In the absence of being able to achieve the original goal of having IndyCars racing in the heart of Nashville, Borchetta has pivoted to bringing as much Nashville vibe as he can to the speedway. James Black/IMS Photo

“And the stage will be literally right next to Turn 1. It’s not going to stop. It’s going to go right through the race. We’ll have our own little mini–Snake Pit over there. It was super important to make sure that we stayed connected to the entertainment side, because it is the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix.”

It’s been rare to go more than 24 hours without seeing a new Music City GP promotional email, ticket deal offered, or social media post from Borchetta’s marketing team. The relentless efforts to inform and entice potential attendees reflects the music industry veteran’s approach to promoting dozens of acts for longer than most of the IndyCar drivers have been alive.

“It’s such a noisy world, and there’s a certain amount of repetitions you’ve got to hit with people, and you’ve got to hit the right message,” he said. “It’s not one message to send. There’s a message to that party-going college kid who wants to come and see Diplo and check out their first race. It’s a different message to the core race fan. It’s a different message to the family. It’s a different message to that young kid. And so we’ve really spent a lot of time, and I brought in some super marketing power, and we do a call every morning and go over all of our analytics, all of our creative, and we’re constantly making little adjustments.

“It’s like, ‘Okay, that isn’t working. Don’t do that anymore. And let’s go after this piece.’ It’s been an extraordinary education in marketing a product that has very little demand here. So, we’ve really taken on the task of creating demand and creating stakes. Thank God Alex Palou did not clinch the championship at Milwaukee. And once you have these kinds of stakes with a champion, Will Power, or Palou, being made at our race, it becomes a sports story and then you start to bleed into a different conversation.

“It’s exciting, because had he clinched last weekend, it’s like, we’re just going to have to tell people it’s going to be a great race. Yeah. You know, the fact that the Milwaukee race was really good, especially the Saturday race. We had really intense racing at Milwaukee and big audiences for the two races, which gives us a lot of encouragement. And it’s been great because a lot of things we do on the record side absolutely apply to promoting our speedway race, but I’ve learned new things just in the last few months that are now applying from the racing side back to my record business. It’s been incredible.”

Borchetta’s expertise would help IndyCar to draw bigger crowds at some of its underperforming events. He’s on a marketing committee formed by Penske Entertainment that also includes McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown, and by coincidence, the two hail from Southern California and grew up going to IndyCar races in the area, which established their lifelong passion for the sport.

Together, they’re trying to assist IndyCar in its quest to grow and become more popular, and if the relocated Music City GP is a hit, there could be a blueprint to establish and apply elsewhere on the IndyCar tour.
The Pitstop Challenge will allow IndyCar to maintain a presence in the heart of the city. Michael Levitt/Motorsport Images

“Racing is such a big part of my DNA, and I’ve always been an IndyCar fan,” said Borchetta, who owns an extensive collection of historic Indy cars he loves to drive. “My first race was the 1970 California 500 as a very young boy. It’s been music and racing, and now it’s the responsibility of being the promoter. It’s one thing to be the sponsor with my company, but for the race to work, it’s my responsibility to make sure we bring everything we have to promoting the race, basically owning the race. And you don’t just show up and you’re invited into the circle. It’s decades of relationships with Chip Ganassi, with Roger Penske, who’s one of my heroes, and the Andrettis, and earning their trust that we can do this.

“We’ve got to put on a show where, when they leave the track on Sunday the 15th, they need to know that we did everything we could possibly do to put on the best show possible. We knew that there was a challenge to go out there where the speedway is, when you’re in the shadow of Nashville, and it’s almost unfair because everything pales in comparison to Nashville. So, I really took an ownership approach: This is my race. Psychologically, I wanted my marketing team to take ownership of this race.

“I’ve told everyone that if we do this right, we can make it so compelling that we don’t want to go back downtown, and that’s my challenge to them. We’re bringing the product. We’re going to make these guys stars. We’re going to push everybody. We’re going to push them hard. And when Zak Brown says, ‘Scott, I’m showing up, what can I do for you?’ When I’m walking through the paddock at the Indy 500 and Scott Dixon comes up to me, goes, ‘Scott, whatever you need. What can I do for you?’ When Dario Franchitti, when Tony Kanaan says, ‘What can I do to make this race work?’ There’s so many people that have locked arms to make this finale meaningful.”

The Music City GP is signed to a multi-year contract at the speedway, which means Borchetta has more than one shot at turning a long-forgotten venue for IndyCar into one he hopes people can’t forget for all the right reasons. His brain is working overtime on what the Big Machine team can do with more than seven months to prepare for this weekend’s event.

“The things that we’re proposing for next year, that I can’t get into, can really elevate everything that that we’re doing, and I love the fact that we’re going to be on FOX next year,” he said of the upcoming change to a full season of IndyCar broadcast on the FOX network. “Something I’ve been saying to NASCAR and IndyCar for years, in a friendly but challenging way, is I know every Sunday during football season, I turn the TV on at noon, and we’re kicking off. When I’m a NASCAR team owner and I can’t find practice and qualifying, ‘I’m like, OK, is it on USA? Is it on Peacock? Where is it? Tell me where it is. That’s not good for our product.

“So, the fact that we’re going to be, for Xfinity, on CW next year every time, I don’t have to search, I can just go and watch the race. The fact that we’re going to be on FOX next year, fantastic. We haven’t had this good of a TV package for 30 years and there’s so many positives, and I’m going to keep screaming it from the rooftops and keep pushing everybody to standardize the start times, so you know when to watch.

“You just don’t turn a battleship that quickly. I think the success of F1, and NASCAR, takes time to get there. There’s momentum with IndyCar, and we’ve got to, as a sport, seize this opportunity for the momentum that we have, recognize the challenges we have, and keep attacking those challenges and fixing these things. These are fixable problems, but we’ve got to address them. And if we have to do it independently, then then we shall. If we designate ourselves as leaders and we can lead for the better, then we will. And if Roger kicks me out because we went too far, ....or likely not far enough, I will say, ‘Well, I just did the best that I could. and Roger will say: "Your best wasn't good enough."’”