INSIGHT: The new vintage racing

Mention Tony Parella’s name in the SportsCar Vintage Racing Association (SVRA) paddock and many times what you will hear is, “a force of nature.” It’s an apt description because whether you know Tony or not anyone who follows vintage racing can see his impact in the transformation not just in the SVRA but the entire sport.

RACER caught up with Tony recently at his marquee event, the Brickyard Invitational at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, to learn more about his vision for vintage racing.

(LEFT: Tony Parella is interviewed by Dave Furst of Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV channel 6 at the Brickyard Invitational.)

RACER: Thanks for the time, Tony, it’s pretty obvious you’re a busy man. You just had your marquee event, the Brickyard Invitational, at IMS. How did things go?

Parella: Overall, very well. This was our second year and I still have to pinch myself once in a while to think we are really putting on a big event at the Brickyard. It’s still very new and we have a lot of room for improvement. I am working with IMS to strengthen the product and they are very supportive. We have the elements in place but we need to listen thoughtfully to the fans, the participants and other stakeholders and apply their feedback. Bottom line, though, there is nothing but enthusiasm from all corners and I believe with all my heart the Brickyard Invitational can be a major event not just for vintage racing but also on the annual calendar of all of motorsports.

You recently announced what you described as a major sponsorship for SVRA with Jaguar. Just how big of a deal is it?

Without going into specifics, let’s just say having Jaguar on board is huge for us, very significant. It is material financially to them and to us. Plus, we are very brand-relevant to them and it’s gratifying to have not just their investment financially but also it is a clear statement that they see value today and agree with our vision of what this sport, what vintage racing, can be.

What is that, Tony? What can vintage racing be?

Mainstream. I honestly believe that. The market is more than ready. Our first step was to build up a superior experience for our members, our participants. All the feedback I get is that we have accomplished much of that. From all my experience running sizable companies it is important to continuously improve. We will never take our eye off the ball in servicing our members, our racers, the people that brought us to the party. But also I have talked to a lot of consumers, race fans and other smart people about the state of auto racing in general today. There is a space in the market we can fill. Honestly, I think we provide an historical context for contemporary racing. We help make the connection in the fan’s mind between racing today and the sport they grew up loving. Dedicated fans appreciate a celebration of the art of driving, diversity of car design and a larger cultural experience. Providing a cultural experience, a new home for the soul of the sport is our big opportunity. The soul of auto racing needs a stage. It lives in the hearts of fans and we want to give it a stage, a place to come out and play. Not just play, really, what that soul needs is a place to exalt.

That’s interesting because we see that opportunity too. Can you talk a little more about that?

Sure. The SVRA can provide not only a stage for showing off more than one hundred years of automotive history, one hundred years of innovation but also let drivers show off the raw skills of driving a car by the seat of your pants. Race fans are smart people and our sport can illustrate for them the underlying connection between the past and the present. Fans understand about driver input, mechanical grip and driving with the throttle. I am not just talking about older fans. There’s an excitement to seeing a driver manhandle a car the way the coveted young demo enjoys.

Understand, too, that so many fans have been astonished for years at the wonder of the great champions and their cars. At the Brickyard Invitational, for example, you saw the great Al Unser Sr. wandering around in the garage area as approachable as if he were at a cocktail party. His winning car from Indianapolis 1971 was parked right there beside him. No ropes around it. I wish I had a nickel for every picture that was taken.

We make an emotional connection with people and that is so important. I talked to two young men who I thought had known each other for years. Not true. They met last year camping at the Brickyard Invitational in the IMS infield. Through that shared experience they developed an enduring bond and agreed to meet again this year. We’re all kindred spirits and making new friends or reinvesting in old ones fuels our passion. It’s wonderful.

It seems your product inherently offers more than on-track competition. You really have a lot going on, especially at the Brickyard Invitational.

Thank you. That’s something we have really worked on. Some people have described it as a “festival.” I’m not sure I am comfortable with that because I’m not trying to just copy Goodwood with their Festival of Speed. On the other hand it does capture the essence of where we are, where we are going.

The atmosphere of our events is a wonderful mix of competition as well as camaraderie and fellowship. Seriously, it is a great place to not only socialize but also network. People find opportunity in the SVRA paddock. The festival atmosphere has a motorsports theme and it fits in with the 21st century short attention span. If we make it robust enough it becomes an important part of our strategy for a big front gate for the track promoters. Really, what we are selling is a cultural experience.

You recently received an endorsement from Amelia Island Concours founder Bill Warner. How does this fit into your vision of a multi-faceted event offering something for everyone?

I think it is a significant statement. We certainly appreciate Bill throwing out the welcome mat to his backyard. What he has accomplished with the concours and his charitable foundation is world class. Our events don’t overlap but certainly if you love cars and want to spend a week vacationing in a beautiful, warm-weather area of America while the rest of the country is freezing their keisters off, you can’t beat it. More than anything the endorsement speaks to the brand we are building as America’s premier motorsports cultural experience.

During the Brickyard Invitational you had a lot going on. One element that was interesting was the Motostalgia auction. How did that work for you?

The bottom line is that we plan to have them back next year, so I think that says something very positive. I would call the event a success but like the whole weekend it gives us a baseline, something to grow on. Adding these various elements creates a bigger tent, if you will, like the politicians running for election say.

The common thread is the love of automobiles. People come at that from different angles. Again, this is about a cultural experience and we provide the platform for that. The auctions are certainly an important element. Another feature we have to grow is the “Shine and Show” we did in the infield. The quality of that car show at the Brickyard was very high but honestly I want to see more entries. We need to market that better but again, for a first effort it gave us something to grow on.

(LEFT: Parella congratulates the 2015 "Indy Legends" Charity Pro-Am winners Jim Caudle (left) and the 1981 Indianapolis 500 starter Bob Lazier (right) form the top step of this year's milk-drenched podium.)

How is your “Indy Legends” Pro-Am working for you? It certainly seems to be a great hook to attract media attention.

That event is wonderful, but it is a huge amount of work too. Let me say up front that I am so grateful for the support of our car owners who are so gracious about providing their racecars for the event. More to your point though is that the idea of having champion professional drivers racing with us elevates our brand. These guys and gals have such stout resumes. Not only have they raced in the Indianapolis 500 and gone through all that entails to just get there, but also many have won other championships and big time races like the 24 Hours of Daytona or Le Mans. Really, you look at their backgrounds and they have, all of them, accomplished so much.

Your comments about the soul of auto racing and giving it a stage to come out and play are interesting. How do you communicate that to people that have not been to an event like the Brickyard Invitational?

Well, certainly we hope we are building brand advocacy among the people who do attend. To that end a lot of it is old school word of mouth. I do want to point out that our events are well suited to social media as well. The cars in our races are truly stars, many of which are worth millions of dollars. They present beautiful classic design lines you just don’t see every day. They are perfect subjects for camera phones and Instagram or Facebook accounts. Much of that has been happening organically up to this point but I want to make a point about facilitating that kind of viral content without losing authenticity. After all, authenticity is part of speaking to the soul of the auto racing fan. They are craving it and I want them to know we deliver.