A letter to Roger Penske: ‘Color confusion’ and the quest for young IndyCar fans

Dear Roger,

I know you’re busy, but I respectfully ask that you hear me out. You preside over the most competitive racing series in the world, but I’m a little worried. I’ve known you for many years, and ask that you allow me to air this personal concern about confusing young Indycar fans.  

I’ve heard many times about your Dad taking you to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when you were 14 years old. I bet you left with a favorite driver. Someone or some aspect of the day captured your attention and changed your life (maybe the noise of the engines back in the day?).

The same thing happened to me when I was 12 years old. My Dad took me to see Irish driver, Sidney Taylor, race a Brabham BT8 in Dunboyne, a small village on the outskirts of Dublin city. They were simple days back in 1965, with unique bespoke race cars that all looked and sounded different. It was easy to grab onto a favorite driver or car, and have life changing moments. Part of any promoters mission today is to provide such moments for future motorsports lifers. 

The real purpose of this letter Roger, is to let you know that instead of young fans being impressed enough to be life-long race fans like you and me, my fear is that they are being confused. Your new chief marketing officer, Alex Damron, is adamant that young fans are captured - now called ‘youthification’. This is great, but alas, I think current day marketers might be making the plight more difficult by confusing young fans (and a lot of older ones too). So called marketers have created years of confusing Indycar color schemes. This may seem trivial Roger, but I think it’s big. I know you want to grow the series, but Iimplore you to take a look at the basics of emotionally connecting with young fans before too many more season’s pass.

Today, capturing the imagination of 14 year old fans is a lot more challenging. The NFL, NBA and MLB etc., are all courting the younger set. Imagine the confusion if NFL teams and players turned up in a different colored uniform each weekend. There would be outrage, and I’m sure the NFL would never allow such confusion. But Indycar allows it - and yes, I know that some of the teams are just doing anything possible to pay their bills. I understand that, but, satisfying the CFO’s of these teams, does come with a price tag. Sit back for a minute Roger and let me give you a few examples of Indycar confusion 101. 

Imagine a current day 14 year old Little Roger attending his first Indy 500 with his Dad and cheering on Simon Paganeaud winning for Team Penske in the bright yellow Meynard’s backed car. The scene of Simon stopped on the front straight with arms in the air were proud moments. Imagine Little Roger running to the gift shop to buy his new favorite model of the winning car and a t-shirt. Then think about him pestering Dad to take him to Detroit the following weekend to cheer on his new favorite driver (does this sound familiar?). 

When he gets to Detroit, there is no yellow Menards car and Dad is trying to explain that although he thinks that Pagenaud might be there, he’s not in the favorite Meynard’s car anymore and he tells his son to look for a totally different color - and Dad has no idea what the color is. I’m pretty sure Little Roger is more than a little frustrated and disappointed.

Now imagine Josef Newgarden winning the Indy 500 in the beautiful Shell car. The scenes of him jumping the fence and running into the crowd was stuff of legend. That’s exactly what a sport needs to bond fans to a particular athlete. Everyone became instant fans of Josef and the Shell car that day. The new fans with their newly acquired Newgy t-shirts and model cars might go to the next race in Detroit full of enthusiasm, only to be disappointed that their favorite Shell car was not there. Dad’s explain that although the Shell car is not there, they could probably still find Josef somewhere, but he was not sure where or what color the car might be.

One year in Detroit Roger, Graham Rahal changed the color of his car from Saturday’s race to Sundays. Imagine that confusion for young fans from one day to the next. Talk about actively building brand confusion of the team, driver and series. This is what really alerted me to the fact that current day marketers are selling sponsorships that are beneficial to the short-term health of the team and detriments to the long-term health of the series. 

In Toronto 2023, two Team Penske cars, Newgarden’s and Will Power’s, were representing two different sponsors, Snap-On and Hitachi. At speed on track, both black/white liveries looked identical. Even NBC’s lead announcer, Leigh Diffey, said during the Sunday morning warm-up session that they were going to get confused. If a professional was getting confused, spare a thought for the 14 year old Little Rogers! 

