As new brand ambassador for CBD product, Jimmie Johnson branches out with branding

By Feb 25, 2022, 9:00 AM EST
Jimmie Johnson CBD
Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment
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While he built a squeaky-clean corporate image as one of motorsports’ smoothest spokesman, a CBD deal once might have seemed unfathomable for Jimmie Johnson.

But Friday’s announcement of Johnson as a strategic brand ambassador conversant in hemp varietals for cbdMD reveals how Johnson’s pristine brand and the emerging CBD market, which has become a multibillion-dollar industry, both have evolved.

Though he became comfortable as an active user of the product over the past few months, Johnson still checked with his sponsor lineup before agreeing to the multiyear deal with cbdMD, a publicly traded company based in Charlotte.

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“As I’ve educated myself, I’ve become much more comfortable, and as I walk down this road with all of my partners, they’ve all approved and are very comfortable with the relationship,” Johnson told NBC Sports. “If anyone raised their hand and said no, I probably would be more concerned, but I just feel like where CBD has evolved to and the education that has taken place, the benefits that are out there, I think we are dealing with a more educated society, and they understand it.”

Joining golfer Bubba Watson and MMA fighter Daniel Cormier as a cbdMD spokesman, Johnson will be part of the company’s approach to take its brand mainstream by having athletes tell their stories.

“Knowing the partnership has formed because they truly believe in me and like who I am and want to be a part of my brand, there is a deeper level of satisfaction,” said Johnson, who has become more involved with aggressively recruiting sponsors such as Carvana while moving into racing full time in IndyCar this season (in the “2.0 phase” of his career continues post-NASCAR).

TopSpeed Management president Brian Marks, a consultant for cbdMD who set up the company’s initial meeting with Johnson at the Petit Le Mans last year, said the seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion was its sole choice for its expansion into big-league racing.

“He lends a lot of credibility,” Marks told NBC Sports. “It’s instant starpower for sure. Especially in motorsport, he carries a lot of weight from a brand standpoint We are looking to give street credibility to the brand in a quick fashion. Doing something with Jimmie really allows us to ratchet that up with warp speed.”

The NTT IndyCar Series recently approved cbdMD for 2022 sponsorship after the company, which positions itself as a health and wellness brand that has requested to remove its drug exclusion with the FDA. There were two major requirements to earn IndyCar’s favor: That cbdMD’s products were 100 percent hemp and avoided using cannabis imagery in marketing.

The perception connecting the CBD industry with marijuana has been a major hurdle in receiving brand approval for auto racing sponsorships.

Johnson has used all of cbdMD’s products, ranging from topical oils to soft gels and gummies, and been “very impressed” with their impact on his muscle recovery from workouts and improved sleep quality, but he also wanted assurances while competing in a sport that has random drug testing and a zero-tolerance policy for even trace amounts of THC. He uses a QR code on cbdMD packaging to ensure each batch has no THC.

“In the past, I’ve been very nervous of taking the ingestibles, because there’s a chance of the THC level being too high and causing a problem,” Johnson said. “They’ve gone to great lengths to ensure the security that I would need as an athlete, especially for a sport that still screens for THC.

“I feel like a lot of people are comfortable with CBD on the topical side. When you get to the ingestibles is where the concern takes place. Hopefully, over time people will understand it and be more comfortable with it.”

That’s the goal of having Johnson, who kicked off the deal with a video unveiling a new helmet Friday morning. He also will be featured in a national advertising campaign on print, digital and cable TV (there are restrictions for network TV advertising). “They have huge plans and plan to blow it out and steer toward a peak at the Indy 500,” Johnson said.

Though starting as a personal services deal, Johnson said cbdMD eventually could grow into a larger sponsorship for his No. 48 Dallara-Honda as cbdMD wants to work with other sponsors such as Carvana and the American Legion (the company is active in military charities).

“They have taken a strong position trying to help with their image, and that aligns well with my brand,” Johnson said. “They look forward to educating people, and they feel like I can help be a huge advocate and voice for that. Instead of being concerned and nervous about image, they’re like, ‘Oh no. This is what we do.’

“Where we sit now, we hope to have a long runway with various opportunities. I certainly could see it evolve into a deeper relationship with the car. I could see myself being helpful with them in acquiring shelf space or getting involved in retailers at a different level. The agreement with them is such where we have this flexibility, and I’m certainly on board with it because I’m a believer in the product. And there’s nothing better for a brand than to have one of their endorsers believe in it and have the opportunity to grow with the company.”

