Sprint to Sponsor Auto Racing Day at North American International Auto Show

December 18, 2007

By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

Last winter I wrote about NASCAR “missing the boat” by not having a display at the 2007 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. After hours of walking the floor looking at displays, checking out the cars, trucks, crossovers and concepts (and collecting all the cool press kits and freebies I could carry) I had only seen 3 1/2 NASCAR racers. Two were sitting in a very mediocre booth sponsored by Michigan International Speedway. It consisted of Johnson and Gordon show cars with an MIS banner strung between them. I was not impressed. Upstairs on the main floor Dodge had a show car mixed into their display, and Toyota had a Car Of Tomorrow shell set up (That’s the ½).

Other than that and a few bumper stickers in the parking garage, there were no signs of NASCAR at the show. Aside from being disappointed as a fan of the sport, I was also disappointed that NASCAR didn’t find it a relevant venue to generate more excitement with the press and public, and wrote as much in the following week’s column. Well, after browsing this year’s NAIAS website, I came across a press release that made me realize that NASCAR hadn’t missed the boat at last year’s event, I had simply missed NASCAR.

It seems that Sprint and NASCAR have been putting on an event at the Detroit Auto Show for several years now, called Auto Racing Day that not only features ¾ scale simulators, videos, giveaways and other interactive media, but also plays host to some of the series top drivers. So how, pray tell, could I have spent two days at the auto show looking at everything fresh and new from the ‘Big Three’ and all the other automakers of the world and somehow missed the Sprint event? Well because unlike most of the automakers at the show who put on their best face and haul out the schwag and comps for the media during the ‘Press Preview’, Sprint saves all it’s racing goodies for the fans and holds it’s event when the auto show is open to the public.

So while the public can’t get in to see the press conferences and unveilings of the latest and greatest in production cars, they do get to enjoy the NASCAR event, which arguably would be more fun than listening to a bunch of engineers and executives talk about advanced in-cabin air filtration in a prototype that may or may not see production for the 2012 model year.

While I’m sure many readers live too far from Detroit to make the trip simply for the Sprint sponsored event, those already planning on attending and those who feel the drive is worth it, can mark their calendars for January 25th, 2008. The event is being held from 9am to 10pm and by the looks of the press release is included in the cost of a ticket to the Auto Show ($12 adult, $6 for children).

If you’re into more than just NASCAR, even more Auto Racing Day activities will be provided by the American Le Mans Series, the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, and IndyCar Series, as well as participating automotive manufacturers and other racing-themed organizations. Kim Green-Kerr, area vice president – Michigan & Northwest Ohio, Sprint exclaims “Next to actually putting you in a race car, we can’t think of a better way to give race fans the experience of being behind the wheel during a race.” While I’d personally prefer to be in a race car, the Sprint event sounds like just the thing to tide over weary race fans waiting for February.

Unfortunately for me, my visit to Detroit only runs during the press preview days and I’ll be long gone before the Sprint folks even set up. So if you’re able to make the trip to Motown and check out the event, drop me a line. You can fill me in on all the fun you had and I’ll share with you the finer points of advanced in-cabin air filtration.

For more information on Sprint Racing Day and the North American International Auto Show, visit www.naias.com

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.

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