Fast cars and superstars make for reality TV, Part 3

CONCORD, N.C. -- John Cena has a market all his own.

If you've ever seen the guy, he'd take over any market he wanted. As a superstar in the world of professional wrestling, he's already as big a deal as just about any NASCAR driver.

But as part of the celebrity team in Fast Cars & Superstars: The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race, he's just one of the guys.

Fast cars and superstars on ABC

Beginning June 7, ABC will present the latest reality TV series, the first based on NASCAR, with the show "Fast Cars & Superstars."

• To read Part 1, click here
• To read Part 2, click here

Matching NASCAR stars like Carl Edwards with a rock-and-roll wrestler like Cena is just good marketing. The two have separate followings, and by teaming them up for the purposes of a made-for-TV reality show, it gives them a chance to blend a bit.

There is some evidence that professional wrestling and NASCAR fan bases are about the same, and while the degree of overlap is variable depending on the day, the stars and the mood of the populace, there's plenty of room to maneuver around.

So how does a guy like Cena, used to calling his own shots -- and delivering them -- take to instruction from a NASCAR driver? Quite well, actually.

"All the Gillette Young Guns really had some great feedback," said Cena, who was at Lowe's Motor Speedway over the Coca-Cola 600 weekend to help launch the ABC program. "They were all open for some comments and questions. Carl [Edwards] kind of helped me and was one of the guys to really kind of focus with me on execution and driving when it came down to performing."

Well, there's a limit to what one driver can do with someone who has the natural aggression of a World Wrestling Entertainment champion like Cena.

"He is pretty good," Edwards quipped, with Cena sitting right next to him. "We had a lot of fun. We really did."

Edwards told a story about how the training went.

"I tried to come up with a strategy to be fast at the end," he said. "I was supposed to lead him around the track and I was going to go ahead a little bit when we got on pit road, and let him catch up to me. I was looking in my mirror and trying to figure out where he was and then he came flying by me 100 mph faster and got in front of me. He is definitely very aggressive."

So is the attitude that Gillette took in bringing the series to the small screen. Hoping to cash in on reality TV's popularity, the idea is a way for Gillette to focus attention on its Young Guns, entertain the nation and -- you guessed it -- move product.

"The Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race affords us the opportunity to take a property that is extremely popular with stock-car racing fans to the next level," said Steve Fund, director of new business development at Gillette. "Product integration on television shows has become ubiquitous, but this is the first time that branded content, leveraging a unique asset -- including seven original episodes -- has been produced and will air during Prime Time on a major U.S. network."

Gillette is a division of Proctor & Gamble, which touches the lives of people around the world more than three billion times a day, in one form or another. That's some major-league marketing clout.

Among P&G's brands that should be familiar to NASCAR fans are Tide and Folgers, both of which served as primary sponsors for a number of teams on the circuit.

The series begins on ABC on June 7 at 8 p.m. ET. One of the celebrities will be eliminated each week until the champion is crowned. Celebrity drivers joining Cena will be singer Jewel, actor William Shatner, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, actress Krista Allen, seven-time world all-around rodeo champion Ty Murray, former NBA champion John Salley, former NFL Super Bowl champion John Elway, tennis star Serena Williams, volleyball great and model Gabrielle Reece, legendary surfer Laird Hamilton and NFL Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Cowher.

Along with Edwards, the Gillette Young Guns participants are Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch.

Fast Cars & Superstars: Gillette Young Guns Celebrity Race will include six half-hour episodes with an hour-long finale. The first six episodes will air June 7, 10, 12, 14, 17 and 19, with the finale on Sunday, June 24, at 7 p.m. ET. The show will be co-hosted by ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne and former Cleveland Cavaliers center and current ESPN NASCAR analyst Brad Daugherty, and was co-created by BBDO and Gillette and produced by Radical Media. The series was filmed at Lowe's Motor Speedway on March 12-14.