‘It’s gnarly, bro’: IndyCar drivers face new challenge on streets of downtown Detroit

By Jun 2, 2023, 7:32 PM EDT
IndyCar Detroit downtown
James Black/Penske Entertainment
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DETROIT – It was the 1968 motion picture, “Winning” when actress Joanne Woodward asked Paul Newman if he were going to Milwaukee in the days after he won the Indianapolis 500 as driver Frank Capua.

“Everybody goes to Milwaukee after Indianapolis,” Newman responded near the end of the film.

Milwaukee was a mainstay as the race on the weekend after the Indianapolis 500 for decades, but since 2012, the first race after the Indy 500 has been Detroit at Belle Isle Park.

This year, there is a twist.

Instead of IndyCar racing at the Belle Isle State Park, it’s the streets of downtown Detroit on a race course that is quite reminiscent of the old Formula One and CART race course that was used from 1982 to 1991.

Formula One competed in the United States Grand Prix from 1982 to 1988. Beginning in 1989, CART took over the famed street race through 1991. In 1992, the race was moved to Belle Isle, where it was held through last year (with a 2009-2011 hiatus after the Great Recession).

The Penske Corp. is the promoter of this race, and they did a lot of good at Belle Isle, including saving the Scott Fountain, modernizing the Belle Isle Casino, and basically cleaning up the park for Detroit citizens to enjoy.

The race, however, had outgrown the venue. Roger Penske had big ideas to create an even bigger event and moving it back to downtown Detroit benefitted race sponsor Chevrolet. The footprint of the race course goes around General Motors world headquarters in the GM Renaissance Center – the centerpiece building of Detroit’s modernized skyline.

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Motor City is about to roar with the sound of Chevrolet and Honda engines this weekend as the NTT IndyCar Series is the featured race on the nine-turn, 1.7-mile temporary street course.

It’s perhaps the most unique street course on the IndyCar schedule because of the bumps on the streets and the only split pit lane in the series.

The pit lanes has stalls on opposing sides and four lanes across an unusual rectangular pit area (but still only one entry and exit).

Combine that, with the bumps and the NTT IndyCar Series drivers look forward to a wild ride in Motor City.

“It’s gnarly, bro,” Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward said before posting the fastest time in Friday’s first practice. “It will be very interesting because the closest thing that I can see it being like is Toronto-like surfaces with more of a Long Beach-esque layout.

“There’s less room for error than Long Beach. There’s no curbs. You’ve got walls. I think very unique to this place.

PRACTICE RESULTS: Speeds from the first session

“Then it’s a bit of Nashville built into it. The braking zones look really very bumpy. Certain pavements don’t look bumpy but with how the asphalt and concrete is laid out, there’s undulation with it. So, you can imagine the cars are going to be smashing on every single undulation because we’re going to go through those sections fairly fast, and obviously the cars are pretty low. I don’t know.

“It looks fun, man. It’s definitely going to be a challenge. It’s going to be learning through every single session, not just for drivers and teams but for race control. For everyone.

“Everybody has to go into it knowing not every call is going to be smooth. It’s a tall task to ask from such a demanding racetrack. I think it’ll ask a lot from the race cars as well.”

The track is bumpy, but O’Ward indicated he would be surprised if it is bumper than Nashville. By comparison to Toronto, driving at slow speed is quite smooth, but fast speed is very bumpy.

“This is a mix of Nashville high-speed characteristics and Toronto slow speed in significant areas,” O’Ward said. “I think it’ll be a mix of a lot of street courses we go to, and the layout looks like more space than Nashville, which is really tight from Turn 4 to 8. It looks to be a bit more spacious as a whole track, but it’ll get tight in multiple areas.”

The concept of having four-wide pit stops is something that excites the 24-year-old driver from Monterey, Mexico.

“I think it’s innovation, bro,” O’Ward said. “If it works out, we’ll look like heroes.

“If it doesn’t, we tried.”

Because of the four lanes on pit road, there is a blend line the drivers will have to adhere to. Otherwise, it would be chaos leaving the pits compared to a normal two-lane pit road.

