Indianapolis Motor Speedway Social Media Garage

This weekend, I was invited to be a part of the Social Media Garage at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). This "Super Weekend" of racing has it all:

• Four races: NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide, GRAND-AM Continential and Rolex
• Exclusive @JimmieJohnson, @JeffGordonWeb, and Tony Stewart tweetups
• NASCAR Fan Tweetup
• Live Garage Cam
• Bloggers: me, @JessicaNorthey, @Nascarasm, @NASCAR_WXMAN, and @NewTrackRecord
• IMS Social Media Garage Crew like @CassieConklin
• Foursquare checkin prizes
• Facebook giveaways
• Twitter contests
• SMS (mobile text) contests
• Did I mention prizes, giveaways, and contests?

For those in town for the race on Friday night, you are invited to a Jessica Northey tweetup! She is the founder of the largest Twitter chat, Country Music Chat aka #CMchat. Jessica and I will be at the High Velocity Sports Bar in downtown Indianapolis around 6pm. All are welcome.

If you are at the track or at home, hope that you will be a part of the fun this weekend that IMS has put together for the fans. Join us on Twitter using the hashtags: #SuperWeekend and #SMGarage.

See all of the details regarding the IMS social media garage here: http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/brickyard400/eventinfo/51674/?hide_sidebar=true.

Coca-Cola Racing Invites You To A Twitter Viewing Party

Social media brings fans together. It makes events more rewarding for those who are in attendance or watching at home. Since I am not at Daytona International Speedway, this weekend I’m watching the Coke Zero 400 at a NASCAR Hall of Fame viewing party in Charlotte, NC. My friends at Coca-Cola Racing are inviting all NASCAR fans to join in the fun by throwing our own viewing parties to see how real NASCAR fans watch a race.

Before and during the race tomorrow, tweet @CocaColaRacing live videos and photos of your #NASCAR viewing party using the #MYCOKERACE hashtag. Coca-Cola Racing is giving away a special race day prize pack to one of my followers which may include: a Coca-Cola branded Grandstands Cooler, a Coca-Cola branded Recycling Koozie to keep your drink chilled, and a Coca-Cola Racing cap!

In order to be considered for this giveaway, follow these steps:
1.  Follow @CocaColaRacing on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cocacolaracing.

2.  Tweet a photo of you watching the #CokeZero400 #NASCAR race with the hashtag #MYCOKERACE.

Make it a race day to remember!

Update on Wednesday, July 25, 2012 at 6:40PM by Jenny DeVaughn

Watching the Daytona 500 at the NASCAR Hall of Fame had a lot of benefits. For less than the cost of parking at a race, you get a comfy seat, air conditioning, food/drinks at decent prices, a 60 foot screen, no commercials, one free iRacing simulator ride, and a scanner. Plus, you are surrounded by other NASCAR fans too.

The Coke Zero 400 proved to be an exciting race too. You can always follow Coca-Cola Racing on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cocacolaracing. One disclaimer: the prize was provided and may be shipped to the winner by Coca-Cola, but Coca-Cola is not a sponsor, administrator, or involved in any other way with this giveaway. All opinions expressed in the post are my own and not those of The Coca-Cola Company.

Brad Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation Announces Program for Wounded Vets

For more information:  Andrea Ross 419-905-1591 or andrea@checkeredflagfoundation.org

For more information about Waste Management: Jenny DeVaughn jdevaughn@wm.com

For Immediate Release

Brad Keselowski’s Checkered Flag Foundation Announces Program for Wounded Vets

 MOORESVILLE, NC (April 20, 2012) – Brad Keselowski's No. 19 Checkered Flag Foundation Dodge Ram will highlight a proactive veterans hiring program during this weekend's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Kansas Speedway.

Driving for his own team, Brad Keselowski Racing, Keselowski's hood will carry the message of Waste Management's proactive veteran hiring program. In addition to being the nation’s largest environmental services provider, with approximately 44,300 employees, Waste Management is also a leader in recruiting and hiring veterans, which is what attracted Keselowski to the program.

