Don't pimp my racin'!

It all started with the half-dressed girls in orange shorts with owls on their shirts. You know the ones I'm talking about. They don't need any more press and I'm not going to give it to them.

Then, about six years ago at the Belleville Midget Nationals, I saw some oiled up, bikini-clad pornstar-wannabe slithering all over the front of a Midget Car in victory lane while a photographer snapped away. Baby oil, Kansas dust, breezy summer day. Yeah, I can only imagine that chick having dirt in places she didn't know existed after that photo shoot!

Why is it that when it comes to marketing, whether it's shaving cream, cars, web hosting or hamburgers, the advertising industry thinks that using scantilly-clad women to promote their products is ok? Does it really increase sales or is it just an excuse to legally pornify the marketplace? It sure doesn't make me want to go out and plop my money down, I'll tell you that. And it doesn't work on the majority of the guys I know either. If they have even an ounce of respect for women, this kind of marketing should have just the opposite effect than is intended.

And why is it that as the female fan base for motorsports grows by leaps and bounds, the racing industry gets deeper into the sleaze pit? Do the brains behind these promotions really think they are going to attract more women fans, or are they intentionally trying to drive us away from an historically male sport?

Yes, it started many years ago with the girls who represent the place guys go to because they supposedly have great wings, (don't know, never been there) but unfortunately, it didn't end there.

Last year a Sprint Car driver signed a sponsorship agreement with a men's magazine so now when you take your kids to the track, and they see that billboard go buy, you get to explain to them that it's just a fancy apartment that rich people live in.

As if that wasn't enough, today another major player in motorsports announced a partnership with another men's magazine, and is even going to have their trademark girls with the big ears and the fuzzy tails walking around at an upcoming event. I can just hear that explanation now, "No sweetie, that's not the Easter Bunny."

Why has it come to the point where the motorsports marketing gurus have decided that it's not bad enough we are bombarded with sleaze on tv, radio, internet and highway signs, but they now have to trash live racing as well? Aren't there enough reputable sponsors out there that they don't have to stoop to this?
If they want to make racing an adults-only sport, which appears to be the direction they are headed, then they are shooting themselves in the proverbial bank account. Where do they think future race fans will come from if their parents keep them away from the tracks when they are young? We already have to shield them from the violent and sleazy commercials during televised racing. At live events, our biggest challenge before was always trying to find a "family friendly" area to sit in order to avoid the one foul-mouthed, chain-smoking, drunken redneck who, without fail, would always end up sitting behind us. What's next? Mud-wrestling on the front stretch?

The only thing worse than the companies, sanctions and tracks that parade slutty women around in order to sell products, make money and finance their racing are the women who allow themselves to be bought. Yes, every now and then there is a commercial that uses half-naked guys, but I'm guessing it will be a freezing cold July day in Daytona before the Chippendale Dancers show up in victory lane!