Gene Simmons, Man or Myth?

pressdog represents on Gene Simmons and the state of the IRL circa March 2006:

Gene Simmons. A fine guy, I'm sure, and he may be doing some good stuff for the IRL. Time will tell. He is definitely getting out of the carbon-fiber box the IRL has been in for about 5 years. I give him major props for trying something new, and more props for getting the league to go along. Given he made a medium-quality band into a household name, the guy knows marketing.

Having said that, how tough is it to be a wild man, "out-on-the-edge," "tough-client-love" guy when you're a trillionaire? Gene has zero to lose by telling the IRL its "logo sucks" and coming up with crazy stuff for them to try. Absolutely no fear of offending the client there. What are they going to do? Fire him? Not like he'd be on welfare if that happened. So, I envy his ability to just say "here's what you should do, and if you don't, you're making a huge, stupid mistake" to the IRL. Wonder if any of the roughly six VPs of marketing the IRL has gone through in the last three years met similar success when they took the tough-love approach to the boss.

It's amazing how companies (in this case the IRL) become amenable to "out-of-the-box" ideas when it gets down to fly-or-die time. For years the IRL has been struggling to find a voice, any voice, that appeals to anyone who isn't already a fan. Freaks like me are watching no matter what. But the IRL is mired in a bunch of dusty traditions and have been listening to the race freaks for too long.

They've been focusing on "quality of racing, horse power, blah blah blah" which nobody who isn't already watching really cares about. Nothing emotional at all. No personality-focused marketing at all since the personalities in the IRL change every five weeks, it seems. Finally, when they're start fearing for their corporate lives, the IRL is letting Gene do something new and go for the emotion. ("I AM INDY") They've finally reached "nothing to lose" stage. Oddly, companies who get to that stage (and thereby try totally new things) often have a marketing resergence. Go figure.

Finally, if you can hear an Indy Car start up, in person, and likewise hear it blow by you at 220 mph and not get goosebumps and/or want to howl like an insane wolf, you have zero testosterone in your body. NONE. Either that or you're technically a corpse.The first time I heard an Indy Car start I nearly dropped my water. I had tightness in the chest. I swear.

So, I hope Gene and Company grab the IRL by the you-know-whats and give it a shake. It's an affront to the racing gods that NASCAR gets more fans than the IRL. It enrages me, frankly.