Starbeast Motorsports started as an idea between two individuals with the desire to get involved in the world of NASCAR. In the beginning, there were discussions about forming a sports marketing firm to go after companies that wanted to get involved in the sport as a sponsor.This however quickly morphed into a full-blown desire to form a Race Team and compete on the ultimate stage within Stock Car Racing. Naturally, there was only one venue that truly promoted the level of unhealthy desire that only a former race car driver should expect – NASCAR!

Starbeast Motorsports Founder and CEO Miguel Abaroa and President Ted Bullard, met in March of 2009 after both gentlemen were involved with another NASCAR team providing consulting services in a variety of areas, and were brought together to discuss ideas regarding the current positioning of the team they were collaborating for. Within minutes of meeting for the first time, they realized they were on the same entrepreneurial page and shared a common vision for what the sport was lacking or simply ready for on a big scale.

After weeks of strategizing, the idea of bringing a professional race car driver from India to NASCAR seemed like the perfect venture to sink their hearts and passion into, and they had just the driver in mind to kick-start their program and potentially make history! But first, why India? The answer is simple, 1.2 BILLION!

1.2 billion is the population of India, the second largest in the world.

•  The annual GDP growth rate of more than 8% from 2002 to 2012.
•  Car sales in India rose an annual 7.8% in June, climbing for a fifth straight month. In comparison, U.S. auto sales tumbled 28% in June, which was the narrowest decline in nine months.
•  There were 46 million Internet users in India in 2007, and there are estimates that India will have 80 million internet users by 2010. That is an 86% growth per year.
•  India is now growing at about 10 million new mobile phone users every month, and that pace of growth will continue. There will probably be close to 450 million subscribers by end of 2009. That is a growth of 120 million new mobile subscribers annually, making it the fastest growing mobile phone market in the world.
•  Indian mobile phone users were ready for mobile TV services with the potential market size estimated to be $360 million in 2008
•  84% of mobile phone users are interested in using Mobile TV services
•  The India flat panel TV market is just at the beginning of a real growth curve, with Y/Y 100% for each of the next five years
•  India figures among the top 12 producers of manufacturing value added services
•  India will be the largest consumer market in the world by 2025

The economy of India is the fourth largest in the world by GDP measured on a purchasing power parity basis.
“And what about the US Indian population?”

•  The highest annual median household income of among all U.S. ethnic groups
•  64 percent have attained at least a bachelor’s degree
•  40 percent have attained at least a master’s degree
•  Combined disposable income of $88 billion
•  The estimated annual buying power of $20 billion

As you can see, the opportunity to involve India within the sport of NASCAR provides an avalanche of new sponsorship dollars, fans, and brand awareness that could potentially exceed the US market within a very short period of time.

The next big question was of course how do you go about attracting the attention of an entire Country more than 4 times the size of the US population that has ZERO knowledge or awareness of NASCAR? Our idea was to locate the most popular race car driver in India and bring him to the US to compete within NASCAR and steadily bring his same fan base from India to the US. This decision was perhaps the easiest of all of our decisions!

Narain Karthikeyan is the first and up until very recently, the only Indian to ever compete within the prestigious Formula 1 series. The challenge was to convince someone as successful as Narain Karthikeyan, to leave the comfortable and high-profile life in India as the 5th most popular athlete among 1.2 billion people, to explore a new opportunity in the US market that could prove to be the best career move of his life…… or the riskiest!