INDIANAPOLIS — Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan are synonymous with racing lore. Castroneves, a four-time Indianapolis 500 winner and Kanaan, the 2013 Indy 500 champion, are fan-favorites. It's a no brainer to affiliate yourself with two giants of racing.
Purdue University felt the same way. The university has partnered with the Camping World SRX Series to sponsor the cars of both Castroneves and Kanaan during the six-race season starting Thursday night in Connecticut.
"The opportunity to partner with Helio and Tony Kanaan, two Indy 500 champions, is just a perfect marriage of determination, grit, and horsepower of what we want to bring to Indy," Purdue Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Ethan Braden said.
Braden orchestrated the deal for Purdue and calls this a marketing dream. The goal is to introduce to the world the future of Purdue University in Indianapolis—their part of the IUPUI split—promoting their one-of-a-kind motorsports engineering program. To Braden, partnering with the SRX series and two Indy 500 champions just made sense.
"It was just a beautiful way, frankly during a quiet time in sports and a quiet time at Purdue, to capture the hearts and minds on ESPN with this announcement and two incredible spokespersons," Braden said.
Kanaan will suit up Thursday night in the Purdue car's debut. As an Indianapolis resident, this sponsorship means more to him, aiming to spread the word of what Purdue University in Indianapolis can offer.
"I moved to Indianapolis five years ago, and my kids are growing up there. Now, two of my kids want to go to Purdue all of a sudden because the car is cool, it looks good, and now they know there's a university there," Kanaan laughed. "It suits, for sure. It's just something that I wasn't expecting, but having a local sponsor makes me feel pretty cool."
Braden agrees, noting the reach of the SRX Series. It's the second most watched auto sport on television, just behind NASCAR and edging out F1 and IndyCar—making this move a no-brainer in his eyes.
"The opportunity to put our brand there for this consolidated six weeks every Thursday night at 9 p.m. on ESPN, half the time with TK and half the time with Helio, was just a great opportunity to tell the world with a lot of horsepower," Braden said.
Castroneves and Kanaan will split time in the new Purdue cars during this six-week season. Kanaan will kick things off on Thursday night at Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut. All six races will air on ESPN over the course of the next six weeks. Full scheduling is below.
July 13: Stafford Motor Speedway - Stafford, Connecticut - Tony Kanaan
July 20: Thunder Road International SpeedBowl - Barre, Vermont - Tony Kanaan
July 27: Motor Mile - Pulaski County Motorsports Park - Fairlawn, Virginia - Helio Castroneves
Aug. 3: Berlin Raceway - Marne, Michigan - Helio Castroneves
Aug. 10: Eldora Speedway - Rossburg, Ohio - Tony Kanaan
Aug. 17: Lucas Oil Speedway - Wheatland, Missouri - Helio Castroneves
