the moment, but I live in hope.'
Spot on Roland. Lets hope we hear from RACE/Barclay Nettlefold & not just in the specialist media.
Well worth reading the Speedcafe article in full.