A five-member team of Indiana State University students beat groups from nine other universities to win a nationwide NASCAR marketing competition.
The ISU team won first place in the NASCAR Kinetics: Marketing in Motion contest. The challenge consisted of three case studies and a viewing party for a NASCAR race. The ISU team was the only group to place in the top three for each case study, and received the highest marks in the competition for the viewing party, said Joyce Young, marketing professor and director of the motorsports studies program at ISU. She and sport management professor Kim Bodey are co-advising the ISU NASCAR Kinetics team.
"We did not expect to win," Young said, "but there were high expectations that we possibly could win."
The group consists of senior Sarah Adams of Terre Haute; senior Kaci Lientz and junior David Lund of Rockville, Ind. ; senior Justin Chappell of Indianapolis and senior Courtney Patberg of Huntingburg, Ind.
With the victory, NASCAR will fly the advisors and the team to Miami on Nov. 18 for five days to be guests for the final race of the season, the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 21. While there, the students will have the opportunity to meet with marketing representatives of NASCAR sponsors, as well as NASCAR officials.
"They will just have a wonderful, wonderful time," Young said, "but at the same time they're going to meet people who can help them later on down the line in their careers."
This semester marked the first time the team participated in the competition. ISU will have a team participating in the Marketing in Motion contest each semester for the next three years.
Photo: http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/photos/1073235572_qfX9X-L.jpg (Courtesy Photo)
ISU NASCAR Kinetics team members junior David Lund and seniors Sarah Adams, Kaci Lientz, Courtney Patberg and Justin Chappell pose for a photo with Lauri Crawford and Bob Abdellah of JMI, a motorsports marketing company, at the organization's headquarters in Zionsville, Ind.
Contact: Joyce Young, director of motorsports studies program, Scott College of Business, Indiana State University, 812-237-2000 or joyce.young@indstate.edu.
Writer: Austin Arceo, assistant director of media relations, Office of Communications and Marketing, Indiana State University, 812-237-3790 or austin.arceo-negrich@indstate.edu.