At the same race, Scott McLaughlin turned up in a light blue car - after he was in a red car - after he was in a yellow car. With this color confusion, it’s no wonder McLaughlin (as good as he is) has no established brand in America - despite being a multiple race winner. 

Surely someone in a marketing department saw this blunder in Portland 2023. Mclaughlin was in a red/white Odessey Battery car but his hero shot on the race telecast had him in a yellow Pennzoil driving suit.  Even if Little Roger could not go to this race, he was still being confused while sitting on his couch. 

The same thing happened when Scott was in a dark colored Freightliner sponsored car - his hero shot on the Indycar app and on peacock streaming showed him in the yellow Pennzoil driving suit again. So if the TV announcers and the TV marketers are confused, what about little Little Roger?

These examples might seem trivial Roger, because we’ve grown so accustomed to the confusion, but I think it’s a road-block to building the Youthification fan base. And it gets worse. 

After Marcus Erickson won the Indy 500 in a red Huski Chocolate car, he turned up in Mid Ohio in a completely different green Ridgeline car. At this stage I’m sure Little Roger was looking at Dad and scratching his head. 

Worst of all, might have been Portland when Ericsson turned up in Scott Dixon colors. Professional journalist, Jenna Fryer, tweeted; Who is Who when Dixon and Ericsson walked through the Portland paddock dressed alike - do you see this confusion Roger? At the same race, Indycar champion, Palau, went from his familiar NTT blue car to a Ridgeline Green one. Newgarden had been racing PPG blue but turned up in Hitachi black/white car. Rahal, who has no familiar branding whatsoever, expected people to know which of the two Quartz Oilliveried team cars was driven by either him or Jack Harvey. At this stage, I can imagine little Roger in an infield asking Dad to take him to a baseball game. 

At the 2023 Indianapolis Motor Speedway testing, TV announcers, talked regularly about the confusion of color schemes. Ironically, at the 2023 IMS celebration banquet - Josef Newgarden thanked you Roger, for building the brand. Kudos to him, but there is a dark side to reality because I don’t think he understands that he, as an Indycar champion, is part of building brand confusion.

At Barber Motorsports  Park 2023, Romain Grosjean fans were confused when he appeared in a dark blue Delaware Life sponsored car. Even his familiar helmet color scheme was gone - he was largely unrecognizable. Later in the season, Grosjean switched to Alex Rossi’s NAPA branding livery. Again, these examples might seem trivial Roger, but I don’t think so. If you make it difficult for fans to become fans, they won’t become fans. How can anyone explain all of this to 14 year old Little Roger’s whose interest you want to capture for life.

At the Indy GP that year, Marcus Armstrong appeared in Palou’s Green car. At the September Indy road race, Armstrong appeared in a red/white car promoting IU Cancer center. NBC announcer, James Hinchcliff confirmed live on the air;“it’s going to be a bit confusing having two Ganassi Red/white cars”. If professionals cannot tell the cars apart, how can Little Roger actively follow the races and become a lifelong fan?

Perhaps 2024 was by far the most confusing for Indycar. During the Nashville  race live telecast, NBC Sports showed a great promotional video of Josef winning the Indy 500 in the Shell car. However his hero shot at the start of the telecast was him dressed in a black Hitachi uniform, and just after the Shell promotional video aired, the TV director cut to a live shot of Josef on track - now in a red Astemi car - and when he stopped in the pits, his crew were dressed in black Hitachi colors. Little Roger needed three color charts that weekend with explanations to follow what was going on. Youthification should not have to work so hard to become fans.

During the live Indy 500 qualifying show there was a McLaughlin promotional video with him dressed in a black Xpel drivers suit, when he was actually driving the familiar yellow Pennzoil car. Newgarden’s promotional video during the same show promoted him dressed in a black Hitachi uniform when he was actually driving the red/yellow Shell car. This was Indycar confusion 101 Roger, and no one saw it. Where are the marketers? What were they looking at?

