Sprint Cup's latest venture into comics leads to Turtles at Chicagoland

Ray Slover

Sprint Cup's latest venture into comics leads to Turtles at Chicagoland image

Somewhere, a marketing person is being hailed as a genius. After all, who could have thought of this combination?

NASCAR. Danica Patrick. The Chase for the Sprint Cup. And the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. High speed on a half shell.

MORE: 16 drivers in '16 Chase | Cup activities include Friday qualifying

This week's Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., is stock car racing's latest venture into the cartoon world. It serves multiple objectives, chief among them making money.

The race is also the first in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, the 10-race championship for NASCAR's top series. It begins about 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday. First practice and qualifying are Friday.

This race was staged the past two seasons as the "MyAFibRisk 400" and "MyAFibStory.com 400" — names that didn't roll off the tip of anyone's tongue. Serious subjects, no doubt, but very shy of pop-culture buzz.

Those healthy titles also stand in contrast to the Turtles' dietary preference.

On the other hand, TV provider Nickelodeon has a long-running hit on its hands in the Turtles, an animated series based on comic books that date back to 1984. Nickelodeon also handles SpongeBob Squarepants … remember that NASCAR tie-in?

And this isn't the first time a cartoon character was in the title of a NASCAR race.

—In October 2004, the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 300 was run at Charlotte Motor Speedway in what is now the Xfinity Series.

Mike Bliss won that race, and before wondering who Bliss is consider the drivers who chased him across the finish line: Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, all future Cup champions; plus a host of other big-name drivers still in the sport.

—In 2015, Johnson won the SpongeBob SquarePants 400 at Kansas Speedway, a Cup race. That race allowed Nickelodeon and parent company a way to reach race fans and for NASCAR to tap into a younger audience.

—In 2015, the Turtles took a turn in activities at Atlanta's September race. In addition to being in the track's Nickelodeon Kids' Zone activity area, the superhero reptiles were presented on the Xfinity car of Chris Buescher, who on Sunday is one of 16 drivers in the Chase.

—In March, Johnson drove a car in the image of Superman while Dale Earnhardt Jr. represented Batman in a race at Fontana that pushed another cartoon-based movie. Johnson donned a red cape for the trophy presentation. Thankfully, neither he nor Junior had to wear tights.


OK, Superman, pick up the trophy. (Getty Images)

Movie tie-in? Yep, the Chicago race is for a video release of the latest Turtles movie.

Patrick is not in the Chase, but she is in Sunday's race and is from Illinois. And her car will carry the colors and image of a Turtles character, April O'Neill. For those who don't know, O'Neill is a human and not an anthropomorphic animal. Given her performance this season, however, representing a turtle isn't a stretch.

The first Turtles movie involved a great story, as described by The Hollywood Reporter. In 1988, amid a series of terrible comic-book movies, a production team decided to give the heroes on a half shell a try. It worked. Now, comic-book movies are pretty good, especially those linked to Marvel Studios characters.

What everyone wants to see now is the trophy given Sunday's race winner. It can't be as … well, interesting as the SpongeBob trophy. But it will be unique.


SpongeBob is in the middle; not to be confused with Chad Knaus, left. (Getty Images)

Certainly one worthy of a place of honor in a trophy case. Right next to the Cup championship hardware, maybe.

Ray Slover