This may bother some of you, but the greatest racing spectacle isn’t the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix, NASCAR’s Daytona 500, or the 24 Hours of Le Mans. I’ve been to all of them, and the Indy 500 outperforms them in terms of atmosphere and sheer significance. (Only Le Mans comes close.) But it doesn’t matter how I feel about it because the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has trademarked the tagline “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” since 1986.
Despite this, F1, NASCAR, ESPN, and even LL Cool J (yes, really) have all used the identical lines in recent live TV coverage, marketing materials, and, in the case of the famous rapper, the start of the Miami F1 GP—which, by the way, is far from the greatest show in racing. Of course, Indianapolis Motor Speedway management is upset about this, and they have been reminded of their protected brand.
Later that year, LL Cool J referred to the Miami GP as “the greatest spectacle in motorsports” during the Liberty Media-sanctioned pre-race rituals.
ESPN most recently used the iconic lines in an F1 pre-season ad, referring to the series as “the greatest spectacle in motorsports” once again. Even NASCAR’s marketing staff can’t seem to keep away from the term, having released a Daytona-themed ad titled “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
Some may perceive this as a ridiculous fight to pick. After all, people should be entitled to refer to whichever event they want as the best of something. Technically, sure. Legally, the answer is no. It’s critical to note that these statements appear in promotional materials viewed by tens of millions of people. And in the case of F1 TV coverage, those words are heard all around the world and used by F1’s marketing department to sell sponsorships worth millions of dollars. In layman’s terms, the words are money.
“Sometimes people criticize us for shutting down a little business, but if you don’t shut them down and someone like F1 does, you have no right to do so. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult. You didn’t always have so many diverse mediums.
“You have to enforce it every single time,” Boles told the Indy Star.
