NASCAR Hopes for 40 Million Members in First Loyalty Club

NASCAR has launched its first loyalty club, targeting the sport’s 75 million racing fans.

Richard Petty gets a big loyalty card

The $40 annual membership fee gets fans benefits that range from behind-the-scenes access, such as VIP treatment at races, to special deals and offers as well as NASCAR partner discounts.

The program, called the Official NASCAR Members Club, launched Feb. 10 at Daytona International Speedway with the hopes that it would attract most, if not all, of the 40 million people that NASCAR considers to be its die-hard fans.

“Unlike baseball and the NFL, there are no home teams in NASCAR, just a lot of tracks spread across the country,” said NASCAR VP-licensing Mark Dyer. “It’s hard for us to touch each individual community, but this will help. The driving force behind all of our projects is to make NASCAR fan-friendly. The better we do that with our fans, the more we can grow.”

While the huge amount of personal data collected by NASCAR about its club members will no doubt build on NASCAR’s database, the creation of the program was more about organizing the fan base, he said.

Although “marketing people get mesmerized by databases,” the information NASCAR receives from club members will help race teams, tracks and drivers learn more about its customers, Dyer said.

He said the club will have local chapters, and that more than 200 people have already volunteered to become club presidents.

Early reports indicate that fans are interested in the loyalty program.

“Coming out of the Daytona 500, we had a great response,” said Dave Hickson, president of Stoneacre Partners, the Charlotte, NC-based firm that manages the program for NASCAR. “Thousands of people have joined, and they have said they’ve been waiting for a program like this.”

Racing legend Richard Petty is the club’s chairman. The launch announcement was attended by NASCAR CEO Brian France and 13 of the top 17 racers.

“Affinity groups are usually cautious, they want to check a group out before making a decision to join,” Hickson said. “But the fact that these (NASCAR legends and executives) showed their support was a great endorsement for the club. It gave it legitimacy and shows that it is fully backed by NASCAR.”