"About 1 in 12 employees at Waste Management are veterans and the organization is consistently recognized to be military friendly," Keselowski said. "It made sense to me to highlight their hiring program through my foundation, which works to support those who have sacrificed for the rest of us. As more and more men and women leave their respective branch of service proudly after serving long tours away from their families and friends, it's good to know that there are organizations like Waste Management that proactively seek to hire them upon their return.

About 3,500 veterans currently work for Waste Management. The organization has been named top Military Friendly employer by "G.I. Jobs Magazine," "Military Times," and the Department of Defense.

A veteran himself, Wes Reel, staffing manager with Waste Management said, “I have always loved being part of a winning team, which is why I loved serving in the military before I joined Waste Management. When I wore the uniform of the United States Navy, I worried that nothing could ever replace the mission and purpose I felt by serving my country. I now take great pride in being a small part of a company that is helping to change the world by making our environment better.

"We are actively seeking veterans to fill roles at all levels of the organization, from the Operational Front Line to the Corporate Headquarters," Reel continued. "A partnership with The Checkered Flag Foundation brings us one step closer to its goal of remaining a best place to work for veterans."

For real Veterans’ testimony from real WM Employees, click here (http://youtu.be/jocWOQo1yjs) to view the video. Follow this link: http://wastemanagement.jobs to view a list of all of WM’s current openings.

Brad Keselowski's Checkered Flag Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that supports those who have sacrificed for us, including military, veterans, first responders and their families, among others. For more information on CFF, you can visit http://checkeredflagfoundation.org or check out the Checkered Flag Foundation on Facebook at www.fbook.me/CFF and on Twitter at @BKCFF.

The Most Influential NASCAR Related Twitter Accounts

There are over 13,000 Twitter accounts with bios that contain the word, NASCAR. Over the past few years, we've seen an increase in NASCAR accounts from drivers, drivers’ loved ones, spotters, media professionals, fans, crew chiefs, pit crewmembers, racetracks, sponsors and fans.

Inanimate objects accounts are on Twitter for race-related items like The Orange Cone. There are also a handful of fake parody accounts featuring NASCAR executives, drivers and even their beards.

According to Klout, here are the most influential NASCAR related Twitter accounts and their bios for the past 90 days:

1. @NASCAR - Official news and information on races, drivers, teams and industry events

2. @KevinHarvick - Driver of the No. 29 Chevrolet in the Sprint Cup Series for Richard Childress Racing

3. @mw55 – (Michael Waltrip) – NASCAR fan

4. @DennyHamlin - Driver of the #11 FedEx Toyota Camry in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

5. @RyanNewman39 - NASCAR driver of the #39 US Army/Haas Automation/Tornados Chevrolet

6. @KaseyKahne - Race Car Driver

7. @Kenny_Wallace - The OFFICIAL Kenny Wallace Twitter Page

8. @Elliott_Sadler - Racer. Hunter. Golfer. Softball Player. Proud Dad

9. @jpmontoya – (Juan Pablo Montoya) - Colombian car racer. Currently racing NASCAR, Former F1, IndyCar, Daytona 24, FIA F3000, Indy 500 winner/champ.

10. @BrianLVickers – Never Give Up

You may get an update on this list by visiting Klout at http://klout.com/#/topic/nascar.  The Klout score measures influence based on your ability to drive action. This list was created by Klout to determine online influence over a specific topic, NASCAR. Klout judges quality of content by the reactions it produces, not if the reaction is negative or positive. Some of the accounts above may create more negative, than positive responses with their tweets.

Please note, a Klout score is a single social media metric and may drastically change once the season starts or other NASCAR notables start tweeting. Notice that the Twitter accounts with the most followers, does not necessarily mean that they have the most influence online or offline.

Checkers or Wreckers: NASCAR Driver, Brad @Keselowski's Twitter Press Conference #TPC

When I arrive at the race track, my heart beats faster and I can't wait for the engines to start. Tonight I was excited to attend the first Twitter press conference coordinated by Brad Keselowski. For those of you who aren't familiar with NASCAR or the Nationwide races yet, Brad grew up in a racing family and is a respected driver for Penske Racing. He joined Twitter in May of 2009.

In a green-white-checker finish, on-air racing personalities often mention that it is either checkers (you win) or wreckers (you wreck and lose).

