Sunday afternoon’s road race is still the star of this weekend’s Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver, presented by PacifiCare. But if Robert Sutton has his way, his Centennial-based company will be the winner.
The chief executive of Centrix Financial, Sutton is the guy behind the wheel of the retooled Grand Prix of Denver.
He views the race as a way to blend business with pleasure, and, if his plans pay off, the race will brand Centrix as the car lover’s lender.
Previous owners of the Denver race navigated a number of speed bumps before selling last year.
Championship Auto Racing Teams, the race series’ former sanctioning body, went bankrupt, and title sponsor Shell Oil Co. declined to renew its commitment. So Centrix stepped up, becoming the title sponsor in 2003 and buying the race a year later.
An amateur race-car driver himself, Sutton sees some symmetry between his job, his hobby and the Grand Prix.
A former venture capitalist, Sutton purchased Centrix in 1997 and has grown the firm by focusing on selling auto loans to customers with impaired credit. That segment now accounts for more than 30 percent of all auto loans, according to Centrix, and it continues to grow. Since 1998, the company has underwritten more than $3 billion in auto loans.
Sutton’s involvement with the Grand Prix of Denver opened his eyes to the benefits of motorsport sponsorships. His company now sponsors cars in the Indianapolis 500 and the Baja 1000, and it is NASCAR’s official auto-finance company.
Stamping Centrix’s name on those events builds brand loyalty and business relationships, said Sutton. Donating the Grand Prix of Denver’s net proceeds to local charities – more than $500,000 last year – builds corporate goodwill.
“There is an opportunity to make money on this event, but I, quite frankly, make money indirectly because it’s a branding opportunity for us,” Sutton said.
This year, he has expanded the event into a five-day street festival, hoping that a broader range of engine-free offerings – from poker tournaments to ski-jumping demonstrations – will help the event draw a more diverse crowd. Sutton thinks that can raise the race’s profile and give it staying power.
Nationally, two-thirds of the fans who follow the Champ Car World Series – 14 international races – are male, 70 percent are between ages 18 and 44, and one-third make more than $75,000 annually.
“Before, (the Grand Prix) was very religiously directed towards race fans, but they’re going to be there anyway,” Sutton said. “I wanted this to be a true urban festival that has racing as its core.”
To attract the quickly growing Hispanic demographic – about 20 percent of Champ Car fans and 35 percent of Denver’s residents – Centrix organized Friday night boxing matches promoted by Oscar de la Hoya at the Pepsi Center.
To capture a larger chunk of the Generation Y demographic, Centrix partnered with Red Robot Inc., a Denver company that specializes in nontraditional youth marketing, to book extreme sports demonstrations, DJs and appearances by MTV personalities.
Lower tickets prices should also help. Last year, the top-priced grandstand seat went for $105. This year, the same seat is selling for $84.
“The pricing structure we had in place came from the previous owners,” said race general manager Jim Freudenberg. “I didn’t feel like it fit this marketplace, so we scrapped it and started from scratch.”
Centrix also has pumped “several million dollars” into the event, according to Sutton, and the number of corporate patrons has jumped from seven companies last year to more than 50 this year.
The 1.65-mile racetrack around the Pepsi Center will be lined with corporate signs, including those from FirstTier Bank, Coors Brewing Co. and Frontier Airlines.
“We look at where the numbers are going, what other sponsors are onboard, what kind of publicity it can generate for Frontier,” said Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas. “It seemed like all those pieces solidified last year.”
Staff writer Julie Dunn can be reached at 303-820-1592 or jdunn@denverpost.com.
Gearing up
More than 150,000 people are expected to attend the Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver and other events around the Pepsi Center. A snapshot:
70%
Champ Car fans ages 18 to 44
50%
Fans who are college educated
35%
Fans who earn more than $75,000 annually
20%
Fans who are Hispanic
Sources: Centrix Financial, Champ Car World Series
