Founder of Big Machine and Borchetta Bourbon, Scott Borchetta, says that he has always wanted to be a part of INDYCAR, and he is excited about the future of the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville in August.
It was announced on Wednesday that Borchetta Bourbon has been named the entitlement sponsor of the season-ending Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Super Speedway, scheduled for the end of August. As a result, the race will be renamed the Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix. Speaking to Paddock Eye about the news, Borchetta said:
Yeah, thank you. All of you know this. I’m very passionate about our sport. I think everything that’s happened with FOX, when you talk to Eric Shanks or Gottlieb or any of those guys, they’re so passionate about it. Eric is from Indiana.
To see what they’re doing, something that I’ve been very bullish about for years, and I go back to Chip and everything that they used to do with Target in the ’90s. They made Alex Zanardi and Jimmy Vasser stars. We have some of the greatest athletes in the world, and this gives us an opportunity m to reimagine how to make stars out of them.
For me personally, just to be involved, this is something I’ve always wanted to be part of, and now that I’ve got a relationship with Penske and INDYCAR and so many of the teams, for me it’s really a dream come true. I grew up loving racing, loving INDYCAR, and for us to continue to be embedded in a part of the sport, of the fabric of the sport, I’m very proud of it, and I look forward to a lot of great things.
Again, to take all this momentum and kind of really launch our brand on a national level, it all makes sense, and the timing is perfect.
Anne Fishgrund of Penske Entertainment Corporation who are the promoters of the race spoke to Paddock Eye regarding the momentum that the NTT INDYCAR SERIES has right now following a fantastic start to the season in terms of the new partnership with Fox and the fact that they are hosting the season-ending race in Nashville.
It’s very important to use a brand to not only support the event but also to welcome the community as well as the INDYCAR fans from across the country and world. We’re excited to be hosting the championship races, not only for the NTT INDYCAR Series but also for INDY NXT by Firestone.
So having all those individual things come together in one place is going to be a very magical race weekend. It’s going to take a lot of time here in the next three months to make sure all the branding is updated, all the stories are aligned.
Scott mentioned this change; this change happened in a matter of days from a vision that he had, and we’re excited to make that all come to fruition so his brand and the Penske Entertainment brand with Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix will roll off the tongue at some point for everyone naturally, can come together and celebrate whoever we’re crowning in both victory circles, not only for the races but also for the championships.
Scott Borchetta went on to say:
And I really want to highlight how open INDYCAR was to this change. We dropped this on Anne on Thursday, and so we got this crazy idea, and we’ve got certain assets ready to go. That’s how quickly they turned and pivoted and agreed to do this. We did. It had to be in person. That was the only way we were going to convince you.