Here are some good and not so great moments of tonight's Twitter Press Conference:

Wreckers:
Brad started the press conference using the web application of Twitter. There isn't anyone who monitors an active social media presence that would have recommended it. There are too many tweets to follow and you miss out on finding out who the real influencers are by not using a more robust social media tool. During the chat, Brad switched to Twitter for iPad and still missed out on some opportunities to maximize his time during the chat session.

Checkers:
The concept was like other Twitter chats, except that Penske Racing set up guidelines for the media to be able to ask him questions directly first. Fans were encouraged to tweet to any media member about specific questions that they had. Brad also introduced each media person that he took questions from to the fans. I liked this aspect, because it brought a level of professionalism to the chat.

Wreckers:
Active Twitter fans are used to a fast-paced chat session. When Brad tweeted answers or comments during the chat, he usually didn't use the pre-determined #TPC hashtag. He would also just reply directly to a person. If you weren't following that person, you may have missed the tweet too. This made it difficult for fans to follow the tweets. It also made it seem at first as if Brad wasn't participating or answering any questions from the media.

Checkers:
Brad was extremely transparent about any question that he chose to answer from the media. My favorite question was asked by Bob Pockrass with SceneDaily.com: If you win at the Brickyard, how long does your kiss of bricks last and how long before you wash your lips? This translates well with his target audience. By genuinely connecting with the media and his fans, the #TPC tweets reached 134,996 people during the most active part of the chat session.

Based on Brad's work ethic, I know that his next Twitter Press Conference will be faster with even better results.

Update on Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 11:01PM by Jenny DeVaughn

Brad was kind enough to retweet my post and thank me for the feedback.

Networking Lesson: Meeting Kevin and DeLana Harvick

Thanks to the Speedway Children's Charities, I met Kevin and DeLana Harvick before the Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kevin is a respected NASCAR cup driver with an impressive list of accomplishments. Plus, Kevin and his wife, DeLana, are active on Twitter. Their tweets are authentic. They also created a social network for Harvick fans, called Fan Central.

During the pre-race festivities, Kevin and I rode in the back of a Chevy truck. Kevin was so pleasant. We talked about the pending launch of his Foundation's Twitter page. Afterwards, Kevin even allowed me to take some photos with him next to his car. Kevin introduced me to his wife, DeLana, as a super tweeter. DeLana also thanked me for donating to the Speedway Children's Charities.

As a NASCAR fan, I wish more drivers would be as genuine online and in-person as the Harvick team. I enjoyed our conversation, their kindness and willingness to donate their time for an amazing charity.

The good news is that we all have the potential to make a positive and lasting first impression. Never forget the power of meeting people face-to-face. It will trump everything that we could do online.

Live from the Daytona 500: HR Meets NASCAR

There are times in life that you will never forget. Today is one of them for me. I was invited to live blog at the "HR Meets NASCAR" event by Mike VanDervort of The Human Race Horses and Roger Lear of OrlandoJobs.com at the Daytona International Speedway (DIS) during the 52nd Annual Daytona 500.

There were over 200 human resource professionals and their guests in attendence, including some of my colleagues from Bernard HODES Group: Carol McDaniel, Steven Walesch, Suzy Jackson and Robin Lash-Warde. We enjoyed an exclusive party in the Pit Road Patios, which gave us a perfect seat to view all of action in the Daytona 500. At Daytona's Midway, we checked out the sponsor giveaways and kept running into the film crew from Inside NASCAR. During the pre-race festivities, we walked down pit road, oversaw inspections and watched a concert by Tim McGraw. It was wonderful to see so many new and old NASCAR fans have fun before and during the race. Due to the restrictor plate changes, the cars drove by at unbelievable speeds.

I'm always looking for creative team building ideas. At the Daytona, DIS created "Race Rewards", especially for organizations to use their location and amenities for incentive programs or other company activities. Just like a successful corporation, a winning NASCAR team must work well together and under stressful circumstances.

Thank you again to Mike Van Dervort, Roger Lear, Orlandojobs.com and GreatInsuranceJobs.com for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live blog from NASCAR's Super Bowl, the Daytona 500.