NASCAR is revving its marketing motors for a full-scale outdoor and indoor celebration of the sport for Big Apple fans in its annual Champions Week events.
The rumble of stock car engines won’t be heard in the “victory lap” that NASCAR has staged in midtown Manhattan for the past several years. But fans will be able to check out the stock cars in displays at several midtown locations this week, and drive a variety of stock car simulators.
The Aflac Pit Stop Tour has the souped-up racers available for up close and personal inspection outside Penn Station, M&M’s World, the Tourneau Atrium, Sirius XM Radio and the Times Square Hard Rock Café, which will be the scene for the Aflac Fan Fest starting on Thursday.
A dozen of the NASCAR’s top drivers will be at the Hard Rock for a Q&A session with fans at 3 p.m. Thursday, making a grand entrance outside the club at the all-day Tailgate Block Party driven by Ford.
“We just want to celebrate our fans, that’s our goal,” said Erin Lebar, NASCAR marketing manager.
Sprint will have a semi-truck full of large stock car simulators at the block party, which will feature live bands performing between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. The Hard Rock will serve food from an outdoor grill and Coca-Cola will have a presence with a couple of its own free-standing simulators and soda for sale.
Fans can win tickets to the Q&A session in a trivia contest and other outdoor prizes will include tickets to the Pocono and Watkins Glen race tracks, memorabilia autographed by drivers and free t-shirts.
ESPN will have giant screens playing NASCAR highlights atop a Ford 250 pick-up truck. Bank of America will be offering fans a chance to sign up for checking accounts with checks featuring Jimmie Johnson’s likeness on them.
NASCAR knows it will be playing to a very receptive crowd.
“We have a huge fan base here,” said Lebar. “It’s the number two market in the U.S. for NASCAR viewing.”
Local rock station Z100 will be giving away tickets to a Gavin McGraw concert in the Hard Rock on Thursday night.
The Aflac Fan Fest, running from Thursday through Saturday inside the club, will feature small stock car simulators and a tire-changing pit crew experience for fans. Some of the star drivers may also return to the Fan Fest for appearances on Friday and Saturday.
They’re all in town for the week’s climactic NASCAR Sprint Cup Series dinner at the Waldorf Astoria on Friday night.
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