“If it wasn’t there, there’d be guys fighting for real estate where there’s one car that fits, and there’d be cars crashing in pit lane,” O’Ward said. “I get why they did that. It’s the same for everybody. I don’t think there’s a lot of room to play with. That’s the problem.

“But it looks freaking gnarly for sure. Oh my God, that’s going to be crazy.”

Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing believes the best passing areas will be on the long straights because of the bumps in the turns. That is where much of the action will be in terms of gaining or losing a position in the race.

“It will also be really easy to defend in my opinion,” Palou said. “Being a 180-degree corner, you just have to go on the inside and that’s it. There’s going to be passes for sure but its’ going to be risky.

“Turn 1, if someone dives in, you end up in the wall. They’re not going to be able to pass you on the exit, so maybe with the straight being so long you can actually pass before you end up on the braking zone.”

Palou’s teammate, Marcus Ericsson, was at the Honda simulator in Brownsburg, Indiana, before coming to Detroit and said he was shocked by the amount of bumps on the simulator.

Race promoter Bud Denker, the President of Penske Corporation, and Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix President Michael Montri, sent the track crews onto the streets with grinders to smooth out the bumps on the race course several weeks ago.

“They’ve done a decent amount of work, and even doing the track walk, it looked a lot better than what we expected,” Ericsson said. “I don’t think it’ll be too bad. I hope not. That’ll be something to take into account.

“I think the track layout doesn’t look like the most fun. Maybe not the most challenging. But I love these types of tracks with rules everywhere. It’s a big challenge, and you have to build up to it. That’s the types of tracks that I love to drive. It’s a very much Marcus Ericsson type of track. I like it.”

Scott Dixon, who was second fastest in the opening session, has competed on many new street circuits throughout his legendary racing career. The six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion for Chip Ganassi Racing likes the track layout, even with the unusual pit lane.

“I don’t think that’s going to be something that catches on where every track becomes a double barrel,” Dixon said. “It’s new and interesting.

“As far as pit exit, I think Toronto exit is worse with how the wall sticks out. I think in both lanes, you’ve got enough lead time to make it and most guys will make a good decision.”

It wasn’t until shortly after 3 p.m. ET on Friday that the IndyCar drivers began the extended 90-minute practice session to try out the race course for the first time in real life.

As expected, there were several sketchy moments, but no major crashes during the first session despite 19 local yellow flags for incidents and two red flags.

Rookie Agustin Canapino had to cut his practice short after some damage to his No. 78 Dallara-Chevrolet, but he was among many who emerged mostly unscathed from scrapes with the wall.

“It was honestly less carnage than I expected,” said Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood, who was third fastest in the practice after coming off his first career IndyCar victory in the most recent street race at Long Beach in April. “I think a lot of people went off in the runoffs, but no one actually hit the wall (too hard), which actually surprised me. Hats off to them for keeping it clean, including myself.

“It was quite a bit less grip than I think everyone expected. Maybe a little bit more bumpy down into Turn 3 than everyone expected. But overall they did a good job between the two manufacturers. I’m sure everyone had pretty much the same we were able to base everything off of. We felt pretty close to maximum right away.”

Most of the preparation for this event was done either on the General Motors Simulator in Huntersville, North Carolina, or the Honda Performance Development simulator in Brownsburg, Indiana.

“Now, we have simulators that can scan the track, so we have done plenty of laps already,” Power told NBC Sports. “They have ground and resurfaced a lot of the track, so it should be smoother.

“But nothing beats real-world experience. It’s going to be a learning experience in the first session.”

As a Team Penske driver, Power and his teammates were consulted about the progress and layout of the Detroit street course. They were shown what was possible with the streets that were available.

“We gave some input back after we were on the similar what might be ground and things like that,” Power said.

Racing on the streets of Belle Isle was a fairly pleasant experience for the fans and corporate sponsor that compete in the race.

But the vibe at the new location gives this a “big event” feel.

“The atmosphere is a lot better,” Power said. “The location, the accessibility for the fans, the crowd that will be here, it’s much easier. I think it will be a much better event.

“It feels like a Long Beach, only in a much bigger city. That is what street course racing is all about.”

Because the track promoter is also the team owner, Power and teammates Scott McLaughlin and Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden will have a very busy weekend on the track, and with sponsor and personal appearances.

“That’s what pays the bills and allows us to do this,” Power said.

Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500