In the same show, Rasmussen disappeared out of the Guy Care car and team owner, Ed Carpenter, dropped himself into it. This was after building the brand around Rasmussen. Young people should not have to work hard to become fans. Capturing a fan Roger, and keeping them for life, takes a lot more than selling a t-shirt and giving away hero cards.

In Milwaukee 2024 both Newgarden’s and McLaughlin’s care were unrecognizable on Sunday - you did the dreaded Rahal color change overnight.

You got a well-deserved sponsor check, but the fans were left confused. Josef’s fans were even more confused when they tried to find at least a familiar helmet color scheme only to find that Josef was now wearing an unrecognizable helmet color design. Roger, this is crazy stuff - especially when trying to build a recognizable brand. Lord only knows how confused all the young Little Rogers  and all the brothers, sisters and friends were at this stage. 

As the 2024 season went on, the confusion only deepened. In Detroit there was no familiar Pennzoil car that was high profile at the Indy 500 the week before. It was replaced by the blue colors of Gallagher Insurance. There was no familiar Shell car for Newgarden - only an Astemo red livery that looked like an old Ganassi Target car.  Graham Rahal was unrecognizable in an iPacket sponsored car. Marcus Armstrong was in an unfamiliar Orange/Red Root livery.

Later at Laguna Seca, Rahal showed up in a Gold liveried Mobil 1 car in celebration of the 1000th Indycar race for team?

If marketers are responsible for building the brand and sales departments are responsible for selling the sponsorships, it looks like most team sales and marketing teams are one and the same - therefore the confusion they create becomes excusable. 

Ten years ago, no driver had a significant social media platform but now, every driver is communicating to thousands and in some cases in Formula 1, millions. This is both good and bad. Good that the reach is so direct and personal - bad if the branding is confusing. 

Now, just for fun, think of a well known branded current Indycar driver? It’s a tough ask. Your CEO, Mark Miles, is aware of the need to get some household names in Indycar - but Roger, this type of confusion makes that task harder. You have one of the fastest and most charismatic drivers in Josef Newgarden, but he has a multi-colored confusing brand - and few outside of Indycar recognizes him– even on a race weekend. 

I would love you and your business development team, to spend the rest of this season pondering the content of this letter. Have your marketing team meet with the sales team and have them understand what new steps need to be taken to build “Youthification”. Get some creative people to look beyond what has become familiar. There is no point touching new Youthification fans if they have to work hard to become fans and inadvertently end up being confused. This is different thinking Roger – a different approach to how the sport is commercialized – and the recent television figures suggest that the sport needs fresh thinking.

Consider new rules specific to brand building. Maybe teams in future can have specific team colors and be proud of those colors. Sponsors then get added tothat branding color? There is a reason that Ferrari is the best known racing brand in the world. A big part of that reason is the color red.  Arguable, the second best known brand in Formula One is McLaren. A big part of that is the papaya orange color. The best known team brand in Indycar is now McLaren – because of the papaya color. Can you imagine that no one in the paddock would know a Team Penske car (the greatest team in our sport), unless it was specifically pointed out to them. To me that just doesn’t compute, and something needs to be fixed for Youthification.

You might cast this letter off your desk Roger, but I think there is a problem that needs to be addressed. Bernie Ecclestone absolutely understood familiar color branding for teams and drivers in Formula 1. If nothing changes, my fear is that Indycar could forever be in a short-term commercial scramble. You are in a position to stop the color confusion. Work with teams to construct commercial deals a little differently. Maybe the big teams who are more commercially stable can set this new standard. Dissuade the one-off liveries if possible, knowing that there can always be exceptions for certain circumstances, and especially for smaller teams. Build brand consistency and then loyalty, especially with the big teams who are mostly featured on television. Reach out to Little Roger and show him that he will not have to work hard to become an Indycar fan. Make it easy for him to recognize and explain the sport to his friends. Familiar colors matter - that’s the very premise of successful marketing.

Thanks Roger - BTW: I still have my ‘Effort Equals Results’ Penske coin that I got in 1994. I show it at every keynote across the country. Your influence even outside our racing paddocks has been immense.

Respectfully,

Derek Daly

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