Sports partnerships help showcase burgeoning brand

Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend ‘resounding success’

by Jack R. Jordan / content creator

Competition is ingrained into human nature. Competition can be found between friends, rivals, businesses and communities.

Hy-Vee, The Shelby Report of the Midwest’s Retailer of the Year, has a long history of suppporting amazing competition in sports on a local, national and now international level.

The most recent example of a sporting partnership was the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend. Held July 22-24 at Iowa Speedway, about 30 minutes east of Hy-Vee’s headquarters in West Des Moines, it marked the company’s first major foray into racing. The grocer sponsored the full weekend of racing and several cars. The main one, the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda, was driven by Jack Harvey.

The weekend kicked off with Free Family Friday, during which fans could enjoy driver autograph sessions, Victory Lane visits, live music and more than 50 food trucks.

It was the only doubleheader race of the 2022 NTT INDYCAR Series. Saturday’s race was the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 presented by DoorDash, while Sunday’s was the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 presented by Google.

“In times of great need like these, it’s important that we help in the way we know best, by providing essentials like food and water as well as a helping hand,” Edeker said.

The fleet itself was established just two years ago, according to Williams. But they don’t just carry food and supplies, they can also bring Hy-Vee’s mobile healthcare units.

“Part of that disaster relief team is a mobile pharmacy,” she said. “We recognized that we needed to have that as a play for all modern disaster relief. We are sometimes the only pharmacy in the towns that we serve and we see the need for these mobile units as a crucial part of our infrastructure and we decided to invest in that.”

The weekend also featured performances from musical artists Tim McGraw, Florida Georgia Line, Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton.

The company’s decision to move into INDYCAR sponsorship started with Chairman and Executive Director Randy Edeker, who had begun following European-based, Formula One racing and saw how quickly it was gaining popularity.

“If you look at Formula One, their numbers are up unbelievably internationally. If you look at their shift, their greatest growth categories is with 18 to 35 [year olds] because they developed a game and a Netflix show called ‘Drive to Survive,’” he said. “I looked in the U.S. and thought, ‘Who’s most like that?’ It’s INDYCAR.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Hy-Vee had run a car in the INDYCAR series with driver Graham Rahal.

“We formed a partnership with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to run a partial season,” Edeker said. “I watched it and I measured it with what we thought that we could do with it. I believe that INDYCAR in the United States could be a rival to Formula One if they formulate the path that Formula One alreay has.”

Please see page 24