The Grand-Am Sports Car Series has become a popular diversion for disgruntled NASCAR fans. Tired of uneventful races, there has been no shortage of complaints from wary NASCAR fans. Judging by the crowds, the Grand Am Series is gaining momentum, reaching out to the NASCAR audience. Producing some of the tightest racing and a wide variety of winners, it’s no wonder many fans are making the switch to Grand Am racing. In short, the Grand Am has been a hit with its participants, while providing truly enjoyable entertainment for its audience and, like NASCAR; Grand Am racing is gender neutral which makes it a natural fit for the entire family.

NASCAR has been the target of criticism on various topics from various sources. Some critics note the significant differences between today’s NASCAR vehicles and true “stock” cars. Others frequently cite the dominance of a particular team/driver. Recently, the increased number of caution flags for debris has been hotly debated.

Grand Am’s popularity surge over NASCAR has opened many doors for the series to focus its sights on extending its marketing reach, while building a solid platform to improve its national appeal.

NASCAR and Grand-Am are both owned and operated by the France family. They’ve decided to use NASCAR’s huge reach to the nonentity sports car series, including a plan to someday change the name from Grand-Am to the NASCAR Sports Car Series. Adding NASCAR branding would raise Grand-Am’s profile with fans and media. However, there’s concern that Grand-Am might be considered less important than NASCAR’s three national series – Sprint Cup, Nationwide stock cars and Craftsman Trucks.

So, if NASCAR has been so successfully marketed, why hasn’t Grand Am racing? The answer is simplicity and relevance. As with other traditional pro sports, fans identify with NASCAR drivers-they see them as down to earth people who share a common set of values and ideals. It is the national appeal of NASCAR. TV programming like the Late Show to game shows, magazine covers and feature films only heightens fans connections to the drivers. Unlike Grand Am Series racing, NASCAR delivers a consistent stream of events for fans to look forward to all year long, including Speed Weeks and the Awards Banquet.

The Grand Am Series appeals to many motorsports enthusiasts, though the series hasn’t managed to capitalize on it as much as they may have liked– not in massive, NASCAR-like numbers, anyway.

In short, casual racing fans struggle to identify many Grand Am Series regulars, with the exception of the season opener which boasts well-known names from NASCAR, Champ Car and the Indy Racing League. The Grand-Am teams are grateful for the added exposure these other series’ drivers bring.

From die casts to toothbrushes, there’s steady stream of NASCAR-branded merchandise being pumped into the retail industry. In fact, there’s over $2 billion in licensed NASCAR product sales each year.

Let’s compare the two series for a moment. NASCAR’s top series, Sprint Cup consists of 43 cars, all built according to the same specs. Cars are Fords, Dodges,Toyotas or Chevys. Contrast that with sports car racing. Field size varies. In NASCAR, only one driver wins and heads to victory lane afterward whereas in sports car racing, it’s much different. The cars are identified by their engine and chassis manufacturers. Then there are the drivers. In NASCAR, there’s one car, one driver. Grand Am requires at least two drivers per car, with three or four used in the longer races. The 15-race 2008 Rolex Series and the 11-race KONI Challenge Series calendars deliver professional sports car racing to key markets throughout North America. Races are televised in the United States and Canada on SPEED. On the other hand, NASCAR delivers a 36-race schedule for the Sprint Cup, 35-race schedule for the Nationwide Series and a 25-race schedule for the Craftsman Truck Series.

Although things still seem a little bleak for Grand Am Series racing in comparison to NASCAR, there remains optimism that Grand Am executives will take a close look at the growth potential for the Series. The way I see it, they are only operating at a fraction of the Series marketing potential. They need to grab hold of the opportunity to set the series up on a much larger scale while fans are focusing on Grand Am Series races. After all, the best prospect to come to a Grand Am race is someone who already has an interest in motorsports. With a fan base of 75 million, there’s no larger group of those people than the NASCAR fan base. A polished business development plan could give the series a fresh outlook while attracting a whole new fan-base. It’s the natural progression of the series.