Race to the Border
NASCAR is setting its sights on Mexico in an effort to reach a Latino audience in the United States and to widen its international following
By Marla Dickerson, Times Staff Writer
NASCAR, the stock car racing league born in Dixie, is looking even farther south to diversify its fan base.
Today it will stage the Telcel Motorola Mexico 200, the league's first major event in this country. And unlike some of NASCAR's past foreign exhibition races, this one counts....
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Fast-changing demographics in the United States have NASCAR executives seeking to put more minorities behind the wheel, in the stands and in front of the TV set. NASCAR also wants a bigger international following, and it has seized on Mexico as a market where it can pursue both strategies at once.
Mexico, with a population topping 100 million, boasts a rich tradition of motor sports and a taste for American culture. Meanwhile, NASCAR sponsors are eager to reach the 40 million Latinos living in the United States, a majority of whom are of Mexican descent. To do so, they need bankable Latino stars capable of competing at the highest level in a sport in which fans have an almost cult-like devotion for their favorite drivers....
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Whether the league risks alienating its core fan base by tinkering with its all-American image remains to be seen. Some fan message boards have criticized the moves to diversify and internationalize the sport as a politically correct sellout that amounts to fixing something that isn't broken....
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-nascar6mar06,0,3243442.story?coll=la-home-business