DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Like so many passionate fans of auto racing, NASCAR president Brent Dewar specifically remembers the time he first fell in love with the sport.
As a young boy growing up near Vancouver, British Columbia, he secured rare early-morning access to the family television away from his siblings. He caught an episode of ABC’s Wide World of Sports that highlighted Corvette racing and he was hooked — never realizing that one day he would not only lead Corvette’s parent company, Chevrolet, but then take on his current position as NASCAR President.
“My father wasn’t a car guy, but it was my friends who took me to the local track and I fell in love with racing — just the sheer visceral speed and sound was incredible to me,” Dewar recalled as the sound of Monster Energy NASCAR Cup cars roared by on the Daytona International Speedway below.
“I literally became a fan of racing before I was old enough to drive.’’
Named NASCAR President last July, Dewar now has the opportunity to guide and shape one of the most popular forms of motorsports in the world. He is eager to keep the competition exciting, promote its competitors, actively engage through social media and stay dedicated to keeping this sport relevant.
“I understood the significance but in many ways I didn’t until I saw the outpouring of support and the people who were in the position before me, and it is obviously very humbling,’’ Dewar said. “It allowed me to change my role to be more forward facing and that’s what Brian, and Lesa and Jim France asked me to do. You’ll see that since July — I’ve come more to the front whether it’s directly interacting with the fans or being more visible. And that’s part of the role of president.”
“It’s been one, humbling to get the job and two, a big responsibility. And I don’t take that lightly.’’
RELATED: Lifelong love of cars, racing fueled Dewar’s drive to President of NASCAR
That authentic, lifelong fondness for the sport certainly helps to shape Dewar’s role. He is eagerly guiding and overseeing the sport flourish in new times with new generations of fans.
Dewar is eagerly anticipating a renewed competitive emphasis on stage racing this year after defending champion Martin Truex Jr. so aptly showed the difference it can make, and Dewar expects great interest in how teams handle a handful of important variables — from adjusting to a new ride-height rule to seizing the importance of qualifying.
They are all competitive factors Dewar is enthusiastically embracing – keeping the fans engaged and energized, the race teams motivated, and of course, the corporate sponsors excited.
“The most important thing, I think, is the ability of bringing together drivers and teams and manufacturers and sponsors and the competition with the business side,’’ Dewar said. “You’ll hear the word ‘collaboration’ and it’s a mantra we set forth three or four years ago to continue down the path.
“Probably the hardest part of my job is communicating and making sure all the stakeholders are on the same page. And that’s why we created all the councils. We started with the driver’s council, team owners, manufacturers, track councils to give them a forum to be able to interact with us.
“It’s definitely better. It’s our responsibility to make those pieces come together and that’s a big part of my job.”
Creating that positive synergy may not always be easy, but continuing to press toward that goal is an absolute must as far as Dewar is concerned.
“It’s easier to just be in a vacuum and make decisions,’’ he said smiling. “The challenge is you may not make the right one. So we base things on what’s right for the fan because everything is fan-centric for us at NASCAR.
“The next thing is making sure the competition on the track is a level playing field, and of course we focus on safety because we want our athletes to be safe. So we balance it between those three things and it all comes together in a commercial package, but we put the competition first and all our commercial partners understand that.’’
With a mix of up-and-comers such as Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, William Byron, Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones, Darrell Wallace, Jr. and Daytona 500 polesitter Alex Bowman; to the veterans such as Martin Truex Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, Dewar is excited about the possibilities of new rivalries and, more simply, watching the young drivers dice it up with the champion veterans. It’s a no-lose situation for the sport and its fans as Dewar enthusiastically sees it.
“They aren’t just good drivers, they’re really good personalities and I think the fans are going to see that this year,’’ Dewar said of the young class of competitors. “They’re going to see that rivalry build. There’s only 40 seats and any given Sunday there’s probably 30 people that can legitimately win. We haven’t always had that and I think it’s been building to this point. I think for the season we’re excited about it.”
Dewar brings a fresh and genuine perspective to NASCAR. He understands close competition, captive personalities and business opportunity. And he likes that fans, racers and businesses can find all that in the modern day NASCAR product.
“I think probably that I’m a fan first,’’ Dewar said. “Most people know that I come from the automotive side — that I spent 30 years at an auto company, which was a great opportunity. I love cars.
“But I became a race fan before I became a fan of automobiles.’’
Dewar’s face brightens when he talks about his efforts to prioritize fan engagement. It’s not everyday that the president of a major sport follows you on social media, like Twitter.
But Dewar figures he follows thousands of fans all in an effort to better understand the progress and status of the sport he leads.
“I’ve always been active on social media and what we do with NASCAR and what I did when I was with the automotive companies is I truly believe you have to find your voice,’’ Dewar said.
And Dewar said he’s not afraid to engage with people on social media, even if the person may have a negative opinion. And who knows? A lively, heartfelt debate may help change that view.
“My first objective with social media is to connect with the fans,’’ he said. “That’s my primary objective and I accelerated that when I became president.
“One, I want to engage directly with the fans, with no filters. And I will engage them directly, which is interesting in a lot of ways. They are surprised that I follow them.’’
He laughs, explaining his tactic and using the pop star Rihanna as an example. She has 80 million followers.
“I do the reverse,’’ he said. “I follow a lot of people. I want to see how the fans are engaging. I don’t want them to think I’m stalking them because I’m not, but I actually go through the day and look at what fans say and follow them. If I see NASCAR in their header, I’ll check to see how they are interacting.
“I’m not just looking for the people who are happy about NASCAR, I want fan engagement.”
Dewar says on average he spends up to two hours a day tracking the pulse of the sport on social media.
With so many people in the NASCAR garage engaged with fans — including recent retirees such as the 15-time Most Popular Driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon — NASCAR is easily one of the most fan-centric among major sports.
More often, however, social media is the timely outlet to discuss hot topics on the track.
“Stage racing is overwhelmingly embraced by our fans,’’ Dewar offered as an example. “Some fans don’t like it, but they are a smaller, vocal group so I engage with them as well.
“They just say all fans hate it and I just say it’s just not true,’’ he said smiling. “I have the data. That’s the luxury of the data.”
RELATED: NASCAR President Dewar talks NASCAR Playoffs, driver council, more
That feedback is a crucial component to NASCAR’s every day guidance — keeping the sport in touch with fans and allowing for productive debate.
“We increased our fan council from 12,000 to 25,000, it’s incredible,’’ Dewar said. “We have data and insight that are remarkable from the fans. Every week they give us qualitative and quantitative feedback and every week we plow through the data. We are very deep in research analytics, it probably would rival any sport.”
As the season officially begins with the Sunday’s Daytona 500, Dewar says he couldn’t be more excited or more optimistic about the sport’s direction and vibe.
Expectations are high.
From the competition level between the young, drivers to the great quest of seven-time Johnson, who is one season trophy away from NASCAR history.
From the compelling strategies of stage racing to the interesting personalities behind the wheel and behind the wrench — there is an unmistakable level of interest for the 2018 season.
As he began to sum up all the many reasons NASCAR fans should feel engaged and optimistic, Dewar paused and broke into a wide smile.
“There’s a lot of things we’re excited about for this year,’’ he said. “Let’s go racing!”
