Freaky Friday: NASCAR Team Wraps Cup Series Mustang With Driver's Face
Corey LaJoie might not have the most impressive stock car record in motorsport, but he will have the most recognizable car at Daytona 500 later this month. Go Fas Racing, along with its sponsors, have decided that the best livery for the No. 32 Old Spice car is a giant stretched version of its driver’s head. The end result makes those reoccurring dreams about your teeth falling out seem positively tranquil by comparison.
The team documented the process of wrapping the Ford Mustang they’ll be running in the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series over the last couple of days. LaJoie’s face resides on the hood and bumper, with the teeth cut out to make an opening for the grille.
While we can’t say whether the new visuals will provide much of an edge on the racetrack, it’s difficult to imagine something scarier coming up behind you in the rearview mirror. Still, we doubt intimidation was on anyone’s mind when they dreamed this monstrosity up.
Old Spice has become notorious for providing very odd and memorable marketing solutions ever since the “ The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign reinvented its advertising strategy roughly a decade ago. Putting the face of a man onto the face of a race car and then covering the rest with digitally rendered hair sounds well within the firm’s wheelhouse, and Go Fas Racing isn’t going to say no to advertising cash.
Will it get more eyes on the racing series? Well, that doesn’t appear to be the intent. NASCAR track attendance has declined for years as television viewership dropped off a cliff. Last year, Forbes tracked ratings for first six Cup races, including the Daytona 500, finding a total of 31.07 million viewers. However, the first six races of 2016, brought in 43.13 million sets of eyes. Worse still, this trend appears to be ongoing since at least 2008 — with the sport losing roughly a quarter of its audience every few years.
NASCAR itself has tried finding ways to make the sport more engaging, possibly creating more problems for itself than it can solve. Maybe LaJoie’s face can drum up some modest, short-term attention while the sport hunts for a plan D.
. @CoreyLaJoie is heading to @DISupdates!
Like, he’s on the car.
He’s on the hood of the @GoFasRacing32! pic.twitter.com/XwKDNzS2be
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 6, 2019
[Images: Go Fas Racing]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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Maybe it's just as well that these cars have a side exhaust, because otherwise a suitable wrap theme for the back end would be irresistible.
Yuck... that face looks like Rob Reiner when he had hair color.