Blog Discusses the Business of NASCAR

Posted on March 12, 2007

A new blog called The View from Here: The Business of NASCAR from two Virginia Commonwealth University professors is discussing the business behind the popular sport of NASCAR racing. Richmond.com reports that the blog is an offshoot of a NASCAR business class taught by the two professors.

Here in Richmond, at Virginia Commonwealth University, professors Jon Ackley and Michael Pitts decided to explore the business of NASCAR by creating a class titled "From Dirt Tracks to Madison Avenue." The class, a five-week honors module, has been offered three times during the fall semester and will be offered again in the fall of 2007.
The class featured a variety of speakers from all different aspects of NASCAR, including Katherine Wintsch from The Martin Agency, the advertising firm that handles the NASCAR account, and Nate Ryan, motor sports columnist for USA Today.
"Our goal is to give the students an overview of the business side of NASCAR," Ackley said. "We talk very little about actual racing although we don't bypass that discussion when questions are raised. In the end, when students indicate that they might still not be fans but appreciate the magnitude of the sport, we believe we have accomplished our goal."
Now the two professors have broken out of the classroom and onto the Internet with a new blog. The blog, "The View From Here: The Business of NASCAR," was launched on Feb. 15. Like the class, it explores the money end of NASCAR.

The blog is updated weekly instead of daily. There are already some interesting posts like this post about driver's salaries and this post about Daytona 500 infractions.