335 mph, 70% fundraising, 100% missed opportunity

You're organically influencing fans to buy a brand name soda without even being sponsored, reaching 5-8 million monthly impressions, and representing half of the first all-female nitro team in NHRA history—all while major consumer brands assume you only appeal to auto enthusiats.

If that sounds like untapped partnership gold, you're getting warmer.

Enter Ida Zetterström, the Swedish electrician turned Top Fuel driver who's spending 70% of her time building partnerships that could take her from 12 races to a full 20-race championship season. 

But she's not just chasing automotive sponsors. She's targeting the lifestyle brands that keep overlooking drag racing's loyal audience with spending power and real lifestyle influence.

🤿 Below the Surface

Here's what's on deck this week:

• Signal Strength: Why you should be investing in drag racing

• In the Current: New Fan Spending Study, WNBA Finals, and Athlos in NYC

• Blue Zone: Recap from Advertising Week, WSF Annual Salute in NYC on 10/22

• Shark Bite: The text heard around the women’s sports world.

⚡️ Signal Strength  

The Athlete Evaluation Matrix helps brands find ROI in overlooked motorsports markets

The backdrop: In one of the few sports where women compete directly against men, major brands overlook drag racing's unique audience access and spending power.

By the numbers:

• Ida has 5-8 million monthly social media impressions and 287,100 followers across platforms

• Audience is in the 25-60 age range—premium consumer spending power

• NHRA Top Fuel speed record is currently held by Brittany Force at 343.16 mph

• Seeing record breaking NHRA broadcasts in 2025 with 1.036 million viewers on FOX 

• 75 years of NHRA and they now have their first all-female nitro team 

Why brands miss the opportunity: Most marketing directors assume drag racing partnerships (like other motorsports) require automotive industry connections.

Consumer brands chase traditional sports with oversaturated pricing because there's comfort in following others, missing drag racing's unique advantages: unique TV time through side-by-side racing format, unmatched trackside hospitality trackside, and direct athlete interaction impossible in other motorsports.

Athletes like Ida are primed for performance, wellness, beauty, and travel brand partnerships.

How to evaluate the investment: The Athlete Evaluation Matrix unlocks athletes like Ida's partnership value. 

Bottom line: While marketing budgets get stretched thin across crowded traditional sports, drag racing provides concentrated value through authentic expertise, intimate access, loyal demographics, and strategic timing. The brands that map their goals to this framework gain partnership advantages competitors are still missing.

Want the complete breakdown on how to evaluate and invest in non-traditional athletes? Read the full playbook.

📰 In the Current  

We monitor the current so you can ride the wave. Here's what you need to know this week:

• The Cost of Fandom: Ally Unveils New Study on Fan Spend

• Game 1 of WNBA Finals saw highest ratings since league launch as Las Vegas went on to sweep series v. Phoenix Mercury in first-ever WNBA Finals Best of 7 series.

• Athlos sells out second annual Track & Field event, opens with addition of Field events including first ever long jump in Times Square NYC.

• New data from CrowdIQ reveals how women engage with sports differently in terms of demographics, arrival times, content interaction, and merchandise adoption.

🦈 Blue Zone  

Read founder + CEO Laura Correnti’s feature in Marie Claire. Highlighting systemic change and the long-tail approach needed to ensure sustainability in women’s sports 

Deep Blue teamed up with iHeart Women’s Sports, Religion of Sports, and Ensemble to host screening of Fastest Six Weeks. Plus a live taping of Good Game with Sarah Spain ft. an interview with 3x WNBA Champion Alysha Clark.

The Fastest Six Weeks in Sports has been greenlit for Season 2.

Deep Blue will be in attendance at this year’s Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF) Annual Salute to Women’s Sports on October 22nd in New York City. To see how you can support the WSF, learn more about this sold out event, this year’s honorees, and more, visit here.

🌊 Shark Bite

"If you weren't embarrassed from yesterday, then don't come into this gym. You're not needed or wanted here. We need the mindset to shift, because that was embarrassing.” - A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces

The text heard around the women’s sports world. Wilson sent this text to her teammates following a 53-point loss to the Minnesota Lynx midway through the 2025 WNBA regular season. That text would lead the Las Vegas Aces to a 16-game regular season win streak and a 3rd WNBA Championship in 4 years.

Until next time… keep building partnerships where others see only pit stops.

- Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment

Interested in learning what Deep Blue is up to? Have an idea? 
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