I agree with Greg [Littleton]. The race Sunday at Baltimore was very interesting from the drop of the green to the checkered flag. A ton of close racing, passing for position, etc. Everything a “race fan” would want to see.

Danny Williams

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Alley Talk:

In regards to the spewage from a so called “insider”, it sounded to me like a rant from someone with an agenda and I was surprised that you would include such garbage in “Noggle’s Goggles”.

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Hope those attending the September 29th luncheon will donate as much as possible to the “Racer in Need” program for Jeff & Linda Bloom.

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Hang in there, Jeff. We’re still praying for you !!!!!!!!

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Curt Cavin, racing scribe for the Indianapolis Star, spotlights a JMI exec seen as possible future F-1 leader:

Zak Brown recently shot 93 at Crooked Stick Golf Club, where he is a member. That won’t make the cut for this week’s BMW Championship, but Brown is nonetheless proud of his game. Of course, that game isn’t golf, it’s selling motor sports, and Brown, 40, does it as well as anyone this side of Formula One’s Bernie Ecclestone. It’s no coincidence that Brown has learned much from the sport’s most influential player, so much so that he’s often mentioned as a candidate to one day succeed Ecclestone, who is 81.

That sort of speculation flatters Brown. “I hope I’m on the list, but I have a full-time job,” the founder and chief executive officer of Zionsville, IN’s based Just Marketing International said while looking out over Crooked Stick.

Brown paused, but only for a second. His mind and body rarely rest. “But I’ll say this: I’d be interested in having a seat at the (international motor sports) table,” he said. “That would be the ultimate.”

Brown describes himself as a “deal junkie,” and pursuit of them is how he went from being an unpopular kid in his three Los Angeles high schools to an aspiring IndyCar driver to joining Tony George and Tony Stewart as influential Hoosiers in the sport. Brown moved to Indiana with only a few hundred dollars and no credit. He rented a Northside home with a journalist. His $14,000-a-year job at a racing school in Greencastle didn’t afford him the ability to buy his own place. He and his wife shared a car.

Brown founded JMI in 1995. The company is now a global leader in motor sports marketing. He remembers all the details, including his first employee, his first UPS number and the small deals he first struck as he struggled to establish himself.

Things for Brown and JMI exploded in 1998 when, during Nascar’s boom, he sold a seven-figure, multiyear sponsorship package to Columbia House for what is now known as the Nationwide Series. “It was like, wow, that was easy,” Brown said of assembling the deal. “All you had to do was mention Nascar, and company officials would say, ‘I’m interested.’ “

Brown soon turned to pursuit of what became a landmark moment: convincing Nascar Chairman Brian France that liquor companies deserved a place in beer-dominated stock car racing. That led to Crown Royal getting into the sport. From there came JMI’s first F-1 deal: Johnnie Walker joining the powerful McLaren team. A grand prix car hangs in JMI’s Zionsville lobby, a gift from McLaren boss Ron Dennis. Brown also placed Subway, UPS, Verizon, DirecTV and Farmers Insurance in various motor sports programs.

In 2010, Brown put together a quarter-billion dollar deal, making financial services firm UBS the largest global partner for F-1. JMI now has offices in London, Hong Kong and Singapore, and it is positioned for even more growth as it takes Fortune 500 companies to Asia’s expanding motor sports arena.

“It’s actually easier to sell one of those big deals than a deal for $1 million because there are more (global entities) involved,” Brown said. Two years ago, Brown took JMI into driver representation by signing the best brand of them all: former open wheeler Jeff Gordon.

“Zak has been one of the best guys over a long period of time,” Roger Penske said. “He has the credibility with sponsors; he certainly has a relationship with Bernie Ecclestone that is very important from a Formula One perspective.”

From the riches Brown has made in business, including the sale of JMI to Spire Capital, WPP and Credit Suisse, come the toys he has been able to accumulate. He owns a European sports car team, United Autosports, for which he drives, and a collection of race-winning cars driven by his heroes: Ayrton Senna, James Hunt and Rick Mears.

Brown lives near one of the most prestigious intersections in Central Indiana — 106th Street and Spring Mill Road — and owns a flat in London, where he takes his family, including his two sons, in the summer. Brown admits to itching to return to Europe because racing’s international action emanates from there. Ecclestone is there, too.

“I’ve been with him to this auction they have after lunch on Sundays,” Brown said. “I’ve seen him bid and lose on a golden crocodile for 4,700 pounds. He bought a Chinese fan for $300. He bid on a cutlery set he doesn’t need, but if he’s bored he’ll bid.” Like Ecclestone, it’s action that Brown craves. Be it golf or business.

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Sarah Fisher, owner of Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing, will be honored at the March of Dimes’ Mom of the Year celebration Nov. 10 at the Downtown Marriott.

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Rumor (fact?) Mill: