Corey LaJoie might not have the most impressive stock car record in motorsport, but he will have the most recognizable car at Daytona 500 later this month. Go Fas Racing, along with its sponsors, have decided that the best livery for the No. 32 Old Spice car is a giant stretched version of its driver’s head. The end result makes those reoccurring dreams about your teeth falling out seem positively tranquil by comparison.
The team documented the process of wrapping the Ford Mustang they’ll be running in the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series over the last couple of days. LaJoie’s face resides on the hood and bumper, with the teeth cut out to make an opening for the grille.
While we can’t say whether the new visuals will provide much of an edge on the racetrack, it’s difficult to imagine something scarier coming up behind you in the rearview mirror. Still, we doubt intimidation was on anyone’s mind when they dreamed this monstrosity up.
Old Spice has become notorious for providing very odd and memorable marketing solutions ever since the “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign reinvented its advertising strategy roughly a decade ago. Putting the face of a man onto the face of a race car and then covering the rest with digitally rendered hair sounds well within the firm’s wheelhouse, and Go Fas Racing isn’t going to say no to advertising cash.
Will it get more eyes on the racing series? Well, that doesn’t appear to be the intent. NASCAR track attendance has declined for years as television viewership dropped off a cliff. Last year, Forbes tracked ratings for first six Cup races, including the Daytona 500, finding a total of 31.07 million viewers. However, the first six races of 2016, brought in 43.13 million sets of eyes. Worse still, this trend appears to be ongoing since at least 2008 — with the sport losing roughly a quarter of its audience every few years.
NASCAR itself has tried finding ways to make the sport more engaging, possibly creating more problems for itself than it can solve. Maybe LaJoie’s face can drum up some modest, short-term attention while the sport hunts for a plan D.
.@CoreyLaJoie is heading to @DISupdates!
Like, he’s on the car.
He’s on the hood of the @GoFasRacing32! pic.twitter.com/XwKDNzS2be
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) February 6, 2019
[Images: Go Fas Racing]
NASCAR. Is that still a thing? Didn’t even know Mustang silhouettes were eligible. Stopped watching about twenty years ago, when it became clear that they didn’t know how to run a race. Yellows, reds, restarts, people catching up amost a lap due to no competence on their part. Not close to being fair. The best rarely won, so who cared. Dead and gone to me. Well, the road races were OK watching manhandling hippos around curves, the ovals a snoring bore except when they crashed. Whassat? Oh look, more mangled cars.
Lightning McQueen is the only NASCAR racer I know these days. Ka-chow!
I’ve worked hard to achieve and maintain a life empty of NASCAR fans.
: ‘(
We aren’t so bad.
You’re smart, articulate and supremely polite.
Sorry, but that makes you a statistical outlier for ANY large group.
The feeling is mutual. Same here with self righteous arrogant d bags like you.
I’ve worked hard to achieve and maintain a life,empty.
Fixed it for ya Snobby.
If he had closed his mouth the aerodynamics would’ve been much better.
That wrap just screams “OUR MARKETING TEAM COULDN’T SELL THIS AD SPACE!!!”
It’s literally part of the ad campaign that Old Spice is running. You know, the primary sponsor on the car. Mentioned in the fourth paragraph. Reading is hard.
Huh, you’d think they’d put the thing they’re selling somewhere in the graphics.
They did. On the rear quarter panel. Cameras are going to catch the side of the car more than horizontal hood. Vertical spaces are much more valuable. But, in this case, yeah they would have sold the hood if they could have.
Google under images corey lajoie car
Until now I thought M&Ms was the most embarrassing Ad Theme for a race car.
Mark Martin’s Viagramobile comes to mind.
Well, that’s disturbing.
That’s the worst car body wrap since that box-body Caprice somebody did up to look like a box of Newport 100s.
Like NASCAR’s image isn’t redneck enough!
Did NASCAR just jump the shark again?
I became so tired of NASCAR jumping the shark that I bailed on the sport. Too bad as I liked it (Imagine that – a fit, left of center fan. Talk about an outlier!). The various tracks I went to were a blast. My wife held on for longer, but she too bailed after the organization felt the need to weigh in on the Pledge of Allegiance.
Never a fan, but turning NASCAR into a WWE-style dramafest with heroes and heels seems to have been a bad decision.
Maybe it’s just as well that these cars have a side exhaust, because otherwise a suitable wrap theme for the back end would be irresistible.
Yuck… that face looks like Rob Reiner when he had hair color.