Issue lucky 13 1993
[h=2]RACER@25: Issue No. 13, May 1993[/h] Wednesday, 15 March 2017
By RACER staff
It has been said that one of the most important milestones in any new business is surviving the first year. Such was the case for
RACER in 1993 as the first anniversary was celebrated on the Saturday evening of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in the same racing art gallery that hosted this new American racing magazine's debut one year before.
The May 1993 issue of
RACER captured the excitement of reigning F1 world champion Nigel Mansell's stunning arrival in the CART PPG IndyCar World Series at Surfers Paradise. It could be argued that this issue also memorialized a unique moment in time when IndyCar racing was at its zenith in terms of global stature and appeal.
RACER magazine was growing and it was apparent in the page count which swelled from 76 to 104 pages over the previous year. Advertising was up 33% over the premier issue and
RACER's audited circulation had grown a staggering 151%.
RACER's roster of respected contributing editors was also expanding with the addition of the late Gerald Martin on the NASCAR beat, Jon Asher covering NHRA and Bill Lovell providing insight into the American road racing scene
Issue No. 13 offered a compelling snapshot of an amazing period in global motorsport. The magazine's opening spread image highlighted the first race of Michael Andretti's star-crossed transition to Formula 1 and set the stage for something special for
RACER's readers.
Pete Lyons delivered an insightful overview titled "The State of The Sport" ...
... and Gordon Kirby's expansive Indianapolis 500 preview "War of the Worlds" conveyed the remarkable energy surrounding the upcoming 77th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Editor John Zimmermann's interview with Dan Gurney about the Eagle Toyotas crushing the GTP category in IMSA Camel GT underscored growing concerns for America's premier sports car series. Kirby's feature "Inside Penske" took
RACER readers behind the closed doors or the team's Poole, England-based racing car factory where The Captain's cars were built. Martin's "On the Edge of Glory" exposed the driven personality of Mark Martin, perhaps one of the greatest drivers to never win what was then known as the Winston Cup. Technical writer and illustrator Giorgio Piola's considerable talents were on display in a story about tailoring F1 cockpits to the likes of Jean Alesi, Gerhard Berger, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna. Famed photographer Bob Tronolone's photo feature on the most innovative cars to ever race in the Indy 500 is now even more fascinating in the context of today's spec-based Verizon IndyCar Series.
By early 1993,
RACER had found the ultimate marketing partner in ESPN thanks to the sterling efforts of young ad director Donna Chamberlain (Pfanner) and the welcome advocacy of
RACER to ESPN's management by the late Benny Parsons, who served as ESPN's NASCAR analyst.
Founders Paul Pfanner and Jeff Zwart collaborated in creating
RACER's first TV spot that would run during ESPN's IndyCar, F1, IMSA and NASCAR broadcasts. This spot would not have been possible without the critical assistance of Frank Brooks, Richard Smith and Austin Craig at J. Walter Thompson in Detroit, the agency of record for Ford and Goodyear. The three men provided valuable advice before
RACER's launch and then worked with their supportive clients at Ford to allow RACER to use the company's current B-roll footage in the
RACER subscription TV spot.
(Enjoy! But note the phone number in the spot is no longer active!)
After only a year it was clear that
RACER was living up to the original vision of founders Pfanner and Zwart 15 years earlier when the duo originally discussed the concept.
RACER was now truly embraced by American racing fans and the American racing industry but ominous political storm clouds were beginning to gather on the horizon that signaled disruptive events that would soon shape the destiny of the sport and
RACER.