Sarah Talalay
Sports business columnist
March 26, 2006
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Gene Simmons, of the rock group KISS, is surrounded by fans at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Fla. Saturday March 25, 2006. Simmons will wave the start flag at Sunday's IRL Indy 300 race.
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NASCAR might be more fitting his Kiss persona, but Gene Simmons is all about Indy these days.
The Kiss founder and his business partner, Richard Abramson, a veteran Hollywood marketer, film producer and talent manager, who together formed Simmons Abramson Marketing, are telling anyone who will listen that the Indy Racing League is the next frontier. The new great American pastime.
"It'll be about a dad and his son and a hot dog on a Sunday afternoon," said Simmons, who is waving the green flag as honorary starter for this afternoon's Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Simmons attended his first IndyCar series race in Texas last year and has been hooked since.
He co-wrote I Am Indy, as a rock anthem to represent the open wheel racing series. He speaks poetically of drivers as "rock stars in their rocket ships" traveling at 225 mph. Simmons Abramson signed on as the official marketer of the Indy Racing League in January.
"Gene likes to say we're doing a makeover," Abramson said.
Simmons brought Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony into the fold, securing his investment in the Hemelgarn Racing team with its rookie driver, P.J. Chesson. Anthony is expected to watch his namesake, Car-Melo, at today's race.
"Perception is everything," Simmons said. "You could be just another horse race, but if it's done right, you become the Kentucky Derby, baby!"
There's no question the Kiss star is a master marketer, with 24 gold records and a stable of 2,500 licensed products. Simmons also has several of his own ventures, including magazines and television programs.
But a former IRL team marketer isn't sure what the Simmons team can do beyond attracting attention.
"Gene Simmons is a showman, so it makes sense that if you have the biggest show in a demographic in racing, that you would want to have a showman to make it even better," said Larry Flegle, who worked for IRL Team Cheever in 1998-99 and is a sports marketing professor at the online American Military University. "I get a feeling it'll be a flash in the pan."
